Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon review: finesse

A top-of-the-range ultraportable PC, thin, light and elegant, the all-new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is not lacking in assets to appeal to on-the-go users. But it suffers from a few sacrifices, such as competition models.

When we talk about ultraportable computers (also called ultrabooks), we often think of Steve Jobs in 2008 who, during the Macworld Expo, came out of a kraft paper envelope, the very first MacBook Air. The “world’s thinnest” 13.3-inch computer – at its time – with a thickness of 1.9 cm and a weight of 1.3 kg. Fourteen years have passed since and, version after version, the Macbook Air is still in Apple’s catalog. But his concept has also been widely copied and picked up by PC manufacturers. One of the latest, Lenovo with this Yoga Slim 7i Carbon. An obviously very thin and elegant ultraportable, abandoning the traditional aluminum look for a coating that is both sober and in tune with the times. But design isn’t everything. This Lenovo also hides good surprises to remain efficient. Alas, we must also count on some shortcomings, which are difficult to forgive at this price level. We were able to take it in hand for a few days. Here is our opinion.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon: a touch of elegance and discretion

It’s hard to stand out in the highly standardized world of ultraportable PCs without looking like the work done by Apple. It’s a successful bet for Lenovo. This Yoga Slim sports a magnesium alloy and carbon fiber chassis (hence its name) with the most beautiful effect. Closed and laid flat, it looks more like a leather briefcase than a computer. Lenovo has even taken the detail to the point of adding a small metallic tab on the left edge of the cover which gives the impression of being in front of a file.

Beautiful work. But what causes the most striking effect is its weight. Its 995 g make it very easy to grasp without feeling the slightest discomfort on the wrist and even to hold it between the thumb and index finger. We then want to unfold it and use it as a large 13.3-inch tablet. Mistake. The screen only opens to a maximum of 180° and not 360°. Shame.

Lightweight, the Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is also very thin. And even very thin. You can easily slip it into a small backpack in the middle of magazines and documents and forget about it. Anyone who spends their time on the road or in transport will appreciate this compact and discreet template.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon: perfectible ergonomics

This enormous work on this diet is nevertheless not without consideration. In computers as with smartphones, finesse never works in favor of connectivity, which always takes up too much space for manufacturers. And on this Yoga Slim, the observation is bitter. It is necessary here to be satisfied with one side of a port USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 compatible DisplayPort 1.4 and, on the other, a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port. It will be necessary to use one of these two ports for the power supply. That’s all. And it’s a little too short for our taste. If you have USB-A format flash drives, too bad for you. Or, you will always have to remember never to separate yourself from the USB-C / USB-A adapter. In the box, Lenovo provides a USB-C hub with jacks, hdmi, USB-A 3 and VGA (welcome to the 90s!). On this point, the manufacturer can boast of doing as well as Apple with its Macbook Air, but it’s not to please us…

Another point of contention: the keyboard. The travel of the keys is fair, their spacing correct, just like the backlighting, but typing made complicated by a very capricious space bar. If you use your thumb, left or right, to type a space by hitting the key on either end, you’re fine. But if you have the bad idea to hit the bar in its center, you’re done. Space is not taken into account. Unless you hit very hard at the risk of hitting a space twice. A problem obviously already encountered by some of our colleagues and which we have, to a lesser extent, also been confronted with. Nothing says that with a bit of wear, the spacebar won’t get softer over time and more docile. But we must admit that the problem is very quickly annoying or even prohibitive for those who type quickly on the keyboard. At this price, it is difficult to forgive, especially for a PC cut above all for office automation.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon: a processor that heats up quickly

Another difficulty that ultraportable computers have to face is heat dissipation. The very thin chassis implies a good control of the heating of the components, the management of the energy and the cooling of the device. Powered by a 12″ Intel Core i7 processor^e generation, this Yoga Slim 7i Carbon quickly climbs the towers. The heating is felt and the fan never takes too long to start even when no complex task is in progress. A defect not only annoying for the noise – the whistling of the fan remains unpleasant – but also for the use for which this ultraportable was designed: to be able to work everywhere. Keeping him on his lap is really not advisable. Too bad, because the Yoga Slim offers great performance. Don’t ask him for heavy and complex work like 4K video editing or 3D design, that’s not his field. But for everything else, he rises to the occasion without flinching.

On the screen side, this Yoga Slim has an IPS touch screen displaying a definition of 2560 x 1600 pixels. The refresh is established at 90 Hz but a simple keyboard shortcut allows you to switch it to a frequency of 60 Hz in order to grab a little autonomy. Good idea. We also appreciated the matte coating of the slab. Generally touch screens have a very shiny surface which can cause some difficulty in readability due to reflections when used outdoors. Here, this is not the case. In addition, the brightness and contrast did not fail us. A good point.

Technical sheet

Finally, note that the screen of this Yoga Slim is topped with a 720p webcam which delivers fairly good results for your video conferencing sessions. It is also Windows Hello certified and allows you to unlock the PC using facial recognition. And if you want to make sure that the image is well cut, a small physical switch on the right edge of the PC allows you to cut it radically.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon: barely adequate battery life

At the bottom of the Yoga Slim’s keyboard is the Intel EVO sticker. A label that it owes to compliance with the specifications imposed by Intel, one of the criteria of which precisely points to autonomy. Here, it must be at least 9 a.m. with normal use of the machine. On this point, the Yoga Slim takes Intel to the letter and lasted during our 9:10 tests before requiring a quick trip to the charging box. This is done in just over two hours using the 65 W charger provided. And since charging goes through the USB-C port, any Power Delivery charger can do the trick.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon: the price of lightness

The vast majority of ultraportables remain luxury computers. Packing so much power into such a compact and lightweight package comes at a price. In the configuration we tested, the price is just under the 1500 euro mark. However, Lenovo remains in the nails in the face of the prices charged by Samsung for its Galaxy Books, Huawei with its MateBook or Dell with its XPS 13. It’s up to you to see if the weight of less than 1 kg is an absolute necessity. Otherwise, you can turn to laptops that remain quite thin like the Honor MagicBook 14 with a slightly more generous size but charged much less.