## Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Review: A Solid 15-Inch Laptop with Great Battery Life
The world of laptops is abuzz with talk about efficiency and battery life, and Intel’s new Lunar Lake chipset aims to take on the likes of Qualcomm and Apple in this arena. We’ve been testing several machines equipped with this chipset, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is a compelling contender.
This laptop stands out with its 15.3-inch display, a size that’s becoming less common as manufacturers gravitate towards 16-inch models. This puts it in direct competition with the Apple MacBook Air 15 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop, both of which are highly regarded.
### Specs and Pricing: A Competitive Value
The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (from here on, we’ll just call it the Yoga Slim 7i) comes in two main configurations. The base model, priced at $1,280, features an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 15.3-inch 2.8K IPS display. Upgrading to a 1TB SSD adds $42 to the price. For those seeking even more power, the high-end model at $1,422 boasts a Core Ultra 7 258V, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Compared to its direct competitors, the Yoga Slim 7i emerges as a strong value proposition. The MacBook Air 15 starts at a similar price point of $1,299, but with less RAM and storage. To match the Yoga Slim 7i’s base model, you’ll need to spend $1,699 on the MacBook Air 15. The Surface Laptop also starts at $1,299 with a Snapdragon X Elite chipset, offering 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Upgrading to 512GB SSD bumps the price to $1,499, and a top-tier configuration with 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD becomes significantly more expensive at $2,499.
### Design and Build: Elegance and Durability
Visually, the Yoga Slim 7i is a delight. Its all-aluminum construction feels solid and premium, with no noticeable bending, flexing, or twisting. It holds its own against the MacBook Air and Surface Laptop, both of which are known for their high build quality. The rounded edges add to its comfortable grip, though like many laptops today, the palm rest edges could be a little smoother.
Despite its 15.3-inch display, the Yoga Slim 7i remains incredibly thin at just 0.55 inches. It’s slightly thicker than the MacBook Air 15 (0.45 inches), but considerably slimmer than the Surface Laptop (0.72 inches). Weight-wise, the Yoga Slim 7i and MacBook Air are practically twins at around 3.3 pounds, whereas the Surface Laptop tips the scales at 3.67 pounds.
Aesthetically, the Yoga Slim 7i embraces Lenovo’s latest design language – modern, minimalist, and elegant. The dark gray finish, reasonably small display bezels, and Lenovo’s signature reverse notch housing the webcam electronics create a sophisticated look. It’s a welcome contrast to Apple’s display notch on the MacBook Air and the slightly larger bezels on the Surface Laptop.
### Keyboard and Touchpad: A Solid Typing Experience
The Yoga Slim 7i’s keyboard is a familiar friend, the same one found on many Lenovo laptops. The large, sculpted keycaps with ample spacing, and the deep, snappy key switches make for a satisfying typing experience. I found myself typing at full speed immediately, and even long typing sessions didn’t lead to fatigue. This keyboard comes close to my personal favorite, Apple’s Magic Keyboard.
However, the touchpad falls short. While it’s functional, it could be larger, especially compared to the MacBook Air and Surface Laptop. Additionally, the touchpad is mechanical, while more premium laptops are opting for haptic versions. Lenovo does offer excellent haptic touchpads on other models, like the ThinkPad Z16, so it’s a shame they didn’t incorporate it here. The display is touch-enabled, which is a welcome feature that I miss when using a MacBook.
### Connectivity and Webcam: A Well-Equipped Port Selection
The Yoga Slim 7i provides a good balance of modern and legacy ports. Its connectivity is superior to the MacBook Air’s two Thunderbolt 4 ports, while it’s close to the Surface Laptop’s offering of two USB4 and one USB-A port. While the selection is excellent, I would have appreciated an SD card reader. On the wireless front, you’ll find the latest connectivity standards.
The webcam is a 1080p model that fully supports Copilot+ AI features like enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects. Its Neural Processing Unit (NPU) surpasses the Copilot+ baseline of 40 tera operations per second (TOPS), enabling efficient on-device AI processing for future features. While the Surface Laptop also supports Copilot+, the MacBook Air 15 relies on Apple Intelligence, a different approach to on-device AI.
### Performance: A Solid Performer, But Not a Speed Demon
The highlight of the Yoga Slim 7i is Intel’s new Lunar Lake chipset, also known as the Core Ultra Series 2. This chipset focuses on efficiency, running at 17 watts and replacing the 15-watt Meteor Lake U-series. The Core Ultra 7 258V in the review unit boasts eight cores (four Performance and four Low Power Efficient) and eight threads. While it’s currently competing with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series, which also prioritizes efficiency, the Yoga Slim 7i is at a slight performance disadvantage. The 12-core Snapdragon X Elite and 10-core Snapdragon X Plus, as well as AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 and earlier Meteor Lake H-series machines, deliver faster performance.
In benchmark testing, the Yoga Slim 7i held its own against other laptops in the multi-core Cinebench R24 test. It fell slightly behind in single-core tests. Similar trends were observed in Geekbench 6, with the Yoga Slim 7i lagging behind in single-core but performing competitively in multi-core. In our Handbrake video encoding test, the Yoga Slim 7i significantly outperformed the Asus ExpertBook P5 and ZenBook S 14. However, the MacBook Air M3 reigns supreme in single-core performance and provides competitive multi-core results.
Overall, the Yoga Slim 7i delivers enough performance for demanding productivity tasks. However, Lunar Lake is not a revolutionary leap forward compared to other new chipsets. It’s worth noting that the laptop utilizes integrated Intel Arc 140V graphics, which, while faster than previous generations, still lag behind dedicated graphics cards.
### Battery Life: A Lunar Lake Success Story
Efficiency is the ultimate test for Lunar Lake. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X, powering Windows on Arm, made significant strides in battery life for Windows laptops. However, it wasn’t enough to dethrone Apple’s M3 chipset in overall battery longevity. Our previous Lunar Lake laptops didn’t quite match those benchmarks either, so I was eager to test the Yoga Slim 7i’s battery life.
The laptop packs a 15.3-inch display and a 70 watt-hour battery, slightly larger than the 66 watt-hour batteries found in the MacBook Air 15 and Surface Laptop. In our web-browsing test, the Yoga Slim 7i matched the Surface Laptop, while the latter lasted longer when playing our test video on loop. While these results are for the 13-inch MacBook Air M3, the 15-inch model is expected to perform at least as well.
The Yoga Slim 7i proves that Lunar Lake is one of the most efficient Windows chipsets yet. However, it doesn’t necessarily claim the title of most efficient, and it still trails Apple’s M3 in this regard. The upcoming M4 chipset is likely to be even more efficient.
### Display and Audio: A Quality Visual Experience
The Yoga Slim 7i offers a single display option: a 15.3-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) IPS panel with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Out of the box, it’s a pleasing display, though admittedly, I’ve become accustomed to the luxuriousness of OLED and Apple’s mini-LED panels in their MacBook Pros. I’d prefer a slightly sharper resolution, but most users are unlikely to find fault with it.
Based on my colorimeter readings, this display is impressive for its technology. It achieves a high brightness of 532 nits, on par with the Surface Laptop’s 561 nits and exceeding the MacBook Air’s 475 nits. The contrast ratio is also impressive for an IPS panel at 1,460:1, beating out the MacBook’s 1,200:1 and the Surface Laptop’s 1,440:1. Color accuracy is commendable, covering 99% of sRGB, 74% of AdobeRGB, and 74% of DCI-P3 – average for IPS displays. Both the Surface Laptop and MacBook Air surpass these figures with 100%, 85%, and 95% for the former and 100%, 90%, and 95% for the latter.
Despite the slightly lower color coverage, the Yoga Slim 7i’s display boasts excellent color accuracy, with a Delta-E of 0.93. This beats the MacBook Air 15’s 1.23 and the Surface Laptop’s 1.27. While the display is suitable for most tasks, the other two laptops excel for creative professionals.
The four-speaker audio system, consisting of two tweeters and two woofers, delivers an excellent auditory experience. The sound is clear and distortion-free, with a wide volume range, crisp mids and highs, and a decent amount of bass. While Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 still sets the bar with its six-speaker setup, the Yoga Slim 7i surpasses both the MacBook Air 15 and Surface Laptop in audio quality.
### Conclusion: A Great New Windows Laptop with Exceptional Battery Life
The Yoga Slim 7i faces stiff competition in the limited landscape of 15-inch laptops. However, it stands shoulder to shoulder with its rivals in terms of build quality and aesthetics. Its portability is excellent, although not quite as thin as the MacBook Air 15. The weight is manageable, making it a convenient laptop for everyday use.
More importantly, it’s surprisingly affordable compared to its competitors. This affordability, combined with its solid performance and exceptional battery life, makes the Yoga Slim 7i a highly attractive option. If you’re seeking a larger laptop with a wealth of features, the Yoga Slim 7i should be on your short list.
