You might automatically expect I have a gaming laptop because I work for a gaming magazine. Well, to tell you the truth, I once had a gaming laptop, but then I got to review a lightweight business-style notebook and immediately changed. The lightweight, slim, sleek design and just the proper inner hardware to do what I needed at work was a much better user experience than lugging around a gaming beast.
Luckily, I have a hefty desktop PC at home, so don’t worry; I’m still playing games.
So, being a premium, no-GPU-installed laptop user, I was offered the new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition laptop to review. A stylish and slim laptop built to tackle everyday work tasks and make you look more professional in front of customers.
So, what can we expect hardware-wise from this slim and stylish laptop? Well, under the hood, we have Intel’s latest Core Ultra series CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 7 256v, an 8-core 4.8 GHz CPU, bundled with an Intel Arc 140V GPU and NPU support of up to 47 TOPS. In layman’s terms, a beefy little CPU with a built-in GPU and some AI support.
We also get 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, 512GB of M.2 SSD Storage, a 15.3-inch 2.8K Touchscreen LCD, a 70Whr battery, excellent built-in speakers, an FHD camera, WiFi 7 support, 2x USB-C thunderbolt ports, 1x USB A port, an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack.
Unfortunately, the integrated CPU doesn’t support more than 16GB of RAM, so if you’re looking for more, you’ll have to grab the Yoga 7 with the 258v Core Ultra 7 instead.
So, how does all this hardware perform in the real world?
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition was a dream for everyday use. It’s slightly heavier than my current, super lightweight laptop, but compared to other gaming laptops, it’s essentially a feather, weighing in at 1.46 Kg. At 13.9mm x 343.8mm x 235.4mm, the laptop also manages to fit a sizeable 15-inch screen into a shell that’s almost as small as a 14-inch laptop should be.
The keyboard is splendid to type on. It has good finger feedback and doesn’t feel too cheap or chicletty like many other laptops. The trackpad is relatively simple, with a standard glass-like design.
Performance-wise, I could run my standard workday apps without any hesitation. I run 20+ tabs in Google Chrome, Spotify, WhatsApp, Discord, Creality 3D Print, Outlook, and three different notepad apps because I still can’t decide which one to use.
The extra NPUs baked into the Core Ultra 7 CPU also mean Windows Co-Pilot works well. I don’t tend to use it that often, but with my basic messing around, I didn’t find any hassles or NPU-related delays. The extra NPUs can also be used for creation in apps like Adobe Photoshop, which I use more often to extend images or make avatars for our weekly NAG meetings.
The built-in speakers are absolutely amazing. Most of us are used to tinny, distorted sounds when it comes to laptop listening, but the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition packs four 2-Watt speakers that will have you starting parties in the office. Definitely one of the best sets of speakers I’ve heard on a laptop.
Battery life was decent. The marketing spiel promises all-day battery life, and I suppose that is obtainable if you don’t do much on your laptop, but I found it sat closer to the 6-8 hour mark. Charging back up to full was pretty quick, with just two to three hours needed to get back to 100% while the laptop lid was closed.
If you were wondering, the “Aura Edition” label isn’t just another fancy name Lenovo has slapped on to confuse buyers. It’s a collaboration with Intel to ensure a more premium laptop experience. Built-in, the laptop has different modes for different uses. A Colab mode for Teams meetings and the like, a Shield Mode that blurs your screen when others approach and a few others that feel similar to battery saver or blue-light protection. You also supposedly get access to Lenovo’s support team, which can assist you via phone with IT problems you might be facing.
To be honest, the extra NPUs and integrated touchscreen still feel like nice-to-haves instead of marketable sales features, but, as I said, they are nice to have. I don’t think many of us often use these two features, but when you do need them, they are there, and they work flawlessly.
Obviously, while I may not carry a gaming laptop with me everywhere I go, I still like to sneak a little game on the go here and there. So I had to check if the Lenovo could take on a few simple games.
Ok, not simple like solitaire, simple like, I dunno, League of Legends!
Jokes aside, putting the laptop through some 3D Mark benchmarks resulted in decent scores. Steel Nomad scored 601, and Steel Nomad Light gave us a nice 2694. Comparatively, a gaming notebook packing an Nvidia RTX 4060 discrete GPU scored 2192 on Steel Nomad, and a budget gaming rig with an Intel Arc B580 scored 3023.
But benchmark scores mean nothing, right? Well, sort of.
Could I play games on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition? Yes, yes I could. And I could do so with full HD graphics with decent frame rates. Fortnite, Apex Legends and even League of Legends sat at a comfortable 60fps with the graphic settings turned down, but it’s definitely no match for a gaming laptop or desktop PC packing some heftier hardware.
Overall, for a work laptop that won’t hold me back on the go, I loved my time with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Aura Edition. It looks stunning, is lightweight, has a nice 15.3-inch touchscreen and more than enough ports that I don’t need to carry a dock. I love that it also charges via USB-C, giving me extra versatility on the go. Sitting around the R30,000 mark does mean you’ll have to fork out some cash to own one, but for a premium laptop with these specs, that price sits with the rest of the other brands out there.
