Lenovo Slim 7 Professional X review: skinny and actually quick

Lenovo Slim 7 Professional X review: skinny and actually quick

MSRP $1,600.00

“The Lenovo Slim 7 Professional X leverages a quick AMD CPU and a discrete GPU to supply shocking efficiency in a skinny and lightweight machine.”

Professionals

• Wonderful productiveness efficiency
• Nice artistic efficiency for a skinny and lightweight laptop
• Enticing, stable construct
• Superior IPS show
• Intensive privateness options

Cons

• Barely costly
• Followers could be loud

A brand new breed of 14-inch laptops mates skinny and lightweight chassis with potent elements. We’re speaking laptops which can be 0.7 inches or slimmer and working 35-watt and 45-watt CPUs and discrete GPUs. Such elements have been as soon as reserved for 15-inch and bigger machines which can be greater and thicker, offering higher airflow to maintain issues cool.

The efficiency outcomes with these 14-inch laptops have been decidedly blended. However that doesn’t cease new machines from being launched, together with Lenovo’s Slim 7 Professional X that packs in a 35-watt AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and an Nvidia RTX 3050 discrete GPU. That efficiency mixed with the engaging design makes the Slim 7 Professional X one other winner in Lenovo’s lineup.

Specs

Skinny can nonetheless be quick and long-lasting

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The Slim 7 Professional X is simply 0.63 inches thick. That doesn’t go away a number of room for thermals, though the laptop advantages a bit from its bigger 14.5-inch 16:10 show and, subsequently, a barely bigger chassis. Another laptops within the comparability group under additionally characteristic quick, full-power CPUs and are a bit thicker. The Acer Swift 3 OLED is one instance, with its 45-watt Core i7-12700H and 0.70-inch thickness — not an infinite distinction however sufficient to afford higher airflow. The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is a mannequin with the identical Intel CPU that’s as thick as 0.75 inches.

Packed contained in the Slim 7 Professional X is an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, a 35-watt 8-core/16-thread CPU that’s a quick multi-threaded performer, together with a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU. My $1,600 Costco review configuration was well-stocked with 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD. You’ll avoid wasting money by selecting a Ryzen 7 6800HS CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, a configuration that prices $1,430 on Lenovo’s web site.

The Slim 7 Professional X is a really sturdy performer for a laptop of its measurement.

Whereas the chip didn’t do nicely in Geekbench 5 within the Slim 7 Professional X, it was quicker in our Handbrake check that encodes a 420MB video as H.265 and in Cinebench R23 multi-core. It additionally did extraordinarily nicely within the PCMark 10 Full benchmark that measures a mixture of productiveness, multimedia, and creativity duties.

Maybe most significantly, the Slim 7 Professional X did nicely within the PugetBench Premiere Professional benchmark that runs in a reside model of Adobe Premiere Professional and makes use of each the CPU and GPU, scoring 548 in balanced mode. The benchmark wouldn’t run once I used Lenovo’s utility to modify to efficiency mode (I’ve reported each ends in the opposite benchmarks), which is a bummer. However its rating was barely behind the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus that hit 569 in balanced mode. Each laptops featured the RTX 3050 GPU, so the distinction seemingly comes all the way down to Intel optimizations that pace up Adobe’s playback efficiency.

General, the Slim 7 Professional X is a robust performer and might deal with essentially the most demanding productiveness workflows and fairly heavy artistic duties. That’s spectacular for a skinny laptop. There was some throttling, as anticipated, with the CPU heating as much as round 95 levels C and decreasing frequencies, however that didn’t considerably impression the Slim 7 Professional X’s general efficiency.

Lenovo ships the Slim 7 Professional X with Nvidia’s Studio drivers, that are optimized for quick and dependable efficiency in purposes like Adobe’s Artistic Suite and AutoCAD moderately than gaming. Even so, the laptop carried out nicely for an RTX 3050. It scored 4,057 within the 3DMark Time Spy check, which jumped to 4,910 in efficiency mode, and it managed 46 frames per second (fps) in Fortnite at 1200p and epic graphics (58 fps in efficiency mode). These are stable showings for the GPU and promise competent 1080p gaming at affordable graphics settings in fashionable titles.

The skinny chassis additionally tends to restrict battery capability, though Lenovo managed to suit a decent 70 watt-hours into the Slim 7 Professional X. Because of the superior effectivity of the Ryzen 9 CPU in comparison with Intel 45-watt chips, the Slim 7 Professional X was a pacesetter in battery life amongst our comparability group in all however our video check. Even then, it was the 28-watt Core i7-1280P that beat it.

It’s not assured that you just’ll get a full day’s work out of the Slim 7 Professional X, however you’ll come nearer than with many different high-powered 14-inch laptops.

Efficiency isn’t the whole lot

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The Slim 7 Professional X isn’t only a skinny chassis wrapped round quick elements. In truth, even when it weren’t such a quick performer, it could nonetheless be a compelling machine (albeit a bit costly). I’ve talked about how skinny it’s, but it surely’s additionally mild at 3.02 kilos. The Storm Grey aluminum chassis is inflexible with no bending, flexing, or twisting, making it almost equal to the exquisitely designed Lenovo Slim 9i. Its chassis edges are rounded, though not as comprehensively because the Slim 9i’s, whereas the sides alongside the show are additionally rounded. The Slim 7i Professional X is a horny laptop that’s additionally unusually comfy in hand.

Not the whole lot is ideal with the Slim 7 Professional X design. For instance, the hinge wasn’t as clean as some, binding up because the lid was opened to about three-quarters and requiring a second hand to complete the motion. And the followers spun up and have been louder than you’ll discover on many related laptops. These are minor nitpicks, although.

The keyboard is spacious with massive, sculpted keycaps. I discovered the mechanism barely higher than the Slim 9i’s, with what felt like deeper journey and a crisper bottoming motion. Basically, I discovered it extra comfy than the Slim 9i’s, though nonetheless not in the identical class as HP’s Spectre or Dell’s XPS keyboards. The touchpad was massive, took up many of the palm relaxation house, and was exact with assured, quiet button clicks. The contact show on my review unit was good to see.

For such a skinny laptop, the Slim 7 Professional X manages to supply stable connectivity. There are two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports (with out Thunderbolt 4 assist becauseto the AMD chipset), two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Creators will miss an SD card reader, which is a major omission. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 are a step behind, once more attributable to AMD.

I’ve observed a formidable uptick in show high quality throughout many of the laptops I’ve reviewed over the past 12 months, a pattern that I famous on the finish of 2021 and that’s solely accelerated since then. Whereas applied sciences like OLED have made an amazing impression, the standard IPS show has additionally seen an across-the-board enchancment that’s been spectacular to observe unfold. The Slim 7 Professional X affords only one show possibility in the mean time, a 14.5-inch 16:10 3K (3,072 x 1,920) IPS panel working at a brisk 120Hz that makes the Home windows 11 person interface much more fluid.

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The panel’s general high quality was spectacular, with loads of brightness, unimaginable distinction for an IPS show, and barely higher than common coloration width. Coloration accuracy was a bit of off, but it surely was nonetheless adequate for all however skilled artistic work.

Privateness and videoconferencing are strengths

Suppose you’re a heavy person of videoconferencing instruments like Zoom and Skype. In that case, you’ll recognize the Slim 7 Professional X’s 1080p webcam with an digital privateness shutter activated by a change on the precise facet. The webcam affords a high-resolution picture with glorious lowlight assist and loads of element. The Lenovo lacks a few of the extra superior videoconferencing options like computerized centering and such which can be supplied on another machines, however the high quality is pretty much as good as you’ll discover.

Mark Coppock/Digital Tendencies

There’s additionally an infrared camera that allows Home windows 11 Hey passwordless login assist, which was quick and dependable in my testing. Lenovo additionally included its clever sensing performance, together with Zero Contact Lock that turns off the show when the person leaves the realm and places the laptop to sleep, and Zero Contact Login that wakes it up and mechanically logs in when the person returns. This type of performance is changing into extra widespread on premium laptops, and it not solely affords higher privateness, but it surely additionally helps save battery life. As ordinary, the options labored so nicely that I needed to flip them off to conduct our suite of battery exams.

I’ll additionally point out some extra comfort options that fall beneath the “clever” label. Particular gestures are constructed into the touchpad, together with the power to regulate show brightness and system quantity whereas scrolling up and down on both facet of the touchpad. A set of touchscreen gestures carry out related capabilities. These are small touches, however they assist make the Slim 7 Professional X extra usable.

One more stable 14-inch different

The Lenovo Slim 7 Professional X is an admirable performer with surprisingly good battery life and a stable construct. Whereas it’s not fairly as refined because the dearer Lenovo Slim 9i, it’s a thinner high-performance possibility than laptops just like the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus and the Acer Swift 3 OLED. And it has a extra impressed design than each of these machines provide.

On the similar time, you’re definitely paying a premium worth for the Slim 7 Professional X. When you don’t want the additional efficiency the GPU supplies although, you’ll be able to spend tons of much less and get equally compelling however slower laptops. However as at all times, it’s nice to have so many selections on the earth of Home windows laptops, and the Slim 7 Professional X fills is a stable addition.

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