Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon review: A gorgeous OLED laptop with killer value

Price When Reviewed

$979.99

Best Prices Today

$979.99

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Near the top of final yr, I reviewed Lenovo’s flagship enterprise ultraportable, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. I used to be impressed by its smooth chassis, roomy 14-inch show, and cozy keyboard. If you’ve been pining for the dear X1 Carbon however can’t match it into your finances, then I’d suggest turning your consideration to the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. It shares lots of the similar qualities because the X1 Carbon, however at a decrease price. It boasts a robust multimedia efficiency and punchy audio, though its keyboard can’t match the excellence you get with a ThinkPad.

Helping to offset the so-so keyboard is the show, which is an OLED panel that delivers unimaginable distinction and vibrant colours. It additionally options what Lenovo dubs a 2.8K (that’s, 2880 x 1800) decision for a razor-sharp image. OLED shows have been only recently the area of high-priced laptops constructed for inventive professionals or C-suite executives, however we’re seeing extra of them amongst general-purpose laptops at interesting costs. With the most effective shows you’ll discover on a laptop computer that prices lower than $1,000, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon represents a terrific worth for house customers.

Specifications

Let’s have a look beneath the hood of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon we reviewed, at the moment discounted at Newegg for $979.99. Our assessment unit options an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor, AMD Radeon graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of PCIe NVMe storage. Read on for a extra detailed take a look at the innards.

• CPU: Octa-core AMD Ryzen 7 5800U
• Memory: 16GB
• Graphics: AMD Radeon
• Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
• Display: 14-inch, 2880×1800 OLED contact
• Webcam: 720p
• Connectivity: USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, headphone / mic combo
  combo audio jack.
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
• Biometrics: IR facial recognition
• Battery capability: 61 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.3 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Measured weight: 2.4 kilos (laptop computer), 0.7 kilos (AC adapter)

Hello, my title is Slim 7

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is skinny and smooth, even for ultraportable requirements. It trades the standard matte black of the corporate’s ThinkPads for an all-silver chassis. The enclosure is made out of a carbon fiber-reinforced magnesium alloy that permits the laptop computer to be extremely skinny and lightweight. The laptop computer is just 0.6 inches thick and weighs a mere 2.4 kilos. That’s lighter than most 13-inch fashions, and the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon has a 14-inch show.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

There is a few flex with the keyboard deck however nothing worrisome. The show is wafer-thin, nevertheless, and flexes a bit an excessive amount of for my liking. Lenovo claims the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon provides “military-grade durability,” however I’d really feel higher a few heftier ThinkPad standing as much as day by day abuses throughout your commute to work and enterprise journey. The Slim 7 Carbon is so slim that I’d welcome a beefier lid to higher shield the really great show, even when it meant toting round an additional ounce or two.

You could must tote round an adapter with the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. The ports are so restricted that Lenovo consists of an adapter within the field to broaden the system’s connectivity. On the laptop computer, you get a pair of  USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 — one on all sides of the laptop computer — and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port on the left aspect that doubles because the system’s charging port in addition to a combo microphone/headphone jack.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The solely different gadgets you’ll discover on the suitable aspect subsequent to the USB-C port is the ability button and a kill swap for the webcam. There isn’t a bodily privateness cowl for the webcam, however this toggle swap disables it when not in use.

The included adapter provides an HDMI port, an old-school VGA video port and a USB-A port. Connections lacking from the laptop computer and adapter are an SD card reader and an Ethernet port.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Oh, the OLED show!

The star of the Slim 7 Carbon present is its 14-inch OLED contact show. It’s a marvel. With VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black and Dolby Vision HDR help, the distinction is excellent, with the deepest blacks and brightest whites, and colours are correct and noticeably vibrant. The show can be extremely brilliant, making the Slim 7 Carbon a candidate for work within the area beneath direct daylight. With its stellar distinction and shade accuracy and spectacular brightness, the Slim 7 Carbon is match for inventive professionals along with house customers.

On prime of its OLED and HDR goodness, the show’s decision makes it superior to the usual 14-inch Full HD laptop computer show. It incorporates a increased decision of 2880×1800 that leads to a dazzlingly crisp picture. It’s not a 4K show, however what Lenovo calls a 2.8K show is greater than sufficient on a 14-inch panel. In truth, 2.8K is within the Goldilocks Zone, providing a clearly sharper image than a Full HD show with out the sacrifice to battery life a 4K show forces you to make.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

A 14-inch laptop computer is a bit like a dimension medium for garments. It’s greater than a small, 13.3-inch mannequin however not as roomy as the massive, 15.6-inch dimension. With a 16:10 facet ratio that’s taller than 16:9 widescreen laptops, the Slim 7 Carbon offers extra room to work than a 14-inch widescreen laptop computer. With more room from prime to backside, the show doesn’t really feel as tight as a 16:9 panel and allows you to view extra of an internet web page, doc or spreadsheet on the display. A 16:10 show is the center possibility between a widescreen 16:9 and a boxy 3:2 show, placing the Slim 7 Carbon with its 14-inch, 16:10 show proper within the candy spot by way of portability vs. usability.

Last factor in regards to the show — it may possibly toggle between 60Hz and 90Hz. If it had higher graphics than an built-in Radeon GPU, then avid gamers might crank it as much as 90Hz for a speedier response in video games, however as it’s you seemingly received’t have a lot want to maneuver off its customary 60Hz refresh charge.

Residing in a slight notch above the show is a 720p webcam. It produced merely common webcam video with a grainy image beset with noise and washed-out colours. It’s too unhealthy Lenovo didn’t pair a 1080p webcam with the high-res show. It is an IR digicam, so it may possibly do facial recognition, and Lenovo positioned sensors within the notch that detect if you find yourself seated in entrance of the laptop computer and locks Windows if you stand up and logs you again in if you return.

Most ultraportables merely don’t have the room to incorporate audio system that produce something however underwhelming, tinny sound, however the Slim 7 Carbon breaks this rule. It options not two however 4 audio system. They hearth upwards from beneath speaker grilles that flank the keyboard. They have sufficient oomph to fill a small room with surprisingly dynamic sound. Bass response is missing nevertheless it’s not nonexistent. The Slim 7 Carbon provides above-average laptop computer sound and glorious ultraportable sound.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The keyboard options skinny keys which can be silver in shade to match the remainder of the enclosure. The keys characteristic shallow journey — not stunning given the skinny chassis — however really feel agency and snappy. I might have most popular a black keyboard for higher distinction between the keys’ symbols and the keys themselves. Silver keys with grey symbols don’t provide a lot in the way in which of distinction. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The keyboard backlighting is a little bit of a catastrophe. Unless you’re in a really darkish room, the backlighting makes it more durable not simpler to see the keys’ symbols. Worse, the backlighting bleeds from beneath the keys and is especially noticeable from the row of F keys at prime of the keyboard. Unless you’re seated proper on prime of the laptop computer, the backlighting again could be very distracting, particularly when set on the brighter of its two ranges.

Performance

Our IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon options an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, 16GB of RAM, built-in Radeon graphics, and a 512GB SSD. The Ryzen 7 5800U has eight bodily cores and 16 processing threads and is an environment friendly, 15-watt chip. As you’ll see, the Ryzen 7 5800U helped the Slim 7 Carbon flip in robust showings on our software and multimedia benchmarks, however its 3D graphics efficiency was predictably lackluster, and its battery life was under common. Anecdotally, the system felt peppy throughout common Windows use, ably dealing with multitasking and working in silence beneath all however the heaviest masses.

Our first benchmark is PCMark 10, which measures efficiency on on a regular basis computing work together with workplace productiveness duties, internet looking, and video chats. The Intel-based programs lagged behind the AMD-based programs largely due to the added cores of the Ryzen 7 5800U and 5700U. Both Ryzen 7 chips have eight cores and 16 threads, whereas the Core i7-1165G7 and Core i7-1185G7 have solely 4 cores and eight threads. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Next up is Cinebench, a kind of CPU dash that stresses the CPU somewhat than the GPU and makes use of all processing cores. Once once more, the AMD-based programs put their added processing cores and threads to good use and simply outpaced their Intel competitors on the multithreaded take a look at.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The trio of AMD laptops additionally topped the chart for single-threaded efficiency on Cinebench, with the Slim 7 Carbon ending simply behind the HP Pavilion Aero 13.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

We use the HandBrake utility to transform a 30GB film to Android desk format, an intensive process that taxes the CPU and all of its cores. With double the cores and threads, the AMD laptop computer once more dominated, with the Slim 7 Carbon finishing the take a look at within the shortest period of time.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Intel laptops turned the tables on their AMD competitors on 3DMark, with Intel’s built-in Iris Xe graphics proving extra highly effective than AMD’s built-in Radeon GPU. “Powerful” is a relative time period as a result of not one of the programs right here can be confused for a gaming laptop computer. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

To take a look at battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Windows 11’s Movies & TV app, with the laptop computer set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the display brightness at a comparatively brilliant 250 nits to 260 nits, which is an efficient for watching a film in an workplace with the lights on. The Intel programs additionally ran longer than their AMD counterparts on our battery drain take a look at. The Slim 7 Carbon ran for a bit longer than 9 hours, whereas the three Intel programs every lasted for greater than 12.5 hours.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Conclusion

The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is a lovely laptop computer. The gorgeous OLED show provides the optimum stability between portability and value at 14 inches in dimension with a 16:10 facet ratio. The machine is powered by AMD’s stellar Ryzen 7 5800U processor that outclasses its Intel competitors in software and multimedia efficiency. Audio can be glorious on two fronts: the system is quiet throughout operation and its 4 audio system produce surprisingly respectable sound for such a compact laptop computer.

We’ve received just a few nitpicks in regards to the power of the lid defending the beautiful show and the terrible keyboard backlighting, however you merely received’t discover a higher laptop computer show for the cash. This longtime reviewer of laptops has not seen a greater show on a laptop computer that prices lower than $1,000.