This laptop was provided by Lenovo on loan, for the purpose of this article and the embedded video.
This year’s Slim 7i Aura Edition is an excellent choice for those seeking a premium notebook without the premium price tag. Coming in at a starting price of $1299.99 (MSRP), this Slim 7i is thin, light, an surrounded by a thin, yet sturdy aluminum chassis. New for this year is the 2nd generation of Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 series. In particular, the 256V. My unit is outfitted with 32GB of RAM, a beautiful 14″ OLED FHD display, and 1TB of storage.
A typical day
For me, the most important components in a work laptop are the display and CPU. I’m not suggesting keyboards, for example, are not important. But for my use case, I easily spend 75% of my computing time docked to a monitor and keyboard, with the laptop screen as a secondary display.
With that being said, the OLED display of the Slim 7i is bright, crisp, and a little to reflective. Color contrast is wonderful, making app icons charming and colors in YouTube videos pop. At 14″, but with a 16:10 aspect ratio, its a great size for those times when I’m mobile, as well as when its acting as my second screen. In the case of the latter, I typically have Outlook open in full screen. I type my emails on this screen as well as check and manipulate my calendar. It’s perfect for this usage. My unit has just a 60Hz refresh, but I recommend you buy the model with higher resolution (1800p) and the 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. That will make the computer feel faster and overall, it’ll be easier on your eyes.
When I’m mobile, I use the display in a variety of places, including on a plane, at a cafe’, and at in a dimly lit hotel room. During this time, the keyboard becomes essential to the experience. I’m happy to report the keyboard is very good. But it’s not at the ThinkPad level of greatness. If they are S tier, the Slim 7i is a B tier. That’s still awesome for hours of typing emails, Slack messages, and articles like this one. The keyboard features a gentle white under glow with two stages of brightness.
That leaves us with performance and battery life. This is a powerful chip for a small laptop! Opening apps such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and large PDFs was snappy. I used Edge and Chrome with 10 tabs for hours. No issues in terms of performance to report. And that includes the battery life. In my testing, which is not a looped test, I experienced 8:30, 10:00 and 10:30 hours of battery life on the days I tested it. There is a lot of room for error here as I’m doing different computing activities throughout these days. No day is identical to the other. According to Tom’s Hardware, where they ran a repeatable test, the Slim 7i lasted 14:08 in a mix of web browsing, video streaming, and WebGL testing at 150 nits of brightness.
Once a week I teach at a University and their tech setup requires native HDMI or a dongle. I’ve been known to forget my dongle from time to time so I always buy laptops with native HDMI. As you’ll see in the spec list below, as well as in the following images, the Slim 7i delivers on ports with excellent selection.
Let’s talk about AI
There is one AI-powered feature that I love, and only Lenovo has it: Privacy Mode. When enabled (press F9 on the keyboard or use the Lenovo Vantage software), the camera will identify someone who may be looking over your shoulder and immediately darken the display. This is a must have for traveling professionals.
There are other modes, such as a posture correction agent. I don’t think they’re all that useful but do explore them and make your own judgement.
Technical Specificiations
- Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V
- Graphics: Integrated Intel Arc 140V
- Memory: Up to 32 GB LPDDR5-8533 (soldered)
- Storage: Up to 1 TB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 SSD
- Display: 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800 pixels, 60 or 120 Hz, touch, 16:10 aspect ratio, 500 nits brightness, 100% DCI-P3
- Audio: Four speakers (2 top, 2 bottom)
- Camera: 5 MP IR webcam with privacy shutter
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7 (Intel BE211), Bluetooth 5.4
- Ports:
- 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
- 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
- 1x HDMI 2.1
- 1x microSD card reader
- 1x 3.5 mm audio jack
- Battery: 70 Wh
- Dimensions: 312 mm x 219 mm x 13.9 mm
- Weight: From 1.2 kg (2.65 lbs)
- Operating System: Windows 11 Home
- Additional Features:
- 180-degree hinge
- White backlit keyboard with 1.5 mm travel
- AI-powered features with Microsoft Copilot+
Who is this for?
The Slim 7i is an excellent consumer laptop. As a reviewer since 2009, I’ve seen it all. And its really hard to find that needle in the haystack feature that sets aside a laptop like this. In the end, this is another win for Lenovo in that it’s a strong value for your dollar. For office-like productivity, it’s an easy recommendation. Especially if you are accustomed to using the Windows OS. If you need a broad native port selection, you’ll find it on the Slim 7i with HDMI, USB-A and USB-C with Thunderbolt 4. All of this in a thin, light, and elegant aluminum chassis with a gorgeous OLED display. Another solid laptop from Lenovo.