If we were to talk about a robust convertible 2-in-1 machine, the Lenovo Yoga 7i surely makes a statement with the value it provides.
The Yoga 7i improves upon its predecessor by including a sharper camera, nice speakers, and a beautiful display. Though, this pretty package comes at the cost of one important thing that we will discuss as we go on with our review.
Specs at Glance
CPU: Intel Core i5 1240P | GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics | RAM: 8GB DDR4 | Display: 14” 2560×1600 16:10 | Storage: 512GB SSD| Battery: 71Wh | OS: Windows 11
Chassis & Build Quality
It weighs the same as its predecessor at around 3.1 lbs (1.4kg), and it’s lighter than its cheaper cousin, the Flex 5i, which weighs 3.31 lbs (1.5kg).
However, it’s nowhere near as light as the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, which is feather-light at 1.96 lbs (0.8kg). Though, to be fair, the weight doesn’t account for the keyboard flip cover.
In terms of side, the Yoga 7i is a bit bigger than last year’s version. Where the new chassis measures around 316.66 x 220.25 x 17.35 mm (12.47 x 8.67 x 0.68 inches), which makes it slightly thicker than its predecessor.
Though the Surface Pro 8 takes the win again with its tablet-size chassis at around 287 x 208 x 9.3 mm (11.3 x 8.19 x 0.37 inches.)
The entire chassis of the Yoga 7i feels robust and solid. The anodized aluminum body gives the Yoga 7i a clean and strong look.
Another thing that is minor but matters a lot is that Lenovo made the corners of the Yoga 7i rounded and avoided sharp corners. This helps you rest your palm on the keyboard deck without feeling fatigued.
The Surface Pro 8 also is on par in terms of build quality when compared to the Yoga 7i. But the stealthy metallic look screams premium for a device that can be bought for under $1000.
Compared to some cheap laptops that, despite being built of aluminum, flex terribly, the Yoga 7i chassis holds up well and refuses to flex under stress. And the same could be said for the Surface 8 pro.
I/O Ports & Wireless Connectivity
The Yoga 7i has the strongest I/O Ports out compared to the competition. It features dual USB Type-A ports and dual USB C ports with Thunderbolt, which supports display out and charging.
It also has a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, an SD card reader, and an audio combo jack. Though the ports on the Yoga 7i are more or less the same compared to the previous model, they are quite better compared to the competition.
When compared, the Yoga 7i beats the Surface Pro 8, which only has USB C ports, requiring you to carry a dongle with you.
As for the wireless comms, it’s pretty much on par with the rest of the competition featuring WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Keyboard & Touchpad
Keyboard
Lenovo is known for making great keyboards, and the Yoga 7i is no exception. It features the signature Lenovo concave keys, which might seem unconventional compared to other laptops, but it allows you to hit each key precisely. The Numpad keys are also full-size and aren’t shrunken down as you would usually find them on other laptops that are space constraint.
Besides, the keys are well-spaced out, which means that you won’t have a hard time hitting them.
The keys don’t have a lot of travel to them, which makes them feel shallow. However, they actuate quickly and provide nice, satisfying feedback. If you are a writer who needs a quick keyboard, then we can happily recommend the Yoga 7i for any typing application.
The competition, like the Surface Pro 8 and the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i, also offer great keyboards for the price.
Though, do note that the Surface Pro 8 keyboard is an additional add-on that needs to be bought separately. And as for the typing experience, it feels even shallower yet snappy to type on.
Touchpad
The touchpad is decent in size and tracks great. There is not much to say as it does as you would expect it to do. The windows multi-touch gestures work fine, as expected.
Though one minor gripe we have with the touchpad is the buttons on it can be a bit loud, but it’s nothing major. And the touchpad is on par, if not better, with what the competition has to offer.
Speakers & Webcam
Speakers
The speakers on the Yoga 7i are a huge step up from the 2021 model.
The new Yoga 7i features quad speakers, two of which fire downwards and the other two fire upwards, unlike the older model, which only had two down-firing speakers.
The speakers produce clean mids and noticeable bass with a little emphasis on the highs. These are the best speakers you can find in 2 in 1 laptop in its price range.
Something like the Surface Pro 8 lacks a bit behind in terms of speakers. Though it produces clear mids and highs, they start to distort once you go over 75% of the volume.
So if excellent speakers matter a lot to you, the Yoga 7i clearly takes the crown here.
Webcam
Lenovo also decided to improve the webcam too by bumping up the resolution to 1080p. The camera produces a sharp image with sufficient detail when provided with enough light.
It also features a privacy camera shutter along with IR sensors, which means that you can use Windows Hello to unlock your device. Though it also has a fingerprint sensor on the bottom right side of the keyboard.
Display
The display on the Yoga 7i also got a huge spec bump. Now we have a 2560×1600 16:10 display that is simply beautiful and makes the last year’s 1080p look crap. The extended aspect ratio gives you a little more screen for real estate. This can be helpful when you are working on a word document as it will give you more space to see text.
And apart from the size, the 16-inch display is vivid and colorful. It covers the entire sRGB color gamut while also covering 76% of Adobe RGB and 77% of DCI P3. Such color accuracy makes the Yoga 7i a great creative machine.
And apart from the amazing performance, what also makes the Yoga 7i an amazing display for creative work is touch input. Being a convertible, it also supports a stylus, however you would to pay extra to buy the Yoga pen, as it’s not included with the Yoga 7i.
Our only complain with the display is it’s 60Hz refresh rate. The Surface Pro 8 offers 120Hz display with pretty much the same color accuracy for around the same price. The high refresh rate is the only compromise on this display.
Performance
CPU
When it comes to performance, the Yoga 7i blows it out of the park. The Yoga 7i features Intel Evo lineup of CPUs which means that ita adheres to Intel strict requirements which makes it a quality laptop.
What this basically means that laptops with Intel Evo will have great webcams, WiFi 6 support and other quality of life features.
Speaking of raw performance, the unit we are reviewing has a Core i5 1240p which features four performance and eight efficiency cores.
This is a huge step up from the last year’s i5 1135G7, which only had four cores. In Geekbench 5, the core i5 achieves 1581 in single core, which is 28% faster, and 9639, which is a whopping 74% faster than last year.
The same pattern can be seen in Cinebench R23, where the new Yoga 7i achieves 1521 in the single-core, which is 19% faster, and 11266 in the multi-core, which is 90% higher than last year.
This is an insane jump in performance which makes the Yoga 7i a sleek productivity beast. Apart from casual and lightweight tasks like web browsing and writing word docs, the Yoga 7i has the muscles to take on demanding tasks like video editing and Photoshop.
Furthermore, the Yoga 7i ends up being a great programming laptop with its insane multi-threaded performance and satisfying keyboard.
GPU
On the GPU side of things, the Yoga 7i has two variants. One comes with Intel Arc A370M graphics, and the other comes with Iris Xe graphics. We reviewed the latter one.
You can play some light games and old triple-A titles on the Yoga 7i. The Intel Iris Xe Graphics can run games like CS GO Valorant at low to medium settings around 60 frames.
You can even run GTA V at playable settings if you turn down the settings. But don’t expect it to run the latest God of War at maxed-out settings, even if you get the variant with the Intel Arc GPU.
No other 2-in-1 laptop in this price range can provide such performance, so if you need a top-performing convertible laptop, you can’t go wrong with the Yoga 7i.
Battery
The battery life is also really good on the Yoga 7i. On light use, the Yoga 7i can last around 8-9 hours comfortably. Although keep in mind that a 71Wh battery would drain in an hour if you decide to do something demanding like rendering a video or playing a game.
This is on par with what the competition offers, where the Surface Pro 8 and the cheaper Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i also last around 8 hours.
Expandability and Upgradability
We reviewed the 8GB RAM variant. And apart from the amazing CPU performance, what hampered the Yoga 7i was the limited RAM. The soldered RAM is Yoga 7i biggest weakness, and it’s a trend that we see become common in other laptop brands.
If your use case consists of light web browsing and working on word documents, you should be fine with 8GB RAM. However, if you plan to do something slightly more extensive, we recommend you go with the 16GB RAM at least.
Thankfully, you can replace the 512GB SSD in case it ends up being small for you.
Conclusion
If we look back, the Yoga 7i doesn’t have much to hate on. The 2-in-1 features an amazing display, a powerful processor, along with a satisfying keyboard that is all packaged beautifully into a sleek chassis.
If the RAM were upgradable on this laptop and the screen had a higher refresh rate, it would have been a perfect package.
Though if you really need a lighter device that also features a high refresh rate display, and you are also ready to compromise on the compromise, then the Surface Pro 8 is also a decent option.
You might also wanna read…
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro Review
