Lenovo Slim 7i Professional X Overview

The brand new Lenovo Slim 7i Professional X is a wonderful addition to Lenovo’s skinny & gentle shopper laptop computer line-up as a result of it packs a giant punch, due to its Intel twelfth technology H-Sequence CPU paired with a discrete NVIDIA GPU. They makes the Slim 7i Professional X (i stands for Intel) a really enticing laptop computer for Inventive customers who search an ultra-compact laptop computer.

Any shopper who likes to have nice multimedia and gaming experiences in a excessive mobility kind also needs to think about this laptop computer. As extra seemingly mundane duties reminiscent of videoconferencing can profit from AI computing, discrete GPUs have a big benefit in additional domains outdoors gaming.

Lenovo Slim 7i Professional X Specs Highlights

Our particular assessment unit has the next configuration: Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores), 16GB RAM (2x8GB, soldered, 6000Mhz), 512GB SSD, NVIDIA RTX 3050 graphics processor. It’s doable to have 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

On the time of publishing, the worth is estimated to be round $1,499. Lenovo.com typically has deep reductions and offers, so it’s price checking there when buying.

CPU choices

GPU Choices

Industrial Design

The Slim 7i Professional X’s design is consumer-oriented and appears edgy due to a skinny profile with rounded corners harking back to smartphones and tablets. That’s just like the Lenovo Slim 9i 14 we not too long ago reviewed. The all-metal chassis is extraordinarily inflexible when closed, and the thin show minimally wobbles.

The matte floor is proof against fingerprints, and we’ve not observed any blemishes after a couple of weeks, however we didn’t attempt to scratch it on goal both. Total, it’s clear and, extra importantly, stays clear. Our mannequin has a Silver end, however it’s additionally doable to get a neat Darkish Gray.

The ability button is on the suitable facet, and I admire the presence of a Energy LED gentle and the truth that this button doesn’t sit flush with the chassis. Generally it’s laborious to seek out the ability button in the dead of night (airplane with lights off, darkish keynote room, and so forth.), so it’s a pleasant element. There’s additionally a webcam ON/OFF close to the Energy button for many who extremely worth privateness.

Its weight of 3.19 Lbs (1.45 kg) makes it skinny & gentle, and it looks like a premium product with some heft when you’ve it in your hand.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The Slim i7 Professional X has an infinite trackpad for many who use essentially the most advanced gestures or need excessive trackpad precision and superior ergonomics. It looks like it’s essentially the most outsized Lenovo trackpad I’ve seen on their 14” laptops.

The keyboard is just about unchanged from earlier Yoga laptops, and whereas there are at all times tiny variations, the general high quality and really feel stay an identical. The tactile suggestions and key journey depth are agreeable. The small UP/Down arrow keys are the one factor I might foyer to vary as I’m a heavy typer and use them to navigate paperwork extensively.

Ports

For such a small laptop computer, the assortment of ports is excellent, with a full-size USB and HDMI 2.1 ports, that are workhorses for anybody. For ultra-connectivity, the 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports are improbable and allow high-speed docking that I’ve come to make use of each at house and work. It’s simply too handy to plug your laptop computer right into a single USB-C port and use it with a desktop-like array of peripherals.

Sound

Due to the two x 2W Harman Audio system licensed for Dolby Atmos Audio, this laptop computer delivers an excellent sound high quality with excessive quantity, clear voices, and no distortion. It’s not the best possible audio we’ve heard for a skinny and lightweight, however it’s clearly among the many finest choices you may get. Will probably be nice for leisure, shopper demos, or group convention calls.

Show

All three show choices characteristic a 14.5” 3K (3072 x 1920) 120Hz show, and I believe that’s an important alternative as 1080p is a bit low-PPI (OK for gaming), and 4K is overkill and battery-hungry. Earlier than you ask: sure, you may open the show with one hand, and it opens to just about 180 levels to -almost- lay flat.

All of the choices characteristic the identical specs and efficiency: IPS LCD, 400 NITs brightness, Delta-E decrease than 1.0 (excellent colours), 100% sRGB shade gamut, NVIDIA G-SYNC, Dolby Imaginative and prescient licensed, and TUV low blue gentle. These are excessive show specs, and there’s nothing to complain about, particularly at shopper costs.

The first distinction between the shows is that one is a touch-screen with a glass floor (shiny end). One other has a shiny end however no contact. Lastly, there’s one with out the glass floor, and I can solely assume it has a matte end, however I’ve not seen it in particular person.

The discrete GPU paired with the NVIDIA G-Sync 120Hz show makes this laptop computer very succesful for video games, particularly in the event you’re enjoying one thing that doesn’t use the newest graphics (Raytracing and so forth.) and will due to this fact max out the FPS. NVIDIA’s DLSS will assist fairly a bit with that.

Webcam

Lenovo has included a 1080p FHD webcam with an IR (infrared) sensor and twin microphones. The IR sensor is nice for unlocking your PC with Home windows Howdy as a substitute of typing a protracted, very safe password. I haven’t seen a fingerprint reader, so facial recognition can be the best choice on this case.

Efficiency

A discrete graphics processor makes an enormous distinction within the graphics benchmarks. The Intel Core i7-12700H CPU affords superior efficiency over CPUs just like the Intel i7-1260P typically present in office-productivity laptops like one of many new Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen10 we beforehand examined.

The NVIDIA RTX 3050 cellular GPU assist this laptop computer ship a world-class Velocity/Weight efficiency ratio. By the way in which, that is an NVIDIA Studio-certified laptop computer.

As such, the Slim 7i Professional X could possibly be thought of a really compact, high-performance workstation for Inventive lovers and professionals who want excessive mobility. That truth is strengthened by the wonderful show choices and 32GB which are the suitable alternative for imagery work.

Our analysis exhibits that most individuals are curious about evaluating the Intel-powered Slim 7i Professional X and the AMD-powered Slim 7 Professional X, so we embody these numbers right here, together with knowledge from the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen10 and the Lenovo Slim 9i 14.

We additionally see wonderful outcomes when efficiency by means of the lens of value and weight, which additional validate the ultra-mobility workstation course. Even the SSD disk velocity is on par with Enterprise merchandise reasonably than corresponding to Shopper laptops.

All the outcomes are precisely what one would anticipate from the varied configuration variations. The one factor that stunned us a bit was the divergence between the Cinebench R23 and Geekbench 5 CPU benchmarks between the Intel and AMD model of the Slim 7/7i Professional X laptops.

They counsel that the Intel CPU is usually wonderful, however in case you are a heavy Cinebench consumer, you would possibly need to think about the AMD laptop computer as a substitute.

Regardless of its slim design, the chassis stayed cool throughout the assessments. The floor’s temperature hovers round 44C (111.3F), the temperature at which issues really feel scorching to the pores and skin. Moreover, this laptop computer shouldn’t be practically as loud as Gaming laptops, and that’s a substantial benefit when displaying some work to a shopper, for instance.

Battery Life

The 70Wh battery capability is bigger than most skinny & gentle of comparable dimension. Nevertheless, the additional capability can also be required to assist a extra performant and power-hungry system. That’s why the laptop computer comes with a 100W PSU, which isn’t removed from the utmost supported by a USB-C connector.

It is best to get about 6 to 7 hours of workplace work, represented by a benchmark like PCMark 10 Fashionable Workplace. Nevertheless, if you wish to squeeze extra longevity, you may cut back the show refresh charge from 120Hz all the way down to 60Hz and get 15%-20% extra.

Much less performant skinny & gentle 14” laptops can get 11-14h of battery life, however bear in mind, they typically characteristic a lot slower CPUs and GPUs together with 1080p shows, so it’s not comparable.In actuality, few individuals would spend that size of time on something aside from watching movies. Lenovo claims this laptop computer can play native (not streaming) movies for 12.5 hours.

Conclusion

Cleary designed for Creators who need ultra-mobility, the Lenovo Slim 7i Professional X (official web page) delivers spectacular configuration choices and efficiency. Even the pricing is enticing, particularly in the event you examine it with enterprise laptops with extra safety and IT options you won’t need or want.

Some potential prospects might desire a 4K show, however I discover that choice to be a bit overkill for a 14.5” laptop computer, and I labored within the graphics trade for 12 years. It’s a matter of preferences, I suppose.

In the long run, I might even advocate the Slim 7i Professional X to individuals who might not be Inventive professionals as a result of they could use apps that might profit from a strong GPU and never even comprehend it (Zoom + NVIDIA Broadcast, for instance).

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