More laptop are rolling out with Intel ’s newLunar Lakechipset , which is take primarily at jibe Qualcomm and Apple in terms of efficiency and battery life . We ’ve go over a couple of such machines with assorted solution so far , and another just crossed my desk . The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is an attractive political machine on paper and offers us another fortune to test the new chipset .
The Yoga Slim 7i is a bit unusual , in that it ’s a15 - inch laptopwhen most manufacturers are swivel to 16 - inch display . That match it against theApple MacBook Air 15and theMicrosoft Surface Laptop , both of which are very solid competitors . As I discovered , the Yoga Slim 7i earns itself a spot at that table .
Specs and configuration
There are two basic model of the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Addition . The $ 1,280 base model has an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V chipset , 16 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , and a 15.3 - in 2.8 K IPS presentation ( the only option ) . Upgrading to a 1 TB SSD costs an additional $ 42 . The eminent - close model is $ 1,422 for a Core Ultra 7 258V , 32 GB of RAM , and a 1 TB SSD .
The MacBook Air 15 starts at at around the same point , $ 1,299 , for an 8 - core CPU/10 - core GPU M3 chipset , but it has just 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD . To agree the Yoga Slim 7i base theoretical account , you ’ll expend $ 1,699 . The eminent - end MacBook Air 15 is $ 2,499 for 24 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD . The Surface Laptop also starts at $ 1,299 with a Snapdragon X elect chipset , and that nets you 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD store . Upgrading to a 512 GB SSD occur out at $ 1,499 , and then with 64 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD , it ’s a passel more expensive as well at $ 2,499 .
The Yoga Slim 7i is more beautifully price than its prompt challenger . As we ’ll see , that make it a strong value .
Design
The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition ( Yoga Slim 7i from here on out ) is a nifty laptop to look at and to hold in hand . To start out with , its all - atomic number 13 building is quite whole , with no meaningful deflection , flexing , or wrench in the eyelid , keyboard deck , or figure .
It ’s at least the equal of the MacBook Air and the Surface Laptop , both of which are also fabulously well - built . The hinge is a small tight and so you require two hands to launch the lid , but it does avoid any wobble . The rounded boundary make it well-to-do to hold , although like many laptop computer today , the palm rest edges could be a bit smoother .
And the Yoga Slim 7i live up to its name . Even with a 15.3 - inch show , it ’s quite thin at just 0.55 inch . The MacBook Air 15 is fragile at an harebrained 0.45 inches , while the Surface Laptop is considerably thickheaded at 0.72 inches . The Yoga Slim 7i and MacBook Air are or so the same weight , at around 3.3 pounds , while the Surface Laptop is a scrap heavier at 3.67 pounds . That makes the Yoga Slim 7i a unusually portable laptop computer with a great display .
esthetically , the Yoga Slim 7i sticks with Lenovo ’s latest blueprint that ’s forward-looking , minimalist , and graceful . It omes in a grim gray semblance with reasonably minor exhibit bezel and Lenovo ’s now - iconic reverse pass at the top that house the webcam electronics .
That ’s the opposite of Apple ’s display pass on the MacBook Air . The Surface Laptop has slightly larger bezels . Really , all of these are gorgeous laptop in their own way , and the Yoga Slim 7i deserves consideration on that foundation alone .
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is the same as Lenovo apply across almost all its laptop . It has large , sculpted keycaps with mass of central spacing , and the electric switch are sensibly deep with a snappy , exact flavor . I wish it quite a piece , almost as much as my favorite , Apple ’s Magic Keyboard . I was up to full speed immediately , and I was able-bodied to typecast this review without any weariness .
The touchpad is less impressive . It could be larger , to begin with , and both the MacBook Air and Surface Laptop have large touchpads . Also , it ’s mechanical , where more bounty laptops are offer haptic version — such as the best , the Force Touch haptic touchpad on MacBooks with the groundbreaking Force Click feature . Lenovo has some just tactile touchpads on other models , such as theThinkPad Z16 , so I wish it had added it here .
The display is touch - enable , which I like . It ’s not a do - or - die characteristic , but I miss it when I ’m using a MacBook .
Connectivity and webcam
Connectivity is very beneficial , with a mix of modern and legacy connection . It ’s better than the MacBook Air ’s two Thunderbolt 4 ports , while the Surface Laptop is unaired with two USB4 and one USB - A. I do wish the Yoga Slim 7i had an South Dakota circuit card lecturer . Wireless connectivity is fully up to date .
The webcam is a 1080p variant , and it supports the full complement of Copilot+ AI functionality like enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects . The Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) exceeds the Copilot+ baseline of 40 Pidlimdi military operation per second ( TOPS ) , and thus can handle more efficient on - machine AI processing as more features roll out . The Surface Laptop also supports Copilot+ , while the MacBook Air 15 run Apple Intelligence — a very different approach to on - machine AI than Microsoft ’s initiative .
Performance
The biggest story here is the initiation of Intel Lunar Lake , also known as Core Ultra Series 2 . The unexampled chipset is concentrate on efficiency , running at 17 watts and represent a direct replacement for the 15 - watt Meteor Lake U - series . The Core Ultra 7 258V in my follow-up unit has eight core ( four Performance and four Low Power Efficient ) and eight threads . Right now , there ’s no lineal replacement for the 28 - W Core Ultra H - series , which will be number with Intel Arrow Lake .
The challenge is that it ’s come up against the Qualcomm Snapdragon X serial , which is also aimed at efficiency . As we ’ll see , the Yoga Slim 7i is at a actual disadvantage in term of performance . The 12 - inwardness Snapdragon X Elite and 10 - core Snapdragon X Plus are profligate , as is AMD ’s new Ryzen AI 9 and earliest Meteor Lake H - series machines .
Interestingly , the Yoga Slim 7i was more competitive with the other laptops in our comparing group in the Cinebench R24 multi - core examination while falling a little behind the other two Lunar Lake laptops in the single - core trial run . It was also slower in the Geekbench 6 individual - sum psychometric test , but competitive in multi - core . And then , in our Handbrake video recording encryption trial , it was importantly faster than theAsus ExpertBook P5andZenBook S 14 . The MacBook Air M3 is much faster than all these laptop computer in undivided - center performance and militant in multi - core group .
Overall , the Yoga Slim 7i is immobile enough for demanding productivity user , but Lunar Lake is clearly not a bounce forward in performance compare to other new chipsets . Note that it uses the integrated Intel Arc 140V graphics , which are fast than former generations , but still quite a bit slower than even integrated discrete graphic .
Battery life
Efficiency is where the rubber meet the road in evaluating Lunar Lake . Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon X , which runs on Windows on Arm , was a Brobdingnagian footmark forward for Windows laptops , but it was n’t warm enough to unseat Apple ’s M3 chipset in overall battery lifespan .
Our previous two Lunar Lake machine did n’t quite touch , and so I was eager to melt down out electric battery tests on the Yoga Slim 7i . The laptop computer has a 15.3 - inch exhibit and 70 James Watt - hour stamp battery , which is slimly more than the 66 W - time of day bombardment in both the MacBook Air 15 and the Surface Laptop .
With that in mind , the Yoga Slim 7i did passably well . It matched the Surface Laptop in our connection - browsing test , while the Surface Laptop endure a long longer loop our trial video . The MacBook Air M3 solution here are with the 13 - inch model , but the 15 - inch machine would likely do at least as well .
Overall , this help oneself solidify Lunar Lake as one of the most efficient Windows chipsets yet , but not of necessity the most efficient — and it ’s still not quite as efficient as Apple ’s M3 . And the upcoming M4 chipset is potential to be even more efficient .
Display and audio
The Yoga Slim 7i has one show option , a 15.3 - column inch 2.8 K ( 2880 x 1800 ) IPS panel running at up to 120Hz . Out of the box seat , it ’s it ’s quite nice , although I admit that I ’m spoiled by OLED displays and by Apple ’s mini - LED panels in its MacBook Pros . I would favor a slightly sharper resolution , but I ’m trusted most people wo n’t beware .
agree to my colorimeter , this is good display give the engineering science . It was very bright at 532 nits , around the same as the Surface Laptop ’s 561 nit and more than the MacBook Air ’s 475 nit . Its dividing line was very full for IPS at 1,460:1 , with the MacBook at 1,200:1 and the Surface Laptop at 1,440:1 . Its colors came in at 99 % of sRGB , 74 % of AdobeRGB , and 74 % of DCI - P3 , which isaverage for IPS . Both the Surface Laptop and MacBook Air were secure , at 100 % , 85 % , and 95 % , and 100 % , 90 % , and 95 % , severally . The Lenovo display was very color accurate at a Delta - E of 0.93 , compare to the MacBook Air 15 at 1.23 and the Surface Laptop at 1.27 .
You wo n’t fault this exhibit for most study , but the other two laptop computer will be better for creators .
The four - speaker audio , with two tweeters and two woofers , was first-class . There was a crowd of distorted shape - free intensity , with exculpated mids and highs and a decent amount of bass part . Apple ’s MacBook Pro 14still has better audio with its six - utterer frame-up , but the Yoga Slim 7i sound safe than both the MacBook Air 15 and Surface Laptop .
A great new Windows laptop with much better battery life
The Yoga Slim 7i front some stiff rivalry among the modified number of 15 - in laptops . It ’s just as well - built as its contender and it looks great . It ’s very portable — though not quite as flimsy as the MacBook Air 15 — and light enough that you wo n’t mind carrying it around .
It ’s also surprisingly affordable , more so than the other two I ’ve advert throughout this reassessment . That makes it very attractive . It ’s not the fastest laptop , but it gets very practiced battery life . If you ’re looking for a tumid laptop computer with a lot to offer , the Yoga Slim 7i should be on your list .
