During today’s Lenovo Tech World 2021 event, the OEM has announced several products, including two AMD-powered thin & light laptops: the IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro and IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. From what I can tell, Lenovo is the first PC OEM to launch Windows 11 laptops, but of course, the whole industry will do it.
We got our hands on the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon ($1,289.99+, above photo), and we like the design a lot. It is an ultralight (2.42 Lbs) computer that is only 14.9mm thick. There’s enough room for a few USB-C ports, and as usual, the sound system is powered by Dolby.
The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon
Inside, the CPU options go “up to” the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, which features an integrated AMD Radeon graphics processor. A better option is the discrete NVIDIA GeForce MX450 GPU for those who can afford it. And despite the lightweight, the battery capacity is rather large, at 61 Wh.
With up to 16GB of RAM and a maximum SSD storage capacity of 1TB, this laptop is powerful enough to comfortably cater to the use cases of the vast majority of consumers.
Finally, the 90Hz QHD+ (2880×1800) OLED touch display has fascinating specs, with a 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, 400 NITs of brightness, and Dolby Vision HDR support. We’ve reviewed several OLED laptops in the past, and the displays never failed to impress.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro
The IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro ($1,449+) is built for Creative users thanks to its 16-inch IPS LCD display and the NVIDIA RTX 3050 graphics processor. If you need to run on a modern NVIDIA GPU, you want an RTX chip.
Handling it, it feels very much like a 17-inch laptop, including the 4.6 Lbs weight and 14.9mm thickness. Within that chassis, users get a hefty 75 Wh battery that supports rapid charging.
The display might not be as fancy as the Slim 7 Carbon’s, but it is ideally suited for Creative work with 100% sRGB color coverage, 500 NITs of brightness, and an optional 120 Hz refresh rate if you want something ultra-smooth.
The fastest CPU option for this one is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H which can be paired with 16GB of RAM (I would have preferred 32GB) and 1TB of SSD storage. There’s one USB-A and two USB-C ports in addition to the full-size HDMI and SD Card ports.
Overall, these new IdeaPad Slim 7 laptops offer an exciting option for users who want high multi-threading capabilities and excellent display options. The lack of Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) connectivity is the only thing missing since TB4 is an Intel technology, but most people don’t set up a TB4 dock, so it’s probably okay.