Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X review: Prosumer power at a reasonable price

Price When Reviewed

$1,399 (baseline) | $1,765 (as reviewed)

Best Prices Today: Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X

Prosumers and professionals on the lookout for a laptop computer with a robust processor and discrete graphics have many decisions, however excessive pricing could be a difficulty. Lenovo’s Slim 7 Pro X makes an attempt to ship nice efficiency in a mid-sized type issue whereas retaining the worth in verify. The machine itself is light-weight and transportable and the design is each sturdy and complicated. While we preferred the sturdy efficiency, battery life is less-than-stellar and connectivity choices are missing. That stated, we really feel the professionals far outweigh the cons. Read on to be taught extra.

Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X specs and options

The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X is a powerful machine on paper. It has an AMD Ryzen 6900HS processor with eight cores and 16 threads in addition to a Nvidia RTX 3050 graphics answer with a most thermal design energy of 55 watts. It’s no slouch in RAM or storage, both, providing 32GB and 1TB, respectively. 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 6900HS
• Memory: 32GB
• Graphics/GPU: RTX 3050 with 55 watt TDP
• Display: 3072 x 1920 IPS touchscreen
• Storage: 1TB PCie NVM SSD
• Webcam: 1080p with IR
• Connectivity: 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 with battery charging, 3.5mm audio combo jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
• Biometrics: IR digicam
• Battery capability: 70 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.92 x 8.72 x 0.63 inches
• Weight: 3.2 kilos
• MSRP: $1,399 to start out, $1,765 as examined

Pricing begins at $1,399 for entry-level fashions with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB stable state drive. The upgrades in my check laptop computer got here with a modest enhance in worth to $1,765. That’s not cheap, but it surely’s deal given the laptop computer’s gobs of RAM and storage. 

Design and construct high quality

Lenovo’s new Slim 7 Pro X, just like the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 that we reviewed earlier this yr, has a design language that mixes curved edges with flat expanses of gray-silver metallic. It’s not a glance that instantly jumps out as distinctive, however this particular shade of grey, together with the rounded sides, offers a premium appear and feel.

I’m additionally a fan of Lenovo’s chrome badge which sits alongside the sting of the show lid and can also be discovered on the inside. It’s eye-catching however stays sufficiently small that it doesn’t change into a distraction.

Looks apart, the Slim 7 Pro X is a inflexible and strong laptop computer. The Slim 7 Pro X doesn’t really feel as premium as an Apple MacBook Pro or Dell XPS laptop computer, because the chassis does enable minor flex when the show is opened or closed. Still, it’s a minimize above an Acer Swift, Asus Zenbook, or LG Gram.

The Slim 7 Pro X lives as much as its title, as effectively, with a thickness of simply .63 inches and a weight of 3.2 kilos. This isn’t as gentle as featherweights just like the LG Gram 14 or Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, however the Slim 7 Pro X packs in discrete graphics whereas these opponents make due with built-in graphics. The Lenovo’s total measurement and weight is just not far off a MacBook Air – spectacular for a machine with a 8-core processor and Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU.

Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X has a spacious, enticing keyboard. Most keys are full-sized, or near it, with the perform row (as ordinary) being the exception. Lenovo avoids throwing in further leisure or perform keys alongside the perimeters, which retains the keyboard centered above the contact. Key really feel is superb regardless of modest key journey, with a brief however exact throw that bottoms out in a springy, tactile motion. 

Keyboard backlighting is customary and provides two brightness settings together with an computerized mode, which is the default. The computerized mode detects a dim setting and activates the backlight as wanted. 

The touchpad is about 5.25 inches vast and 3 inches deep, which is giant for a 14-inch laptop computer, although smaller than a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. It provides lots of room for multi-touch gestures and proves nice to make use of. 

The touchpad additionally does job of rejecting unintended inputs, so I not often observed an undesirable click on even whereas my palms grazed the sting of the touchpad.

Display, audio

IDG / Matthew Smith

Lenovo will get a bit bizarre with the show within the Slim 7 Pro X. It’s a 14.5-inch display screen with a 16:10 side ratio and a decision of 3,072 and 1,920. Lenovo calls this a 3K show, and it results in a pixel density of about 250 pixels per inch. While a real 4K show could be sharper, 3K is a pleasant compromise for a show of this measurement. Images, fonts, net pages, paperwork, and video games all look sharp. 

The 14.5-inch display screen, due to its side ratio, is sort of as tall as a 15.4-inch widescreen laptop computer. It usually appears like a 15-inch laptop computer in day-to-day use. When closed and saved for journey, nonetheless, it out of the blue appears to remodel right into a 13.3-inch machine. This is because of the laptop computer’s slim show bezels.

Image high quality is stable, although not distinctive. The shiny show appears enticing in typical use because of its excessive most brightness and vivid, correct shade, however the LCD IPS show can’t match the distinction of OLED, which is now obtainable in lots of opponents together with the Asus Vivobook Pro OLED, Dell XPS, and Samsung Galaxy Book collection. Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 and 16, which have a Mini-LED show, may even beat the Slim 7 Pro X in picture high quality. 

A pair of two-watt audio system lining both sides of the keyboard present audio. Their user-facing orientation means sound by no means appears muffled or obscured, however most quantity is modest. Music sounds crisp and offers a touch of bass kick however by no means impresses as a result of lack of oomph and restricted sound stage. It’s high-quality, however nowhere close to as top-tier choices just like the Lenovo Yoga 9i, Apple MacBook Pro, or Microsoft Surface Book Studio. 

Webcam, microphone, biometrics

A 1080p webcam is tucked contained in the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X’s skinny prime bezel. It provides a sharper picture than a 720p webcam however suffers a number of points. Video can look grainy in a darkish room and modifications in lighting can confuse the digicam’s computerized publicity, inflicting an oddly darkish or shiny picture. Still, it’s greater than sufficient for many video conferences and appears higher than opponents saddled with a 720p digicam. 

Microphone quantity was excessive and the microphone was in a position to decide up my voice after I wasn’t immediately going through the laptop computer. However, I felt my voice got here throughout as reasonably tinny and distant, which might make my voice arduous to know. 

The digicam consists of an IR sensor that helps Windows Hello facial recognition login. It rapidly acknowledged my face and by no means failed in my time utilizing the machine. The IR sensor isn’t reliant on ambient gentle, both, so it really works effectively in a darkish room. A fingerprint reader is unavailable, however I don’t discover that an issue. Windows Hello facial recognition is faster and extra dependable.

Connectivity

IDG / Matthew Smith

A pair of USB-C 3.2 ports are discovered on Slim 7 Pro X’s left flank. They provide DisplayPort Alternate Mode for connecting an exterior monitor. Power Delivery is included on each ports, as effectively, to allow them to be used to cost the laptop computer. The Slim 7 Pro X’s ships with a 100 watt energy brick, nonetheless, so a beefy USB-C energy supply is required to energy the laptop computer underneath load. USB-A comes from a pair of USB-A 3.2 ports, one on both sides of the laptop computer. 

That leaves the Slim 7 Pro X with out Ethernet or a devoted video output. You’ll want an adapter to entry wired Ethernet and to attach any monitor with out USB-C (which is most of them). There’s a 3.5mm audio jack, a minimum of.

The Slim 7 Pro X additionally lacks Thunderbolt 4. This is an issue with AMD’s most up-to-date cellular platform which, not like Intel’s, doesn’t embody Thunderbolt by default. The USB-C ports promise a most knowledge switch fee of 10Gbps which, although respectable, is way wanting the 40Gbps supplied by Thunderbolt. This shall be a difficulty if it’s essential switch giant quantities of information.

Wireless can also be a bit lackluster, because the Slim 7 Pro X solely helps Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. Most opponents with Intel 12th-Gen processors assist the newer Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 requirements. 

Performance

Lenovo’s Slim 7 Pro X doesn’t fiddle. It packs an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and Nvidia RTX 3050 graphics right into a slim type issue. My overview pattern additionally had 32GB of RAM and a 1TB stable state drive. That’s spectacular {hardware} for a slim laptop computer, but it surely does have its limits.

IDG / Matthew Smith

We begin in PCMark which, because it seems, is among the many laptop computer’s much less spectacular outcomes. The Slim 7 Pro X achieves a good rating of 5,794 however finally ends up behind different slim laptops that pair a quick processor with discrete graphics. The predominant purpose seems to be its graphics efficiency which, as I’ll clarify quickly, is nice however not distinctive. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

Cinebench R15’s multi-threaded benchmark is available in with a rating of two,014. This is best than previous Ryzen 7 5000-series processors however a step behind Intel’s newest Core i9-12900H processor within the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE. This isn’t a shock, as Intel’s 12th-gen Core processors have confirmed sturdy on this benchmark.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Handbrake offers sturdy outcomes for the Slim 7 Pro X. It stays behind the Core i9-12900H within the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE however jumps forward of the Core i7-12700H within the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro. It even beats the Ryzen 9 6900HS within the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

It’s clear the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X is not any slouch in duties that lean closely on processor compute efficiency. The Ryzen 9 6900HS doesn’t appear as succesful because the Core i9-12900H total, but it surely’s shut, and its total efficiency is nice for a laptop computer of its measurement. 

IDG / Matthew Smith

3DMark Time Spy, our first of three graphics exams, delivers anticipated outcomes. The Slim 7 Pro X is ready to commerce blows with the Acer Swift X and Asus Vivobook 15 OLED, a pair of opponents that additionally mesh thin-and-light design with discrete graphics. 

However, the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE springs forward with its RTX 3060 graphics. This exhibits there’s nonetheless a major hole between entry-level Nvidia RTX graphics and mid-range gaming options just like the RTX 3060.

IDG / Matthew Smith

The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X and Acer Swift X additionally fall considerably behind the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. However, each slim laptops handle to realize over 60 FPS, with the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X hitting a median of 63 FPS. That’s excessive sufficient to supply an pleasing expertise.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Metro Exodus, which is extra demanding, pushes the Slim 7 Pro X past its limits. The downside right here seems to be video reminiscence: the Slim 7 Pro X doesn’t seem to have sufficient to deal with the sport at these settings and, because of this, efficiency jumps off a cliff. The benchmark was unstable, as effectively, which once more hints at a video reminiscence limitation. 

I attempted a number of different video games out of curiosity and noticed outcomes in keeping with these benchmarks. The most fascinating was Cyberpunk 2077, which averaged an almost-playable 27 FPS at 1080p and Ultra element. Bumping element right down to High makes the sport playable above 30 FPS. If RTX ray-tracing is turned on, nonetheless, the common plummets to only 10 FPS at 1080p and Ultra element (with DLSS off). 

The Lenovo Slim 7 X Pro X’s graphics efficiency might disappoint players, but it surely’s vital to take the laptop computer’s measurement and design into consideration. The RTX 3050 on this laptop computer isn’t nice for essentially the most demanding fashionable video games, but it surely’s high-quality for older titles, and provides a lift in productiveness functions that assist GPU compute. It’s proper on par with different slim efficiency laptops together with the Acer Swift X and Asus Vivobook 15 OLED. 

Battery life

Lenovo equips the Slim 7 Pro X with a decent 70 watt-hour battery. That’s an inexpensive, although not huge, battery for a 14-inch laptop computer that could possibly be overwhelmed by the mixture of a Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and Nvidia RTX 3050 graphics answer.

IDG / Matthew Smith

Fortunately, the laptop computer offsets energy consumption with Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics, which switches to the built-in AMD Radeon graphics when further graphics energy isn’t required. 

This offers 9 hours and 37 minutes of battery life. It’s a wholesome consequence and enough for journey although, as famous within the graph, a pair hours off the most effective outcomes present in comparable opponents. 

Conclusion

Lenovo’s Slim 7 Pro X has broad attraction. It’s a superb laptop computer for prosumers who need one do-it-all laptop computer for productiveness, portability, and light-weight gaming. Yet it must also maintain the eye of pros who need a purposeful, transportable laptop computer that may deal with heavy duties like video enhancing or render workloads. 

The Slim 7 Pro X does have a number of flaws. Connectivity is weak as a result of lack of Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet, or a devoted video-out port. Display high quality is nice however can’t match OLED options. And the laptop computer’s battery life, whereas satisfactory, falls barely behind the pack.

These points are minor, although, and never arduous to forgive given the Slim 7 Pro X’s sturdy total efficiency, enticing design, and aggressive pricing. It’s a superb choice for prosumers and professionals who need a lot of the advantages of a premium laptop computer, just like the MacBook Pro 14 or Dell XPS 15, under $2,000.