Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 review

Out of all the Lenovo Yoga laptops out there, there’s one that stands apart from the rest: the 7i 16.

The 2023 convertible laptop delivers strong performance and a spacious, bright display with Dolby Vision support. It also checks off a lot of other boxes as far as features go. The fingerprint reader is easy to use for secure login and identification, there’s an included stylus, and it comes loaded with 16GB of fast DDR5 memory. This machine has a lot to offer buyers.

Design & build &

The Yoga 7i 16 has great build quality. The chassis is all aluminium with a dark grey finish and rounded edges that make it comfortable to grip. It never feels cumbersome to carry around, either.

Mattias Inghe

The screen has a small bulge at the top where the webcam is located, making it easy to open and close. It can’t quite be done with one hand, but since it’s fully convertible I can forgive it, as this type of computer needs a bit more rigid hinges.

The keys and trackpad are pushed slightly to the left to accommodate the number keys on the right, but there’s still plenty of room to rest your wrists on mostly cool aluminium surfaces. The keys have backlighting that is adjustable in two stages. The highest setting could have been brighter, but it does the job. The keys have a low stroke height with quality mechanics and a clear click feel.

Mattias Inghe

See also  Lenovo Smart Paper review

Performance, speakers & webcam

In terms of performance, it’s hard to complain. The Core i7-1360P provides both high peaks and efficient multitasking, and together with fast RAM memory, I rarely feel like I need more.

Possibly more memory when I try to edit extra high-resolution photos and 4K video, but even that is possible with a little patience for pauses while the SSD gets to work.

What’s missing is extra graphics – here it’s the processor’s integrated Intel Iris Xe solution that applies. It’s fine for most task, but doesn’t boost performance in the same way as a dedicated GPU.

The built-in two-by-two watt stereo speakers have clean, well-balanced sound that, thanks to Dolby Atmos, sounds better than expected. But it’s not all good, with a general lack of bass and some missing treble. It’s certainly good enough for an episode of a TV show, or a video meeting, though.

A fast and noise-free webcam with 1080p resolution means you can look good too. Audio recording from the built-in microphone is also clear. It’s a decent choice for video calls.

There are no surprises when it comes to connections and connectivity – Lenovo delivers what is basically industry standard by 2023. Two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, two USB Type-A, HDMI and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Wirelessly, you get Wi-Fi 6E connectivity with stable reception and Bluetooth 5.1.

Display & stylus

But powering a 60 Hz display with 2D graphics isn’t that demanding, even a higher resolution one like this. The screen has a nice glow in the colours, and matches the sRGB gamut with good colour accuracy. But no more, it lands at around 65% of the DCI-P3 standard. This may be a reason to look for alternatives if you want the computer for professional creative work.

For all other purposes, however, it is very good. It has a calm and pleasantly flicker-free image and brightness that allows me to work outdoors on it – as long as there is no sunlight directly on the screen or the background reflects anything too bright. At 100% brightness, black surfaces are somewhat pale, but you only need that much light in outdoor environments. The glossy finish is relatively gentle on reflections.

You get HDR on the screen with Dolby Vision support, but given the underwhelming colour accuracy and a maximum brightness of 400 nits, you don’t really get the same effect as a smart TV or a good tablet. It’s best for viewing web pages, documents, office applications and playing SDR video. In those scenarios, it’s brilliant.

Mattias Inghe

You control navigation easily using with the touchpad, but also with your finger or a pen on the screen. Precision is never lacking, and the pen lets you scribble notes, do handwriting and draw with great results. The pen is as solidly built as the rest of the computer, with a well-balanced weight and comfortable grip.

It’s powered by a standard slim AAA-type battery. So it lasts much longer than rechargeable pens, but you’ll have to get a refill yourself. Unfortunately, there is no good way to attach the pen to the plate. You get a bracket that you can thread around it and then plug it into one of your computer’s USB-A ports, but it feels risky.

Battery life

Lenovo pleasantly surprises with the battery life. The screen must be of a really power-efficient type, or the battery unusually large, because here I get a full day of active work with several hours to spare.

If I push the processor to the max and run high screen brightness, it’s still good for over two hours, and with a really frugal run, I can surf from early morning to late evening without having to recharge.

If you want to take the charger with you, it’s not overly large either, and it’s fairly quick to top up with more energy. You can also opt out of fast charging in Lenovo’s Vantage settings program if you want to use less battery power.

Mattias Inghe

Here you also choose other things, such as enabling or blocking the webcam and microphone, how function keys work, and the performance and cooling level – from performance mode with a full fan, which isn’t much, to completely silent with limited processor load. You can then switch between the cooling modes with a keyboard shortcut.

Specs

Processor: Intel Core i7-1360P, 4pcs Performance up to 5 GHz + 8pcs Efficient up to 3,7 GHz
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
Memory: 16GB DDR5
Storage: 1 TB SSD, slot for micro SD
Display: 16 inch glossy IPS, 2560×1600 pixels
Webcam: 1080p
Connections: 2 thunderbolt 4, 2 USB 3 gen 1 type a, HDMI, headset
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.1
Operating system: Windows 11 Home
Other: Fingerprint reader, flip to table mode, included stylus, backlit keyboard, numeric keypad
Noise level: 0-35 dBa
Battery life: 2 hours 15 min (high load), 19 hours 40 min (low load).
Size: 36.2 x 25 x 1.7 cm
Weight: 4.18 lbs
Price: $1,089.99

This article has been syndicated from PCWorld. It originally appeared in Swedish on PC för Alla.