**Coming Review** Lenovo Yoga 9i 14" 8th Gen (and discounts!)

 (Go to the bottom of this post to learn more about discounts via LifeMart. I'd never heard of it until recently, but... it's a money-saver.)

The Lenovo saga continues.

Because I have an amazing family and because my current laptop keeps dying on me, I have a Yoga 9i coming.

When I was trying out the Flex 7i (refurbs), I did dream of the Yoga laptop. There was no way I could swing it. It's too pricey for me and I thought of it purely as a dream machine. When I posted online about a super-slick dual-screen laptop I saw, my family was like, "Do you want that?"

Uh, yes. Duh. Right? 

But wanting and needing are not the same. And I told them that I would much prefer the 2-in-1 style that I've gotten used to. I mean, dual-screen laptops are very James Bond-ish but my life is not. 

For me, I need something I can use during long appointments at the clinic and for those days when I am stuck in bed feeling like crap. And the 2-in-1 style suits that. I can use it as a notebook when I'm in bed or I can tent it to fit the tiny tables attached to the infusion chairs, and I can use it in almost any part of my apartment. My laptop is my life. I use it to track reminders and calendar notes and, yes, I blog with it.

Blogging is the one thing I do that keeps my mood up and gets me through my sick days. So, would I like to have that fancy dual-screen setup? I'd have loved to have it when I was busy working and dealing with a normal life - and could buy it for myself. But, for now, I have to be realistic.

What I asked for: the Yoga 7i. What I'm getting: the 9i with more RAM and more storage. How blessed am I? 

As I wait for the laptop - and, as I write this, it will be 5 weeks of waiting! - I couldn't help but read some more reviews. And this is where I got frustrated.

When searching for reviews of "Lenovo Yoga 9i", I had to weed through reviews that had nothing to do with the Yoga 9i 2-in-1. There were reviews for the dual-screen Yoga; the slim Yoga; and, Yoga of earlier generations. I mistyped a couple of times and got results for Yoda and for (Hindu) Yoga.

Finally, I found several reviews that applied. Okay. New frustration and a new rant:

Why do so many reviewers try to compare Windows to Mac? Almost every review I saw tried comparing the Yoga to the Macbook. Why? I am not a Mac user. Mac and Windows are two different systems. It's as if I was looking for reviews of hiking trails (that will never happen!) and got comparisons of that with frontage roads.

If reviewers are going to do comparisons, they should stick to comparing Windows machines against Windows machines. Since I was looking at 2-in-1 setups, maybe even just compare those types of setups.

One of my brothers is a Mac-head (?) and I respect that. However, I have always been a Windows user. I'm not interested in switching operating systems. I don't care how fast, pretty, smooth, all-wonderful, blah-blah-blah the Mac is. I just don't care.

Okay. Rant over.

From reading several reviews and watching a ton of videos, I learned that the Yoga 9i is/has...:

• The best keyboard ever (or else it's not the greatest)
• A super display - even with just the 2k version (or, nope, get the 4k!)
• An amazing speaker system (but maybe kind of "tinny")
• A genius-designed speaker setup (but still doesn't sound quite as good as the Mac.
• A beautiful-looking laptop (but not as beautiful or thin or light-weight as the Mac)
• Great hinges that are sturdy and just stiff enough (or might break if you look at them)
• (Unlike the great and wonderful Mac) a stylus. (But the Mac is still a superior machine.)
• 2 nice color choices (but not as many color choices as the Mac has)
• "Benchmarks" are better than most laptops (even the Mac in some areas! But we won't focus too much on that...)
• Is a wonderful machine that is perfect for most users (you know, the ones that don't have a Mac.)
• A good touchscreen (but a bit too "slick".) And a stylus that writes as smoothly as a regular pen. Of course, until Mac comes out with these features, they are not all that important! LOL.

Windows or Mac?

Overall, I think this is going to be the perfect machine for me. The only things I can tell for now that I might not love:

• There are not a lot of ports. I never paid much attention until now but my Dell has enough ports that I can plug in my wireless mouse and my printer at the same time, and charge some other devices. Though to be fair, there are a couple of ports (or whatever) on the Dell that I have never used. I have no need for HDMI or card readers. I barely know what they are.
• Lenovo's support. I tried my hardest to find the model I wanted on Amazon. Especially because the family is paying for the machine, I could afford to get one of those amazing 4-year Asurion warranties. With Lenovo, I got the 1-year Accidental Damage coverage and the basic 1-year courier or carry-in warranty.
• I have no idea how good or bad Lenovo support is. I do know that I've heard some "iffy" things.

That's about it though for any negatives. Right now.

Some of the negatives that reviewers pointed out don't bother me. A lot of pros and cons about any laptop depends on the user preferences. For instance, some reviewers weren't in love with the pen/stylus but that's not unusual. I love the stylus for my Dell but one of my nieces tried it out once and declared that it was "kind of weird". She's a Windows user but has never used a stylus. It can be weird until you t used to it.

A couple of reviewers liked the graphics for everyday use but don't think they are great for gamers. So what? The most gaming I do is a bit of Solitaire and Farmville. What I do like the graphics for is watching Netflix or YouTube. I'm not over here freaking out on Fortnight (or whatever it's called).

A lot of reviews kvetched about no "on-board" storage for the pen. (One guy actually used the term "on-board" like he's a Navy specialist.) Maybe if my Dell had "on-board" storage for the pen I'd feel let down but... I know how to carry my pen in my case or purse or whatever without losing it. And I lose my glasses while they are on my head! People, just tuck your pen in your shirt or purse or something. (By the way, the sides of the Dell are magnetized to hold the pen but... weak magnets!)

By the way, I didn't realize this until after the laptop was on order but it comes with a sleeve. Not that exciting for me but, hey you pen-losers, there is a spot for the pen on the sleeve. So there you go.

When the ordering was all done and I was thanking my family for the laptop, my Mac-using brother said that I could have spent a bit more and gotten the James Bond dual-screen one - or maybe even a Mac, I just laughed. I'm happy-to-pieces with this Yoga. Let's not forget that I could be rocking a refurbed $300 machine. Instead, I have something that I absolutely don't even deserve. So I have zero complaints. Even the Mac-loving brother admits that, if he did use Windows, he'd choose a Lenovo.

Since my family sprung for this lovely machine, I truly realize that, with gifts. it really is the thought. Just the idea that I am so loved in this crazy clan of ours is my biggest "forever-gift". My family is always there for emotional support and they put up with my depression and anxiety without conditions. If that is all they ever did for me, that would be more than enough.

So.

When I get the new laptop, you know that I will review the crap out of it!

Peace

--Free

DISCOUNTS

I don't want to forget to mention that there were coupons involved in this purchase. I wanted to save my family every nickel I could. 

When you get ready to buy anything - travel, products, services - be sure to know that my Medicare (UHC) gives access to LifeMart. It's available in several ways, apparently. Do some searching and ask around. Perhaps you have a credit card or insurance or something that will grant free access to LifeMart?

Via Lifemart, I got a coupon there that saved around $250. Then the salesman found another coupon that saved around $45. Every bit adds up. So, please, please, please, check for any coupons you can find. When you can, ask the salesman for any other savings that may be available.

Teachers, students, and seniors can get discounts for many purchases - as can former and current military personnel.

All told the coupons and benefits saved us around $322. That's dang near the price of the refurbed laptop I tried out.

Shop around and shop wisely!

UPDATED **SIFO** PT 1 of SO Many Things About Amazon (that you probably did not know)

UPDATE: 

As of June 10th, when I checked, the link to the Amazon Directory no longer works. The best way to find your way around the site now is to go to the very bottom of any page and check those links. It looks like this:

The link for afro-natural or "textured hair" is here.

I will try to locate any of the other missing pages and add the links as I can in future updates.

***NOTE: Sorry that some of the photos are small. You can enlarge the view using  CTRL and the  + key on your browser or just click on the photo and see what happens.:***

This post started out just being about the Amazon Outlet, some deals and the coupon pages. But... I decided to go deeper. Instead of one simple post, this turned into such a monster that I just had to break it up into parts. So...

 This part is going to just cover a couple of my favorite things about Amazon. Later, I will get deeper into the site directory and highlight some really interesting parts. Or at least the parts I find most interesting. For now, let's get to the potentially money-saving sections...

Outlet, Coupons & Deals

I didn't think about this when I wrote the SIFO post on finding your Amazon stats. I was reading this story recently about the spat between PayPal and Amazon when I realized a lot of people might not even know about t the Amazon Outlet. (I just love an outlet. I once almost got lost in New Mexico trying to find one I'd heard about. I was on my way to drive the Alcan and was almost a couple of days late because of my distraction. Never did find that outlet.)

enlarge the photo to see the other deals, steals & woot-woots at top of page with blue arrow

To be honest, I don't go cruising through the Amazon Outlet just to window-shop. Doing that would make it too easy for me to talk myself into random purchases. What I do use it for is to check for deals on something I am already planning to buy. It's already hard enough to go on Amazon, get what I want, and get out before I start thinking I really just might need whatever gadget Buzzfeed is pushing. I once almost bought a clip-on couch table. I never sit on my couch long enough to need a place to rest beverages or the remote.

Still, I think everyone should know about the Outlet. I will tell you a couple of things about it before you check it out though.

1. It is a lot like Amazon's Deals (see photo below) that most people only notice during the holiday shopping season. You can get tricked into going back into the Outlet for a price that was shown as "starting at". While there, you might start looking around again. It's a little like a brick and mortar store rearranging their aisles so you have to wander around noticing a lot of other stuff while looking for your regular items.
2. There are some good deals to be had, but you should still do a regular search on the whole site. Also, it's smart to search for items - not only in the Outlet but also sitewide - by using the department filter to keep wandering-eyes-temptations low.
3. I don't care what Amazon says, the Honey/browser extension has been great for auto-applying coupon codes on a lot of sites I visit. I almost always save at least 10 or 20 % on vape devices and supplies because of Honey. (And, yes, like every other app or site in the world, Honey probably does collect your data. Go in and select to opt-out of that or see what the other options are for controlling the use of your info.)

I use Amazon a lot and I am not deceived. They are in the business of selling stuff - and not necessarily helping you find the lowest price on their site. Have you ever tried to do a search and start filtering by price or ratings? Notice how some things with great prices and ratings don't show up? Yeah. I see what you're doing there, Amazon... 

Take a note that there is a page for Amazon Coupons also. You probably have seen these pop up next to an item on the product page or when checking out. It will be something like 5- or 10% off and instructs you to "clip the coupon" so that you see the discount before paying. Using this coupon page, you can clip before you send the item into your cart. You can sort and filter by coupons you have used before or by certain department sections. Notice that across the top of the Coupons page, there are links to other enticing "deals". Just don't go click-crazy. Bezos already has a private jet so let's not buy him more.

I really am amazed at how many people don't know about these links. I mentioned the Outlet to a neighbor before writing this post and she was totally blown away. This is one of my very few neighbors who shops online for everything the same way I do. I thought she was going to put me in her will when I told her about all the other links on Amazon. I am not sure why these things are kind of hidden - or at least, aren't easy to spot if you don't know about them. I can't remember but I think that I found out about them when I learned about the yearly "Lightning Deals" a few years back.

Anway.

Once again, all these price-saving links are ways to get you to look at stuff you might not need to be tempted with. I use this the same way I use the Outlet: check only for items I was already intending to buy. You have been warned.

One last tip about the Outlet: make sure to price check things there against Walmart and your local shops. Amazon is very often not the cheapest. This is especially true for food items.

In the next post (Part 2) I will go over part of the Amazon Directory which is just one big, budget-killer rabbit hole. Oh, it's gonna get deep...

Peace
--Free

Once again, instead of music, I thought I would share this. It's old but interesting and I am still poking fun at Buzzfeed, though I do love their lists of products on Flipboard Mag - this one for example

I give them so much respect (or maybe not) for trying this stuff

because all of it is a big old NOPE for me