Mini-LED 3K screen offers incredible brightness and perfect DCI-P3 color gamut accuracy.
Subtle chassis design houses the ideal touchpad and keyboard layout.
Surprisingly impressive speakers offer a genuine bass response.
With only an AC adapter for your region, Lenovo keeps its packaging simple and eco-friendly for both 14-inch and 16-inch models.
Battery life won’t survive detailed 3D art or extensive video edits requiring lengthy renders.
Thunderbolt 4 power delivery is lacking.
Only 1x USB-C port limits modern connectivity on the 16-inch model.
1.Pricing and specs2.Design and ports3.Display4.Benchmarks5.Battery life6.Webcam & speakers7.Competition8.Score card9.Should you buy it?
I’m becoming extremely familiar with Lenovo this year.
Disclaimer:This review was made possible by a review unit provided by Lenovo.
The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
Everything is neatly aligned, with quick access to the keyboard backlight using the function button and spacebar.
Port selection is reasonable enough.
With only an AC adapter for your region, Lenovo keeps its packaging simple and eco-friendly for both 14-inch and 16-inch models.
More on that in a dedicated section later.
However, it still manages to charge the tablet exceptionally slowly.
I’m beginning to understand theappeal of Mini-LED over OLEDfor laptops because the brightness potential is awe-inspiring here.
It’s incredibly minor and considerably lessens when switching to 165Hz, but it’s there.
However, it physically measures slightly smaller dimensions and uses a more compact socket.
However, gaming laptops benefit from huge and somewhat unsightly air-cooling solutions.
The PureSight PRO display might be the star of the show, but the keyboard and touchpad setup is practically perfect.
However, switching to the RTX 4050 for a GPU compute alternative reduced the render time to only3m 59s.
Finally,Shadow of the Tomb Raiderbrings back the benefits of NVIDIA DLSS.
However, the news isn’t as bad as you might expect.
I can forgive squashed arrow keys on both 14-inch and 16-inch models since everything else is so comfortable for extended use.
We test laptop batteries using PCMark 10, which simulates everyday usage of mostly productivity apps.
Rather, the switch triggers an electronic response that deactivates the webcam, preventing software from gaining access.
Enjoying YouTube videos with pumping soundtracks also makes for a nice break away from all-day headphone usage.
Full-size HDMI is OK, but a second USB-C port with better power delivery would have provided the same with a Thunderbolt dock.(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
Slim Pro 9i: Score card
Slim Pro 9i: Should you buy it?
Stick to AC power for your work.
It’s not for everyone, but that’s OK.
SD card support makes way more sense here than it ever did on Lenovo’s Legion gaming laptops.(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
The 14-inch gains a bonus USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, doubling as its AC power connector.(Image credit: Daniel Rubino | Windows Central)
Besides some movement, the rest of the ports match the 16-inch Slim Pro 9i.(Image credit: Daniel Rubino | Windows Central)
Mini-LED tech proves its worth from the instant you hit the power button; spectacularly vibrant.
P3 Vantage profile (HDR: off) provides 100% sRGB, 89% AdobeRGB, and 100% P3 accuracy(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
Adobe RGB Vantage profile (HDR: off) provides 100% sRGB, 98% AdobeRGB, and 91% P3 accuracy(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
sRGB Vantage profile (HDR: off) provides 99% sRGB, 75% AdobeRGB, and 75% P3 accuracy(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
I rarely enjoy the rare British sunshine with a useable laptop, but Mini-LED dominates in natural light.
P3 Vantage profile (HDR: off)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
P3 Vantage profile (HDR: off)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
13th Gen i7-13705H and i9-13905H CPUs perform brilliantly alongside NVIDIA’s 40-series GPUs in both Slim Pro 9i sizes.
Geekbench 6 score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
PCMark 10 score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
Cinebench R23 score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
CrossMark score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
3DMark Time Spy score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
CrystalDiskMark score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
The RTX 4050 L GPU completely dominates 3D renders in Blender with Cycles.
Blender 3.3 LTS Scanlands demo
Lenovo’s X Power dynamic thermal control and scenario-specific tuning scores the Slim Pro 9i close to gaming-focused laptops.
Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark score(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
Far Cry 6 benchmark score(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark score(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
The 14-inch variant offers the same 75Whr battery.
PCMark 10 battery life score (16-inch Slim Pro 9i)
Lenovo almost certainly could have included a physical privacy switch above the camera array, but it didn’t happen.
It’s a shame you can’t capture low-end bass on photographs.
Dell XPS 15
