Lenovo Yoga 7i review (2023 | Gen 8)

The Lenovo Yoga 7i seeks to be an ultimate business laptop that can convert into a tablet. The latest 16-inch model has a 13^th-Gen Intel processor (which in Lenovo’s language makes it Gen 8) is up against some tough competition, but can it rise to the top?

Specs

Screen	16-inch, glossy, 165Hz, 2,560 x 1,600, IPS, touchscreen display
Processor	3.7-5.0GHz Intel Core i7-1360P CPU
Memory	16GB LPDDR5-5200 RAM
Graphics	1.5GHz Intel Xe GPU
Hard drive	1TB PCIe NVMe
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.1 2 x Thunderbolt 4 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 MicroSD card slot 1 x HDMI 1.4b 1 x 3.5mm audio
Speakers	2 x 2-Watt
Extra Security	TPM 2.0, Webcam privacy slide
Webcam	Full HD with Windows Hello
Battery	71Wh
Dimensions	362 x 250 x 17mm
Weight	2KG
SKU	82YN

Features, Ergonomics and Design

The Lenovo Yoga 7i looks like a high-quality, pearl-finish, corporate-grey laptop. Its Lenovo and Yoga logos won’t trouble any stuffy C-Suite boardrooms and it feels rigid and high-quality despite its plastic shell.

Opening it up reveals the bright (400-nit), thin-bezeled, 16-inch, glossy, UHD, IPS touchscreen with its 2,560 x 1,600 resolution. It displays a large, crisp and clear, bright Windows Desktop that’s great for all kinds of office work.

Multimedia exhibits good contrast with details showing up in bright and dark areas alike. However, true blacks are a smidge washed out. Colour transitions are mostly very smooth with banding only popping up occasionally. Monochromatic gradients are (impressively) similar, though they do tend to get more blocky more often. It’s generally very good for multimedia, though.

The Lenovo Yoga 7i’s screen has a 60Hz refresh rate but the pixel response time is faster than other business-oriented laptops. It’s not good for fast-moving gaming, but some slower-moving casual games will be displayed acceptably.

Although the Lenovo Yoga 7i has a glossy display, we forgot about that most of the time and it really only became an issue when displaying very dark content: it’s impressive at banishing reflections.

Folding the screen 360-degrees converts the Lenovo Yoga 7i into a tablet. The excellent hinge keeps everything together and you’re provided with a large, responsive touchscreen that adds a very different dimension to regular laptops’ usability.

It also comes with a basic stylus but you can upgrade this to the Lenovo Precision Pen (Gen 2) for an extra $60. Lenovo says of it, “The Lenovo Digital Pen 2 improves on the design and functionality of its remarkably popular predecessor. Adding a plastic front cap for enhanced comfort, an elastomer pen tip for precision and an extended battery offering double the run time. Taking notes, signing documents, editing photos and sketching has never been this easy.”

Above the screen is an impressive Full HD webcam which is Windows Hello-compatible and doesn’t get too grainy in low light. The microphone array is also very good at capturing clean audio in noisy environments.

We had concerns about the Lenovo Yoga 7i’s keyboard as a previous convertible Yoga we reviewed had a very harsh keyboard that hurt our fingers. The Lenovo Yoga 7i’s keyboard is accurate, low-travel and firm but it’s not as harsh as it’s predecessor. Still, if you’re planning on regularly typing for extended periods on this laptop, it could still become wearying.

There’s a usable (reduced-width) number pad but the up-and-down arrow keys are annoyingly squished, half-height models.

The trackpad is large, smooth and accurate. Its buttons are firm but still comfortable and accurate to use.

The speakers are decent, offering a bit of bass, acceptable volume and good fidelity.

All in all, the Lenovo Yoga 7i is packed full of features and very usable. But, we’re a little concerned for ardent typists.

Lenovo Yoga 7i Review: Photo Flourish

The images in our Lenovo Yoga 7i Review feature a Milkshake Chew.

Performance

Inside the Lenovo Yoga 7i is a 13^th-Gen, 3.7-5.0GHz Intel Core i7-1360P processor with 4 Performance cores and 8 Efficiency cores (plus, 16 Threads). It’s partnered by 16GB of low-power, LPDDR5-5200 RAM and a 1TB hard drive.

These combined to score 6,352 in the general-computing, PCMark 10 test which is above average for any laptop, and better than every other business-grade model we’ve reviewed – including its speedy, AMD-based Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 sibling. In the CPU-based rendering tests, it scored 2,186 in the Cinebench R15 drag race and 9,873 in the longer, CBR23 test. These are, again, average scores in the laptop world, but category-leading in the business space. The latter score is a little lower than we were expecting, though – this didn’t appear to be due to thermal issues.

The Lenovo Yoga 7i’s 3D performance comes via the integrated Intel Xe graphics which run at (a higher than usual) 1.5GHz. Nonetheless, the lack of discreet GPU means we didn’t expect much. It wouldn’t run the difficult, 3DMark ray-tracing tests. When it came to the AAA-gaming-title-like 3DMark Time Spy test, it scored 2,009 which is an average of just 11fps. In the similar Fire Strike Extreme test, it scored 2,676 which is an average of 12fps. It’s not great for gaming.

Nonetheless, it scored 18,948 in the more-basic 3DMark Night Raid test which is an average of 111fps illustrating that it can play casual and competitive games.

In the difficult, system-stressing CS:GO test, the Lenovo Yoga 7i averaged 46fps which dropped to just 6fps in the most-difficult, one per cent of frames. So, players can expect some slideshow-like play-action when grenades start going off.

When the Lenovo Yoga 7i is heavily under load, the fans only ramp-up to a quiet, low whirr that’s not distracting and it only gets mildly warm. There’s only a very mild fan noise when it’s not under load. This isn’t a hot and noisy laptop.

Connectivity

Inside there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1. It’s a decent, modern complement but some connections are anomalously last-gen.

Portability and Battery Life

The Lenovo Yoga 7i weighs 2KG which is relatively low for a 16-inch laptop but is enough to keep it out of ultraportable territory. However, we were pleased to see its phone-charger-esque power brick which adds an extra 174g.

It’s very solidly built and even MIL-STD-810H certified for robustness, so we expect it to capably survive life on the road.

Meanwhile, the 70Wh battery powered it through our PCMark 10 Modern Office test for an impressive 17 hours 58 minutes. That’s two days out of the office! It’s impressively portable.

Conclusion: Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga 7i?

At $3,024 the Lenovo Yoga 7i represents very good value. It’s packed full of features, very usable and impressively portable. This places it in our Top 10 Best Laptops list and also makes it our new Best Business Laptop. We’re also fans of Lenovo’s genuinely green credentials which offset all elements of the laptop’s lifespan – from construction, through energy usage to recycling.

It won’t suit everyone, but there’s very little business-wise that it won’t do.

Pros

Large, bright, touchscreen
Feature packed
Great battery life

Cons

Firm keyboard
No fingerprint reader

Results