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  Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

  The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a dual-screen OLED laptop that gives you extra space to be productive, while also being usable as a traditional laptop. It has a premium design and 13th-generation Intel processors, too.

  Pros

  • Dual OLED screens are great for productivity
  • Can be used in multiple ways
  • Has pen support

  Cons

  • Very expensive
  • Clunky to travel with due to the stand/keyboard

  $2000 at Best Buy $2000 at Lenovo

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  MacBook Air (M2)

  The latest MacBook Air offers the M2 chip, and a redesigned chassis with MagSafe 3 support. It is powerful and can handle pretty much any kind of work, and it comes in either 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch sizes.

  Pros

  • Apple M2 chip is really powerful
  • Works great with other Apple devices
  • Cheaper than Yoga Book 9i

  Cons

  • Has annoying notch on display
  • macOS has a learning curve

  $1099 at Amazon (13 inches) $1250 at Amazon (15 inches) $1099 at Best Buy (13 inches) $1299 at Best Buy (15 inches) $1099 at Apple (13 inches) $1299 at Apple (15 inches)

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is definitely one unique laptop since it has two sharp 13-inch screens. It stands on its own for that reason, but it's going up against other great laptops, including the MacBook Air 2022, one of the best Macs Apple has ever made. So, we've come to this comparison, should you be considering either device while in the store, or shopping online.

It's going to be an apples-to-oranges comparison here in a lot of areas, but we're hoping to make sense of why the Yoga Book 9i is unique when compared to other products. Or, if you absolutely prefer to buy an Apple laptop, learn a bit more about why the MacBook Air is a standout product of its own thanks to the power of the Apple Silicon under the hood.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i vs MacBook Air (2022): Price, specs, and availability

Only one of these devices is currently available for sale. You can buy the MacBook Air (2022) starting at $1,200 from Apple, Best Buy, Amazon, and other retailers. The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, meanwhile, is listed at $2,100 at Lenovo.com. Over at Best Buy, it has a $2,000 price tag, but you can't purchase it from either retailer just yet. Lenovo has announced it'd be coming in June.

• 	Lenovo Yoga Book 9i	MacBook Air (M2)
  Brand	Lenovo	Apple
  Storage	Up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD	256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
  CPU	Up to 13th-gen Intel Core i7-1355U	Apple M2: 8-core
  Memory	16GB LPDDR5x-6400	8GB, 16GB, 24GB
  Operating System	Windows 11	macOS Sonoma
  Battery	80Wh battery	Up to 18 hours of video playback
  Ports	3x Thunderbolt 4	2 x USB4/Thunderbolt, 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3
  Camera	5MP camera with IR	1080p Full HD FaceTime camera
  Display (Size, Resolution)	Dual 13.3-inch 2.8K (2880x1800) OLED, 400 nits, DisplayHDR 500 True Black, touch	13.6-inch Retina (IPS), 2560x1664, P3 Wide Color, True Tone, 500 nits or 15.3-inch IPS, 2880x1864, 500 nits, True Tone, P3 Wide Color
  Weight	2.95 pounds (1.34kg)	2.7 pounds (13-inch) / 3.3 pounds (15-inch)
  GPU	Intel Iris Xe (integrated)	8-core or 10-core
  Network	Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.1	Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3
  Price	$2,099.99	Starting at $1,099 (13-inch) or $1,299 (15-inch)
  Model	Yoga Book 9i	MacBook Air (M2)

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i vs MacBook Air (2022): Do you prefer Windows or macOS?

The Yoga Book 9i and the MacBook Air (2022) run entirely different operating systems. On the Yoga Book 9i, you get Windows 11. The MacBook Air (2022) meanwhile, is powered by macOS. Windows is a great operating system for productivity thanks to features like Snap Layouts, and apps like PowerToys. Apple's macOS, meanwhile, is better suited for those who might be creative folks.

Windows is for productivity, and macOS is for creativity

Windows is home to a lot of great video editing apps and software, but content creators might prefer the simplicity of Apple's own iMovie and Final Cut Pro. Other than that, Windows plays nicer with Android phones thanks to Phone Link, as you can see your photos, messages, and other content on your PC. Phone Link supports iPhones, too, but it's limited in features. On a MacBook, you'll get better integrations with iPhones and other Apple devices with support for apps like iMessage and FaceTime, and the ability to AirDrop files to your system. These things might be the first factor in your buying decision.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i vs MacBook Air (2022): Dual screen convertible vs clamshell laptop

Other than the operating system, the most obvious place where the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i and the MacBook Air 2022 are different is in the design department. The Yoga Book 9i is a dual-screen laptop, and the MacBook Air is a traditional clamshell laptop. There's no doubt that in the design department, the Yoga Book 9i is the winner here, even when it comes to ports and connectivity. The design gives you so many more ways to use the device and enjoy it.

For starters in this design department, the Yoga Book 9i takes some elements from the standard Yoga 9i, with its rounded edges around the chassis. It comes in Tidal Teal and has fancy polished corners that make the device delightful to hold in your hands with the screen folded back as a tablet. Unlike the Yoga 9i, though, this is a smaller device. It measures 11.78 inches in width and is a mere 0.63 inches in thickness. This helps in using the device in its various postures. There's even a fancy soundbar in the middle, which has dual 2W speakers inside.

The Yoga Book 9i is better in the design department thanks to the dual screens and polished edges

But about that. If you're hoping to use the Yoga Book 9i with the screens stacked on top of each other horizontally, or side by side vertically, you'll need to use the included folding stand and have the included Bluetooth keyboard and mouse separately on your desk. This makes this kind of setup a bit clunky. Using the Yoga Book 9i like a standard laptop, meanwhile is less troublesome. You can use the on-screen haptic keyboard, or prop the Bluetooth keyboard on the bottom screen while you use the virtual trackpad. Again, it's a bit clunky and might take some getting used to.

On the other side of things, the MacBook Air (2022) is a duller device. It comes in either Silver, Starlight, Space Gray, or Midnight colors and is a standard clamshell laptop. You can't fold the screen over and use it as anything other than a laptop. It is a really sleek and slim device when you compare it to even the best Windows laptops, though. It measures 12.42 inches and is 0.60 inches in thickness, almost as thin as the Yoga Book 9i. Since it's a clamshell, that makes it more portable, worrying less about carrying around a Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and stand like you would on the Yoga Book 9i.

As far as ports go, the Yoga Book 9i is ahead of the MacBook Air (2022) since it has an extra Thunderbolt 4 port. The MacBook has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe 3 charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Yoga Book 9i lacks a headphone jack, but since it has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, you can use one of the ports for a headphone dongle.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i vs MacBook Air (2022): Dual-screen OLED displays are better

There's no doubt about it. The Yoga Book 9i has a much better display than the MacBook Air (2022). In fact, it has two OLED touchscreen displays, whereas the MacBook Air has a non-touch traditional LED panel. That makes the Yoga Book 9i a better laptop for multimedia experiences, and the MacBook better for general productivity.

The Yoga Book 9i sports two 13.3-inch 16:10 OLED displays with 2800x1800 resolution, and it has slim bezels. The display supports pen input meaning you can ink on the screen and take notes during meetings. With OLED panels, you'll also get more accurate-looking images since OLED panels cover a bigger part of the color spectrum and produce higher contrast ratios. This makes it an excellent machine for watching movies and streaming.

With an OLED screen, the Yoga Book 9i is better for multimedia experiences

The MacBook Air, meanwhile, has a lower-resolution LED screen. It's a 13.6-inch LED display, with 2560x1664 resolution. The colors won't look as vibrant as they would on the Yoga Book 9i, and you don't get touch support. There's also a slightly annoying notch at the top of the screen, which takes away from your available screen real estate, hence the strange screen resolution.

With the webcams at the top of the display, the Yoga Book 9i has a 5-megapixel webcam. The MacBook Air, meanwhile, has a 1080p webcam. The 5-megapixel webcam allows for greater details in your calls than Apple's 1080p webcam would.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i vs MacBook Air (2022): The MacBook Air (2022) is more powerful

While the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i sports an excellent design and display, the MacBook Air is ahead when it comes to processing and computing power. Apple's MacBook Air is powered by the Arm-based custom Apple M2 chip, you can configure it with an 8-core CPU and either an 8-Core GPU or a 10-core GPU. RAM goes as high as 24GB. The Yoga Book 9i, meanwhile, sports the 13th-generation Intel Core i7-1355U CPU, and you can configure it with up to 16GB RAM. This is a hybrid CPU with performance cores and efficiency cores, and it runs at 15W with 2 performance cores and 8 efficient cores.

The MacBook Air (2022) is ahead when it comes to processing and computing power

No matter how you look at it, Apple's custom silicon is much more powerful than the 13th-generation Intel CPUs because Apple's custom chip has better graphics performance, too. It's better suitable for video editing, though it has some limits, as we found in our MacBook Air (2022) review. For general productivity, though, these laptops are about square. If you're wondering about how it stacks up against power, check out the graphic below where we compare the chip you'll find in the Yoga 7i to the MacBook Air's M2 CPU.

In tests that need GPU power like 3D: Mark, the MacBook Air excels from the Yoga Book 9 by nearly double. The CPU tests, though, leave the MacBook and Yoga trading blows. We still argue the MacBook is better, though, especially because of that boosted graphics performance.

The MacBook Air (2022) is better

Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i carries a very big price, so it's not worth buying for most people. The MacBook Pro is a more basic laptop, with a decent screen, as well as some great power under the hood for video editing. It also integrates with iPhones and other devices, so it is great for those in the Apple ecosystem.

For fans of Windows 11, and those who must live on the cutting edge, though, the Yoga Book 9i is a great device. It has cutting-edge new features, like dual OLED screens, a haptic touch-screen keyboard, a touchpad, and even inking support. There are also so many ways you can use it to boost your productivity.