Hi Andrew, a week on the road with my Slim 7i Aura - here's what I can tell you... 1. Battery life is good - I am getting a wildly fluctuating battery meter 'hours left' figure, but it is good for over 10+ hours - mileage depends on use... 2. Lenovo have borked the Windows 11 build - there is something weird and incompatible with this factory image - best advice - wipe it and start again with fresh Microsoft Windows 11 - and you'll lose the weird things, and also see a speed up and slightly better battery life 3. Even set to 'better battery' - using Battery Mode app - you don't really notice the performance dip that brings, but you do appreciate the solid battery life. Used Balanced Mode for more power - but recognise you'll have less time on battery 4. It is super quiet, even in performance modes / under load. So lovely! 5. I highly rate the screen - it is a beauty and colour accuracy is very good. Put it on dynamic refresh and enjoy silky smooth transitions. 6. It needs more firmware updates / driver updates - particularly with the GPU - VMs don't work so great - a small number of apps have graphics glitches - I got some unexpected blue screens after trying Hyper V (after I upgraded to Windows 11 Pro...) 7. If you use mainstream software it just works. I don't game, so can't help there... Apart from VMs all my software works fine. 8. Linux... not until we get more stable drivers - bit of a shame alas 9. Sound - some reviews criticise the sound (honestly they must be deaf!). I did find a glitch in part of the sound driver, so turn off some adaptive sound modes. Dolby works just great. It is loud... 10. OK vs a Snapdragon (Dell Inspiron Plus Snapdragon Elite Plus 64 model) - the Intel feels more snappy in day to day use. The Snapdragon gets better performance scores, but I think quite a few apps are in emulation, so you don't 'feel' that difference. Intel GPU is much better, and that might be why the machine feels faster. Snapdragon wins out on battery life (both have hi res IPS screens, so reasonable comparison). The 14 inch Dell = same weight as the Lenovo - but you get 1.3 inch more screen - which makes huge difference. Both work well with accessories, the Lenovo has more ports and better port layout, the Dell gets fingerprint reader and much better location for the power button. But the killer is I paid GBP 849 for the Dell and GBP 1399 for the Lenovo. Big victory to Dell but the build quality is slightly lower than the Lenovo big irritation being the limited screen position. Lenovo is a bit weird with the side power button... I spent my money on the Dell, I spent my company money on the Lenovo - I'd still do the same. The Lenovo is the better office machine. 11. Intel Unison - actually after I rebuilt Windows this worked really well. Getting messages and calls to the PC. Also easy file transfer between iPhone and PC (not to be sniffed at!). If you are thinking about this machine, just be aware it is a young processor and there are going to be a few glitches to iron out. I have the 32Gb model - and it runs very well on latest fresh build of Windows 11 24H2 - but I did a rebuild and used Lenovo Vantage app and Windows to complete re-install of the drivers (all went fine). When you do this you will need an external keyboard / mouse and network card / wifi stick - otherwise it is tricky (I already guessed this so was prepared). As Andrew says... Almost perfect...
That reminds me of when my colleague bought an uneven Yoga laptop, which I recommended to him, in 2022 in China. Why does Lenovo keep having this problem again and again? It seems their production quality management hasn’t improved at all.
For a 15-inch laptop, it makes the M2-M3 Air 15-inch irrelevant beyond OS bias. Good single core performance, good iGPU, full X86 software compatibility, good ports (including a Type A), good sound system, 32 GB of RAM, blazing fast RAM speed (8533), adjustable gen 4 SSD, 120 hz screen refresh rate, 538 nits of brightness, and 2.8k display resolution. Edit: All for $1,300 before taxes.
Amazing! I would have gotten it instantly if it had the 360 hinge. I mean its a Yoga after all, and they made it fold out flat anyway. Please pass that along to Lenovo, if they can offer the 360 hinge as a choice. I saw someone else commenting here asking if the Aura edition comes as a 2 in 1. Thanks for the review and keep up the good work.
Nice pc. Display looked good. Camera and speakers are good. Unlike the Samsung pc you reviewed recently this does not have a useless numpad but a nice centered keyboard and TouchPad. Port selection good. Unfortunately reading other comments about this pc not seating flat on the surface Lenovo needs to address this. Overall this appears to be an excellent choice for users. Another great quality review.
I bought one a week ago here in sweden and I do really like it. It is heavier than I thought it would be.... Screen is nice - me being 50+ have to run it in windows suggested 200% zoom mode to be able to read the text :-) Really nice with a USB-A port on it, since I program RPi Picos on it
one other thing, the Audio is somewhat Bass-heavy, you can fix that in the Dolby Access app - just make a custom profile and make sure to select the Dolby profile for sound output
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes pretty close to being the PERFECT laptop for sure. It certainly has more positive attributes than negative ones. The price is good for everything it has. It certainly is not perfect but it comes very close! Thank you Andrew!! 👏😁
Hi Marc, my Aura wobbles just like yours. At first I thought the chassis was twisted, but then after looking carefully at it I saw the right front foot is slightly slimmer than the left foot (manufacturing fault). £1399 for a laptop that wobbles. Pretty rubbish. Quick solution, I stuck 2 new rubber feet on the front behind the factory fit and now it is perfect. I also see that as you move the screen back past a certain point that wobbles comes back, so the hinge is slightly twisting the chassis. Really the only fault I can find with this, I also found setting the right combo of power mode and bios power setting is critical to battery life, set it too high and it is also not good. In a balanced mode or better battery mode (I use Better Battery app) the laptop can easily do more than 11-12 hours. I have a snapdragon Dell Inspiron Plus, and that is way better on battery life, but as you know has compatibility issues. Right now the Aura is lacking in GPU stability and it is clear the driver needs some more work. I expect them to improve it in the next 60 days or so, but I get weird crashes when exiting Teams calls, and it seems to be a graphics glitch. It also runs very slow on VMs, and I have 32GB ram version. Again graphics is the problem it seems.
Why do they always mention screen burn-in when talking about OLED displays? This used to happen on cell phones several years ago, but they fixed it and now all cell phones have OLED displays and they don't mention anything about screen burn-in. Have they still not fixed this problem on laptops?
With phones the screen isnt always on static images but with laptops you have constant images on the screen(like taskbar ) that might make the screen burn
@@berk6123 I don't think the same. The phone notification bar always shows the same thing and there are no burn-in problems. In addition, in everyday life people use phone screens more than computer screens and nowadays there is no talk of screen burn-in on new mobile phones.
OLED burn in is not a major issue on modern laptop displays now. It's good practice to have the taskbar set auto hide as static images are the main issue with burn in however it takes a long time for it to show with lots of high brightness usage and displaying static lighter or brighter colours. Even when burn in occurs years into the devices use, the screen is perfectly usable when the laptop is turned on and the burn in becomes hard or nearly impossible to actually see. For me the issue with OLED is more to do with the battery life, particularly with light mode.
Thanks Andrew! Was waiting for it and finally watched it. A great review. It helped me a lot understand it better. If you can make a comparison video with Asus S14, we will follow that up as well. Thanks indeed.
it is odd that only one review out of the many I have read complained about the speakers. Just josh says they are "sub par" for a 15 inch laptop, PC, world, dave2d and yourself praise the speakers. they sound good in your test and better than the slime 7x, more immersive for sure. I like your reviews because they seem more objective than even the more popular reviewers and you always cover everything while some others skip or gloss over some features
Still waiting for a 16 inch 16.10 OLED from Lenovo or Asus. It seems there was lack of planning from Intel and Snapdragon. Almost no proper 16 inch yet. Samsung has not typing friendly keyboard so not counting them. It seems I might have to buy a macbook 16inch M4 to run Windows ARM with parallel.
Honestly 15.3 Vs 16? They really have benefit of small chassis with big screen. If the 0.7 is important then sure, but I think 15.3 in this compact design is a winner. Fits in a small laptop bag and weighs just 150g more than 14 inch laptops in general...
@@MikeSaar-q3d I am a stock trader, having almost once inch display is a massive thing for me, in that I can fit a couple of visual tools. For a regular user it might be enough.
I have the Lenovo slim 7 pro x and I'm considering upgrading to this given it's practically the same laptop with 6x the battery performance (I get max of 4 hrs of battery at 120hz)
Marc thank you for your review, they do feel unbiased. Still I need your help and I need to decided between this Lenovo aura editions vs HP specter X360 16. Please let me know
I just returned mine to Best Buy. I totally respect your testing and opinion, but my experience was nothing like yours. I couldn't get anywhere near the battery life you did and the idle drain was around 1%/hour with the lid closed, which was a lot more than the Snapdragon laptops were giving me. It was also weirdly choppy, despite being set to 120hz. It looked more like it was running at 30hz when I was web browsing and navigating around the OS. I was really hoping for an M1 MacBook moment with these machines, but, for me, it just doesn't seem like we're there yet.
I have the same strange "FPS drop" of my cursor and sometimes scrolling. I cant tell if its unique to this laptop or if it is a more widespread win11 high refesh issue. Sometimes it stops if i tab in and out of a window (which is not really a viable solution)
@@Kidunot7I was thinking that maybe it was the variable refresh rate setting. It saves battery, but when I went to UFOtest, the only way I could get the 120hz was to move the cursor around constantly on the webpage while it was testing. I’m thinking it’s too aggressive with the frame rate scaling or something.
@@Gravage After a thorough hour of testing I found a solution. Intel Graphics Command Center -> System -> Power -> Panel Self Refresh needs to be turned off. I feel like I've turned off adaptive/dynamic refresh 5 different places as well within Intel, Lenovo and Windows software, but this is the one that was the culprit. I know you already took it back, but in case anyone else stumbles on this. It is ridiculous that you have to jump through so many hoops just to have the display work as intended thought instead of diminishing experience just to save a bit of battery life. I almost took it back to the store without giving it a proper chance due to this weird functionality.
@@Kidunot7 Yeah, too late, but thanks. It's still disappointing that this is a thing out of the box. This is why the out of box experience with Macs is so superior. That and the convoluted Windows 11 setup experience.
It seems that quite a few people have issues with the uneven laptop. This may be a quality problem with the laptop line. I wish this laptop came with a larger SSD form factor and the normal SD card reader.
@andrewmarcdavid Could you please try to find a way to highlight the model under review when showing the rankings? Or perhaps always putting it on the top or bottom? It can take quite a while to find it in longer lists, during which you lose focus on what you're saying. Then, when you've found it, the next chart shows up ;-) Tnx...
@@thewolfofgod3908Not sure if that's entirely true though because the battery drain is terrible on those as seen with the comparison on battery life on the Dell XPS 13 battery drain being significantly worse with the tandem OLED than the IPS panel on both the Snapdragon X and Intel lunar Lake variants I suppose you can argue that the image quality is much better on them though
I have 2 laptops with IPS and 2 with OLED. Battery drain is really bad on OLED and both ASUS and Lenovo get you to make settings changes to stop burn in. The Aura IPS is very good against an OLED and has way better power consumption. For me I now choose IPS for better battery life... You can see this with Snapdragon PCs, the best long life ones are generally IPS.
Andrew, I noticed during the showing of the ports on the left side that the bottom panel or cover appears warped under the power button at ~4:05 time mark. Not sure when that picture was taken (if it was after you opened it) but could explain the left side wobble.
@@andrewmarcdavid but you didn’t answer the question. The chassis is clearly open under the right hand side usb port. Can you pls explain whether that is standard, or just a result of taking back cover off and not reinstalling properly? Thx
previous lenovos yogas have extremely bad hinge issues (detaching from the lid of the display), they likely have carried this design over to this one. I would avoid it.
Hey guys, I have a question - currently operate on: ASUS ROG Strix 712 Lu (2021) Intel i7-10750H 2.6 Ghz RAM 16 Gb DDR4 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 Gb The hardest task (but quite a lot of that use) is video editing. But overall like this machine from review! Will it give me same or better perfomance in video editing?
Yogas are solid machines. The wobble is bad, but a £2 set of feet fixed mine. Agree the problem should not exist, but generally my experience of Yogas is fine build and great reliability. The screen and keyboard are exceptional on this machine.
@@kevink9365 Two people watching a movie for example. And why wouldn't you want the latest and maybe best technology in your device what produces a better image?
Hi, I've heard that the new Intel processors have greatly improved battery life. But it seems that there are several versions of the Intel Ultra. How can I find out which is the new version that improves battery life?
I'm thinking Samsung notebook 5 360. Lenovo slim 7 ultra is on my list also 32g ram but not sure about the uneven corner. Not sure that's a technical issue or could cause one down the road. But I like the screen as the Samsung is Oled I'll figure it out.
Looking at your image of the rights side IO, you might not have closed itnback up properly after looking inside. Could this be the reason it is uneven on your desk?
This will be a great competitor to the macbook air 15 with the M3 chip, seeing they have very similar screens and dimensions. Pros of the Macbook Air M3: -Better Single Core Performance -Slightly Better Multicore Performance -Better graphics performance -Better speakers -Better Trackpad -Better Build Quality Pros of the Slim 7i Aura Edition: -120HZ, touch display -Better Battery Life in Light Tasks -Better Port Selection -More Keyboard Travel -Much Better Value/Bang For Buck I could make a case for either one, but for many the lenovo slim 7i will be a better choice for those on a tighter budget. The macbook may be better for those willing to spend more and for those looking for a more premium feeling chassis and for those who like the apple ecosystem/macos. However, I've seen the macbook air 15 with 16gbRAM/512GB SSD going for around $1400USD
If you can stand MacOS then MacBook is the way to go. Better hardware for sure. If you want Windows in a native install then the Lenovo is great. In the UK we get 32GB Ram for £1399. Very hard to find stock though. 16Gb machines on long lead times.
I think Lenovo products are prone with quality issues right out of the box. I bought Lenovo yoga pro 9i 14 and the 120hz refresh rate use to result in screen flickering making it unusable. To get the motherboard replaced took huge efforts and at least 3 months from Lenovo. Also I think their battery degrades at a very fast rate as compared to Dell etc. I am not getting another Lenovo again and would prefer Dell, Asus etc. over it
It looks like an issue with this laptop and the Asus. I can see why the screen gets a good score but it can't be a perfect 10 with that level of glare or, at least without a matte option. I couldn't not see a matte option last time I checked.
Yes, and more than a Snapdragon (I have both) about 0.5% per hour on mine so far. It seems your mode setting might change the draw. Not had it long enough to figure this out yet. My Dell snapdragon plus draws almost nothing.
Only had time to run mine on VM. Drivers for graphics will be a problem, and probably other components. I know other reviews tried and have no WiFi / Bluetooth / poor GPU performance
Hey, I bought this Laptop yesterday and I somehow am experiencing some lags (with just some casual tasks, nothing like video editing or gaming). Does anyone have this problem or know why this could be happening? Thanks!
Is there anybody who can check if there is possibility to power on the laptop when the lid is constantly closed? (without single open, even partial). I would like to confirm that feature to use that as a main unit connected to external monitors. Thanks in advance.
Actually the performance is really pretty good. Snapdragons do well in the benchmarks but in real world use I find the Aura faster. Technically it is faster on single core, and much slower on multi-core, but many apps off load to the GPU and there it smokes a Snapdragon. So in real work situations it is smooth and quick to do most tasks (even the lessor battery modes - with a slower CPU are feeling fast).
It is a new world! Mainly totally silent. When the fans spin up it is a quiet shush sound, less than my old Macbook Pro (M1) and less fan than I have ever experienced on an Intel machine. I have a Snapdragon Elite as well and I'd say they are the same. Both are really quiet.
Hi Andrew, a week on the road with my Slim 7i Aura - here's what I can tell you...
1. Battery life is good - I am getting a wildly fluctuating battery meter 'hours left' figure, but it is good for over 10+ hours - mileage depends on use...
2. Lenovo have borked the Windows 11 build - there is something weird and incompatible with this factory image - best advice - wipe it and start again with fresh Microsoft Windows 11 - and you'll lose the weird things, and also see a speed up and slightly better battery life
3. Even set to 'better battery' - using Battery Mode app - you don't really notice the performance dip that brings, but you do appreciate the solid battery life. Used Balanced Mode for more power - but recognise you'll have less time on battery
4. It is super quiet, even in performance modes / under load. So lovely!
5. I highly rate the screen - it is a beauty and colour accuracy is very good. Put it on dynamic refresh and enjoy silky smooth transitions.
6. It needs more firmware updates / driver updates - particularly with the GPU
- VMs don't work so great
- a small number of apps have graphics glitches
- I got some unexpected blue screens after trying Hyper V (after I upgraded to Windows 11 Pro...)
7. If you use mainstream software it just works. I don't game, so can't help there... Apart from VMs all my software works fine.
8. Linux... not until we get more stable drivers - bit of a shame alas
9. Sound - some reviews criticise the sound (honestly they must be deaf!). I did find a glitch in part of the sound driver, so turn off some adaptive sound modes. Dolby works just great. It is loud...
10. OK vs a Snapdragon (Dell Inspiron Plus Snapdragon Elite Plus 64 model) - the Intel feels more snappy in day to day use. The Snapdragon gets better performance scores, but I think quite a few apps are in emulation, so you don't 'feel' that difference. Intel GPU is much better, and that might be why the machine feels faster. Snapdragon wins out on battery life (both have hi res IPS screens, so reasonable comparison). The 14 inch Dell = same weight as the Lenovo - but you get 1.3 inch more screen - which makes huge difference. Both work well with accessories, the Lenovo has more ports and better port layout, the Dell gets fingerprint reader and much better location for the power button. But the killer is I paid GBP 849 for the Dell and GBP 1399 for the Lenovo. Big victory to Dell but the build quality is slightly lower than the Lenovo big irritation being the limited screen position. Lenovo is a bit weird with the side power button... I spent my money on the Dell, I spent my company money on the Lenovo - I'd still do the same. The Lenovo is the better office machine.
11. Intel Unison - actually after I rebuilt Windows this worked really well. Getting messages and calls to the PC. Also easy file transfer between iPhone and PC (not to be sniffed at!).
If you are thinking about this machine, just be aware it is a young processor and there are going to be a few glitches to iron out. I have the 32Gb model - and it runs very well on latest fresh build of Windows 11 24H2 - but I did a rebuild and used Lenovo Vantage app and Windows to complete re-install of the drivers (all went fine). When you do this you will need an external keyboard / mouse and network card / wifi stick - otherwise it is tricky (I already guessed this so was prepared).
As Andrew says... Almost perfect...
Thanks for your take. Much appreciated
Yes, someone on reddit complaint about an uneven yoga slim 7i on his desk. So you dont seem to be the only one with this problem. 😢
That reminds me of when my colleague bought an uneven Yoga laptop, which I recommended to him, in 2022 in China. Why does Lenovo keep having this problem again and again? It seems their production quality management hasn’t improved at all.
>t. Asus representative
I'm joking
@@sebswii3392I have had loads of Lenovo laptops, this is a first for me. I have a simple fix, but daft that I should 'add my own feet' to it..
I just purchased a Lenovo Slim 7i and I have encountered this issue
By the time I was to buy the x1 carbon with the same internals, this review drops ... back to the comparison excel :P
For a 15-inch laptop, it makes the M2-M3 Air 15-inch irrelevant beyond OS bias. Good single core performance, good iGPU, full X86 software compatibility, good ports (including a Type A), good sound system, 32 GB of RAM, blazing fast RAM speed (8533), adjustable gen 4 SSD, 120 hz screen refresh rate, 538 nits of brightness, and 2.8k display resolution.
Edit: All for $1,300 before taxes.
It basically is the Macbook Air 15 for Windows.
Amazing! I would have gotten it instantly if it had the 360 hinge. I mean its a Yoga after all, and they made it fold out flat anyway. Please pass that along to Lenovo, if they can offer the 360 hinge as a choice. I saw someone else commenting here asking if the Aura edition comes as a 2 in 1. Thanks for the review and keep up the good work.
Same, I need the 360 hinge.
Nice pc. Display looked good. Camera and speakers are good. Unlike the Samsung pc you reviewed recently this does not have a useless numpad but a nice centered keyboard and TouchPad. Port selection good. Unfortunately reading other comments about this pc not seating flat on the surface Lenovo needs to address this. Overall this appears to be an excellent choice for users. Another great quality review.
I don't know about that being uneven, i got my unit today and is absolutely flat on the surface.
Min 4:22 is the bottom part of the device bend?? Looks like it came off the main body… 😮
I bought one a week ago here in sweden and I do really like it. It is heavier than I thought it would be.... Screen is nice - me being 50+ have to run it in windows suggested 200% zoom mode to be able to read the text :-) Really nice with a USB-A port on it, since I program RPi Picos on it
one other thing, the Audio is somewhat Bass-heavy, you can fix that in the Dolby Access app - just make a custom profile and make sure to select the Dolby profile for sound output
Vad tycker du om tangentbordet och musmattan?
Hi. What’s fan noise like when browsing with like 15 or more tabs please?
Is the iGPU able to handle an external 4K display attached to the laptop?
@@pixelpusher1393 I'd say "yes" - but I don't have one myself. The Arc 140v can allocate 16gb of memory
Finally good ips , oled tend to have text fringing issue
Finally got this review. Very balanced. Really helpful for me to make final decision on this model.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes pretty close to being the PERFECT laptop for sure. It certainly has more positive attributes than negative ones. The price is good for everything it has. It certainly is not perfect but it comes very close! Thank you Andrew!! 👏😁
I have to commend Lenovo for listening and bringing back 1.5mm key travel.
Only Waiting for your review and release in India. Thanks boss for making a great review again 🔥
Thanks again Andrew, you're a legend. A friend of mine also has the unevenness isue.. I think he sent it back.
Glad to help
Coming up.... Legendary
Hi Marc, my Aura wobbles just like yours. At first I thought the chassis was twisted, but then after looking carefully at it I saw the right front foot is slightly slimmer than the left foot (manufacturing fault). £1399 for a laptop that wobbles. Pretty rubbish. Quick solution, I stuck 2 new rubber feet on the front behind the factory fit and now it is perfect. I also see that as you move the screen back past a certain point that wobbles comes back, so the hinge is slightly twisting the chassis. Really the only fault I can find with this, I also found setting the right combo of power mode and bios power setting is critical to battery life, set it too high and it is also not good. In a balanced mode or better battery mode (I use Better Battery app) the laptop can easily do more than 11-12 hours. I have a snapdragon Dell Inspiron Plus, and that is way better on battery life, but as you know has compatibility issues. Right now the Aura is lacking in GPU stability and it is clear the driver needs some more work. I expect them to improve it in the next 60 days or so, but I get weird crashes when exiting Teams calls, and it seems to be a graphics glitch. It also runs very slow on VMs, and I have 32GB ram version. Again graphics is the problem it seems.
Thanks for the info
Why do they always mention screen burn-in when talking about OLED displays? This used to happen on cell phones several years ago, but they fixed it and now all cell phones have OLED displays and they don't mention anything about screen burn-in. Have they still not fixed this problem on laptops?
With phones the screen isnt always on static images but with laptops you have constant images on the screen(like taskbar ) that might make the screen burn
@@berk6123 I don't think the same. The phone notification bar always shows the same thing and there are no burn-in problems. In addition, in everyday life people use phone screens more than computer screens and nowadays there is no talk of screen burn-in on new mobile phones.
The improvement has just been to make sure they last longer than people tend to keep their device. There is no burn in proof OLED.
OLED burn in is not a major issue on modern laptop displays now. It's good practice to have the taskbar set auto hide as static images are the main issue with burn in however it takes a long time for it to show with lots of high brightness usage and displaying static lighter or brighter colours. Even when burn in occurs years into the devices use, the screen is perfectly usable when the laptop is turned on and the burn in becomes hard or nearly impossible to actually see. For me the issue with OLED is more to do with the battery life, particularly with light mode.
I can't recall ever seeing a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut on an LCD screen before. Very impressive.
I believe Apple tends to accomplish it on their LCDs, but it's pretty rare outside of that.
Apple does it. Even on the MacBook Air.
Thanks Andrew! Was waiting for it and finally watched it. A great review. It helped me a lot understand it better. If you can make a comparison video with Asus S14, we will follow that up as well. Thanks indeed.
it is odd that only one review out of the many I have read complained about the speakers. Just josh says they are "sub par" for a 15 inch laptop, PC, world, dave2d and yourself praise the speakers. they sound good in your test and better than the slime 7x, more immersive for sure. I like your reviews because they seem more objective than even the more popular reviewers and you always cover everything while some others skip or gloss over some features
Still waiting for a 16 inch 16.10 OLED from Lenovo or Asus. It seems there was lack of planning from Intel and Snapdragon. Almost no proper 16 inch yet. Samsung has not typing friendly keyboard so not counting them. It seems I might have to buy a macbook 16inch M4 to run Windows ARM with parallel.
Honestly 15.3 Vs 16? They really have benefit of small chassis with big screen. If the 0.7 is important then sure, but I think 15.3 in this compact design is a winner. Fits in a small laptop bag and weighs just 150g more than 14 inch laptops in general...
@@MikeSaar-q3d I am a stock trader, having almost once inch display is a massive thing for me, in that I can fit a couple of visual tools. For a regular user it might be enough.
I have the Lenovo slim 7 pro x and I'm considering upgrading to this given it's practically the same laptop with 6x the battery performance (I get max of 4 hrs of battery at 120hz)
Marc thank you for your review, they do feel unbiased. Still I need your help and I need to decided between this Lenovo aura editions vs HP specter X360 16.
Please let me know
I also have my right side being uneven
That's an assembly defect. contact Lenovo for free replacement. unacceptable
Hi Andrew. Is there a way for you to test this scenario: connect two 4K screens to the laptop and see the performance of laptop. Does it get hot?
Also, when connecting 2 external screens, does Windows animation suffers? (Press Win+Tab)
Thanks Andrew 😊, Please upload final POV of Galaxy book 5 pro 360. Is Galaxy book 5 pro 360 is good for overall work?
13:53 Hi Andrew, can you please make a video with those competitor laptops
I just returned mine to Best Buy. I totally respect your testing and opinion, but my experience was nothing like yours. I couldn't get anywhere near the battery life you did and the idle drain was around 1%/hour with the lid closed, which was a lot more than the Snapdragon laptops were giving me. It was also weirdly choppy, despite being set to 120hz. It looked more like it was running at 30hz when I was web browsing and navigating around the OS. I was really hoping for an M1 MacBook moment with these machines, but, for me, it just doesn't seem like we're there yet.
I have the same strange "FPS drop" of my cursor and sometimes scrolling. I cant tell if its unique to this laptop or if it is a more widespread win11 high refesh issue. Sometimes it stops if i tab in and out of a window (which is not really a viable solution)
@@Kidunot7I was thinking that maybe it was the variable refresh rate setting. It saves battery, but when I went to UFOtest, the only way I could get the 120hz was to move the cursor around constantly on the webpage while it was testing. I’m thinking it’s too aggressive with the frame rate scaling or something.
Did you replace drivers with Intel provided ones?
@@Gravage After a thorough hour of testing I found a solution. Intel Graphics Command Center -> System -> Power -> Panel Self Refresh needs to be turned off.
I feel like I've turned off adaptive/dynamic refresh 5 different places as well within Intel, Lenovo and Windows software, but this is the one that was the culprit. I know you already took it back, but in case anyone else stumbles on this. It is ridiculous that you have to jump through so many hoops just to have the display work as intended thought instead of diminishing experience just to save a bit of battery life. I almost took it back to the store without giving it a proper chance due to this weird functionality.
@@Kidunot7 Yeah, too late, but thanks. It's still disappointing that this is a thing out of the box. This is why the out of box experience with Macs is so superior. That and the convoluted Windows 11 setup experience.
It seems that quite a few people have issues with the uneven laptop. This may be a quality problem with the laptop line.
I wish this laptop came with a larger SSD form factor and the normal SD card reader.
@andrewmarcdavid Could you please try to find a way to highlight the model under review when showing the rankings? Or perhaps always putting it on the top or bottom? It can take quite a while to find it in longer lists, during which you lose focus on what you're saying. Then, when you've found it, the next chart shows up ;-) Tnx...
Yes, I am going to put a highlight on it going foward
Thankfully it is an ips, oled drains the battery way faster for a marginal improvement
Exactly, totallynot worth it on a portability focused design
Unless tandem oled
@@thewolfofgod3908 it's literally worse for battery
@@thewolfofgod3908Not sure if that's entirely true though because the battery drain is terrible on those as seen with the comparison on battery life on the Dell XPS 13 battery drain being significantly worse with the tandem OLED than the IPS panel on both the Snapdragon X and Intel lunar Lake variants I suppose you can argue that the image quality is much better on them though
I have 2 laptops with IPS and 2 with OLED. Battery drain is really bad on OLED and both ASUS and Lenovo get you to make settings changes to stop burn in. The Aura IPS is very good against an OLED and has way better power consumption. For me I now choose IPS for better battery life... You can see this with Snapdragon PCs, the best long life ones are generally IPS.
Andrew, I noticed during the showing of the ports on the left side that the bottom panel or cover appears warped under the power button at ~4:05 time mark. Not sure when that picture was taken (if it was after you opened it) but could explain the left side wobble.
Wobble was there before I opened it
@@andrewmarcdavid but you didn’t answer the question. The chassis is clearly open under the right hand side usb port. Can you pls explain whether that is standard, or just a result of taking back cover off and not reinstalling properly? Thx
previous lenovos yogas have extremely bad hinge issues (detaching from the lid of the display), they likely have carried this design over to this one. I would avoid it.
Compatibility issues aside, would you get this or the Slim 7x?
If a stronger integrated gpu is important to you, get the lunar lake laptop.
Seems to be a great laptop, but is there also coming a 2in1 from lenovo with the lunar lake chips?
I would expect it to be
Hey guys, I have a question - currently operate on:
ASUS ROG Strix 712 Lu (2021)
Intel i7-10750H 2.6 Ghz
RAM 16 Gb DDR4
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 Gb
The hardest task (but quite a lot of that use) is video editing.
But overall like this machine from review!
Will it give me same or better perfomance in video editing?
That build quality looks iffy. At 4:18 the bottom panel seems loose.
That part is my fault when I put the bottom lid back on
@@andrewmarcdavid Ah alright, thanks for clarifying that
Yogas are solid machines. The wobble is bad, but a £2 set of feet fixed mine. Agree the problem should not exist, but generally my experience of Yogas is fine build and great reliability. The screen and keyboard are exceptional on this machine.
at least off axis, the OLED @ 9:00 is light years ahead of the IPS..
Who uses a laptop off axis?
@@kevink9365 Two people watching a movie for example. And why wouldn't you want the latest and maybe best technology in your device what produces a better image?
Hi, I've heard that the new Intel processors have greatly improved battery life. But it seems that there are several versions of the Intel Ultra. How can I find out which is the new version that improves battery life?
They are the Series 2 processors, so look for model versions starting with a 2. 258v for example.
I'm thinking Samsung notebook 5 360. Lenovo slim 7 ultra is on my list also 32g ram but not sure about the uneven corner. Not sure that's a technical issue or could cause one down the road. But I like the screen as the Samsung is Oled
I'll figure it out.
I have the same issue with the unevenness on my unit on the right side!
I am reaching out to Lenovo about this issue
Looking at your image of the rights side IO, you might not have closed itnback up properly after looking inside. Could this be the reason it is uneven on your desk?
@@Kidunot7 yes I noticed that but the unevenness was detected shortly after I unboxed it and before I opened it up
Nope they wobble. Mine has never been opened, it is a manufacturing error on the right foot. Not same depth as the left foot...DOH!
This will be a great competitor to the macbook air 15 with the M3 chip, seeing they have very similar screens and dimensions.
Pros of the Macbook Air M3:
-Better Single Core Performance
-Slightly Better Multicore Performance
-Better graphics performance
-Better speakers
-Better Trackpad
-Better Build Quality
Pros of the Slim 7i Aura Edition:
-120HZ, touch display
-Better Battery Life in Light Tasks
-Better Port Selection
-More Keyboard Travel
-Much Better Value/Bang For Buck
I could make a case for either one, but for many the lenovo slim 7i will be a better choice for those on a tighter budget. The macbook may be better for those willing to spend more and for those looking for a more premium feeling chassis and for those who like the apple ecosystem/macos. However, I've seen the macbook air 15 with 16gbRAM/512GB SSD going for around $1400USD
Also, full access to X86 software.
@@akin242002 yeah I forgot about that. But I guess you could also say macOS gets less cluttered over time as well.
If you can stand MacOS then MacBook is the way to go. Better hardware for sure. If you want Windows in a native install then the Lenovo is great. In the UK we get 32GB Ram for £1399. Very hard to find stock though. 16Gb machines on long lead times.
Can you test whether this laptop provides ISM (Intel Standard Manageability) feature which is available in this CPU model. Thanks!
Finally
I think Lenovo products are prone with quality issues right out of the box. I bought Lenovo yoga pro 9i 14 and the 120hz refresh rate use to result in screen flickering making it unusable. To get the motherboard replaced took huge efforts and at least 3 months from Lenovo. Also I think their battery degrades at a very fast rate as compared to Dell etc. I am not getting another Lenovo again and would prefer Dell, Asus etc. over it
Just look at the reflection on the screen at the beginning of the video 🤦♂
It looks like an issue with this laptop and the Asus. I can see why the screen gets a good score but it can't be a perfect 10 with that level of glare or, at least without a matte option. I couldn't not see a matte option last time I checked.
Yes, it is very glossy and that is its biggest flaw. On the other hand text is amazingly sharp on the screen.
What about the battery drain during sleep? Does the laptop wake up and drain the battery when the lid is closed?
Yes, and more than a Snapdragon (I have both) about 0.5% per hour on mine so far. It seems your mode setting might change the draw. Not had it long enough to figure this out yet. My Dell snapdragon plus draws almost nothing.
Some linux testing would be nice 🙂
Only had time to run mine on VM. Drivers for graphics will be a problem, and probably other components. I know other reviews tried and have no WiFi / Bluetooth / poor GPU performance
I was replying to the comment that says batter sucks. IPs sucks and can’t turn on when docked comment.
Do the make a 2in1 Aura version?
No convertible yet
Does it work with Lenovo Precision Pen 2?
No pen support
@@andrewmarcdavid which pen can I use with this laptop? Which one is the best?
Hey, I bought this Laptop yesterday and I somehow am experiencing some lags (with just some casual tasks, nothing like video editing or gaming). Does anyone have this problem or know why this could be happening? Thanks!
You are great Andrew but I don't trust Lenovo anymore!
THINKPAD AURA VERSION REVIEW ?
Soon
Is there anybody who can check if there is possibility to power on the laptop when the lid is constantly closed? (without single open, even partial). I would like to confirm that feature to use that as a main unit connected to external monitors. Thanks in advance.
Lenovo should stop forcing this small SSD thing. Every laptop I wish to get from them they have this
1299.9 and UpTo 32 gb ram . Wtf was that 😂
@@udeshkavinda2279 man the comments are really stupid today. People get it together and make sense.
Junk!!! Too weak for the price
Actually the performance is really pretty good. Snapdragons do well in the benchmarks but in real world use I find the Aura faster. Technically it is faster on single core, and much slower on multi-core, but many apps off load to the GPU and there it smokes a Snapdragon. So in real work situations it is smooth and quick to do most tasks (even the lessor battery modes - with a slower CPU are feeling fast).
@@MikeSaar-q3d how's the fan noise and temp control? Is is close to the M Macbook experience or still the Intel shit when running heavy task?
It is a new world! Mainly totally silent. When the fans spin up it is a quiet shush sound, less than my old Macbook Pro (M1) and less fan than I have ever experienced on an Intel machine. I have a Snapdragon Elite as well and I'd say they are the same. Both are really quiet.