There’s a new challenger to one of our favorite laptops

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

When it came retired earlier this year, nan Surface Laptop 7th Edition was a activity of caller air. So overmuch truthful that our computing editor adopted it arsenic his “new regular carry” aft reviewing nan device.

And while we still highly urge that laptop, there’s a caller challenger successful town. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is 1 of nan uncommon laptops comes pinch a 15-inch show that tin lucifer nan Surface Laptop 7th Edition — and it besides comes pinch nan latest Intel chip. It’s nan cleanable foil to nan Surface Laptop 7th Edition, and successful immoderate ways, mightiness beryllium an moreover amended option.

Specs and configurations

The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition starts astatine $1,280 for a Core Ultra 7 256V, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 15.3-inch 2.8K IPS show (the only option). A larger 1TB SSD is simply a $42 upgrade, and going to a faster Core Ultra 7 258V, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD is $1,422.

By comparison, nan 15-inch type of nan Surface Laptop 7th Edition starts astatine $1,300, coming pinch a Snapdragon X Elite chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.0-inch 2496 x 1664 IPS show (also nan only option). You tin max retired a high-end configuration pinch 64GB of RAM and a TB of retention for $2,500. The only measurement to get a cheaper Surface Laptop 7th Edition is to jump down to nan smaller 13-inch model, which starts astatine $999.

That makes nan Yoga Slim 7i a batch much charismatic for price-conscious buyers.

Design

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The Surface Laptop 7 didn’t alteration overmuch from its erstwhile generations, pinch conscionable a fewer tweaks specified arsenic somewhat thinner show bezels and corners that are much rounded. Those tweaks harvester to return a very attractive, if minimalist, creation and make it look somewhat better. There are still 4 chopped colors, including Sapphire, Dune, Black, and Platinum, which compete much straight against nan MacBook Air than a laptop for illustration nan Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition that comes successful a azygous acheronian grey color. The Lenovo is besides minimalist, pinch rounded bezels edges that springiness it a somewhat softer aesthetic. They’re some good-looking laptops.

They’re some besides built highly well. They’re each aluminum, to statesman with, and they some consciousness solid. There’s nary bending, flexing, aliases twisting anywhere, and they some exude quality. That’s not different among modern premium laptops, though, truthful it’s to beryllium expected. You won’t take either based connected build value alone.

Perhaps much important is their wide sizes. The Yoga Slim 7i has a somewhat larger show and truthful is wider, but nan Surface Laptop is deeper, thicker, and heavier. You’ll consciousness it a batch much erstwhile you’re carrying it around. The Yoga Slim 7i lives up to its sanction — it’s not rather arsenic insanely bladed arsenic nan MacBook Air 15, but meaningfully thinner than nan Surface Laptop.

The Surface Laptop has a amended keyboard, though. Both keyboards person ample keycaps and comfortable cardinal spacing, but nan Surface Laptop’s switches are notably deeper and snappier. That makes it conscionable a small much comfortable for semipermanent typing, though astir users mightiness not announcement nan difference. And nan Surface Laptop’s haptic touchpad is simply a spot smaller than nan Yoga Slim 7i’s mechanical version, but haptic touchpads are much responsive and customizable. Both laptops person touch-enabled displays, while nan Surface Laptop’s show besides supports Microsoft’s progressive pen.

Connectivity is close, pinch some having fast, modern ports and nan Yoga Slim 7i differentiating itself pinch an further HDMI connection. Both besides person up-to-date wireless connectivity.

Finally, some besides person arsenic crisp 1080p webcams pinch infrared cameras, and some support nan afloat complement of Microsoft Copilot+ PC AI features.

Performance

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Both laptops are among nan first to present their respective chipsets. The Surface Laptop has nan Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipset, which intends astatine some capacity and efficiency, while nan Yoga Slim 7i is 1 of nan first pinch Intel’s Lunar Lake, a much efficiency-oriented option. The Snapdragon X Elite is simply a 12-core chipset graphics pinch capacity successful betwixt Intel’s earlier U-Series and H-Series Meteor Lake chipsets, while nan 17-watt Core Ultra 7 258V successful nan Yoga Slim 7i is person to nan 15-watt U-series offerings.

That’s evident successful our benchmarks, wherever nan Surface Laptop is considerably faster than nan Yoga Slim 7i successful multi-core tasks, and nan Lenovo is somewhat faster successful single-core performance.The Intel Arc 140V and Adreno integrated graphics are astir nan aforesaid speed, which is still considerably slower than moreover entry-level discrete GPUs.

Ultimately, nan Surface Laptop will beryllium faster than nan Yoga Slim 7i for nan astir demanding productivity users, but neither instrumentality is meant for creators aliases gamers.

Display

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Both laptops person likewise sized displays that are likewise sharp, and some are IPS displays. Both displays tally astatine up to 120Hz, truthful they’re adjacent successful position of really smoothly they’ll tally nan Windows personification interface.

According to our colorimeters, nan Surface Laptop has wider colors that will beryllium amended for creators. Both displays are agleam and meticulous and person arsenic bully opposition for IPS technology, and neither is arsenic bully arsenic nan OLED displays you’ll find successful galore competing laptops.

Portability

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

As mentioned above, nan Yoga Slim 7i is simply a spot thinner and lighter than nan Surface Laptop. They’re some reasonably portable for 15-inch machines, but you mightiness announcement Microsoft’s laptop successful your backpack a small more.

But these 2 usage chipsets that are aimed astatine efficiency. Both do good for Windows laptops, peculiarly successful our web-browsing test, but nan Surface Laptop lasts a batch longer looping our trial video.

Ultimately, some will past you a afloat day’s activity doing emblematic productivity tasks, and past some.

The Yoga Slim 7i is an attractively priced option

The Surface Laptop 15 is simply a beardown competitor. It’s built well, looks great, and has a awesome keyboard and touchpad. Its Qualcomm chipset is somewhat faster and, depending connected nan use, its artillery life is better. The taller 3:2 facet ratio really makes it guidelines retired too. But nan 15-inch exemplary costs a beautiful penny.

The Yoga Slim 7i is besides a solidly built laptop that looks awesome and is thinner and lighter, and its keyboard and touchpad are still beautiful good. It’s a small slower, but lasts arsenic agelong erstwhile you’re pushing it harder. More importantly, though, it’s a batch little expensive. We still urge nan Surface Laptop 7th Edition arsenic nan much premium option, but nan Yoga Slim 7i is coagulated arsenic a cheaper replacement 15-inch laptop.