Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 vs. Microsoft Floor Professional 8

Microsoft’s Floor Professional 8 reveals up on each our greatest 2-in-1s and greatest laptops lists. It’s the very best removable pill you should purchase, with a sophisticated show and probably the most practical digital inking round. However the 360-degree convertible 2-in-1 is one other versatile kind issue that may operate higher as a clamshell laptop computer whereas nonetheless offering tablet-like performance.

Probably the greatest convertible 2-in-1s is the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7, one of many first laptops launched with Intel’s Twelfth-generation CPU. It’s a strong competitor to the Floor Professional 8, albeit with a really totally different design — does it have what it takes to take the place of Microsoft’s 2-in-1 on the high of the heap?

Specs

Design

Each machines acquired vital revisions of their newest variations. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 noticed its sharp edges fully rounded out and layered in chrome, particularly alongside the sides of the chassis. The lid’s edges retain an angle, giving the laptop computer a particular look from the perimeters. These spherical chrome edges not solely give the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 a sublime sleekness, however in addition they make it way more snug to carry in pill mode.

You’ve a selection in colours, both Oatmeal (silver) or Storm Grey (darkish grey), which carry all through the laptop computer’s design. The Floor Professional 8’s show elevated from 12.3 inches to 13 inches, and its bezels had been thinned out, making the brand new model solely barely bigger than its predecessor regardless of the bigger display. It retains the identical slate design as earlier than, coming in both Platinum (silver) or Graphite (black), with the enduring Floor Professional kickstand that extends out from the middle of the again of the pill. Each laptops are enticing, trendy machines among the many best-looking of their class.

Essentially the most vital distinction between the 2 laptops is their 2-in-1 design. The Floor Professional 8 is a pill first, with a Signature Kind Cowl keyboard that snaps magnetically to the underside of the slate and turns it right into a pseudo-clamshell machine. It’s not as steady in a lap as a typical laptop computer, however it works nicely when sitting on a flat floor. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 is a 360-degree convertible with a show that swivels all the way in which round and permits the laptop computer for use in 4 modes — clamshell, tent, media, and pill. It’s extra steady as a clamshell than the Floor Professional 8, however it’s not almost as snug to make use of as a pill. Which of those kinds is best for you relies upon completely on whether or not you want a pill that may stand in for a clamshell or a clamshell that may operate as a pill once in a while.

The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 and Floor Professional 8 are each constructed of CNC machined aluminum. That’s a change for the Floor Professional 8, which was beforehand fabricated from lighter magnesium. Each laptops are constructed extremely nicely, with no bending, flexing, or twisting. The Floor Professional 8’s kickstand holds the pill firmly in place from nearly straight as much as mendacity nearly fully flat, whereas the Yoga’s hinge permits opening the laptop computer with one hand whereas confidently holding the lid in its chosen orientation. Select both of those machines and also you’ll achieve a number of the greatest construct high quality out there in a laptop computer.

The Floor Professional 8’s elective Signature Kind Cowl supplies a surprisingly good expertise for a removable keyboard. It presents giant keycaps and huge key spacing with deep and snappy switches. It’s a exact keyboard, with the one criticism being that it bounces round a bit when it’s propped up at an angle. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7’s keyboard can be full-size, with a useful row of particular operate keys alongside the fitting aspect that allow you to change the efficiency tuning, activate background blur in video, change audio and video modes, and log in by way of fingerprint reader. The Yoga’s switches aren’t as deep, nevertheless, and so they’re softer, making it a a lot lighter keyboard that may not supply the precision some fast-touch typists are in search of. We fee the Floor Professional 8’s keyboard as higher should you can deal with the bounce.

The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7’s touchpad is kind of a bit bigger than the one supplied on the Signature Kind Cowl. Each are exact, although, due to Home windows Precision drivers, and each present dependable assist for Home windows 11’s multitouch gestures. There’s little question, although, that the Yoga’s bigger model is extra purposeful.

The Floor Professional 8 excels on this area as a pill made for pen use. The elective Floor Slim 2 Pen mates completely with the show and consists of haptic suggestions that extra intently mimics the texture of a pencil on paper. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7’s included lively pen is ok, however it will possibly’t match the Floor Professional 8 for exact and pure inking. The Floor Slim 2 Pen additionally snaps right into a slot on the Signature Kind Cowl for storage and charging, whereas the Yoga’s pen has no such comfort.

Connectivity is one space the place the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 outclasses the Floor Professional 8. It features a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, two USB-C 4.0 ports with Thunderbolt 4 assist, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The Floor Professional 8 has two USB-C 3.2 ports with Thunderbolt 4 assist, the proprietary Floor Join port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The Floor Professional 8 additionally features a microSD card reader, which the Yoga lacks. The Lenovo can be extra up to the mark in wi-fi assist, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 in comparison with the Floor Professional 8’s Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.

The Floor Professional 8 helps Home windows 11 Hey completely by way of an infrared digicam and facial recognition, whereas the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 helps each facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. Lenovo additionally bundles in some privateness and safety utilities, similar to its Sensible Help utility that may flip off the show and put the laptop computer to sleep whenever you stroll away, waking it up routinely whenever you return.

Efficiency

The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 equips Intel’s newest Twelfth-gen CPUs, hybrid designs with Efficiency and Environment friendly cores aimed toward balancing pace and battery life. We reviewed the Yoga with the Core i7-1260P, a 28-watt CPU (64-watt Turbo Energy) with 12 cores (4 Efficiency and eight Environment friendly) and 16 threads. The chip is the sooner model aimed toward thin-and-light laptops, and it produced considerably elevated efficiency over Intel’s Eleventh-gen CPUs that the Floor Professional 8 is constructed round. We reviewed the pill with a Core i7-1185G7, a four-core/eight-thread processor working that may additionally run at 28 watts at most pace.

Because the benchmark leads to the desk beneath exhibit, the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 is considerably sooner than the Floor Professional 8. Not solely that, however the Yoga features a efficiency tuning utility that may change between quiet, balanced, and efficiency modes. These outcomes replicate balanced mode, and efficiency mode supplied a significant enhance in every benchmark. For instance, in our Handbrake check that encodes a 420MB video as H.265, the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 accomplished the check in simply 101 seconds in efficiency mode in comparison with 130 seconds in balanced mode. Regardless, aside from the 3DMark Time Spy check, the Floor Professional 8 fell far behind — and in efficiency mode, the Yoga scored the next 1,979.

That is the one space the place the Yoga merely outclasses the Floor. There’s little question that it’s going to churn via demanding productiveness workflows that may trigger the Floor Professional 8 to wrestle.

Show

The Floor Professional 8 comes with a single show possibility, a really sharp 13-inch 3:2 IPS 2880 x 1920 panel working at 120Hz. That makes Home windows 11’s interface and animations easy as silk and an enchancment over the pedestrian 60Hz shows within the Yoga. As talked about beforehand, the show additionally helps the haptic suggestions within the Floor Slim 2 Pen, which is one other benefit. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 has three 14-inch 16:10 show choices, a Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS panel, a WQHD+ (2880 x 1800) OLED panel, and a WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) OLED display.

We examined the Yoga’s WQHD+ OLED possibility and located it to supply a subjectively and objectively spectacular expertise. Colours had been dynamic and correct, the display was extraordinarily shiny, and the same old OLED inky blacks had been on show. The Floor Professional 8’s show was equally shiny, however its colours weren’t almost as huge nor as correct, and its distinction couldn’t examine.

You received’t hate the Floor Professional 8’s show for productiveness work. However artistic sorts will love the OLED choices on the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7.

Portability

The Floor Professional 8 is smaller in all dimensions when you think about the pill alone, and it’s additionally lower than half the burden of the Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7. Add on the Signature Kind Cowl and it’s a bit thicker and heavier, however it’s nonetheless simpler to hold round and use as a pure pill than the Yoga. That’s to not say Lenovo’s 2-in-1 isn’t a viable thin-and-light laptop computer; it’s simply not as transportable because the Floor Professional 8.

By way of battery life, issues had been nearer than we anticipated. The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 enjoys a big 75 watt-hour battery to go along with its power-hungry 14-inch OLED show and its sooner CPU (which we hoped can be extra environment friendly given Intel’s effectivity claims round its Twelfth-gen processors). That compares to the Floor Professional 8’s skimpier 51.5 watt-hour battery. Nonetheless, our net looking and video battery exams weren’t that far aside, with the Yoga taking a slight lead that doesn’t promise way more in the way in which of real-life longevity.

Each laptops will seemingly get you thru a full day’s work should you don’t tax the CPU. You may get just a little extra life out of the Yoga, however once more, not as a lot as we anticipated given the considerably bigger battery.

The Yoga 9i 14 Gen 7 is a superb convertible 2-in-1, however the Floor Professional 8 is the very best pill