If there were to be a beauty pageant of laptops today, there would be more participants than the stage can possibly accommodate. Every model would be trying - and many succeeding - in ticking off the right boxes. Elegant, slim, smart and has the perfect vital stats. The brand-new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro also makes the cut, but I dig in a bit deeper to check if there are any flaws in this beauty.

Aesthetics 

Visually simple - there’s almost no standout feature on the cover, except the ‘YOGA’ etched on one corner. The Storm Gray colour on a sandblasted anodised metal finish lends it some elegance, however the aesthetic is very commonplace. At just around 1.5 kgs, the Slim 7i Pro makes it to the lightweight category, and is fairly easily to commute with. I push the lid open, surprisingly without needing to hold the base down with the other hand. The 14-inch display has a thing bezel surrounding it, accompanied by a full-sized keyboard and trackpad at the base. The glass trackpad makes for super smooth scrolling. And, the right and left click buttons lay flush with the trackpad, with no visual demarcations.

The chiclet-type keys are typical of the Yoga lineup with slightly rounded base on each key. The typing is accurate and the travel on the keys satisfactory. The keyboard is backlit and the intensity can be adjusted using the space bar. 

The Power button is on the right-hand side bezel of the laptop and not as part of the keyboard, a departure from the design of most other brands. There’s surprisingly no fingerprint reader - a staple in premium laptops these days. There is a face sign-in option though which works well enough, but possibly could be snappier. 

Connectivity ports are the usual - two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left; one USB 3.2 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack next to the power button on the right. 

Special features

Apart from the usual suspects on the function keys - volume, brightness and projector controls - there’s a instant flight mode and a Lenovo smart key. The Lenovo smart key further offers Lenovo Vantage - a quick glance at the status of the system memory, disk space available and the warranty status. It also houses Lenovo Voice which a handy little app that lets me engage voice commands, use a live translator, transcribe using voice-to-text and turn on subtitles for any media playing on the screen. 

While the webcam is on par for most laptops in this price segment, I wish it had a privacy shutter - either physical or electronic. Those who’ve fallen into the habit from jumping right from bed to the first Zoom meeting of the day will appreciate the bunch of digital touch-ups included that can do more for your face than any skincare routine ever will.  

Display

Although the Yoga Slim 7i Pro comes with a flexible display - 180 degrees to be exact - the functionalities this offers stays limited considering this is not a touchscreen display. So no doodling or note-taking on this one. 

By default, the system is set to 60 Hz refresh rate. The overall browsing and multimedia consumption experience is amped up the moment I jack it up to 90 Hz, with text no longer leaving a shadow trail as I get my reading done for the day. The IPS display has a 2.8K resolution making it a great device to consume content on. I start streaming the neo-noir comedy movie Monica, O My Darling and while the colours are vivid, the viewing angles adequate, I miss the peerless OLED viewing experience I’ve had on laptops in the same price range, and even lower. 

Tech Specs

The unit I reviewed had 1 TB storage and I could access more by logging in to the pre-installed OneDrive on the system. The graphics is driven by Intel Iris Xe which isn’t exactly geared at an optimal gaming experience but delivers well when it comes to watching movies on Netflix, streaming YouTube, reading and editing articles, and otherwise endlessly scrolling on the laptop.

The stereo speak grilles are on the bottom edges of the chassis and while they offer decent sound quality, it wasn’t impressive enough to have me ditch my headphones. 

Battery life 

Powered by a 61 Wh integrated battery, the system stays on for just about 5-6 hours, on most of my workdays, before I have to plug it back in. This was with the brightness levels set at 50 percent throughout. To get to 100 percent charge, the laptop took a little under two hours at a stretch with the 65 W charger. 

Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro is pitched as a premium, portable ultrabook and while it ticks those boxes what it falls short of is offering more value-adds such as a touchscreen and a long battery life. That’s what would have clinched the deal for me, especially given the price tag.

Price - ₹1,05,990

Pros - Elegant, lightweight laptop, powerful processor

Cons - No touchscreen, average battery life 

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