Lenovo recently debuted a new line of laptops called the Aura Edition. While it isn’t a new product per se, it’s a new moniker to distinguish laptops made in collaboration with Intel. For the techie readers, it’s similar to the Intel Evo or Project Athena program, but the main difference this time is that the brand, aka Lenovo, is in control, not Intel. On our plate is the Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition Laptop, packed with the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition – A Closer Look
Aura edition laptops have no special packaging as our Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i AURA Edition still uses the typical Lenovo eco-friendly packaging.
Like most Lenovo Yoga laptops, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i comes in an aluminum body with a matte silver finish – Lenovo calls this colorway Luna Grey. However, instead of the top left corner vertical Lenovo logo on the lid, the Slim 7i AURA Edition’s Lenovo is positioned at the center, like most laptops
Underneath, you have a large strip for the airflow. Rubber strips are positioned at the top and bottom part of the laptop for stability and a slight elevation.
The left side houses one HDMI 2.1 port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, and one 3.5mm combo jack.
The right side has one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, one TB4 port, a power button, and a privacy e-shutter switch.
Note that you’ll automatically lose one TB4 port for charging.
Despite having a 15.3-inch form factor, Lenovo didn’t include a trackpad on the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition’s keyboard deck. Instead, the space is occupied with stereo speaker strips on each side, with each side having a 2W tweeter and 2W woofer. To Lenovo’s credit, it has one of the better sounding speakerrs available in the market, even for 15-inch category.
The larger keys result in a better typing experience due to their better stability. The slightly wider even spacing also helps avoid typos. Like most laptops, you have half-sized up and down arrow buttons, which I am still not a fan of, especially considering you have a large real-estate for the keyboard deck.
For today’s standards, the buttonless glass trackpad measuring 80 x 135mm is underwhelmingly small, especially when you consider its 15.3-inch chassis.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition – Display
The Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition sports a whopping 15.3-inch 2880×1800 120Hz IPS display rated at 500 nits. It has a glossy finish, but Lenovo applied an anti-fingerprint coating. Fingerprints are still evident, but not as bad as on a typical glossy panel.
The display is rated at 100% sRGB and DCI-P3, and our SpyderX Pro Display Analysis Tool was able to measure 100% sRGB, 87% AdobeRGB, and 98% RGB. Its color-accurate display, paired with its large resolution, is a great pair for professional photo and video editing. Our peak measured brightness is 524 nits, higher than its rated 500nits rating – taking the YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition outdoors shouldn’t be a worry.
Benchmark Setup and Test Methodology
Gadget Pilipinas’ testing philosophy is to provide detail-oriented results as accurately as possible so that our readers can replicate our tests, given that these conditions are met. Different benchmarking apps and sequences are used depending on the tested component or device.
We use CapFrameX 1.7.2 Beta as our primary FPS capture and analysis tool for all our gaming benchmarks. The latest build version of Windows 11 Pro and WHQL-certified drivers are used for our benchmarks. Readings such as temperatures and power draws are recorded using HWINFO64, and OCCT Enterprise.
We benchmarked the Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i AURA Edition together with its different power profile settings found in the Lenovo Vantage App – Power Saver, Adaptive, and Performance. The main purpose of benchmarking power profiles is to show how aggressive or conservative the manufacturer is in terms of thermal management. These profiles will affect the CPU and GPU’s boosting behavior in terms of duration and max clock speed, translating to higher scores and stable frame rates.
As part of our 2024 laptop benchmark methodology revamp, we’ve changed how these profiles are tested. Synthetic and Productivity benchmarks include all of the power profiles. We decided to drop the silent or power-saving profile for gaming benchmarks as these lowest profiles generally produce unplayable frame rates, especially at 1440p and above resolutions. Moreover, games are tested at the laptop’s native resolution as we expect most, if not all, gamers to game on the laptop’s native resolution.
For more information, read our Benchmark Methodology article.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition Synthetic and Productivity Benchmarks
OCCT Benchmark
OCCT is a popular benchmark and stability testing tool among overclockers, enthusiasts and system integrators
CINEBENCH 2024
Maxon’s Cinebench benchmark is one of the most iconic benchmark applications used by reviewers and enthusiasts. The latest Cinebench 2024 uses the latest rendering architectures, including Intel’s Embree ray tracing technology and other advanced features from AMD and Intel that allow users to render the same scene on the same hardware.
PROCYON – ADOBE PREMIERE PRO VIDEO EDITING BENCHMARK
Procyon benchmark suite is developed by the UL, the same team behind 3DMark and PCMark benchmarks. The UL Procycon video editing benchmark uses Adobe Premiere in a typical video editing workflow. The benchmark starts by importing two video project files with various edits, adjustments, and effects – the second project uses several GPU-accelerated effects. Each project is exported in 1080p with H.264 encoding and again in 4K with HEVC H.265. The reported score is based on the time taken to export all four videos.
PCMark10
From the same developers of the popular game benchmarking tool 3DMark, PCMark 10 is a benchmarking app for measuring a whole PC’s performance. It covers a wide variety of tests to reflect common tasks performed in a modern workplace. We selected PCMark 10’s extended benchmark and reported both the overall score and Digital Content Creation Score.
V-RAY 6
V-Ray Benchmark is a stand-alone version of V-Ray developed by Chaos Group. It is designed to test the CPU and GPU by rendering sample scenes at a fixed amount of time. V-Ray is a plug-in that is mostly utilized by 3D computer graphics software applications, mainly for industrial design, product design, architecture, film, and video game production. V-Ray is not limited to 64-threads as it supports multi and mega-threading.
SuperPI 32M
SuperPI is a single-threaded benchmark application that lets the CPU calculate Pi(π) to the nth digit. In this benchmark, we selected the Pi calculation to 32M, the highest available for the app.
wPrime 1024M
wPrime is a benchmark tool similar to SuperPI, but the former takes on finding prime numbers using Newton’s Method. The benchmark is set to calculate 1024 million prime numbers, and the performance is measured according to calculation time.
GeekBench 6.3
Geekbench is a multi-platform benchmark used to gauge CPU performance and compare them across Windows, Mac, and Mobile. Geekbench 6 is the latest version and doesn’t rely on memory more than the previous Geekbench 4, making it a great tool to measure both single-core and multi-core CPU performance.
CORONA RENDERER
Corona Renderer is an unbiased photorealistic render available for Autodesk 3Ds Max, Maxon Cinema 4D, and as a stand-alone application. Its popularity, similar to Blender, led Chaos Group to develop a benchmark version of the app which runs using Corona Renderer 1.3. Workstation systems, especially CPUs, can utilize Corona Benchmark as up to 72 threads can be used in the benchmark, making it very suitable for CPUs with various price segments.
BapCo CROSSMARK
Crossmark is one of the few native cross-platform benchmark tools available for Windows, Android, Linux ChromeOS, iOS, and macOS. It measures overall system performance and system responsiveness using models of real-world applications, making it a great comparison point across multiple platforms.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition SSD Benchmark
SSDs are quite overlooked on laptops as brands mostly get away with 3500 to 5000MB/s drives as it’s more than enough for most consumers. That said, Lenovo went out of their way for a 6,000MB/s rated drive on the YOGA Slim 7i. However, RND4K speeds show it’s a QLC drive, so it’s not one of the best, but it’s definitely better than the average SSDs equipped on laptops.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition Battery Life
Battery Life testing has become one of the most stressful parts of this review as the 20-hour result from our PCMark10 Modern Office benchmark seemed unbelievable. We rested several times, and it was a consistent 20hr~ result, and we’re left speechless considering the large 15-inch 1800p display.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition Temperatures
Lenovo has been modest in cooling the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU. The performance profile under the Lenovo Vantage app only showed a peak temperature of 88°C – still quite far from the 100°C TJMax temp. Meaning that there’s still more performance to be extracted from the CPU, and the laptop’s cooling clearly can handle the higher and longer boost clocks and TDP.
Conclusion
Unlike the previous Evo and Project Athena executions, the Aura Edition holds its value by offering a premium laptop experience unlike what we’ve seen so far. There’s no need for flashy OLED screens, a flagship 9 series CPU, or extensive IO. Everything just needs to be above average and well-executed, and that’s what we got with the Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition. Sure, it’s not sporting the greatest components available on a productivity laptop, but it sure has the best balance of design, performance, and battery life.
Perhaps one compromise of the YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition is its build and portability. It’s already a large laptop at 15 inches, but it’s certainly on the heavier side due to its construction, which also makes it slightly flimsy. Larger laptops lean on the flimsier side, as you have a ton of blank spaces with no support except for the PCBs underneath. Its trackpad is also almost unexcusable for today’s standards, especially when you have such a large 15-inch real estate. I’ll take the trackpad compromise as it can be easily be moot if you’re using a mouse. Additionally, the superb keyboard typing experience makes up for the trackpad’s size.
Priced at Php 103,995, the Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i Aura Edition justifies its value with its superb battery life, great display, and decent performance for its form factor. It’s a jack-of-all-trades laptop that can do most, if not every, average office tasks with ease, lasting you longer than your entire shift, even with some overtime. That said, those looking for more specific use cases, such as heavy rendering or a more color-accurate display, should look into the other premium offering.
Grant is a Financial Management graduate from UST. His passion for gadgets and tech crossed him over in the industry where he could apply his knowledge as an enthusiast and in-depth analytic skills as a Finance Major. His passion allows him to earn at the same time help Gadget Pilipinas' readers in making smart, value-based decisions and purchases with his reviews and guides.
