When I think of futuristic laptops and how thin they might get, I imagine something like two tablets put together: the top half would be the screen, while the bottom half is where the mouse and keyboard would be. It could even be a foldable with the entire thing being nothing but a foldable display, but the point is I can’t imagine it getting any thinner than two tablets sandwiched together.
We’re looking at another 5 to 10 years down the line, but if you’re looking for the thinnest and most portable notebook PC that money can buy, then the Lenovo YOGA line of products would be your best bet. The YOGA first came out in 2013, so they’ve been doing this for over 10 years now, so know that they’ve been working on it for a decade even if the Lenovo YOGA Pro 7i is the 7th generation of the Lenovo YOGA line.
The Lenovo YOGA series has long been a favorite for users seeking a blend of power, portability, and versatility. The latest addition, the YOGA Pro 7i, takes this legacy to the next level, offering a premium experience tailored for demanding professionals and creatives. With a cutting-edge Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, a breathtaking display, a robust military-grade design, and advanced AI capabilities, the Yoga Pro 7i is poised to be your ultimate productivity and entertainment companion.
Build quality and design
The Yoga Pro 7i exudes sophistication with its sleek aluminum chassis, thin bezels, and eye-catching Tidal Teal color. The build quality is exceptional, reflecting the laptop’s premium positioning. Its iconic 180-degree hinge feels sturdy and allows you to lay the laptop flat for collaborative work or presentations.
Typing on the YOGA Pro 7i is a joy thanks to the comfortable, well-spaced keyboard with a satisfying 1.5mm key travel. Normally, I carry a mechanical keyboard with me because I just cannot bear typing on a laptop. Maybe it’s just laziness, but I quickly got used to the built-in keyboard.
There’s a dedicated CoPilot button which we found annoying at first. We had to re-train ourselves to stop our fingers from hitting it.
Alaso, the power button is located at the right which makes it easy to trigger. Thankfully, this only suspends the machine by default. You have to press it for a few seconds to get an actual shutdown. Beside the power button there’s a physical webcam shutter. We appreciate this a lot since it prevents you from accidentally exposing yourself on camera.
The large, buttonless glass (?) trackpad is smooth, silent, and responsive, providing an excellent alternative to a mouse. We saw at least two Reddit posts complaining about the trackpad on the YOGA 7i (non-Pro), which worried us. Thankfully, the Pro does not have these issues – maybe we were just lucky, but hopefully these are mere quality control problems that have been resolved by now.
While the port selection is decent, including USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, and HDMI, the absence of a memory card reader might be a minor inconvenience for photographers and videographers. Also, it only has one USB-A port which can be limiting at times. Despite its ancient status, we still have quite a number of devices that use USB-A, In our case, the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro mouse and a Lenovo card reader often fight for that single USB-A port.
Display and audio
We were immediately wowed by the YOGA Pro 7i’s stunning 14.5-inch 2.8K OLED display. The vibrant colors, deep blacks, and exceptional contrast provided by OLED technology make it a visual treat for content consumption and creative work. The 120Hz refresh rate ensures buttery-smooth scrolling and animations, enhancing the overall user experience. Dolby Vision and HDR support further elevate the visual experience, bringing movies and games to life with incredible detail and realism.
While the glossy display excels in indoor environments, it can be prone to reflections outdoors.
The quad-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos delivers a decent audio experience, though the maximum volume might not be as loud. Also, we noticed some popping noises during our gaming sessions. We also noticed this while streaming on YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify. Sometimes it works, and when it does, Dolby Atmos really delivers.
It’s hard to describe it, but the sound is so much fuller, more in-your-face. Turn it off, and the sound becomes flat. So we try to leave it on as much as possible. It’s just that good.
The laptop’s beautiful display and Dolby Atmos speakers make it an excellent choice for media consumption. Movies and TV shows look stunning on the OLED panel, and the audio quality is immersive, though you it lacks punch without Atmos – so leave it on as much as possible.
Performance
The heart of the YOGA Pro 7i is its powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, which delivers exceptional performance for demanding tasks, including multitasking, video editing, and even light gaming. The integrated Intel Arc graphics handles desktop rendering activities with ease.
For activities that require more graphical horsepower, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 starts to kick in. However, it’s important to note that operations that utilize the dedicated GPU severely impact battery life.
With that being said, YOGA Pro 7i excels at productivity tasks. Web browsing is smooth and responsive, even with multiple tabs open. Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint run flawlessly, and the laptop handles demanding workloads like photo editing in Adobe Lightroom and office applications.
The YOGA Pro 7i is a capable machine for video editing, thanks to its powerful processor and ample RAM. You can comfortably edit 4K footage in popular applications like Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
It’s not super long, but we edited and rendered the TECNO SPARK 30 unboxing video on the YOGA Pro 7i. It’s a 4K video with 4K sources, and we were happy with how fast we are able to scrobble when going through the timeline. Hit play to watch the video!
We appreciate how that Lenovo AI Engine+ enhances performance and battery life by intelligently optimizing the system based on the applications you’re using. It’s supposed to switch automatically, but being the power user that we are, we switched it off an manually select the ideal profile – which is “Common” most of the time, though we also switch to Gaming when the opportunity comes.
In addition to video editing, the NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU is well-suited for generative AI tasks like running Stable Diffusion. We ran into some challenges enabling CUDA, but after compiling some libraries in Visual Studio, we were able to get it to work.
Rendering speeds are quite decent – our limiting factor is that 6GB of video RAM. We pumped out text to image in under a minute with SD 1.5 models with 20 iterations. SDXL models takes this it up to around 3-5 minutes.
Gaming
While the YOGA Pro 7i isn’t primarily a gaming laptop, it can handle light to moderate gaming thanks to the integrated Intel Arc graphics or the optional NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050. You can enjoy popular titles like Fortnite, Valorant, or League of Legends at respectable frame rates and settings. However, demanding AAA games might require lowering the resolution or graphical settings for a smoother experience.
In our gaming test video, we ran ray traced games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Tomb Raider, MechWarrior 5, and more above 30 FPS. We had to tweak the graphics settings to reach 60 FPS though, usually this means dropping resolution down to 1080P – a bearable tradeoff considering our screen size.
Battery Life and charging
The Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i offers respectable battery life, especially considering its powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. While official estimates suggest up to 10 hours of usage, real-world performance varies depending on your workload and settings.
We can easily reach a solid 8-9 hours on a single charge with moderate usage like web browsing, document editing, and video streaming, while keeping the display brightness at a reasonable level and utilizing battery saver power mode. Demanding tasks like gaming or video editing brings this down to half, doing around 3-4 hours of gaming on a single charge.
When you need a quick power boost, the Rapid Charge Express feature is a lifesaver. A 15-minute charge can provide up to 3 hours of battery life, ensuring you can stay productive even when you’re on the go. You are going to need the 150W brick to do this, but you can totally use a USB-PD compatible charger. The system will warn you that you are using a “slow” charger, which is a handy reminder.
Takeaway
The Lenovo YOGA Pro 7i is a compelling ultrabook that excels in many areas. Its stunning OLED display, powerful performance, sleek design, and decent battery life make it an excellent choice for a wide range of users.
Priced at P150K, it is a premium investment that would certainly raise a few eyebrows, especially since we’re “only” getting an RTX 4050. A beefier GPU would help ease the pain, but that’s just how the market is right now, and much of that premium goes to portability.
The YOGA Pro 7i faces competition from other premium ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 15, HP Spectre x360 16, and the ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED. However, the YOGA Pro 7i differentiates itself by having one of the best build quality in the segment, a gorgeous OLED display, powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, and respectable battery life.
If you’re looking for a premium ultrabook that delivers a stunning visual experience, excellent performance for demanding tasks and light gaming, and a decent battery life to keep you going throughout the day, the Lenovo YOGA Pro 7i is a fantastic choice. Its versatility makes it suitable for students, professionals, creatives, and creatives.
