Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9 review: an affordable OLED laptop | Digital Trends

Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9

MSRP $1,050.00

“The Lenovo Slim 7i Gen 9 is quick, stunning, and surprisingly inexpensive.”

Professionals

Strong construct high quality

Snug and enticing aesthetic

Glorious productiveness efficiency

Superb OLED show

Good keyboard and touchpad

Cons

Show is simply FHD+

Battery life is below-average

One of the vital thrilling current laptop computer tendencies has been the migration of fantastic design and efficiency into lower-priced laptops. Nowhere has this been more true than with OLED shows, the place laptops costing $1,000 and fewer can be found with higher shows than the $2,000 laptops of some years in the past. Lenovo’s Slim 7i Gen 9 is one such laptop computer.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 is a thin-and-light 14-inch laptop computer with the most recent Meteor Lake chipsets. However what makes it particular is its $1,000 worth. I discovered it to be nearly as good as laptops costing significantly extra, and you may’t go flawed with OLED expertise. Disappointing battery life is the one factor holding the Slim 7i Gen 9 from a fair larger score.

Specs and configurations

I reviewed the Slim 7i Gen 9 with an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H chipset, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14.0-inch Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) OLED show. That configuration will probably be obtainable at Costco for $1,000 in late March or early April, and it at the moment prices $1,116 within the Lenovo retailer. The bottom configuration prices $900 with a Core Extremely 5 125H and 16GB of RAM.

Lenovo’s configuration choices might be complicated and are at all times topic to vary. I think the bottom mannequin will lower in worth, and if Lenovo can push the worth right down to round $800 with the OLED show, the Slim 7i Gen 9 will probably be an actual cut price. As it’s, the Slim 7i Gen 9 faces stiff competitors from laptops just like the Asus Zenbook 14 Q425, which is priced a bit of larger at $1,050, though with simply 16GB of RAM.

A protected, very comfy design

Lenovo’s design sensibilities have modified within the final a number of years, with its iconic ThinkPad black-on-black aesthetic making means for extra trendy approaches. The corporate has at all times supplied various designs in its mainstream laptops, specifically the Yoga and Slim lineups, and now it’s additionally bringing some continuity.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 affords the newer rounded chassis edges that make the laptop computer comfy in hand and provides it a little bit of magnificence. The colour scheme and angles are minimalistic, with solely a blocky Lenovo emblem breaking apart the Luna Grey lid and chassis with a lighter grey keyboard. The Slim 7i Gen 9 competes in opposition to the wonderful Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 and Apple MacBook Air, but it surely holds its personal.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 additionally has a stable aluminum construct, with no bending, flexing, or twisting within the lid, keyboard deck, or chassis backside. I’ve been impressed at how effectively laptops within the $700 to $1,000 vary are being constructed at this time, and the Slim 7i Gen 9 is a welcome addition to that rising membership. The Zenbook 14 Q425 and MacBook Air are additionally well-built laptops, with the latter having a lid that’s simply barely bendable.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 has slim show bezels, partly because of a reverse notch on the show that’s the alternative of the MacBook Air’s show notch that cuts into the viewable space. The Slim 7i Gen 9 and Zenbook 14 Q425 are nearly the identical measurement in width and depth, and every is 0.59 inches thick. The Lenovo is barely heavier at 3.06 kilos versus 2.82 kilos.

The MacBook Air is thinner and lighter than each, at simply 0.44 inches and a couple of.7 kilos, though it additionally has a barely smaller 13.6-inch show.

I loved the keyboard fairly a bit, because of its giant sculpted keycaps, ample key spacing, and snappy and exact switches that provide loads of journey. I’m undecided what Lenovo did to replace the keyboard since I reviewed the Slim Professional 9i 14, which had an analogous keyboard, however I appreciated the Slim 7i Gen 9’s really feel a bit extra.

Apple’s Magic Keyboard stays my favourite, however Lenovo’s newest model could be very shut when it comes to being comfy over lengthy typing classes (like penning this evaluation). Sadly, Lenovo hasn’t carried over the wonderful haptic touchpad from the ThinkPad Z13, however the Slim 7i Gen 9’s mechanical model works effectively sufficient.

One fascinating factor, which we’ll be seeing on extra laptops, is the Microsoft Copilot key. Immediately, it calls up the cloud-based Copilot generative AI, however with the Meteor Lake chipset’s Neural Processing Unit (NPU), that button may in the future entry on-device AI. Immediately, such AI performance is restricted to Microsoft Studio Results, which is accessible through the 1080p webcam housed within the notch. The webcam contains an infrared digital camera for Home windows 11 facial recognition assist.

Lastly, connectivity meets the 14-inch laptop computer commonplace, with a mixture of Thunderbolt 4 and legacy ports. I’ve seen fairly a couple of laptops these days that pass over an SD card reader, which is a disgrace, and the Slim 7i Gen 9 is one among them. Wi-fi connectivity is the best that’s broadly supported at Wi-Fi 6E, but it surely’s a step behind absolutely the newest commonplace, Wi-Fi 7. It will likely be fairly a while earlier than Wi-Fi 7 is broadly obtainable, so Lenovo made a protected selection.

Nice efficiency, disappointing longevity

The Slim 7i Gen 9 is constructed across the 28-watt Core Extremely 7 155H, essentially the most ubiquitous Meteor Lake chipset to hit laptops in 2024. It’s a 16-core (six Efficiency, eight Environment friendly, and two Low Energy Environment friendly), 22-thread chipset operating at as much as 4.8 GHz. It makes use of Intel’s newest built-in graphics, Intel Arc, that fall someplace between the older Intel Iris Xe graphics and entry-level discrete GPUs.

In our suite of benchmarks, the Slim 7i Gen 9 is among the quickest machines we’ve examined with the Core Extremely 7, a minimum of amongst comparable thin-and-light laptops. It’s considerably sooner than the previous-gen 28-watt Intel Core i7-1360P and even the 45-watt Core i7-13700H.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 was notably spectacular within the PCMark 10 Full benchmark, which runs CPU- and GPU-intensive checks. Its rating within the Creation portion of the benchmark that makes use of the GPU was aggressive with laptops operating discrete GPUs.

The Slim 7i Gen 9 did all this whereas remaining comparatively cool and quiet. The followers spun up in efficiency mode, however have been moderately muted, and the chassis by no means obtained greater than heat to the contact. It’s a laptop computer that may sort out demanding productiveness duties with out working up a sweat. Its Intel Arc efficiency is likely to be excellent for the category, but it surely’s nonetheless not a gaming laptop computer or one which’s going to please creators who depend on quick GPUs to get their work finished.

Whereas the Slim 7i Gen 9 impressed in its efficiency, it was disappointing in its battery life. OLED shows are typically power-hungry, though Lenovo included a lower-resolution Full HD+ panel that ought to save considerably on juice. However the 65 watt-hour battery simply wasn’t sufficient.

In our web-browsing check, the Slim 7i Gen 9 managed simply six hours, a disappointing rating in comparison with most trendy laptops, which hover round eight hours. The Asus Zenbook 14 Q425 hit 12.5 hours, or twice as lengthy, and the M3 MacBook Air 13 managed a whopping 19.5 hours. The Slim 7i Gen 9 was much more disappointing when looping our check video, hitting simply 6.5 hours. That’s about half the typical and effectively behind the Zenbook’s 18 hours.

You’ll be pulling out your charger quickly after lunch.

Low-res, however nonetheless OLED

The Slim 7i Gen 9 is the second 14-inch laptop computer I’ve reviewed with an FHD+ (1920 x 1200) OLED show. The Zenbook 14 Q425 is the opposite, and that’s fairly a bit decrease decision than most others I’ve reviewed with 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED panels. I like sharp textual content, and so this wasn’t my favourite show, however some individuals gained’t discover the distinction. Sadly, whereas the low-res show helped the Zenbook hit glorious battery life, that wasn’t the case right here.

Even so, in keeping with my colorimeter, this can be a high quality show. Brightness was excellent at 420 nits, and colours have been vast at 100% of sRGB, 95% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3, with glorious accuracy at a DeltaE of 0.9 (lower than 1.0 is indistinguishable to the human eye). The distinction was extraordinarily excessive, as regular for the expertise, with inky blacks. The refresh price was decrease at 60Hz — many comparable laptop computer shows are operating at 120Hz.

Audio duties are carried out by 4 audio system, two upward-firing and two downward-firing, which I discovered to be surprisingly quiet at full quantity. Mids and highs have been fantastic, and there was even a contact of bass. However the audio system weren’t the very best I’ve heard in 14-inch laptops. That distinction seemingly applies to the MacBook Air.

A robust choice in an more and more bigger class of laptops

The Slim 7i Gen 9 would have been a standout laptop computer a couple of years in the past, providing class-leading efficiency and an OLED show at midrange and near-budget pricing. Immediately, it faces much more competitors, and it’s held again by lesser battery life.

Even so, there’s quite a bit to love. The keyboard and touchpad are excellent, the chassis is solidly constructed, and it appears good. At its worth of $1,050, it affords an important configuration. I may give it a suggestion, and if Lenovo pushes a configuration to round $800, it would price even larger.

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