Hands-on: Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 9i is the first Windows laptop with an under-display camera

Lenovo is trying to streamline what a Windows laptop can look like in terms of screen real estate. One way that the company is doing that is by equipping the Yoga Slim 9i with an under-display camera — something we’ve really only seen in expensive Android phones.

Under-display cameras are cool tech when they work well. It essentially sets you up with a camera that sits underneath the visible pixels on your device. The Galaxy Z Fold 6, for instance, utilizes this for the inner front-facing camera. In practice, it can work well but there are visible sacrifices made when option for this type of sensor, and they often aren’t completely hidden.

Lenovo’s iteration is shockingly hidden. Underneath the display of the new Yoga Slim 9i sits a front-facing camera, but you would never know it. The display itself is a 14-inch 4K 120Hz panel. The PureSight Pro OLED screen does a phenomenal job of hiding that small camera towards the top of the screen. With that hidden camera, there’s no screen forehead to house a camera, and the bezel extends to the edge of the screen.

Overall, the laptop feels really nice to use. The keyboard and slim form factor make it a fantastic option for quick work on the go. Internally, it can house up to an Intel Core Ultra 7, which has its own NPU for AI assistance in certain apps and programs. According to Lenovo, the Yoga Slim 9i can last up to 17 hours thanks to some AI-driven efficiency.

The camera itself is really just okay. In the Windows Camera app, it was clearly hindered by the nature of its setup, which is somewhat to be expected. It begs the question of whether the fact that it’s hidden is more impressive than a slightly less hidden but better camera would be. Either way, it’s a really cool way to hide a camera that may not be used all the time or at all. This laptop is for users who are looking for all screen.

The fact that Lenovo had dedicated a design to introduce the first under-display camera in a laptop is great, and it’ll likely mean more laptop manufacturers will try their hand at the feature. After all, as laptops get smaller users don’t want smaller screens, just more efficient management of space.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i will be available starting at $1,849 with a release period of sometime in February this year.