The Lenovo Yoga series has long stood out as the premium ultra-portable laptops in the market. The company has been consistently launching laptops under its Yoga branding with a special focus on sleek design and lightweight build. And the new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition continues this tradition. The latest laptop from Lenovo comes loaded with some interesting features, including the latest Intel Core Ultra processors, a 2.8K IPS touchscreen, a long battery life, and more. That said, is it enough to make it stand out from the crowd? I have been using the laptop for a while now, and here’s everything you need to know.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Design: Minimal and Premium
- Dimension – 13.9 x 343.8 x 235.4mm
- Weight – 1.46kg
- Colours – Luna Grey
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition surely reflects the brand’s design ethos. The laptop comes with rounded corners that give a premium look and feel. It is made using a mix of raw and recycled aluminium, which surely adds some sturdiness. Moreover, the company has also added a special coating that prevents smudges all over the laptop, which is a good thing. I got the Luna Grey colour option for review, and it sure feels lightweight despite offering a 15.3-inch screen. It is also reasonably slim with no noticeable flex anywhere.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes with an aluminum chassis, which looks sturdy.
The hinge could have been better, in my opinion. Firstly, you cannot open it with one hand (an instant turn-off considering the price). Secondly, the hinge feels incredibly stiff, which doesn’t make it fluid when you open it. And surprisingly, despite featuring a touchscreen, it is not a 2-in-1. The hinge only rotates back 180 degrees to lie flat on a surface. Also, I feel the weight distribution could have been slightly better, which is noticeable when you place it on your lap.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition features a wide range of connectivity ports.
As far as IO ports are concerned, the brand has done a pretty good job in providing almost all the necessary ports. You get a 3.5mm audio jack, one USB Type-C port, and an HDMI port on the left side, while the right side features one USB Type-A port, one USB Type-C port, a power on/off button, and a physical camera kill switch. The ports are plenty for a thin and light laptop.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Display: Good, if not Best
- Display – 15.3-inch IPS LCD touchscreen
- Resolution – 2.8K (1800×2880 pixels)
- Refresh Rate – 120Hz
Lenovo has given two display options for this laptop: a non-touch OLED screen and an IPS touchscreen. I got the touchscreen model for the review, which comes with a 15.3-inch 2.8K display with a resolution of 1800 x 2880 pixels. The display also features a 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut, 500 nits of brightness, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a 120Hz screen refresh rate.
The laptop comes with a 15.3-inch 2.8K touchscreen display with 120Hz screen refresh rate.
Starting with the strong points, the display is sharp and offers crisp visuals. The colours are well-balanced, and you will not see any oversaturation at any point. The large screen size also makes it an ideal choice for streaming movies, TV shows, or even playing casual games.
The 120Hz refresh rate also makes the whole animation buttery smooth. That said, an IPS display can only do so much. I would have loved the combination of an OLED and a touchscreen. Ultimately, no matter how good an IPS panel can become, it still falls short compared to an OLED display. This is primarily because you get better saturation, colours, contrast, deep inky blacks, and more, which is not possible with an IPS display.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Keyboard, Touchpad, Speakers, and Webcam
- Keyboard – Backlit keyboard
- Webcam – 1080p IR camera
- Speakers – Four Speakers with Dolby Atmos
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes with a backlit keyboard. The laptop comes with soft keys that make it a smooth experience when you are typing. The keys are well-spaced and offer 1.5mm key travel, which is pretty standard in this price segment. However, what I liked the most was the oil-resistant coating, which prevents it from smudges and grease. Other brands do take note.
The backlit keyboard offers a soft-touch keys, which makes it a delightful experience to type on this laptop.
That said, the touchpad is not the laptop’s strongest point. First of all, it does feel short and wide, which is a weird combination, to be honest. I do feel a bit restricted while using the touchpad because of this configuration.
In terms of security, you get an IR-based camera for Windows Hello support, which works fine, even when the lights are dim. The FHD+ camera is passable, if not great. I was not impressed with the quality of the webcam, to be honest. However, I do like the fact that the company has given a physical shutter button to kill the camera feed.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes with a four set of speakers that delivers a some great performance.
Coming to the speakers, it surely works well. The sound is loud and clear, with no noticeable distortion at high volumes. The speakers exhibit a good command of the bass, while the mids and highs also feel solid. It is rare to find good speakers in such a compact form factor in a laptop.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Software: Smart Modes Work Well
- Operating System – Windows 11 Pro Home
- Other Features – Smart Modes, Lenovo Vantage
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition runs on the Windows 11 operating system. Since it is a CoPilot+ PC, you get all the usual AI features that a typical CoPilot laptop offers. However, what makes it different is the company’s own set of AI features that it has heavily advertised.
There are multiple smart modes, which you can access by going to the Lenovo Vantage application or by simply pressing the F9 key. These modes are designed to enhance your workflow in different scenarios. So, there is an Attention Mode, Power Mode, Wellness Mode, Shield Mode, and Collaboration Mode. In Attention mode, you can easily minimise distraction by blocking social media applications for a set amount of time.
The Power Mode lets you optimise the performance of the laptop, while Wellness Mode helps you provide digital well-being and encourages you to take breaks. The Shield Mode enables you to enhance privacy and data security, and it automatically blurs the screen when someone looks over your shoulders.
Lastly, we have the Collaboration Mode, which basically enhances video conferencing. All these modes are fun to play with, though you have to choose them manually, which kind of defeats the purpose. It would be more interesting if all these modes got activated automatically to suit my work schedule, which would have been a different case altogether.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Performance: Reliable for Daily Usage
- Chipset – Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Processor
- RAM – 32GB LPDDR5X, 8533MHz
- ROM – 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is loaded with the latest Intel Core Ultra 2 processor. The review unit came with an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V that offers a clock speed up to 4.8GHz. It also comes with a new Intel Arc 140V iGPU, which handles most graphics-related tasks with ease. This, coupled with 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of PCIe M.2 SSD storage, makes it a powerful, thin, and light laptop in this price segment. I have compiled the synthetic benchmark scores below.
| Benchmark | Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition | HP Elitebook Ultra G1q | Asus Zenbook S 16 (2024) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cinebench R23 Single Core | 1850 | 1096 | 1917 |
| Cinebench R23 Multi Core | 10467 | 7457 | 15,776 |
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 2690 | 2417 | 2,712 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 11119 | 14226 | 12732 |
| PC Mark 10 | 7253 | NA | 4451 |
| 3DMark Night Raid | 33860 | 26844 | 27,358 |
| 3DMark CPU Profile | 5861 | 8779 | 7,446 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad Light | 3227 | 2096 | 3,287 |
| CrystalDiskMark | 6151.16 MB/s (Read)/ 4662.65 MB/s (Write) | 6673.20 MB/s (Read)/ 4920.12 MB/s (Write) | 5066.63 MB/s (Read)/ 3609.52 MB/s (Write) |
Coming to the performance, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition glides effortlessly through all the tasks that you throw at it. I used this laptop for my daily work schedule and was impressed with the performance it offered. With medium to heavy usage, which includes opening multiple Chrome tabs and windows, writing articles, and playing music in the background, the laptop delivered a stable performance throughout the review period.
The laptop offers a good day-to-day performance with no noticeble thermal issues.
Moreover, you can also enjoy some casual gaming on this laptop, although it is not intended for serious gaming. The thermal management was good enough for me, and I never noticed the laptop getting too hot to handle. The fan speeds were passable with sustained load. Interestingly, if you want to get the maximum output, then switching to Performance mode helps you get the full usage of TDP for a stable performance.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Battery: Good enough
- Battery Capacity – 70Wh Lithium Polymer (Typical)
- Fast Charging – 65W Adapter
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes equipped with a 70Wh battery, and the brand ships a 65W USB-C charger with the laptop. The battery performance of the Lenovo laptop is on par with that of the rest of the competition. The laptop efficiently delivers around 12 hours of battery life with conservative to normal usage. With normal to heavy usage, I comfortably got around 7 to 9 hours of battery backup. Moreover, the laptop took almost 2 hours to charge fully.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition Verdict
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition sure brings some interesting features to the table. The design does not stand out, but it still looks premium and elegant. The IPS touchscreen display works well in most cases, but if you are someone who wants those contrasty colours and inky deep blacks, then going with the non-touch OLED version would make more sense. The performance is on par with the rest of the Intel Lunar Lake laptops available in the market.
The AI features look good but still need some polishing. On the other hand, the stiff hinge could be a turn-off for some. Moreover, the touchpad on this laptop was disappointing. That said, if you are looking for a reliable, thin and light machine that can handle most of the tasks and offer a soft-key keyboard with great audio, then you can surely consider this one.
