Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (16 inch): Review

We are here to test the top-tier Slim Pro 9i (16 inch), one of many laptops made by Lenovo for creative professionals. In almost every way, this advances the situation, making it among Lenovo’s best laptops overall and among its best creator laptops. There are two variations available, one with a 14-inch screen and the other with a 16-inch panel. Although the larger model is obviously more powerful, both are excellent.

The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (16 inch) is the most recent attempt to unseat the 16-inch MacBook Pro as the preferred laptop for a large number of creative professionals seeking something serious without appearing corporate. We can honestly say that this laptop can and most likely will serve as that laptop for many users out there, but if not for a few missed opportunities near the end, it might have been the best MacBook Pro alternative to date.

Along with the more popular Slim line, which debuted this year, Lenovo has added the Slim Pro 9i 16 inch model line. From a design perspective, this is a great move for the company.

Lenovo Slim Pro 9i  Specification

This is one of the first laptops of the year that caught our attention when we first saw it at preview events earlier in the year. Now that we have it in my hands, it lives up to its reputation and is definitely a contender for a spot on our best laptop list.

Pros

• It has a stunning display.
• The keyword and touchpad are phenomenal.
• It has a sturdy aluminum exterior.

Cons

• The battery life is not approximately.
• Speakers aren’t good.

The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (16 inch) is 13th-gen iCore processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. Color accuracy needs attention, but it can be compatible with video editing and similar yet hefty tasks. Display 14.5-inch IPS, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3072×1920, 400 nits, 120Hz. It has CPU of Intel Core i9-13905H. Moreover, its GPU 16-inch has upto Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (100W).

Lenovo equips the Slim Pro 9i (16 inch) with a respectable selection of ports regardless of the size you select. The 16-inch model has three USB Type-A ports that can all transfer data at 5Gbps, one Thunderbolt 4 port, HDMI, a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. Given that digital cameras still frequently come with these larger cards, that last point is especially crucial for photographers and other artists. The 16-inch model also makes use of a unique charging port and a 170W power supply.

Performance review

A creator laptop needs reliable hardware, and the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (16 inch) satisfies that need. The Intel Core i7-13705H processor is still used in the 14-inch model, while the Intel Core i9-13905H processor is used in the 16-inch model. Although the benchmark results we got were fascinating, these should not be that different from one another. Both of the Lenovo units that were sent to me had an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, making them less powerful than what the company had claimed. Additionally, the 16-inch model has a 100W TGP for the GPU as opposed to an 80W TGP in the smaller model, which means the larger model will perform better.

All of that makes sense, but the actual performance difference, especially on the CPU side, is more obvious than expected. The results of the benchmarks show that the 16-inch model outperforms every other model by a wide margin, even in tests that heavily rely on the CPU.Even in the 3DMark tests, the CPU tests were a significant contributor to the variation in overall score.

Display

The display is obviously a significant component of a laptop used for content creation. In general, you want a screen with excellent color reproduction, but if you are going to work on the go and have to contend with harsh or outdoor lighting, it is also nice to have a bright panel. Thank goodness, the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i includes both.

On the 16-inch model, DCI-P3 and sRGB coverage both reached 100%, but only 88% of Adobe RGB was measured. Although it is not a terrible outcome, it falls far short of the promised 100%.

The majority of OLED screens are on par with or slightly better than this, but the Dell XPS 17 easily takes the top spot in this category. Good news is also provided by Lenovo’s claim that its color accuracy is rated at Delta E 1.

However, the brightness is where these laptops really shine. Despite the fact that we are unable to verify the 1,200-nit claim because HDR screens are not supported by the SpyderX Pro tests, the 16-inch model achieved an impressive 695.8 nits in SDR mode.

Battery

Given the very powerful hardware and mini-LED display, this laptop is going to chew through energy pretty quickly, and unfortunately, its 75WHr battery just isn’t big enough to get you through a full workday considering how power inefficient its internals are compared to the super efficient Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max

Verdict

A lot of things about the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i  (16 inch) laptop are excellent. It is ideal for anyone who requires that kind of power while they are on the go because it fits a lot of performance into a relatively thin, sleek, and light chassis. If battery life is important to you, it will not be able to compete with the MacBook Pro, but it performs admirably.

FAQs

• What is the weight of the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i laptop?

The laptop weighs around 4.9 pounds.

• How long does the battery last?

On average, the laptop stands for 6-12 hours.

• How is the webcam?

The webcam has received complaints from users, so it can’t be graded as good. However, it seems workable.