Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro laptop review: 90 Hz makes all the difference
Thin-and-light subnotebooks almost always come with Intel or AMD U-series CPUs due to size constraints. If you want Core-H options for more performance, then you would typically have to settle for thicker and heavier models instead. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro is unique in that it is one of the few Ultrabooks to carry Tiger Lake H35 CPUs for a high level of performance relative to its thin-and-light size.
Our specific review configuration comes with the Core i7-11370H CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB PCIe SSD for approximately $1300 USD retail. All SKUs come with the same 16:10 2880 x 1800 glossy touchscreen with a native refresh rate of 90 Hz.
Competitors in this space include other high-end 14-inch subnotebooks like the MSI Summit E14, Huawei MateBook 14s, Asus ZenBook 14X, or the 13.4-inch Dell XPS 13.
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Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
86.9 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2021 | Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 i7-11370H, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.4 kg | 16.9 mm | 14.00" | 2880x1800 | |
86.4 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2021 | Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE i5-1135G7, Iris Xe G7 80EUs | 1.4 kg | 14.9 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 | |
88.6 % v7 (old) | 10 / 2021 | Huawei MateBook 14s i7 i7-11370H, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.4 kg | 16.7 mm | 14.20" | 2520x1680 | |
v (old) | 10 / 2021 | Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E i7-1165G7, GeForce MX450 | 1.4 kg | 16.9 mm | 14.00" | 2880x1800 | |
82.3 % v7 (old) | 07 / 2021 | MSI Summit E14 A11SCS i7-1185G7, GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q | 1.3 kg | 16 mm | 14.00" | 3840x2160 | |
87.5 % v7 (old) | 06 / 2021 | Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 R9 5900HX, GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU | 1.8 kg | 16.8 mm | 14.00" | 2560x1440 |
Case — It's Actually a Yoga
The aluminum alloy chassis is identical to the Yoga Slim 7 Pro which is the AMD version of our Intel-powered IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro. Both the base and lid exhibit minimal flexing for stronger first impressions than the Vaio Z and cheaper alternatives like the Asus VivoBook S13 or Dell Inspiron. However, the hinges could have been tighter at wider angles for a better sense of longevity.
Connectivity — Thunderbolt 4 Support
Ports are physically identical to the ports on the AMD-powered Yoga Slim 7 Pro. However, the two USB-C ports on our IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro each support Thunderbolt 4 while the ones on the AMD version have no Thunderbolt support at all.
Webcam
Maintenance — Easy to Open
The bottom panel can be easily removed with a T5 Torx wrench. RAM is soldered and so users can only service the battery, M.2 2280 storage slot, and WLAN module.
Input Devices — Spongy Feedback
Most IdeaPad and Yoga laptops come with similar keyboard layouts and key feedback. Though we appreciate the consistency, Lenovo IdeaPad/Yoga keyboards are generally more budget-oriented despite the often $1000+ asking price. Feedback is both spongier and shallower than the firmer and deeper keys on competing models like the HP Envy or Spectre or the Huawei MateBook 14. We know Lenovo is capable of producing much better keyboards as exemplified by their ThinkPad T or X series of laptops.
The clickpad is large and with minimal sticking even when gliding at slower speeds. Unfortunately, its integrated click keys are very shallow and spongy for unsatisfying feedback.
Display — 90 Hz is the New 60 Hz
Lenovo uses the same high quality 1800p LEN140WQ+ IPS panel and LEN8A90 display controller between the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro and Yoga Slim 7 Pro. Thus, both laptops share similar attributes including their wide sRGB gamut, 400-nit brightness, and decent black-white and gray-gray response times. This is also one of the few (if not only) 16:10 1800p touchscreens with a native 90 Hz refresh rate for smoother movements than the usual 60 Hz panels on other Ultrabooks. A 60 Hz setting is available should users prefer that mode for certain applications such as games.
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Brightness Distribution: 91 %
Center on Battery: 410 cd/m²
Contrast: 1414:1 (Black: 0.29 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 3.24 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.91, calibrated: 0.41
ΔE Greyscale 4.2 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
76.7% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.8% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
76.9% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.18
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 LEN140WQ+, IPS, 2880x1800, 14" | Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE AU Optronics B140HAN06.8, IPS, 1920x1080, 14" | Huawei MateBook 14s i7 CSOTT3 U17B MNE208ZA1-3, LTPS, 2520x1680, 14.2" | Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E Samsung SDC4154, OLED, 2880x1800, 14" | MSI Summit E14 A11SCS AU Optronics AUO123B, IPS, 3840x2160, 14" | Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 TL140BDXP02-2, IPS, 2560x1440, 14" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | -9% | -8% | 18% | 15% | 12% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 76.9 | 66.3 -14% | 67.8 -12% | 100 30% | 87.5 14% | 97.2 26% |
sRGB Coverage | 99.8 | 97.4 -2% | 98.3 -2% | 100 0% | 100 0% | 99.9 0% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 76.7 | 68.1 -11% | 70.1 -9% | 96 25% | 99.4 30% | 85.4 11% |
Response Times | -45% | 1% | 93% | -41% | 54% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 36.4 ? | 52 ? -43% | 37.6 ? -3% | 2 ? 95% | 52 ? -43% | 16.4 ? 55% |
Response Time Black / White * | 22.4 ? | 33 ? -47% | 21.6 ? 4% | 2 ? 91% | 30.8 ? -38% | 10.8 ? 52% |
PWM Frequency | 143 ? | 27780 ? | ||||
Screen | -28% | 5% | -18% | -113% | 1% | |
Brightness middle | 410 | 344 -16% | 419 2% | 379 -8% | 593.3 45% | 331.1 -19% |
Brightness | 395 | 340 -14% | 407 3% | 381 -4% | 571 45% | 318 -19% |
Brightness Distribution | 91 | 88 -3% | 93 2% | 93 2% | 87 -4% | 91 0% |
Black Level * | 0.29 | 0.13 55% | 0.23 21% | 0.1 66% | 0.53 -83% | 0.36 -24% |
Contrast | 1414 | 2646 87% | 1822 29% | 3790 168% | 1119 -21% | 920 -35% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 3.24 | 3.29 -2% | 1.9 41% | 2.3 29% | 4.42 -36% | 2.25 31% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 5.26 | 7.48 -42% | 3.6 32% | 4.16 21% | 7.16 -36% | 4.62 12% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 0.41 | 1.79 -337% | 0.9 -120% | 2.42 -490% | 4.3 -949% | |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.2 | 3.25 23% | 2.9 31% | 2.12 50% | 3.2 24% | 1.7 60% |
Gamma | 2.18 101% | 2.29 96% | 2.14 103% | 2.42 91% | 2.04 108% | 2.3 96% |
CCT | 6012 108% | 6358 102% | 6733 97% | 6737 96% | 6751 96% | |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -27% /
-26% | -1% /
1% | 31% /
5% | -46% /
-75% | 22% /
12% |
* ... smaller is better
Color coverage is wider than the 1080p panel on the Yoga Slim 7 (77% vs. 66% DCI-P3) while being narrower than the 1440p panel on the Razer Blade 14 (97%). Nonetheless, the 100% sRGB coverage should satisfy most users who want a panel for both gaming and content creation.
X-Rite colorimeter measurements reveal an overly warm color temperature out of the box. Once properly calibrated, average grayscale and color deltaE values would dip to just 0.6 and 0.41, respectively, to better exploit the wide colors and deep contrast levels of the panel.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
22.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 10 ms rise | |
↘ 12.4 ms fall | ||
The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 46 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is similar to the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
36.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 18 ms rise | |
↘ 18.4 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 48 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8705 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. |
Outdoor visibility is good when under shade but poor when under brighter conditions due to the heavy glare from the glossy touchscreen. The MSI Summit E14 or Dell XPS 13 series come with brighter displays to reduce glare for improved visibility when outdoors.
Performance
Testing Conditions
Our unit was set to Extreme performance mode prior to running any performance benchmarks below for the highest possible scores. We recommend users become familiar with the pre-installed Lenovo Vantage software which acts as a control center for the laptop.
Though the processor targets a 64 W TDP, it is only able to maintain a draw of 45 W when at 100 percent utilization for long periods as our stress test section below will show.
Processor — Not that much Better than the Core i7-1165G7
Raw processor performance is generally faster than the cheaper and more power-efficient Core i7-1165G7. However, there are many examples where certain Core i7-1165G7/1195G7 laptops can come within just a few percentage points of our Core i7-11370H such as the Framework Laptop, MSI Prestige 14 Evo, or ADATA XPG Xenia 14. The Core i7-11370H is nothing more than an overclocked Core i7-1165G7 in many respects.
The 8-core Ryzen 9 5900HX offers about 80 percent faster multi-thread performance over our 4-core Core i7-11370H while maintaining comparable single-thread performance.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
Performance Rating | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (5204 - 8413, n=10) | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (23958 - 34020, n=10) | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (1656 - 2297, n=10) | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (42086 - 52930, n=10) | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (3755 - 5027, n=10) | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (14433 - 20417, n=10) | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (44267 - 76866, n=10) | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (289 - 422, n=10) | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (2756 - 4551, n=10) | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (15892 - 40069, n=10) | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 |
System Performance
PCMark 10 scores are consistently behind the AMD-powered Yoga Slim 7 Pro even though our Iris Xe is generally the faster GPU. The extra physical cores of the Ryzen 9 5900HX are likely partly responsible for the higher overall PCMark scores.
PCMark 10 / Score | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
PCMark 10 / Essentials | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E |
PCMark 10 / Productivity | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
PCMark 10 Score | 5328 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (32035 - 64524, n=10) | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (37216 - 62417, n=10) | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (36920 - 65610, n=10) | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Average Intel Core i7-11370H (73.4 - 103, n=10) | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
LatencyMon reveals DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs on our homepage while our AMD-powered Yoga Slim 7 would have no issues at all. 4K UHD playback at 60 FPS is otherwise smooth with just 3 dropped frames during our minute-long video test.
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14ITL05 82A300CNGE | |
MSI Summit E14 A11SCS | |
Asus Zenbook 14X UX5400E | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 | |
Huawei MateBook 14s i7 | |
Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070 |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices — PCIe3 NVMe SSD
Lenovo is only shipping PCIe3 NVMe SSDs with its IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro at the moment even though the system should technically support PCIe4 drives. Nonetheless, the 1 TB WD SN730 in our test unit is a high-end PCIe3 drive with sequential read and write rates approaching 3400 MB/s and 3100 MB/s, respectively.
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance — Better than the Average Iris Xe
Graphics performance is about 15 percent faster than the average laptop in our database with the same integrated Iris Xe 96 EUs GPU. When gaming, results are comparable to the GeForce MX450 at best but many games will still favor the discrete Nvidia GPU by wider margins including GTA V.
When compared to the Yoga Slim 7 Pro and its Radeon RX Vega 8 GPU, our IdeaPad is much faster in a few games (Final Fantasy XV, Witcher 3) while being slightly slower in others (DOTA 2 Reborn, X-Plane).
3DMark 11 Performance | 7521 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 20586 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 5188 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 1911 points | |
Help |
Far Cry 5 | |
1280x720 Low Preset AA:T | |
Average NVIDIA GeForce MX450 (47 - 96, n=8) | |
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro 14IHU5 |