How are laptops supposed to respond to a changing landscape that sees tablets with very capable keyboard accessories proving a more-than-worthy replacement? At least for the demographic for which portability matters a lot. The answer is simple – go back to the basics. Slim, light and powerful enough – that’s the ticket to universal appeal. Laptop makers are doing that, albeit price tags are proving to be a tougher nut to crack than otherwise. Lenovo’s gorgeous Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is an example of that.
The Yoga Slim 7i Carbon (specifically the 13IRP8 model, and 83AY0001SB configuration here) gets the visual part absolutely sorted with the moon white colour option. In a sea of darker tones, such as blacks and greys, this is a refreshing change of tack from the laptop maker. In case you’re wondering how much weight you’ll have to lug around, that’ll be 984 grams. If the “ultrabook” moniker was still in use today, this would qualify for that definition with absolute ease.
It isn’t a compromise elsewhere too, with specs or ergonomics.
The display is 13.3-inches (larger than most tablets can get you) and Lenovo has used an in-plane switching (IPS) display. The advantages are clear. It is a bright display (maximum rating is 400 nits), deep blacks give individual colour accuracy a positive spin and HDR content on Netflix and other streaming apps will look really good. This screen supports Dolby Vision too. It tops out at 90Hz refresh rate, which one could nit-pick is a bit odd in an era where 120Hz in smartphones and 144Hz in laptops is common. But it’ll be that, just a nit-pick.
Conventional wisdom always burdens ultra slim laptops with a potential performance deficit. The limited space in the innards means the processor has to clock down sooner to reduce heat. That isn’t a problem with the Intel Core i7-1360P processor. Even when it does slow down to keep things cool, it is nigh impossible to notice that. Helping that are the 16GB RAM and the very fast M.2 standard 1TB solid-state drive (SSD).
We used this how we use just about any laptop on typical workdays, with a plethora of web browser tabs, Word documents and an assortment of other apps being used intermittently – the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon does not show any strain on performance.
The only hints you get are when the circulation fan speeds up a bit. That can get noticeably noisy.
One way to deal with that issue is switch the power profile to the ‘Silent’ option in the Lenovo Vantage app (this has an extensive set of features, including for battery, performance and privacy). That will reduce the peak clock speeds of the processor (still more than enough power for multi-tasking without pauses or stutters), and thereby heat emissions.
Also Read:An elegant Lenovo Yoga 9i matches performance expectations as well
How does all this impact the battery life? In our experience, the standard power and performance profile sees a return of around 9 hours on a single charge, good enough to be able to leave the adapter at home for a series of meetings through the day. Switch to the more efficient ‘silent’ mode, and you may be able to get a bit more than 10 hours before there’s the need to reach for the charger again.
For what is a decidedly very compact laptop, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon is built with attention to detail. The white colour is based on a carbon fiber lid and a magnesium-aluminium base. All expensive materials, even more so in unison. The camera has an electric shutter, an option that’s available through the utilities app. A little short on physical ports (there may be a need to buy one of those USB-C extenders for more USB, ethernet and HDMI options) with just one USB-C and one USB 4 port.
Mind you, Lenovo still hopes you’d pay for a ‘smart performance’ subscription that’ll unlock some more functionality within this utility app. They claim to improve PC performance with a 160-point check that happens at regular intervals, including a malware protection service. We aren’t entirely sure if Windows 11 (or indeed your usage patterns) require parting with another ₹1,328 per year or ₹3,321 for four years for this add-on.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon sports a price of ₹1,24,990 and that’s decidedly much better value than the Dell XPS 13 Plus laptop (Intel Core i7-1360P, 13.3-inch display and 32GB RAM) which costs ₹2,13,990. There can perhaps be an argument for the HP Spectre x360 (ef2033TU; Intel Core i7-1355U, 13.5-inch screen and 16GB RAM) for ₹1,42,999 considering it’s a better OLED display tech on show for the extra money you shell out. But that weighs 1.36kg, which means managing the bulk as effectively as it has remains the uniqueness for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon.
