Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition (2025)  Laptop Review

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition is mediocre for gaming. Every configuration uses integrated Intel Arc graphics, and while the Arc 140V on Core Ultra 7 and 9 models is a little faster than the Core Ultra 5's Arc 130V, neither is meant for demanding games. Lighter titles like Civilization VII are playable, but demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 run at low frame rates even on our Core Ultra 7 unit. The 2.8k OLED panels on both sizes have a 120Hz refresh rate and a fast response time, but there's no FreeSync or G-SYNC to reduce screen tearing, and the 14-inch model's base 1920 x 1200 panel is limited to 60Hz.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition is great for media consumption. This laptop is very portable, thanks to its compact design, and with our 15-inch unit's battery lasting nearly 19 hours of video playback, you can easily get through multiple movies and TV show episodes without reaching for the charger. Its OLED display looks sharp and colorful, and like all OLEDs, it produces deep, inky blacks, making it fantastic for dark room viewing and HDR content. Our unit's OLED display flickers at 480Hz, though, so it may cause some eye strain if you're sensitive to flickering. The 15-inch model's speakers sound clear and well-balanced, with a good amount of bass. They get loud, too, but they distort a bit at higher volume levels. The 14-inch model has a smaller battery and two speakers rather than four, so battery life and sound quality may differ.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition is mediocre for heavy workloads. Its Intel Lunar Lake SoC is a low-power chip that can handle only light-to-moderately demanding tasks. Also, you can only get up to 32GB of soldered RAM, which isn't enough for highly intensive workloads. You can do some color-correction work, though, as our unit's 2.8k OLED display has full DCI-P3 and near-full Adobe RGB coverage. On our 15-inch unit, thermal throttling is minimal, and the laptop doesn't get hot or loud under load.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition has outstanding battery life. Our unit, with its 80Wh battery, lasts over 15 hours of light use and nearly 19 hours of video playback, so it easily gets through a full workday. The 14-inch model has a smaller 55Wh battery, so expect shorter runtimes with a similar configuration.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition has outstanding build quality with an all-aluminum design. It feels very sturdy, with very little flex in the lid or keyboard deck, and the finish resists scratches, though it picks up some fingerprints. The hinge is smooth and lets you open the lid with one finger, but the screen wobbles a bit, especially when you use the touchscreen.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition has poor graphics performance. Every configuration uses integrated Intel Arc graphics, and the Arc 140V on Core Ultra 7 and 9 models is a little faster than the Core Ultra 5's Arc 130V. Both are fine for everyday use, video playback, and lighter games, but demanding games and GPU-heavy creative work run poorly on any model.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition has adequate processing performance. All of its Lunar Lake processors have eight cores and handle everyday tasks like web browsing, document work, and video calls smoothly, but they're slower than higher-power chips at heavy multi-threaded work. The differences between the Core Ultra 5, 7, and 9 options are hard to notice in light productivity work. Our 15-inch unit barely throttles under long loads, though sustained performance on the smaller 14-inch model can differ.