Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Review: A Premium Laptop That’s Powerfully Intelligent

Lenovo has tapped into the growing demands for laptops with a diverse range to cater to all budgets. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, falling under the premium lifestyle segment, offers some unique and handy features that make it one of the attractive laptops to buy. Priced at Rs. 79,990, the laptop still has a couple of shortcomings. For one, it doesn't have a touchscreen, which several other laptops with a similar price tag offer. I've discussed several points in this review that will help you make the right purchase decision!

Specifications

CPU: Intel core i5-1035G1
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics, NVIDIA GeForce MX350
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10
Display: 14-inch display with UHD resolution
Storage: 512GB
Battery: 59.6Wh
Weight: 1.4 Kg

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7: Design Highlights

Starting with the design, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 has a sleek, lightweight profile. The minimal bezel display embedded in the premium all-metal body presents one of the classiest designs on a laptop. The laptop weighs only 1.4kg despite the metal body, which makes it lighter than other Lenovo laptop models like the Lenovo IdeaPad. Plus, the 14.9mm thickness makes it a sleek laptop, giving you the perfect workstation to carry around, making you readily accessible.

Other aspects of the design include a couple of ports on either side of the laptop. The power button is placed on the side of the laptop - and honestly, I hardly used the button! Firstly, the power button doesn't have a fingerprint sensor because the Yoga Slim 7 comes with the Windows Hello face recognition feature. Hence, the minute you lift open the laptop, it recognizes you and logs-in automatically!

The design also includes two front-facing speaker grilles with a 2W audio output. The speakers and audio system need a special mention, which I'll cover later in the review. Another feature to be highlighted here on the 14-inch Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 reviewed here is the large screen real estate. The top bezel has a minute extension that houses the IR camera. This extension gives support to open the laptop as well. When I say ‘extension' it doesn't mean like a protruding edge; rather it's beautifully engraved in the overall design and display.

Speaking of the display, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 offers an IPS display with up to 500 nits and a 4K UHD resolution. The laptop flaunts a 100 percent sRGB with the Dolby Vision feature that simply enhances the overall visual experience. Be it video conferencing, working on a doc file, browsing on the net, or video playback - the display on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 is simply beautiful. But one drawback is that there's no touchscreen. For the asking price, other laptops like the Acer Swift 5 feature a touchscreen display, which further boosts the overall productivity.

Key Highlight: Super Sensitive, Smart IR Camera

The camera on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 is the key highlight here and something I found impressive. The laptop comes with Windows Hello face recognition for sign-in options, which is very efficient. Once the setup is complete, the camera works super-efficiently, not only for sign-in purposes but for several other uses as well.

One of my favorite features of the Lenovo IR camera was its sensitivity merged with AI. Let's suppose you're watching/listening to something on the laptop, and you get up and walk away without pausing the audio/video. The camera senses that you're not present, and automatically pauses the media. And once you come back, it opens the screen and resumes playing it. Seamless, isn't it?

Initially, I was skeptical about having the always-on camera, fearing that it would continually keep detecting if I was working on the system or not. Having used other Lenovo laptops like the IdeaPad, I enjoyed the physical camera shutter feature that enhanced the overall security. Once I got the hang of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 IR camera, my initial doubts on its security were put to rest!

The camera waits for a couple of minutes to lock the screen once you move away. And even if you're in the nearby vicinity, it won't switch on until it's 100% confirmed of your identity. That said, if you change your appearance, the camera won't recognize you. I happen to sport a pair of glasses while using the laptop and the camera simply wouldn't recognize me - despite trying several times! That's a bit of a disappointment, especially for someone who's regularly been using the Apple Face ID on the iPhone that unlocks even with a few changes in your appearance.

Front-Facing Speakers Enhance Audio Experience

The front-facing speakers on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 also need a special mention. Among the several laptops that I've used, I came to particularly enjoy the front-facing speakers on this one. Enhanced by the Dolby Atmos speaker system, the laptop gives you a top-notch audio experience. The effect of the front-facing speakers is that I hardly needed to increase the volume to about 30 for a comfortable audio output.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Performance Evaluation

Coming to the performance of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, I must admit, the machine worked without a stutter. I was able to multi-task, work on several windows at once - and the machine seemed to hardly make any effort. Powered by the Intel Core i5-1035G1 and coupled with the Intel UHD Graphics plus NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 can handle all your laptop-related tasks, both personally and professionally.

To understand the laptop's performance, I ran a couple of benchmarks to determine the results. Starting with the CPU performance, I ran the Cinebench and the Geekbench tests to test its value. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 with a four-core, eight-thread processor scored 769 points on Cinebench. The score is a tad bit lower than similar four-core, eight-thread Intel Core i5 processor laptops.

The Geekbench 5 score showed 1079 in the single-core test and 2557 in the multi-core test. Additionally, I ran the PC Mark 10 certification, where the laptop scored an overall 3244 points - where the results showed 6664 under essentials, 6191 under productivity, and 2246 for digital content creation. The numbers indicate the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 is capable of handling all tasks that any working professional would need - be it video conferencing, working on spreadsheets, browsing, and even entertainment.

Since it comes with a dedicated GPU, I ran the 3D Mark test to determine the graphics performance as well. Here, the laptop scored 311, which is very basic. Since the Yoga Slim 7 isn't a dedicated gaming laptop, these numbers are pretty satisfactory. In other words, you'll still have a smooth gaming experience; however, the graphic visuals of the game wouldn't be enhanced.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Battery Performance

And now the battery, another feather in the hat of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7. The first thing you notice while using the laptop is there's hardly any sound. No matter how long you use it, the burden you put on it, there's hardly any sound of the fan swooshing below. This links with the overall battery and the CPU performance.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 comes with a 59.6Wh battery paired with a 65W charger. The laptop features the Rapid Charge Pro technology that optimizes the battery performance, which the company claims to give you up to 14 hours of FHD resolution-performance and 11 hours of UHD resolution-performance. Based on my experience with the laptop, these claims aren't false at all! I would charge the laptop in the morning and it would last till the evening (around 9 hours), for mainly work-related tasks.

For entertainment, like Netflix and a couple of games, the laptop would last lesser time. I would also leave the laptop switched on, even if I wasn't sitting in front of it. The IR smart camera would switch the screen off, which would also conserve the power. The laptop would also switch to a power-saver mode when it reached 20 percent (one can change the power-save mode under the battery settings). Also, the charging time was pretty minimal. It would take roughly one-and-a-half to two hours to completely charge, when in use.

For What It’s Worth

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 starts at Rs. 79,990, which is quite expensive. However, the laptop is designed specifically to cater to the premium lifestyle category and packs several features that make it worth the price. That said, there are several other devices in the market one can check out. The Acer Swift 5, the HP Spectre X360, Asus VivoBook are some examples here. Do note, the Swift 5 and the Spectre X360 feature touchscreen - something that's missing on the Yoga Slim 7.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Verdict: Go For It

That said, the Yoga Slim 7 is packed with value-added features that make a great choice to get. The sleek and lightweight design merged with Intel CPU and an optimized battery offer enhanced performance. The smart and sensitive IR camera further ticks all the boxes for security aspects. As the work-from-home and e-schooling norms continue, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 4 is an ideal device to share the burden.