Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: One of the most beautiful laptops I’ve ever tested

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x ($1,119 to start) is the company’s first AI laptop powered by Snapdragon X Elite. Though it bears the familiar “Yoga Slim” moniker, this is a completely new notebook built for portability and efficiency. Lenovo is billing this as a laptop for creatives due to its fast performance, but the svelte design and sturdy aluminum chassis make it appealing for anyone looking for an elegant and lightweight Windows laptop. Like the HP OmniBook X, this is a strong competitor to Apple’s MacBook Air 13-inch M3.

While the Yoga Slim 7x isn’t the longest-lasting Snapdragon X Elite laptop we’ve tested, it still lasts much longer than most of the best Windows laptops. And like other Copilot+ PCs, this laptop supports all the new AI features coming in Windows 11.

In addition to its zippy performance and enduring battery life, the Yoga Slim 7x also features a vibrant 14.5-inch (2,944 x 1,840) 90Hz OLED panel. Videos look phenomenal thanks to the oversaturated colors and deep contrast. The 16:10 aspect ratio offers plenty of vertical space when scrolling through web pages while the touchscreen gives you added versatility to help you be more productive.

There are some drawbacks, however. Chief among them are the half-baked AI features that don’t provide much functionality despite being so heavily advertised. Arm compatibility for Windows apps is in a better state now than ever, but there are still many apps that won’t work on Copilot+PCs. Lastly, the Yoga Slim 7x has no headphone jack to speak of.

Issues aside, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is another fantastic Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptop. Its ultraportable design, fast performance, long battery life and vivid OLED display make it one of the best laptops out there. The fact it won’t destroy your bank account is simply icing on the cake. Find out why in my full review.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? Lenovo's first Snapdragon X Elite laptop, featuring an all-new design.
• Who is it for? For people who need an ultraportable laptop with fast performance and all-day battery life.
• How much does it cost? The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x starts at $1,199 on Lenovo’s website. This starting configuration (which is the same one we reviewed) features a 14.5-inch (2,944 x 1,840) OLED display, a Snapdragon X Elite chip, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.
• What do we like? The lightweight design, Snapdragon X Elite power and OLED display.
• What don't we like? Undercooked AI features, Arm compatibility issues and no headphone jack.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: Specs

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: The ups

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x stands out from the other Copilot+ PCs we’ve reviewed thanks to its super-thin design and gorgeous OLED touch panel. And like other Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, it features strong performance and exceptional battery life.

Ultraportable design

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is exactly what I imagine when I think of a slim and portable laptop. At 12.8 x 8.8 x 0.5 inches and weighing 2.8 pounds, this svelte notebook is almost as thin and light as the 13-inch MacBook Air. And thanks to its sturdy aluminum chassis and tasteful Cosmic Blue color, it looks just as good as Apple’s laptop.

There’s a small lip on the lid that makes it easy to open the laptop with one hand. The lid is as sturdy as the laptop and doesn’t bend or flex. Its hinge also glides smoothly when you open and close the laptop.

Lenovo’s notebooks have excellent keyboards and the Yoga Slim 7x is no exception. The thick large keycaps offer a good amount of resistance when pressed, and the keyboard deck is spacious enough to comfortably type on. The smooth and responsive touchpad is also pretty roomy. The overall typing experience is extremely enjoyable.

Vibrant display

The OLED display is one of this laptop’s main selling points. It delivers inky blacks, eye-scorching whites, and super-saturated colors. On top of that, the sharp 2,944 x 1,840 resolution ensures everything you’re looking at, from videos to websites, appears nice and clear. The iPad Pro M4’s tandem OLED panel is the best I’ve ever seen but the Yoga Slim 7x’s isn’t far behind. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

A YouTube video called “The Black 4K HDR 60fps” looks stunning on the Yoga Slim 7x’s OLED display. This video features fruits and honey on an all-black background and the contrast between the dark and light elements truly shines. I also love how the colors seem to pop off the screen. You’ll have a fun time watching anything on this laptop.

And our display test corroborates my anecdotal experience. As you can see from the table above, the Yoga Slim 7x delivers oversaturated colors (sRGB and DCI-P3) and decent color accuracy (Delta-E). The display can get very bright both with SDR and HDR content.

Awesome performance

The Lenovo Yoga 7x I reviewed packs the same Snapdragon X Elite X1E80100 chip as the HP OmniBook X, Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and Dell XPS 13 (2024), along with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. Its performance is comparable to those machines, and it also matches or beats notebooks featuring different processors. The Yoga Slim 7x is yet another example that Snapdragon X Elite laptops are serious business.

The Yoga Slim 7x doesn’t buckle under my day-to-day work, often involving over 30 open tabs and the occasional YouTube video tossed into the mix. It also runs relatively cool, with its underside peaking at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Lenovo’s ultraportable can handle everyday work like a champ and remain cool and quiet.

As I expected after reviewing several Copilot+ PCs, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x did great in our performance benchmark test. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, Lenovo’s Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptop beats the MacBook Air 13-inch M3 in multi-core performance, though Apple’s machine has better single-core performance. The Yoga Slim 7x also crushes the Dell XPS 14 with its Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU.

In our Handbrake video editing test, which involves transcoding a 4K video clip to 1080p, the Yoga Slim 7x completed the task faster than the MacBook Air M3 and Dell XPS 14.

While the Yoga Slim 7x excels at everyday work, don’t expect it to play the best PC games as well as the best gaming laptops. Like the other Snapdragon X Elite laptops I tested, Civilization VI struggles to run at 20 frames per second. If you want to play modern games on this machine, you’re better off doing so on cloud gaming services like GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

All-day battery life

Let’s cut to the chase. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x has incredible battery life that’s on par with most M-series MacBooks.

In our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x averaged 14 hours and 14 minutes. That’s amazing for a Windows laptop, though the MacBook Air 13-inch M3 lasts an hour longer. That said, neither matches the Dell XPS 13 (2024), which is currently the longest-lasting consumer laptop we’ve ever reviewed.

Crisp 1080p webcam

The Yoga Slim 7x has a fairly decent 1080p webcam.

As you can see in the photo above, the camera accurately captures all the wrinkles on my black shirt. It also does a good job of capturing the lockers behind me. My only complaint is that colors appear somewhat muted.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: The downs

While a great laptop, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x has some issues. Two of these are endemic to the current crop of Copilot+ PCs, while another is specific to this laptop.

Arm compatibility issues and less-than-stellar AI

The Yoga Slim 7x can’t run certain apps and games due to its Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite processor. Right now, this includes the desktop version of Google Drive and several Adobe apps like Premiere Pro and After Effects. If you mainly browse the web or watch videos, you likely won’t encounter any compatibility issues. If you do, you could be in for a frustrating time. Hopefully, compatibility won’t be as much of a problem as more developers create Arm-compatible apps and games, though that could take some time (if it happens at all).

Then we have this laptop’s advertised “AI” capabilities. Though some features, like MS Paint’s new Cocreator feature (which can improve your drawings) are interesting, they’re not as truly useful as manufacturers (and the tech industry) want us to believe. But if the generative AI revolution ever does happen, the Yoga Slim 7x and other Copilot+ PCs might become indispensable for those who like to regularly use on-device AI.

No headphone jack

Don’t bother looking for the Yoga Slim 7x’s headphone jack since it doesn’t have one.

I can’t say I’m too surprised. After all, it’s not unusual to see a slim laptop without a headphone jack. That said, notebooks like the MacBook Air M3 and Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge prove that ultraportables don’t have to ditch the headphone jack.

Unless you don’t mind if others hear whatever you’re listening to, you’ll need a pair of the best wireless headphones when using this laptop in public.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is another excellent Copilot+ PC that delivers performance and efficiency on par with the best MacBooks running on the M3 chip. It’s also a looker thanks to its elegant ultraportable design. And of course, the OLED display and relatively affordable price serve to make the entire package all the sweeter.

Even if it lacks a headphone jack and its AI features aren’t fully realized, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a Windows laptop worth checking out.