It’s not often that I begin using a Windows laptop and completely fall in love within the first few hours. It happened with the HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024), some of the highest-rated laptops I’ve ever tested, but those are both undeniably premium machines.
This time, the laptop that immediately captured my attention as actually being fun to use and test is a mid-range device that probably wouldn’t stand out in a crowd… and it’s awesome.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) is Lenovo’s Snapdragon X series debut, pairing one of Qualcomm’s long-awaited new SoCs with an incredibly thin and robust design, a wonderful 90Hz OLED display, and some of the best endurance (so far) I’ve ever seen in a laptop. Lenovo has frankly made me forget all about the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q, which I thought set a good bar for what these new Copilot+ PCs could be. It turns out that bar could be a lot higher, at least when it comes to comparing first impressions.
If the brand-new Windows on ARM Yoga Slim 7x continues to perform at this level through all my extensive benchmarks, tests, and evaluations, it could end up being one of my favorite laptops of all time. Considering how much it costs, it could also end up being the easiest recommendation I’ve ever made.
This preview was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Lenovo. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
Yoga Slim 7x preview: Pricing and specifications
Pricing highlights
- The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) starts from $1,199 at Lenovo with a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.
- Even fully maxed out with Windows 11 Pro, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage, though, the Yoga Slim 7x never breaks $1,350.
- The Yoga Slim 7x comes in one color, “Cosmic Blue,” and every configuration comes with the same 14.5-inch OLED display.
Reviewed configuration
• Price: From $1,199 at Lenovo | Best Buy
• Display: 14.5-inch OLED, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3K (2,944 x 1,840) resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 1,000 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, Dolby Vision HDR support, touch support
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (XIE-78-100, 12 cores, up to 3.4GHz)
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno
• NPU: Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)
• RAM: 16GB LPDDR5X @ 8,448MHz
• Storage: 512GB NVMe M.2 2242 PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD
• Battery: 70Whr, 65W Rapid Charge Express
• Dimensions: 325 x 225.15 x ~12.9mm (12.79 x 8.86 x ~0.51in)
• Weight: Starting at 2.82lbs (1.28kg)
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x follows other new Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs in that it’s surprisingly affordable considering the quality of the hardware you’re getting. While it does break the $1,000 barrier, you’re getting a vastly superior display, better performance, longer battery life, and a thinner and lighter design versus something like the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (7440) for just a couple hundred more.
Starting from just $1,199 at Lenovo, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) seems like a near unbeatable value following my first impressions, packing a large 14.5-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, the higher-end Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite SoC, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. This base model is a perfect laptop for what 99% of people do with their devices, and those who need twice the storage or RAM or want to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro can do all of the above for less than $150.
The Yoga Slim 7x only comes in the one color, a rather fetching, dark “Cosmic Blue,” and is constructed entirely of partially recycled aluminum. In the box, you get the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) and a 65W USB Type-C fast charger. While this is a touch display, the Yoga Slim 7x is not a 2-in-1 convertible and doesn’t boast touch stylus support, nor are there options to add cellular connectivity or upgrade to a haptic touchpad.
Yoga Slim 7x preview: Design and build quality
Design highlights
- The Yoga Slim 7x adopts the aluminum, curvy wedge-shaped design we’ve seen in other Yoga devices but is very thin at just 12.9mm.
- Despite the larger 14.5-inch display and massive 70Whr battery, it’s also lighter than many other Ultrabooks.
- Overall, this is a gorgeous, modern laptop with slim bezels, great features, and solid build quality.
I’ve loved several Lenovo laptops, but few in the mid-range category have blown me away with their designs. The Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) isn’t just a simple respec of an existing design, though; Lenovo made this laptop one of the slimmest Yogas ever, and it makes a huge difference. The closest competitor in Lenovo’s lineup is the Intel Core Ultra-powered Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i (Gen 9), and the Slim 7x is a full 2mm thinner and 0.33lbs lighter while also having a bigger battery.
Compare the Slim 7x to the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, which may be this laptop’s biggest and most direct Copilot+ PC competition, and the Yoga Slim 7x is thinner (12.9 vs. 17.5mm) and lighter (2.82lbs vs. 2.95lbs) than the 13.8-inch version of the Laptop 7 — and has a 0.7-inch larger display and a 16Whr larger battery. If you think that means sacrificing premium materials or features, think again. The Yoga Slim 7x is constructed entirely of aluminum and glass, with a full multitouch display and certified MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) is nearly as thin as a phone when closed despite being a full clamshell laptop and feels as compact as a standard 14-inch Ultrabook despite having a larger 16:10 14.5-inch display. The former is because Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series SoCs don’t require the thermal headroom of Intel or AMD’s CPUs, and the latter is because this laptop has nearly nonexistent bezels on three sides of the display.
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There’s no 360-degree hinge here, but the touch display still folds back nearly flat. I adore this design, and the “Cosmic Blue” colorway is also quite dashing. It amazes me how sturdy this laptop feels given how thin it is, and it makes the Yoga Slim 7x the most comfortable laptop I’ve used on the couch, while sitting on the floor, or anywhere else that isn’t a desk. All of this, and you don’t lose the 1.5mm deep Lenovo keyboard, the full-sized glass touchpad, the FHD webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition, or the quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos.
I am sad that there’s no option for a haptic touchpad, even if this more traditional touchpad with Microsoft Precision drivers does feel great. As always, Lenovo put an awesome backlit keyboard in the Slim 7x that feels familiar, comfortable, and responsive, but I will admit it doesn’t quite reach the quality of Lenovo’s higher-end computers or what I saw in the HP Spectre x360 14.
Finally, this thin design does come with one major drawback: a lack of ports. You do get three USB4 ports, which is awesome to see (and means you can use Thunderbolt accessories), but aside from the side-mounted power button and electronic camera privacy shutter, there are no other ports — not even a 3.5mm audio jack. I personally don’t mind the tradeoff, but some certainly will.
Yoga Slim 7x preview: Display quality
Display highlights
- The Yoga Slim 7x packs a larger 14.5-inch 3K OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 90Hz refresh rate.
- That refresh rate strikes a great compromise in terms of device cost, battery drain, and smoothness between 60Hz and 120Hz, and I’m a big fan.
- Elsewhere, this display is bright, bold, and beautiful; it may be one of the best displays you’ll find in this price category.
It’s all too easy for a manufacturer to cut corners and drive the price down by compromising on the display, like in the case of the HP OmniBook X 14 and the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, but I’m very glad Lenovo did not do that with the Yoga Slim 7x. Not only is this display larger than the standard 14 inches we’re seeing with other Ultrabooks, but it’s also bright, vibrant, and fast.
This is a 14.5-inch panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, giving you plenty of space to spread out. It’s also very sharp with a 3K resolution (specifically 2,944 x 1,840) and rocks a 90Hz refresh rate. That refresh rate matters to me, as it’s a smart and calculated compromise that makes a lot of sense. It’s more affordable and less power-hungry than the 120Hz standard we expect from premium devices, but it still feels a lot smoother than the classic 60Hz.
That’s a great start, but Lenovo didn’t stop there. This is an OLED panel instead of a more affordable IPS LCD, meaning you get perfect contrast and incredibly punchy colors. Lenovo is still promising excellent color accuracy with 100% of the cinematic DCI-P3 color gamut, but I still have to put this display through my testing to see if that’s true. I’ll also have to test this display’s brightness levels, but my initial impressions are very good.
For one, Lenovo is promising up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness, which means this display may actually be good for consuming or editing HDR content, especially with Dolby Vision. Max brightness in regular usage obviously won’t be that high, and Lenovo doesn’t outright state what that max brightness is (again, you’ll have to wait for my tests), but I can say that this display is dazzling. Indoors, I never have to go above 40% brightness to be comfortable, and anything above 75% feels too bright. That’s a good problem to have.
Overall, I’m loving this screen. Everything looks crisp and smooth, blacks are deep and inky, colors are vibrant and striking; a mediocre display can make even the greatest laptop feel ‘meh’ to use, but there’s no such concern here. I’ll honestly be shocked (and may consider getting my eyes tested) if this display doesn’t perform well in my benchmarks.
Yoga Slim 7x preview: Performance and thermals
Performance highlights
- The Yoga Slim 7x is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (XIE-78-100), making it a part of the new generation of Windows on ARM PCs.
- While I was impressed by the HP EliteBook with the same SoC, the Yoga Slim 7x has been performing even better for me.
- This laptop feels even more responsive than the Intel Core Ultra devices I’ve been using, with fantastic boot-up, wake-from-sleep, and login times.
Inside the ludicrously slim body of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x rests the chipset that makes it all possible: Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon X Elite system-on-a-chip (SoC). The Yoga Slim 7x is part of a new generation of Windows laptops that promises true all-day battery life and incredible thermal performance without sacrificing power or compatibility. The latter half of that is still under review, but for my usage, the Yoga Slim 7x has been beautifully smooth.
My first experience with Snapdragon X was with the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q, which impressed me with its performance versus the Windows on ARM machines of old like the Surface Pro X. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) is better, not only than the EliteBook Ultra but also the Intel Core Ultra devices I’ve loved recently. This laptop feels just as responsive and performant as any Intel Evo laptop, whether I’m cycling through two dozen browser tabs and various other assorted apps and programs, consuming media, watching a Twitch stream, or getting set up for a day of work.
99% of the time, it’s also totally silent. There are fans, and they will buzz on when you push this laptop, but for the majority of laptop tasks, the Yoga Slim 7x is as cool as a cucumber and just as quiet. I will have to run this laptop through every benchmark and test I can throw at it and try to test various video games and legacy programs on it, but so far, the Yoga Slim 7x has been wonderfully reliable and consistent as my daily driver.
I can’t comment too much on battery life until I’ve spent more time with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9), but I’ve been very happy so far. Standby time is incredibly good, but actual screen-on usage has presented zero issues for me. One day, I worked on this laptop for nearly two hours and saw that I had 84% battery remaining, with an estimated 8 hours and 23 minutes of usage. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting at 35% battery life with an estimated 4 hours of usage remaining.
Absolutely no Intel or AMD laptop has ever immediately impressed me with its endurance like this. I’m actually excited to truly push this laptop to its limits and see just how efficient these Snapdragon X series SoCs can be, especially when paired with the massive battery that’s inside the Yoga Slim 7x. On and off the charger, I’ve not noticed any change in performance, too, nor does the Yoga Slim 7x obviously slow down when set to the “Best Power Efficiency” profile.
Yoga Slim 7x preview: Our impression so far
After it was announced, I wrote that I was still tempted by the Surface Pro 11, even with 18 laptops in my office. Now that I’ve spent time with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, I’m not as tempted anymore. Sure, I miss some aspects of the Surface Pro form factor or more premium devices, like active stylus support, a haptic touchpad, the option for cellular connectivity, an even higher refresh rate display, and more… but I don’t need any of those things.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) fulfills all of my needs for a compact and portable Windows laptop and does so for significantly less than $1,500. I’ve been enjoying this laptop so much that I’ve almost forgotten I’m supposed to be reviewing it. Don’t worry, I plan to stress test this laptop in every way I can conceive of in the coming days, but in the interims I’ll simply be enjoying the simplicity of using this laptop to work, consume media, and more.
So far, what I’ve experienced while using the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x makes it a definite addition to our list of the best Windows Copilot+ PCs and the best Windows on ARM laptops. You’ll have to wait for my full review with all the in-depth analysis you could hope for, but the impatient can purchase the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9) right now from $1,199 at Lenovo or $1,199.99 at Best Buy. I may be jumping the gun just a little bit, but this laptop is really feeling like one of my favorites that I’ve ever reviewed. That’s a high bar to cross.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 9)
In the first week of use, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x has exceeded all my expectations. There’s the bright, vibrant, and responsive display; the shockingly thin and light aluminum design; the slick performance; the astounding initial endurance. For just $1,200, it seems pretty difficult to beat the Yoga Slim 7x.
