On paper, Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition offers a quality 15-inch LCD screen and an Intel platform adapted to AI-assisted tasks, all with a battery life described as "epic" by the manufacturer. These characteristics confirm the target clientele, namely content creators on the move who still have a certain need for performance.
For our Lenovo Slim 7i Aura Edition test, the brand lent us the version that can be found at the price of 1699 euros on the manufacturer's online store; At this price, one is reasonably entitled to demand a certain level of power, as well as a flawless design and design.
A lightweight, yet refined design
Both understated and elegant, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition features an aluminum chassis in a lunar gray shade, with beveled edges that give it a high-end look. Its thinness is notable with a thickness of only 14 mm, for a weight of 1.53 kg (65W USB-C power supply not included). The whole gives an impression of robustness, thanks to a rigid and neat design.
The screen is framed by thin borders and has a small protrusion for the webcam. A privacy switch is present on the right side; easily activated by mistake, we would have preferred a physical cover directly in front of the webcam. The Lenovo logo is finally discreetly integrated into the hood, without mention of the “Yoga” range.
Screen: very bright but very sensitive to reflections
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition display is designed to deliver both high visual quality and versatility for various tasks. With a diagonal of 15.3 inches, it offers a more generous workspace than the 13 or 14 inch screen of ultraportables, while maintaining appreciable portability. Its definition of 2880 x 1800 pixels, sufficient to render texts and graphics precise and detailed, will be particularly appreciated by professionals who work with images or videos, but also suitable for web browsing or reading.
Its IPS-type LCD panel favors color fidelity and wide viewing angles. While this technology doesn't quite rival OLED screens in terms of contrast and black depth, it still guarantees fairly accurate color reproduction, with a delta E measured here at 3.25. Compatible with DisplayHDR 400, the screen is also TUV Low Blue Light and Eyesafe certified, promising to reduce eye fatigue during prolonged use.
The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition's screen also benefits from a dynamic refresh rate, ranging from 0 to 120 Hz, with a default setting of 60 Hz. The touchscreen supports multi-touch interactions, improving ergonomics for certain tasks, such as zooming in on images. According to our tests, the brightness peaks at 477 nits on average on a fairly uniform panel, for a contrast measured at 1101:1; these values ensure good visibility indoors. With a brightness measured at 113 GU, the lack of anti-reflective coating makes the screen a little difficult to read in direct sunlight if you don't push the brightness to the maximum, a disadvantage for users who often work outdoors or in very bright environments.
A pleasant keyboard, a large touchpad
Lenovo is often praised for the quality of its keyboards and the Yoga Slim 7i's, designed to offer both comfort and precision when typing, is no exception. The keys are soft and responsive, with a travel of 1.5 mm. The keyboard is backlit with sufficient brightness for use in low-light environments, without being dazzling.
Its special coating, which is supposed to be water and oil resistant, offers a soft and almost silky feel to the touch. Although it can wear out over time, it contributes to a comfortable and pleasant typing experience. The keyboard is centrally arranged and the function keys are pre-assigned to multimedia commands, with a dedicated key for the Copilot assistant.
Responsive and generously sized (80 x 135 mm), the Yoga Slim 7i's touchpad perfectly recognizes multi-touch gestures and its smooth surface facilitates finger movements, even if we will still note a slight tendency towards over-sensitivity. Light, the click of the touchpad remains satisfactory.
A varied and fairly complete connectivity
The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition offers a complete and versatile connectivity, meeting the needs of most users. The device is equipped with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports, located on either side of the chassis, each of which can be used to charge the device. They offer high data transfer speeds (40 Gbps) and support DisplayPort 2.1 video display as well as fast charging in the PowerDelivery 3.1 standard.
In addition to the USB-C ports, the Yoga Slim 7i offers a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port. The device also has an HDMI 2.1 output and a 3.5 mm combo audio jack for connecting headphones or a microphone. The lack of an Ethernet port is notable, but understandable given the laptop’s slim design and the fact that many users prefer wireless connections.
A decent and balanced audio set
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition’s audio system consists of four two-watt speakers: two upward-firing tweeters and two downward-firing woofers. This configuration allows sound to be projected in multiple directions, creating a wider, more immersive soundstage. The audio system is also compatible with Dolby Atmos, a technology that improves the sound experience by offering clearer and more detailed sound.
The speakers are capable of producing powerful sound (for this type of device), with a good balance between highs, mids and lows. The audio quality is sufficient for consuming multimedia content, such as movies or series, as well as for gaming. The sound does not distort even at high volume, the voices are clear and the instruments are well defined.
The lack of deep bass is a common drawback for thin laptops, and the Yoga Slim 7i is no exception. It is still possible to use the Dolby Access application to fine-tune the audio settings and obtain a better balance.
A connectivity in the era of time
The device is equipped with Wi-Fi 7, guaranteeing high connection speeds, reduced latency and better management of multiple connections, which is particularly useful in environments where several devices are connected to the same network.
Wi-Fi security features protect the device from potentially dangerous access through public hotspots, and a Wi-Fi recovery feature automatically connects the device to trusted Wi-Fi networks. Bluetooth 5.4 makes it easy to connect devices such as wireless headphones, mice or keyboards.
Our opinion on the internal design and upgradability
The internal design of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition focuses on optimizing performance and energy efficiency, while maintaining a compact and lightweight form factor. The device is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor (“Lunar Lake“), an architecture that integrates RAM into the same package as the processor. This means that the 32 GB of our test model are not replaceable or expandable after purchase. Storage is provided by a 1 TB PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD in M.2 2242 format, smaller than the M.2 2280 commonly used.
Access to the internal components is relatively easy for such a thin laptop. The bottom cover can be removed by unscrewing five Torx screws. Once the cover is removed, the SSD and battery are easily accessible and replaceable if necessary. The Yoga Slim 7i’s cooling system is quiet and keeps temperatures at acceptable levels. The air intakes are located on the bottom of the device, which requires a flat surface for optimal operation.
Lenovo Vantage, the central software hub of the Yoga Slim 7i
Running Windows 11 Home, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes with Lenovo Vantage, a utility that serves as a hub for system settings, driver updates, and technical support. It allows you to customize various aspects of the laptop, such as power management and display settings. While we appreciate the centralization of all these features, its untimely notifications encouraging the purchase of additional services such as accidental damage protection or premium support offers are a little annoying on a daily basis.
The “Aura” edition of the Yoga Slim 7i introduces specific features, the result of a collaboration between Lenovo and Intel. Among them, Smart Care, a centralized support service with chat and telephone assistance, as well as a virtual assistant called Lena Chat. The latter is unfortunately quite limited and not very personalized, often only referring to online support resources.
Smart Modes is another feature specific to this edition, which offers predefined modes to optimize performance and settings according to different usage scenarios. These modes include options for concentration, visual health, security, virtual meetings, and battery life. Some of these modes take advantage of features already present in Windows, but their integration into a single tool is convenient. Smart Share, based on Intel Unison, allows wireless synchronization of files, SMS and photos between the phone and the laptop, including with iPhones.
The device also comes with third-party software, such as McAfee and a Dropbox promotion, bloatware that we will quickly remove.
Performance: the top of the basket in its category
The Core Ultra 7 258V that equips this Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition displays fairly muscular characteristics, with 4 Performance cores and 4 Low Power Efficient cores, all with a frequency that can climb up to 4.8 GHz. 12 MB of cache and 32 GB of LPDDR5x-8533 memory are available, while display management is entrusted to an Arc 140V graphics engine integrated into the processor.
Obviously helped by an efficient cooling system, this Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition proves – with its default settings – to be a little more efficient in office automation and gaming than competing models, whether they are based on the same Intel platform or on an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX370. However, massively parallelized applications such as Cinebench can give it a bit of a hard time, due to “only” eight CPU cores that can only manage as many threads simultaneously, whereas the 12 cores of a Ryzen AI 9 HX370 can run 24 threads at a time.
This Yoga Slim i7 proves to be responsive in use, even with several office applications launched. Only its storage system has occasionally shown some signs of slowdowns during particularly intensive use. Amusingly, the NPU integrated into the Core Ultra processor “can be heard” when it is used; more precisely, we notice a slight coil whine coming from the power stage when the NPU is active.
Autonomy: don't be afraid to move away from the plug
The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition has a 4-cell 70 Wh Lithium Polymer battery. We ran a battery life test using our new mixed protocol (see box below): Lenovo's laptop lasted exactly 11 hours, 48 minutes and 25 seconds of continuous use, a score in line with average for products in the same category and more than enough to keep you away from any electrical outlet for an entire workday.
Quasi-nonexistent noise
One last good surprise from This Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is on the noise side: the laptop is completely silent at rest with the fans at a complete stop, and we measured only 33.1 dB(A) under full load, with the default ventilation settings. Temperatures also remain very reasonable, with a hot spot measured at 36.3°C at the keyboard, and a maximum of only 33.2°C displayed on our infrared camera on the back of the Yoga Slim 7i. Silent and efficient, the cooling system alone deserves our congratulations.
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