Lenovo YOGA 9i 15 2 in 1 vs HP Spectre X360 15t 2 in 1 2020 By TheDigitalDigest

And here with the digital digest- and today I wanted to share a comparison between the Lenovo yoga, 9i 15 on the right and the hp specter, x360 15t on the left. Now, in my opinion, these are the two best two in ones on the market right now in their form factor respectively, with 15.6 inch touchscreens. Both of these were sent to me for review purposes and, of course they will be going back to the manufacturer. Now I've already reviewed the specter, I'm in the process of finishing up my review for the yoga and in terms of pricing and specifications. These are very similar machines, so start off. The hp originally retailed for roughly 2 grand it's now on sale for around 1500, which, in my opinion, for this specific build, is a bargain.

The Lenovo still sells for 1700 and that price is firm. The difference in specs are as follows. In terms of displays, we've got a 4k 15.6 inch AMOLED on the hp, whereas on the 9i you've got a 1080p 15.6 inch panel. You can spec this out, though, with a 4k display. It will still be an IPS, not an OLED display in terms of processor.

They both have the same intel, 10th gen, that is i7 1075, 0h 6 core processors. They both have 16 gigs of soldered ram. So keep that in mind you will not be able to upgrade them. They both have one terabyte NVMe drives. They both have the same NVIDIA GTX 1650 ti with max q, dedicated GPU under the hood four gigs of ram with that, and then they both have Wi-Fi six Bluetooth 5.0. Furthermore, they both have thunderbolt uh three, but keep in mind.

The Lenovo has two thunderbolt three ports, whereas uh the hp only has one so bear that in mind other than that again, very similar. The hp does have windows hello capability with it sir webcam 720p. Unfortunately, the Lenovo does not- and this is how the c940 last year was as well. Let's take a look at multimedia performance. Again remember this is 4k.

This is not. This is AMOLED. This is not so, and I'm just going to stop these here, because what I want to point out whether it's coming across on camera is that the AMOLED display is a more brilliant display. It's just a product of the technology being superior to in-plane, switching IPS, that's what that stands for LCD panels, but that does not mean that the HDR certified panel on the Lenovo yoga 9i isn't one of the best of its kind. It still is also remember.

This is 1080p. This is 4k, and that does make a difference. Now when it comes to battery life, it doesn't make a difference on these two models, which is quite interesting. You might think well because this one's 1080p it's going to outperform the battery life of the specter. Oddly enough, they both come in at roughly the same battery life, which is around six hours uh with everything maxed out, which is very good when you think about the form factor, 4.2 pounds, 4.4 pounds, it's kind of amazing where we are, and that's without tiger lake 11th, gen processors, which are right around the corner for both of these machines. I think hp is already taking orders.

I don't think Lenovo is yet in retail channels, and I'm being really clear so that people understand this around the world. Availability outside direct manufacture purchasing is probably going to be sometime in the first quarter of 2021. With that said now, listen to the audio difference coming out of the yoga versus the specter. There is a big difference because of the sound bar hinge, just like there was with the c940 and volume is all the way up. Stop it right.

There take a listen, and I'll make sure, but I already checked volume yep a hundred percent here on well, I should have checked this. Yes, that is correct and let's make sure it's a hundred percent on this as well. It is, and here we go now if you could barely hear the audio it's because the Lenovo is that much uh more powerful when it comes to audio performance, not just being loud, the sound stage, the bass with the built-in subwoofer, all of those things really come to life with the yoga, so in other words, if speaker performance is important to you, the yoga is the way to go just like the c940 before it. The 9i still has best in class audio when it comes to display quality, though the winner here is the hp because of its AMOLED display in this video right now, the AMOLED may look blown out, but that's just because it is realistically the more saturated uh display between these two in person, the AMOLED looks basically lifelike, whereas the IPS panel looks a little washed out, but still remember the IPS panel. You can only see this difference side by side, so you really wouldn't think of it.

That way, if it was on its own but again side by side, it is tough to look past the difference here. The quality difference that AMOLED delivers, at least in the hp build, is significant. So again, audio goes to the Lenovo display. Quality goes to the hp. Now, let's talk about the rest of these machines.

Let's get out of uh each of the respective browsers, I'm not going to do any web browsing. We don't need to basically price to performance ratio. I talked about this used to be two grand it's now on sale for 1500 over the holiday, I'm not sure. If that stick, it probably will, and that's because the 11th gen refresh is basically upon us. This machine in retail channels is staying firm, as I mentioned at 1700.

I think in order to get the 4k display and upgrade to an i9 CPU you're, looking at, I think the best buy sells that for over twenty-three hundred dollars. But when it comes to general performance, these things are basically identical. So for photo and video editing. I work primarily in Vegas you're not going to see any difference. I will say that the hp gets hotter faster, so the thermals on the Lenovo- in other words the tendency to throttle, is less so on the yoga that may make your decision for you on its own.

For me personally, there isn't a big enough difference for me to say that I would pick the yoga based on the fact that it is that much cooler because it isn't, but it is cooler at the end of the day it isn't going to get as hot or as loud under load as the hp. That is likely a result of the hp being a little thinner, a little lighter and, of course, internal design being different. So with that said, let's talk about keyboard performance. Now I personally love the specters uh keyboard, my 13t, the 15t, it's the best, in my opinion, in the two in one category that doesn't make the yoga's keyboard bad. It just isn't as good.

So again it's a matter of personal preference. The key travel here is better on the hp. I would, I think, everything about it. It's just a more comfortable typing experience, and then you've got the trackpad so uh longer a little more narrow on the hp compared to the 9i. In my opinion, these are a wash.

I don't like one more than the other. There isn't one that underperforms or over performs for me to say you know this is bad. This is good, or this is good, and this is bad they're. A wash same goes for their fingerprint scanners, as I mentioned at the top of the video big difference with the 720p webcams that are on board is that windows, hello, is supported the facial recognition for unlock on the hp. It is not for the Lenovo another thing.

By the way, both webcams are pretty bad. I would like to see all manufacturers step up and improve their webcam quality. You know it's sad when my Samsung tab, s7 plus webcams, you know outperform these machines when they're, basically at retail, just about two grand each. That's not a good thing, but again windows. Hello does exist here, I'm not in love with that.

Lenovo still has not updated the kill switch for the camera. You can see it's a physical switch, whereas the yoga has an actual switch on the side of the body on the side of the chassis that you can switch that actually disconnects power, it doesn't just cover the camera, so that is a better feature. Another part I like of the hp keyboard, which is really simple, and you'll, hear me talk about it all the time when it comes to hp versus Lenovo is that I really like that the mute button has an actual led, as does the mute for the microphone. We have mute buttons here, but we don't have visual cues so in the world, especially now go living through a pandemic if you're on a Zoom call. I mentioned this in my hp coverage in the past to know that you're, muted, audio or microphone visually without having to go check.

Anything is to me something that I kind of can't look back. I need that. Would that make my choice on which laptop to pick absolutely not. There are more important things to me, but it is still something that's important to reference. The offset trackpad on the Lenovo will disturb some, but you know it's offset on the hp as well, and this is where I remind everyone that OCD aside, you have to realize this is engineered intentionally, because when your hands are on the deck typing, they have moved it over to make sure that you're not going to you know unintentionally, be on that trackpad touching it, and it's just a matter of making space for the numerical keypad, which I think just about.

Everyone welcomes on a desktop replacement class laptop like this really notebook. So with that said, we've talked about display quality. We've talked about keyboard webcam, the GPU. When it comes to gaming, you can basically play modern titles at 1080p with medium to high settings. No ultra is going to happen with, of course, the uh GPU.

That's under the hood of both of these because they're, just not in that tier. They are not a 2000 series GPUs. They are 1000 series, so you're, just not going to get that kind of performance with four gigs of dedicated ram and nvidia's 1650 ti even with max q design, but it is still far better than integrated, even with intel's tiger lake, which is crazy for what, for being an integrated GPU, what iris Xe is capable of still having. This is going to be a great benefit for both photo video, editing and, of course, gaming. Now is it night and day versus what intel is doing with tiger lake? No, it's not night and day.

Things have gotten a lot closer, but you won't be disappointed and again, this is all about your price to performance ratio and in this price range, you really aren't going to see this sort of build quality, uh and overall capability uh, without spending more to get a better performing GPU. So keep that in mind. There are no machines that compete directly with these that do sport uh, you know 2060s or 2070s. They just don't exist really, so these are the mainstays in the mainstream uh beyond the displays, keyboards processor performance, the NVMe drives, are pretty much a wash on these as well. They benchmark very similarly you're not going to have any issues you can upgrade them.

So that's good Wi-Fi performance on both excellent and that's because you do have intel's Wi-Fi 6 chipsets behind both of these much like the previous generation, so that is also a big plus for both of these machines. I won't say: that's future-proof completely. You know, Wi-Fi 6e is somewhere down the road. Whether anyone wants to discuss it or not. So that's something to be aware of so.

We've discussed gaming now as well again in my experience, they're awash, but remember the Lenovo slightly basically slightly cooler and not as loud on the fans kicking up. That doesn't mean that the hp will burn you, but both of these machines inherently will get hot because of how much power they've packed into such thin profiles, I mean both of these are under an inch thick. Keep that in mind. I mean that is really crazy when you think about how powerful these machines are and that they both have 15.6 inch displays and dedicated GPUs. Let's talk about pen input so with the hp uh.

This is the standard pen, that's included, and it's n-trig driven um we've already done a drawing and inking demo with the hp, and it's solid. My fianc? is the one who gets behind the inking here, and I just give you the feedback and basically what it comes down to, and we haven't done an inking demo yet, but she has spent time inking with both this 9i and the 14-inch version is that the Wacom experience is slightly better, but when it comes to software optimization, they both are dealing with the same crappy um software. So basically, while the performance of the yoga is slightly better- and I like, as does my fianc?- that the pen is garaged on body which I'll be getting to a little later, it doesn't outperform it enough for me to say, go with the yoga. If pen input is the most important thing to you, because at the end of the day, both are very good, the difference is really uh that they're both limited. It's not a difference.

It's what they share in common by the lack of software support, so you're still going to be better suited going with something like the Galaxy Tab, s7 plus for pen input over windows based two and ones. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they don't function. It doesn't mean that they aren't useful they're. Just not good enough. I think for true artists to rely on and that's what it comes down to.

When you look at two-and-ones, I think that's really going to ultimately continue to be my point until software manufacturers step up their game or the next generation of windows. Frankly, with that aside, let's talk about battery life. I mentioned that briefly, before they're, pretty much a wash you're looking at your know, five to six hours, with everything maxed out uh to charge these up you're. Looking at an hour and a half with their included uh, you know proprietary chargers. Both of them are proprietary, 135 watts, one of the big differences on the chassis of the hp.

Besides the display, the fact that it's AMOLED, not 4k but AMOLED, is that you do have a micro SD card reader, which I think is a huge difference. But then the yoga in its benefit has two thunderbolt 3 ports, whereas the hp only has one. So keep that in mind. That's another important thing: if you plan on utilizing two thunderbolt 3 ports, you've got let's say a NVMe drive as well as you want the ability to output. You know, 4k 60 or just you need that throughput in general is what I should be saying: the yoga's the more powerful machine in that regard, because you have two thunderbolt 3 ports, and that is critical.

So while this may have the micro SD card slot, I actually think having the two thunderbolt 3 ports is more important, and the yoga has that I already mentioned the kill switch for the camera here. That is a big difference over that physical plastic switch. Both of these can be opened with a single hand. Both of them are really solid in terms of uh, their actual axis staying in position, however, you have them set up, you can see eventually they don't lift, you might think they would, but they don't um and build quality is excellent on both of these, although I will say the yoga is a more solid overall product, it's just the build quality, there's less flex, there's actually almost basically zero flex on this, and not that there is on the hp. But the hp has a little more of a hollow feel, but it is the lighter machine of the two.

So keep that in mind now, let's take a walk around the body of each of these machines. So I mentioned we already know the yoga's got that sound bar, which the audio is you know far and away better than basically anything on the market. Forget the hp but uh, and when it comes to the rest of the body very clean design, you can see the power button right there. We've got a type. An USB port here is the pen.

Now the garage pen is a great concept. It keeps it stored it recharges, but take a look at that pen and take a look at the standard, hp pen, and you start to realize that, while it's great to have it garaged, it's not great that it is so small. So that's a very big difference right there uh putting that on the wrong machine in itself that you should be aware of that, while it's great to have that garaged pen, the performance of the garage pen is also good, but the ergonomics of having that stylus that reminds me of the late 90s is not ideal. This pen is definitely superior. Hp now has a tilt refresh, which I have not gotten my hands on.

I have the original tilt. This is not it. They don't sell the original tilt anymore. It was a few years old, so it was time for a refresh. So I can't speak to the performance of that pen, but any n-trig pen is going to work here.

Any Wacom pen is going to work here. So keep that in mind, but still important to know. There is a pretty big difference between these two pens, all right, whereas there isn't a huge difference between their actual performance but uh. There is a place to slot this on the case that comes with the hp. No case comes with the yoga, so be aware of that, but I didn't finish the tour of the yoga's body, so you can slot this back in it.

Charges up really quickly. That's a big benefit. Besides the audio quality, build quality, some yoga branding right here on the lid. Hopefully that's in focus for you right now, yoga 9 series and then on the left side. We've got, of course, our proprietary uh charging port for that 135 watt supply.

We have two thunderbolt 3 ports, as I mentioned now, thunderbolt 4 is becoming standard in new machines. This is likely going to be the last revision of this machine with thunderbolt 3 and then the microphone headphone combo jack. Nothing else on this, except for ventilation and, as you already know, the ability, of course, to go 360 degrees, which is a given with these machines' portrait landscape, whatever you want you've got it tablet mode. Now, I don't think tablet mode is ideal, but it is still completely usable. There are no feet on this keyboard for those of you wondering when it is placed on a table, nothing to buffer uh, the actual keyboard itself, which is another difference between this and the hp, so be aware of that, but incredibly well-made, and it's more expensive than the hp go figure.

I'm not sure why anymore, but the sale now on the hp kind of makes it a no-brainer, and that really is where I'm headed is that I love both of these, but the pricing on the hp, even if it runs a little hotter, makes it the more attractive buy, because it's also more versatile. The only thing the hp has against it. Personally, I like the styling of the yoga better, but the only thing where the yoga really shines besides thermals against the hp is the audio quality. That's it so keep that in mind now on the right side of the machine. Well, this is another place, one thunderbolt 3 port, the other one is just a type c, so we do not have two thunderbolt 3 ports.

That's another area where the yoga 9i excels type a then the camera kill switch again, love that we have a kill switch, and then you can see micro SD card slot. Now a lot of people think this is to supplement storage. For me, it's not. I switched over to using micro, SD cards for photography and videography as much as possible, for the very reason that you see right here. Manufacturers have just moved away from giving us full-size SD card slots, that's something I wish both of these machines had and then something that this machine has that the yoga doesn't that.

I think a lot of people are going to appreciate, but you don't really need is a full-size HDMI port now, because the yoga has this thunderbolt 3 ports. Those of course can be used with a thunderbolt 3, basically, a type c to HDMI, so you'll just have to pick up a cable and not a big deal. But if you are in your know, search looking for a full-size, HDMI port- you have it here, and then you have your proprietary uh, pin charger for the included 135 watt, uh charging, brick and, of course, that headphone microphone, combo jack ventilation, ventilation and some more ventilation and some more ventilation, but even at the end of the day, it's still not enough to necessarily keep this as cool as I've stated as the Lenovo runs, but that's pretty much it powers button is right here on the edge uh. This is a matter, I think more of uh personal preference when it comes to the style of this machine uh. I think that this is, I feel, like a look and feel that's going to be more universal, where this is going to be either you're going to love it or hate it.

Sort of relationship. I've grown to really like the look of the gem cut design from hp that the specter sports, but I do prefer it in the silver color, as opposed to the nightfall black that you're seeing here, I think it's nightfall or yeah. I think it's nightfall. But again you can't go wrong with either of these. It's really a matter of matching what your specific personal needs are to each machine.

So I know a lot of people out there. Unlike myself, don't care about the 4k AMOLED display they're, going to be prone to this 1080p panel, and you're going to be really satisfied with color reproduction, regardless of what things look like in this video color accuracy is close on these, but again the hp has a little more versatility because of the AMOLED. It's inherent brightness. Also, similar. I think the hp is around 400 nits.

I think the yoga's a little over 400 nits of brightness. It is HDR 400 rated, so keep that in mind uh, so it really comes down to which you prefer, but you will not be uh upset with either of these that's my way of putting it. You know. Occasionally I get a comment about the hp that it runs really hot, but the majority of people that purchase this machine are happy with its performance, and they understand that there is no two in one like these two machines really to compare to other than these two, and you can't get too critical. You know to the point of not enjoying using it.

I mean these are fantastic machines I easily can recommend both of them. My next purchase is likely going to be one of these uh. Once we get a tiger lake refresh that really delivers performance, that's above and beyond what I currently can do now. I say that because I'm happily served by my 13t right now, which is a smaller version of this now dedicated GPU and, of course, nowhere near the processing power, but it's still not worlds apart, and that's why I say: when tiger lake drops, which is just about here- it's already happening. That's when I'm going to be very curious to see how much of a performance jump we get.

I also would like to see a refresh of the NVIDIA GPUs, believe it or not. A lot of people are, you know, going to be completely satisfied with what is inside both of these machines, but for me personally again, I'm waiting for something a little more powerful. I know it's coming. Uh NVIDIA mentioned that we're going to see uh. You know next gen, basically 3000 series uh mobile GPUs in 2021.

That's what I want to see make its way into something like this. I'm not saying that it's going to ever be in the specter or the yoga 9 series, because we don't know that it will, but if it is a possibility I'm holding out, but until then, if I had to pick one of these machines today, I would pick the hp solely because, as I just mentioned before, most users I think, will be prone to 1080p it's less expensive, and they don't. They can't justify the 4k. I, as a content, creator need that 4k and the 15.6 inch display is preferable to my 13t in terms of weight. You know I said 4.2 something versus 4.4, something it's a wash. They have the same footprint pretty much, so it really comes down to your budget and your priorities.

Card reader, for me, is pretty much a must-have, but I can tell you right now: if Lenovo put an AMOLED display on the yoga, I would forget about the card reader. I would forget about the keyboard performance. I would forget about the keyboard. You know the LED notifications. I forget about windows, hello, so that tells you a lot about how hp has won me over with the AMOLED display.

Every consumer is different. Every person's preferences and priorities are going to be different, and I'm going to reiterate that, because it's not a cut and dry comparison for anyone trying to figure out which one is right for them. I've already stated pretty much everything you need to know display performance battery life. Processor GPU performance is again, the edge goes to the yoga, because thermals are better. In other words, throttling is going to kick in less often with the yoga under load, but for the majority of users out there throttling isn't going to be a huge issue, even gaming, even video editing.

You know it's really do you leave your laptop on a bed or something where it can't breathe properly. Do you keep it lifted? Do you put it on a stand so that airflow is optimized in those situations? It's not going to matter how hot the machine gets, and we are in a pandemic. So you're, not you shouldn't really be traveling anywhere for your own and for your family safety. Of course, I'm not telling you what to do. You want to live by the seat of your pants.

It's up to you. You'll also, you know, find the edge uh that way as well. So it's all a matter of personal preference, but again uh for not taking these out on the road and if you do have them on a stand or something, then heat isn't going to be an issue and throttling is going to be so close that also shouldn't be making your decision because they are that close in performance. So, ultimately, as I stated for me, the display, plus the keyboard plus the windows, hello capability, uh, it makes me want the hp, but then again as a power user. Having the two thunderbolt three ports, that creates an ability in my workflow that I just I can't get out of the hp, so I would need to use a hub with the thunderbolt 3 single port on this machine, and then there are those of you that will want the hp because of the HDMI port, which I actually don't even care about years ago, I would have said no, no HDMI on a 15.6 inch, desktop replacement style, machine, uh you're not going to get my business now, that's just not the case! So again, I'm going to reiterate you can't go wrong with either of these. It's really a matter of, I would say if anything, uh decide based on style how about that, because when it comes to performance and pricing, because when it comes to performance, they're pretty much a wash.

So if you just pick- and it's ironic- you know I'm just about at 30 minutes, if you just pick based on which one you think is nicer, looking okay and is more palatable to your budget you're not going to go wrong because at the end of the day, as I've described performance, is that close that they're just they're both best in class when it comes to two and ones here at the end of 2020. If you can wait, wait because tiger lake is upon us uh and, as I mentioned I'll, be waiting to see what we get in the form of uh new dedicated GPUs in the mobile space from NVIDIA AMD is also doing a lot of promising stuff I'll, probably get some comments about where the AMD machines hey, if they send them to me, I'm reviewing them AMD is doing great stuff uh here, but intel is answering back with tiger lake in a big way that doesn't mean AMD doesn't still have some tricks up its sleeve. It doesn't mean any that intel doesn't have some as well, but again uh. Both of these, I would be happy with uh as a video, editing, gaming uh and photo editing station. They really do serve in every possible way, but, as I've mentioned for me, the hp is the winner.

I, like that, it's lighter. I like the display, is better. Furthermore, I, like the keyboard, is better. Those are important things to me, but, as I already mentioned, if Lenovo gave us an ole duh, it would be game over so Lenovo. Please listen to me.

Listen to somebody put an OLED in this or the 14-inch model. You will be happy that you did, but that rounds it out again. Two fantastic notebooks they're, not perfect. Both have thermal issues both will get hot under load, both don't have amazing battery life, but they do in context of being desktop replacements that are two-in-ones both have very solid pen input that ultimately ends up being limited by the quality of the software that exists inside of windows for inking and uh. Really it's a matter again of budget and personal taste either way.

You cannot go wrong with either of these, and I hope that I helped you through the course of this video, because that's all I really ever aim to do on this channel and that's based on, of course, my own opinion and experience with the products uh, no sponsorship, no payment never have taken a dollar don't plan on it. That's the way you keep journalism, honest and true any questions or comments. Please feel free to post them, hit that like button and as usual, please feel free to subscribe, and please stay safe later.

Source : TheDigitalDigest