The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura is a 15.3-inch Home windows laptop computer that goals to provide respectable efficiency in addition to wonderful battery life, all from a tool that is super-thin and lightweight, weighing solely round 1.5kg. It additionally boasts a really highly-specified display screen, finishing what needs to be a super laptop computer for photograph enhancing on the go. Consider it as a Home windows rival to the MacBook Air. Lenovo additionally produces a Yoga Professional. No prizes for guessing what that is pitched in opposition to.
The Yoga Slim 7 has been round some time, with the newest model being the ninth technology – search for ‘Gen 9’ within the mannequin identify when evaluating merchandise. It is accessible with AMD or Intel processing energy: our evaluation pattern is provided with an Intel Core Extremely 7 258V processor (8 cores, 4.8GHz max) and 32GB of RAM – this specific spec has the Lenovo mannequin code 15ILL9.
The Core Extremely 7 258V is considered one of Intel’s AI-optimized CPUs, designed to work flawlessly with Home windows Copilot AI assistant, and this also needs to make it sooner at coping with different AI workloads. We’ll see how effectively this interprets to real-world use in Photoshop later.
The Yoga Slim 7 might be had with 16GB or 32GB of RAM, however I might suggest the latter to remain future-proofed as sadly, like current MacBooks, the Slim 7’s RAM is soldered to the motherboard and can’t be user-upgraded later down the road.
Graphics processing is completed by the principle processor, so there isn’t any separate graphics chip. That is to be anticipated for such a skinny and transportable machine, however does imply the Slim 7 may not be your best option should you recurrently render numerous video footage which might in any other case profit from graphical {hardware} acceleration.
Probably probably the most interesting characteristic of the Yoga Slim 7 for photograph enhancing is its display screen. You may select from an IPS LCD touch-sensitive show, or an OLED non-touch display screen. Each are 15.3″ in measurement, and each run at a excessive 2880 x 1800 decision. Our take a look at laptop computer got here geared up with the LCD contact display screen. That is able to 500-nit most brightness, incomes it HDR400 certification, and it covers an marketed 100% of the wide-gamut DCI-P3 shade area. Each the LCD and OLED screens are manufacturing unit calibrated to an accuracy of Delta E <1. I might be massively impressed to see a standalone color-critical monitor with this accuracy, so for a laptop computer show to supply such excessive picture high quality is phenomenal.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura: Specs
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CPU |
Core Extremely 7 258V 2.2GHz (as much as 4.8GHz, 8 cores, 8 Threads, AI as much as 64 TOPs) |
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Graphics |
Intel Arc Graphics 140V (built-in) |
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RAM |
16GB LPDDR5x or 32GB LPDDR5x |
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Display screen |
15.3-inch, 2.8K (2880×1800) LCD touchscreen (500 nits, 120Hz, 100% DCI-P3) |
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Storage |
512GB or 1TB M.2 NVMe 4.0 SSD |
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Ports |
1x USB-A, 2x USB-C (USB4/Thunderbolt 4), 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm headphone/mic combo jack |
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Wi-fi |
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
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Digicam |
FHD webcam with IR & ToF sensor |
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Weight |
From 1.53kg / 3.37lbs |
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Dimensions |
34.4 x 23.5 x 1.4cm / 13.54x 9.27x 0.55 inches |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura: Design & Dealing with
The Yoga Slim 7 seems and feels just about like some other premium skinny and lightweight laptop computer. It is surprisingly compact for a 15.3″ mannequin although, with the slim display screen bezels and total svelte design making it deal with extra like a 14″ machine from just a few years in the past.
Construct high quality is superb, and whereas there’s a little flex evident in the principle part, it is not regarding. The big trackpad is clean, responsive and straightforward to make use of, and although the keyboard keys inevitably have a brief journey because of the restricted chassis thickness, they’re tactile and provides good suggestions.
Shifting to the sides of the Yoga Slim 7 and on the left there’s an HDMI output, one USB-C port and a 3.5mm mixed headphone/microphone socket. On the precise edge is a second USB-C socket, a single USB-A port, the facility button and a slider to show the webcam on and off. Each USB-C sockets run at Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 velocity, so you will get the quickest attainable USB efficiency accessible proper now.
That is nice should you personal a quick transportable SSD, or use a digital camera that takes CFexpress playing cards, because the latter would require USB4 if you wish to max out the cardboard’s learn/write speeds. We additionally admire the inclusion of an older Kind-A port, as many individuals – myself included – nonetheless have loads of Kind-A units, and adapters aren’t at all times handy. There may be one slight catch although: you aren’t getting a separate charging port. As a substitute the charger connects to one of many two USB-C sockets, so you will be all the way down to only a single Kind-C socket when it’s essential plug in and cost.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura: Efficiency
Basically use the Yoga Slim 7 feels snappy and responsive. The 8-core Intel Core Extremely 7 258V CPU in our take a look at machine is not designed for all-out velocity – it is meant to stability velocity with effectivity – however I discovered it dealt with high-resolution picture information in photoshop with no concern. To see how its AI credentials stack up in real-world use, I loaded a 1.4GB, 852-megapixel stitched panorama TIFF file and tried to enlarge it vertically by round 500 pixels utilizing Generative Increase. This took the Slim 7 45 seconds. For reference, my private tower PC geared up with a 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (a CPU not designed with AI in thoughts) took 1 minute 23 seconds to finish the identical activity – practically twice so long as the Slim 7.
I additionally ran a number of efficiency benchmarks on the Slim 7 – Geekbench and Cinebench to evaluate normal velocity, and CrystalDiskMark particularly to check the SSD storage:
The Cinebench rating of 549 appears comparatively underwhelming, however you must bear in mind it is a compromise laptop computer that has to stability velocity with effectivity – it is not designed to interrupt Cinebench information. The good thing about this low energy consumption is that even after intensive benchmarking, the Slim 7 did not really feel notably scorching and its followers by no means spun as much as distracting noise ranges.
The 1 terabyte PCIe Gen4 SSD performs admirably, recording massively spectacular learn and write speeds in CrystalDiskMark, which means you possibly can comfortably max out even the quickest CFexpress 4.0 reminiscence playing cards when ingesting pictures and video out of your digital camera.
Sound high quality from laptop computer audio system is rarely going to ship you to aural nirvana, however I used to be pleasantly shocked by the audio efficiency from the Slim 7. You get stereo audio system, every containing a separate woofer and tweeter, and so they’re Dolby Atmos licensed. Clearly with a tool this slim, these ‘woofers’ do not really generate any significant bass, however the total soundscape is surprisingly expansive, with good stereo separation. Push the quantity previous about 80% and excessive notes sound coarse, however take heed to music at a extra wise quantity and there is sufficient readability and punch from the midrange that the shortage of high- and low-end definition is not distracting.
Battery life is meant to be a spotlight of the Slim 7, with Lenovo promoting a whopping 13.5 hours of internet shopping and 22 hours of 1080p native video playback from the 70Wh battery. I examined that 22 hour video playback declare by looping a Full HD film of my very own and recorded an astounding 21 hours 48 minutes, with the Home windows Energy Mode set to Greatest Energy Effectivity, and display screen brightness set pretty low.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura: Display screen high quality
You may have all of the processing energy on the earth, but it surely will not imply a lot should you’re enhancing your pictures on a display screen with poor picture high quality. To the bare eye, the Slim 7’s 2.8K (2880×1800) show is a pleasure to behold. Distinction is superb, with first rate black depth, and should you crank up the brightness, the display screen is definitely seen outdoor. Colour can also be fantastically vibrant and appears correct, however to evaluate that objectively, it’s essential measure the display screen’s output with a specialist machine known as a colorimeter – extra generally know as a monitor calibrator. Our Datacolor Spyder Professional can also be in a position to measure the picture high quality of an uncalibrated show, so I can confirm if Lenovo’s picture high quality claims are appropriate.
Colour gamut
Lenovo’s marketed 100% sRGB shade protection proved to be bang-on. The display screen can also be alleged to cowl 100% of the far wider DCI-P3 gamut. My testing ‘solely’ produced a results of 96%, however that is nonetheless very respectable. AdobeRGB protection is not acknowledged, however the Spyder decided it to be 85%.
Colour accuracy
Lenovo says that the Yoga Slim 7’s display screen is pre-calibrated to an accuracy of Delta-E <1 – a daring declare, as most color-critical displays are usually calibrated to inside Delta-E <2 from good accuracy. Nonetheless, the Spyder revealed Lenovo’s claims to really be pretty conservative, with the show on our pattern laptop computer being correct to 0.48 (zero being good accuracy). That is distinctive shade accuracy, and the most effective scores I’ve ever recorded from any show.
Display screen uniformity
Brightness uniformity is superb, deviating by a most of 9% from the brightest, central area. Colour uniformity is even higher, solely various by a most 2% throughout the entire display screen.
Brightness & distinction
Lenovo states that the Yoga’s display screen brightness is 500 nits – I recorded a fair brighter 617 nits. Our evaluation pattern laptop computer managed a distinction ratio of 1480:1 – shut sufficient to the claimed 1,500:1.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura: Verdict
If you wish to edit pictures or video on the go, and prioritize compactness, mild weight and lengthy battery life over the quickest attainable efficiency, the Lenovo Slim 7 15 Aura is a good laptop computer. It is quick sufficient to cope with heavy workloads, whereas nonetheless staying cool and quiet, and all of the whilst you get to edit your content material on a beautiful display screen with terrific shade accuracy.
Port choice is missing, however sadly that is now par for the course with a laptop computer this skinny. No less than the 2 USB-C ports you do get are extraordinarily quick, and in a position to max out even the easiest reminiscence playing cards and exterior SSDs you should buy.
On the time of writing a Yoga Slim 7 15 Aura configured to the identical spec as our evaluation pattern (product code 15ILL9) retails for round $1,400/£1,260. A 15-inch MacBook Air specced with 24GB of reminiscence and a 1TB SSD, would price $1,899/£1,899. Whereas the M3 SoC within the MacBook shall be sooner than the Slim 7’s Intel {hardware}, that is nonetheless a heck of a value hole, making the Yoga Slim 7 a little bit of a cut price.
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Options |
There is not room for some options, however there’s every little thing most customers really want |
★★★★☆ |
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Design |
Smooth, subtly trendy and effectively made. The keyboard and trackpad are comfy, too |
★★★★★ |
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Efficiency |
It excels at balancing respectable efficiency with nice battery life, and the display screen is excellent |
★★★★☆ |
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Worth |
An excellent all-rounder for cellular picture enhancing, and priced pretty |
★★★★★ |
✅ Purchase it…
- If you need good efficiency AND nice battery life
- When you want a skinny and lightweight machine
- If picture high quality and shade accuracy are a should
🚫 Do not buy it…
- When you want numerous USB ports
- When you crave all-out velocity