Lenovo Updates Dual-Display Yoga Book and Introduces New Detachable ThinkBook Hybrid
Plus, the flagship Yoga two-in-one gets a mini-LED display and a big ThinkBook gets a new Magic Bay accessory
Lenovo released its dual-display Yoga Book 9i last year and has now updated it with Core Ultra processors at CES 2024. The laptop still has two 13-inch, 2.8K OLED displays and comes equipped with a detachable Bluetooth keyboard, a pen, a mouse and an origami stand that lets you set up the displays either side by side or one on top of the other. We previewed the first version last year and appreciated the overall design, but felt it was more useful as a portable all-in-one than a day-to-day laptop.
The updated Yoga Book 9i will have Intel Core processors, up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 1TB Solid State Drive. A big, 80-watt-hour battery is on board to power both displays. The new models are expected to be out in April 2024 starting at $2,000.
New flagship Yoga gets the mini-LED treatment
Another update from Lenovo that caught my eye is the new top-end Yoga two-in-one. The 16-inch Yoga Pro 9i Gen 9 has a 3,200x2,000-pixel mini-LED display powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor and RTX 4070 GPU. Media creators are sure to appreciate the roomy, mini-LED display and powerful CPU-GPU combo. If you're more into watching media, you'll enjoy the big, bright display (up to 1,200 nits) and six-speaker array. The Yoga Pro 9i Gen 9 is expected to ship in April starting at $1,700.
Read more: Lenovo Unleashes a Horde of New Legion Gaming Laptops
Elsewhere in the Yoga line, the 14-inch Yoga 9i will also be updated in April with Core Ultra processors. Unlike the 16-inch model, it replies on integrated graphics with no RTX option, but we've seen a bump in performance in Intel Arc graphics integrated with Core Ultra processors compared with the previous Iris Xe graphics with the 13th-gen chips. The display options remain the same for the Yoga 9i but they're good ones: a 2.8K or 4K OLED panel. The updated Yoga 9i two-in-one will start at $1,450 when it's released this spring.
A step down from the Yoga 9-series models are a few new models in the Yoga 7 series. The Yoga Pro 7 is Lenovo's AMD-based convertible and will offer up to AMD Ryzen 8845HS CPU and previous-gen RTX 3050 graphics. It doesn't offer any OLED options and is based on a 14.5-inch, 2.5K IPS touch panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. It'll start at $1,350 and start shipping in April.
Lenovo will also update the mainstream Yoga 7i (non-Pro) two-in-one in April with Core Ultra processors. The 14-inch model will start at $850, and the 16-inch model will start at $900.
New hybrid combines Android and Windows
Among Lenovo's many laptop announcements at CES is one that stands out from the rest, although you wouldn't know it at first glance. The unassuming-looking ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a detachable two-in-one that can act as both a tablet and laptop, but it's also a two-in-one on the software side, too. Instead of the usual two-in-one that runs Windows in both hardware modes, it runs Android when you detach the display to use it as a tablet and switches back to Windows when you reconnect it to the keyboard/base.
Read more: Best of Show: Our Tech Winners of CES 2024
With its small icons and variety of right-click menus, I've always felt that Windows is much easier to navigate with a touchpad or mouse rather than tapping on a touchscreen, so I like the idea of marrying a fully functioning Android tablet and Windows 11 laptop. Both sides can be used independently; the display/tablet features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 CPU, 12GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The keyboard/base features an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The hybrid system shares what looks to be a good display: a 14-inch, 2.8K OLED panel.
I'll be curious to see how you can share files across the dual-OS divide but will need to wait a few months to check it out, although my colleague Lisa Eadicicco got to spend some time with this curious hybrid at CES. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is expected in Q2 with a starting price of $1,999.
Magic Bay news and concepts
Lenovo's Magic Bay Robot
In other ThinkBook news, the ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 looks to be a powerhouse with up to a 14th-gen Intel Core i9 processor and RTX 4060 graphics. And this 16-inch laptop's pogo pins on top of the display aren't new but still noteworthy. Lenovo introduced this external expansion option last year -- dubbed Magic Bay -- and lets you snap on accessories such as a light module to the top of the laptop.
New for this connector is the Magic Bay Studio, a 4K webcam with integrated speakers and AI features to assist with focus, framing and sound. It will be out in April for $200. Lenovo also showed off Magic Bay concepts at CES including a cute robot and a small secondary screen.
