Lenovo Slim 7 Pro Review: What’s Upgraded?

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 also known as the Yoga Pro 7, now has some significant upgrades to the battery life compared to its predecessor, the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X. It features the latest AMD Ryzen Processor and Nvidia GeForce graphics card while maintaining a slimmer design and portability.

Specification

• Display: 14.5-inch 2560×1600 IPS Multi-touch 90Hz
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 (6GB)
• RAM: 16GB Dual-channel Soldered
• Storage: 512GB SSD M.2 PCIe NVMe
• Battery: 73Wh with Rapid charge support
• Connectivity: Wi-fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
• Camera: 1080P FHD + IR with e-shutter
• Audio: Stereo Speakers, 2W x4 optimized with Dolby Atmos
• Ports: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB4 40GBS, 1x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm jack.
• Color: Storm grey
• Weight: 1.59kg
• Build: Aluminum

Design, Build and keyboard

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is a thin and light laptop weighs 1.59 kilograms making it portable enough to take on the go. The storm gray finish, an all-metal design, and minimal Flex in the chassis indicate good build quality. However it does attract fingerprints which will require occasional cleaning.

The lid can be opened with just one finger and the screen can be adjusted to a 180-degree viewing angle. The hinges are quite sturdy with minimal screen wobbling.

Typing on the keyboard is a comfortable experience with good key travel and tactility, making it suitable for extended typing sessions. The keyboard has Lenovo’s signature smile-shaped keys and a multi-stage backlight for typing in darker environments.

The touchpad is decently sized and responsive, supporting various gestures, and has a diving board-style touch pad that works well. The touchpad is not haptic, but it still functions well.

Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X Laptop: Ryzen 9 6900HS, RTX 3050, 32GB DDR5 R…

• Total Usb Ports : 4
• Wireless Comm Standard : 802_11_AX
• Model Year : 2022

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Ports

As far ports and connectivity on the left edge you have an HDMI 2.1 which allows you to connect to a monitor with a 4K resolution at up to 60Hz. And 2x USB-C ports the first of which is a full-function USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port. Next to that is a USB 4 port, which provides 40 megabits per second and offers functionality similar to that of a Thunderbolt port on an Intel laptop. I was able to connect my Thunderbolt dock and SSD drive to the USB 4 port, and both worked well.

On the right edge of the laptop, we have a kill switch for the webcam, the power button, a 3.5mm mic/headphone jack, and a USB-A port. The port selection is good overall, but there is no SD card reader, which is not surprising given the thin and light chassis and the trend we’re seeing in 2023.

Display and Audio

Lenovo Slim Pro 7 has a 14.5-inch IPS display with a 2.5k resolution, which is 2560 by 1600 and 90Hz refresh rate provides a smooth scrolling experience. I believe 90Hz is a good balance between a fluid experience and decent battery life.

The color gamut coverage is also decent making it suitable for tasks such as Photoshop, Lightroom, and video editing, and has good color accuracy with a low Delta E score. The display is multi-touch, which means you can navigate the OS with your finger and use pinch-to-zoom gestures. It worked well and was quite responsive. 

The display is also a Dolby Vision display providing an excellent experience when streaming content from platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. However it’s a 16:10 aspect ratio display which means you’ll get slight black bars on the top and bottom when viewing media optimized for a 16:9 aspect ratio. On the other hand, a 16:10 aspect ratio means you’ll have to scroll less when browsing the web, and you’ll see more on the display.

One thing to be aware of is that this is a glossy display which means you may notice some glare and reflections depending on your lighting conditions. Overall for a mid-range laptop this is an excellent IPS display, and you won’t be disappointed.

As far as audio quality, it has stereo speakers that deliver a total of 4 watts, with each speaker providing 2 watts of power. It also comes with Dolby Atmos to enhance the spatial audio experience.

Upgradeability and Webcam

The SSD on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is user-upgradeable. It is an M.2 PCIe Gen 4 drive and provides excellent read and write speeds. The RAM is soldered onto the motherboard and is not upgradable by the user, which is common in 2023 laptops.

It comes with 16GB of dual-channel VDR5 RAM and has been performing well. For connectivity, it has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1, with a slotted card for future upgrades. Both the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have been working flawlessly without any issues.

The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro for 2023 (outside North America) comes with a full HD 1080p 30fps IR camera, allowing you to log in with face recognition via Windows Hello. There’s no fingerprint scanner on this model, so you’ll have to use the camera or input a password. The video quality and audio quality of the array mic seem pretty decent.

Performance, Benchmarks and Gaming

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor, which is an 8-core, 16-threaded processor based on the Zen 3+ architecture. This processor is very efficient and performs well.

• PCMARK 10: 6,043
• Geekbench 6 (Single-Core): 1,971
• Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core): 9,269
• Cinebench R20: 5,173
• Cinebench R15: 2,127 CB / 139.82 FPS
• 3DMARK Fire Strike: 11,495
• 3DAMRK Time Spy: 5,275

The single and multi-core performance benchmark results show that it’s quite good for everyday tasks like using Microsoft Office, email, web browsing, and even video editing in DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro, including 4K video editing.

The RTX 3050 discrete GPU helps with these tasks as well, and even though it’s not a gaming laptop, it can handle some popular titles at playable frame rates with lowered settings. However, there is a decrease in performance in heavy sustained workloads like the Cinebench R23 multi-core score, which is lower than last year’s Slim 7 Pro X. The overall performance is good for what you need it to do.

Thermals and Fan Noise

As far as the thermals are concerned, I never saw it get overly hot, although there were a few hot spots in the surface temperatures. They were never too hot to the touch, but they can definitely get pretty warm.

As far as the fan noise is concerned, under performance mode and heavy load, it will ramp up and become noticeable at around 51 decibels. So, it is definitely very audible in performance mode when under heavy load. However, under balanced or silent mode it’s not an issue, but it will be if you’re running this under heavy load.

Battery Performance

Having a lower resolution and refresh rate with a Ryzen 7 instead of a Ryzen 9 means that you’ll get better battery life. And we’re seeing a nice increase in battery life year over year. I’m seeing nearly three hours more than last year’s Slim 7 Pro X, which is really good. I’m very happy to see that, because one of the big complaints about the otherwise great laptop from last year was the battery life.

So, we’re definitely seeing a nice improvement year over year. The trade-off is that you’ll get less multi-core performance than last year’s model, but I’ll take that slight hit in multi-core performance to get those extra three hours of battery life. That’s a trade I’ll make any day.

If you find yourself needing to plug in the supplied power adapter, it’s USB-C and gives you rapid charging. It only takes 15 minutes to give you three hours of runtime, and it only takes about 90 minutes or so to fully charge from zero to full. And that’s not too bad.

Conclusion

It is interesting that they opted for the Ryzen 7 instead of the Ryzen 9, a 2.5K display instead of 3K, and a lower refresh rate of 90Hz instead of 120Hz. But this translates into better battery life, with almost three hours more compared to the Slim 7 Pro X. This is definitely an improvement, although there is a slight hit in multi-core performance, which is not very noticeable in real-world usage.

In terms of other performance aspects, it ran relatively cool and quiet, with the fans getting to around 52 decibels under heavy load. Fan noise isn’t an issue except when running it under heavy load in performance mode. Port selection is good, with the exception of no SD card reader, but the USB 4 port worked with many of my Thunderbolt accessories, which is a welcome addition.

At a price of $1200, the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is a good deal, with some downsides like soldered RAM, limited RTX 3050, and lower multi-core performance. However, the Ryzen 7 7735HS is a decent processor based on the Zen 3+ architecture. All in all, it’s a solid choice for real-world usage. Overall it’s a laptop that I can definitely recommend 2023.