This $400 Gadget Completely Transformed My Home Office Setup

So I finally caved and bought the new Lenovo Yoga 9i 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop after my old MacBook Air started showing its age, and honestly I wasn’t prepared for how much this thing would change my daily workflow. I’ve been using it for about three weeks now, and there are some features that just blew me away – especially some I didn’t even know I needed. Let me start with the screen.

It’s this 14-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, and coming from my old 60Hz MacBook Air, the difference is insane. When I’m scrolling through documents or websites, everything just looks so smooth. But here’s the real game-changer for me – that rotating soundbar hinge.

It sounds like a gimmick, right That’s what I thought too until I actually used it. The speakers are built into the hinge, and when you rotate the screen into tablet mode or tent mode, the sound actually follows you. I was watching The Last of Us on HBO Ma the other night in tent mode, and the audio quality was so much better than any laptop I’ve ever owned.

It’s this small detail that makes a huge difference in actual use. And speaking of tablet mode, I’ve found myself using the pen way more than I epected. The included digital pen attaches magnetically to the lid and charges that way too.

Last week I was reviewing a PDF contract for a freelance project, and instead of printing it out and scanning it back in, I just flipped the screen into tablet mode and marked it up directly. Saved me so much time and hassle. The palm rejection is solid too – no accidental touches while I’m writing.

Performance-wise, I got the model with the Intel Core i7-1360P processor and 16GB of RAM. It handles my typical workload of 15+ Chrome tabs, Slack, Spotify, and a Word document without any noticeable slowdown. The fans do kick in during heavy loads, but they’re not obnoiously loud like some gaming laptops I’ve owned.

The battery life is decent – I’m getting about 7-8 hours of actual use with mied browsing and productivity tasks, which gets me through most of my workday without hunting for an outlet. But here’s my question for everyone else who’s bought one of these 2-in-1 devices – how are you actually using the different modes in your daily routine I feel like I’m still discovering new ways to use this thing. Like just yesterday I realized how perfect tent mode is for following cooking tutorials in the kitchen without taking up counter space.

There are definitely some quirks though. The keyboard is comfortable to type on for long periods, but the key travel is a bit shallower than I’d prefer. And while I love the rotating soundbar concept, it does make the device slightly thicker than some ultra-thin competitors.

The webcam is decent for video calls, but in 2023 I would’ve epected 1080p instead of 720p at this price point. What surprised me most was how this device changed my computing habits. I find myself switching between laptop and tablet mode multiple times a day based on what I’m doing.

Reading articles is so much better in tablet mode, and having that fleibility without needing two separate devices is genuinely useful. It’s one of those things you don’t realize you need until you have it. For those considering this or similar 2-in-1s, I’d say the real value isn’t in any single spec but in how all these features work together to create a more versatile computing eperience.

It’s not just a laptop that can become a tablet – it’s a device that adapts to how you want to work in any given moment. So what about you guys Have any of you made the switch to a 2-in-1 as your main machine Were there features that surprised you in how useful they turned out to be Or maybe you tried one and found the convertible aspect more gimmicky than practical I’m genuinely curious about other people’s eperiences with these hybrid devices.