Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 Gen 7 (2022) Review

With regards to iconic pocket book designs, the title Lenovo might come up usually, nevertheless it’s often for the corporate’s company ThinkPads. However on the planet of 2-in-1 convertible laptops, Lenovo’s Yoga client line has been setting the agenda for a decade. The upscale Yoga 9i Gen 7 presently holds our Editors’ Alternative award amongst premium convertibles, and the 14-inch Yoga 7i Gen 7 (begins at $879.99; $949.99 as examined) matches that machine’s excellence at a extra reasonably priced worth. The 14-inch dimension is presumably good for a system that is usable in laptop computer mode however sufficiently small to tote round as a pill, and the most recent Yoga 7i 14 is a superbly crafted 3.2-pound transportable that earns an Editors’ Alternative nod of its personal. It could be the perfect Yoga but.

Lenovo’s seventh Gen, Intel’s twelfth

The $879.99 base mannequin of the Yoga 7i 14 Gen 7 combines one in every of Intel’s newest Core i5-1235U processors, 8GB of reminiscence, a 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive, and what Lenovo calls a 2.2K (2,240-by-1,400-pixel) IPS contact display screen. Our $949.99 check unit bumps up the processor to an Intel Core i7-1255U, and doubles the RAM allotment to 16GB. Different choices embody a stronger Core i7-1260P CPU and a 1TB SSD. The flagship mannequin swaps out the IPS panel for an OLED show with sharper 2,880-by-1,800-pixel decision and 400 moderately than 300 nits of brightness, promoting for $1,799.99.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

Obtainable in Storm Blue or Arctic Grey, the Yoga 7i 14 is made of sunshine however sturdy anodized aluminum, a smooth slab with rounded edges which are extraordinarily comfy to carry (and allow you to kind with out feeling as if the sting of the keyboard deck goes to slash your wrists). It measures 0.68 by 12.5 by 8.7 inches, almost matching its rival the Dell Inspiron 14 7415 2-in-1 (0.71 by 12.7 by 8.4 inches), however is a fraction lighter at 3.2 versus 3.4 kilos.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

There are many ports for such a compact convertible. On the left aspect, you may discover an HDMI video output, two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a microSD card slot.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

A USB 3.2 Kind-A port is on the proper, together with an audio jack for headphones or headsets and the ability button. The assortment is a welcome distinction to ultraportables just like the Apple MacBook Air and Dell XPS 13 Plus that supply solely a few Thunderbolt 4 ports, obliging you to plug in an adapter or hub to make use of an exterior monitor or USB-A flash drive. Wi-fi help can also be state-of-the-art, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

Wanting (and Sounding) Good

The Yoga 7i is all in regards to the display screen, which does double obligation as each laptop computer show and pill contact display screen, and our check unit’s high-quality, 14-inch IPS panel does the job. The display screen’s 16:10 facet ratio is a bit taller, requiring a bit much less scrolling than the acquainted 16:9 ratio, and works nicely in pill mode. The shiny show supplies 10-point contact in addition to energetic stylus help, however we had been disillusioned that the pen is not included.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

Whether or not I used to be engaged on paperwork or watching movies, the show was colourful and sharp, trying particularly vivid and advantageous when viewing HDR content material on Netflix and different sources. Our goal assessments backed up Lenovo’s claims, with the panel registering a full 100% of the sRGB shade gamut and 324 nits of peak brightness. It must also be comfy for long-term use, because of low-blue-light expertise that minimizes the a part of the spectrum almost definitely to fatigue or harm eyes.

Audio high quality is simply pretty much as good, because of a mixture of stereo audio system, twin woofers, and a pair of tweeters. The array helps Dolby Atmos and a offered Sensible Amplifier boosts quantity when wanted.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

Keyboards have lengthy been a Lenovo energy, and the Yoga 7i 14 Gen 7 isn’t any exception. The keys supply a supremely comfy typing really feel, with a great depth of journey, substantial springiness with each keystroke, and Lenovo’s signature scalloped key design that is each visually interesting and pleasantly tactile. Beneath the keyboard is a beneficiant extra-wide touchpad, with a easy glass floor and help for multitouch gestures. On a pocket book with out touch-screen and pill functionality, the pad alone could be nice for comfy navigation. On the touch-centric Yoga, it is a welcome flourish that enhances the laptop computer expertise.

Simply above the show is a delicate raised part that Lenovo calls the Communication Bar. In addition to offering a small lip that makes it simpler to open the lid and get buy on the graceful rounded edges, the bar homes the Home windows Good day-compatible webcam with out an Apple-like notch dipping into the display screen space. The webcam affords better-than-average image high quality with 1080p decision and has a built-in privateness shutter. Combining so many options in such a small, unobtrusive area is spectacular.

Testing the Yoga 7i 14 Gen 7: Lightweights Dealing with Heavy Benchmarks

For our efficiency measurements, we pitted the Yoga 7i 14 towards its convertible rivals the Dell Inspiron 14 7415 2-in-1 and Lenovo’s personal step-up Yoga 9i, one other Gen 7 mannequin from earlier this 12 months. We additionally in contrast it to the non-convertible HP Pavilion Plus 14 and 13.6-inch Apple MacBook Air M2, which can not have contact functionality however are among the many finest compact vacationers we have examined lately.

We check Home windows laptops’ total productiveness with UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates on a regular basis duties like phrase processing, internet looking, and videoconferencing. Geekbench 5 is a extra CPU-focused check that performs comparable simulations together with PDF rendering and speech recognition, whereas Maxon’s Cinebench makes use of that firm’s Cinema 4D engine to render a posh picture stressing all of a processor’s cores and threads.

Two different benchmarks mix CPU measurement with suitability for artistic apps: HandBrake encodes a 12-minute clip of 4K video to a extra compact 1080p file, whereas workstation vendor Puget Techniques’ PugetBench for Adobe Photoshop makes use of the Inventive Cloud 22 model of Adobe’s well-known picture editor to execute quite a lot of basic and GPU-accelerated imaging duties starting from opening, rotating, and resizing a photograph to making use of masks, gradient fills, and filters. Low instances in HandBrake and excessive scores in PugetBench point out higher suitability for digital content material creation.

In our productivity-focused benchmarking, the Yoga 7i fell in the midst of what’s admittedly a high-performing pack. The reasonably priced Yoga trailed the MacBook Air and Pavilion Plus however edged forward of its Dell rival in most assessments.

To check methods’ graphics capabilities, we use two game-like benchmarks from every of two check suites: the DirectX 12 subtests Evening Raid and Time Spy from UL’s 3DMark for Home windows, and the 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Automotive Chase subtests from the cross-platform GFXBench. The latter two are rendered offscreen to accommodate totally different show resolutions.

Each the Yoga 7i 14 and HP Pavilion Plus 14 depend on Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics, which makes them appropriate for informal gaming and streaming video however not a match for the discrete GPU of a real gaming laptop computer. The Apple M2 chip within the MacBook Air boasts extra succesful graphics efficiency

Lastly, we check laptops’ battery life by looping the open-source Blender brief video Tears of Metal, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting off, show brightness at 50%, and audio quantity at 100% till the system quits. We additionally use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite colorimeter and software program to measure pocket book screens’ shade protection and brightness in nits (candelas per sq. meter).

The Yoga 7i 14 isn’t any slouch relating to battery life, displaying 14 hours of unplugged stamina in our video rundown. Its display screen additionally delivers nice visible high quality for a fairly priced laptop computer, although it does not match the showpiece OLED panels of the Yoga 9i and HP Pavilion Plus or the Retina show of the MacBook Air.

(Credit score: Brian Westover)

One Elegant Convertible

The Lenovo Yoga 7i 14 Gen 7 brings Intel’s newest silicon to an awesome 2-in-1 laptop computer, nevertheless it’s greater than only a processor improve. The brand new mannequin options a few of the finest industrial design we have seen, whether or not you are specializing in its comfortably sculpted chassis to the not-a-notch webcam bar. Its efficiency and battery life rank with the perfect mainstream convertibles, and the entire package deal comes collectively so nicely it is a standout. This can be a first-class 2-in-1 laptop computer that earns a PCMag Editors’ Alternative award.