Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon: According to Lenovo, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is one of the lightest 14-inch OLED laptops. It is undoubtedly light, but it has a lot more going on with its 90Hz OLED display and fast AMD Ryzen engine. The device arrives at an odd moment, just a few months before Intel’s 12th-gen and AMD’s Ryzen 6000 CPUs join the market.
The $1,220 model with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U CPU and a 14-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED display, is presently the only configuration available in the market now. Despite the outdated processor, the beautiful display and excellent performance make this an excellent laptop for the money.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon Design
With simple tapering lines, a curved back edge, and no bling, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon has a basic design. The Lenovo logo is the only decoration on the lid, and the only interesting feature on the inside is the pair of speaker grills that flank the keyboard.
That doesn’t make it a bad-looking laptop, and it does follow a trend toward minimalism in the industry. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro, like the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED, has a more striking design. But, generally, I enjoy the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon’s design, even if it isn’t particularly distinctive.
The build quality, on the other hand, is a different story. It’s made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy with carbon fiber reinforcing, with the same materials used on the chassis and lid.
This type of combination, especially when it’s light, has a tendency to be flexible, and that’s exactly what we found with the Slim 7 Carbon. Under pressure, the lid flexed a little, and the keyboard deck had a little too much flex.
It’s not outrageous, and it’s certainly not a deal-breaker, but the ZenBook 14X OLED is a more durable machine. Both the Acer Swift X and the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro are made of metal and have a similar feel to the Lenovo. As a result, picking the right materials isn’t always a guarantee of a sturdy structure.
The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is a light machine, weighing 2.43 pounds versus 3.09 pounds for the ZenBook 14X OLED and 3.06 pounds for the Swift X. It’s also relatively thin, measuring 0.59 inches versus 0.67 inches and 0.70 inches. It’s slightly deeper than both of those laptops with 16:9 displays due to its 16:10 display, but it’s also significantly narrower. Overall, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is a good laptop.
Three USB-C ports are available, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 and two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack as well, but that’s about it. Due to the AMD chipset’s lack of Thunderbolt 4 functionality, you’ll have to rely on dongles to connect any legacy devices. A Realtek Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 radio allow wireless communication.
You may also like Lenovo Yoga Info, Price And Customer Reviews
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon Performance
The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor with eight cores and 16 threads, as well as 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD). This combo delivers outstanding productivity as well as some power for basic creative endeavors.
With the exception of 3DMark’s Time Spy graphics test, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon came in second place in all of our tests. It trailed the Acer Swift X, which had a Ryzen 7 5800U processor but also included an RTX 3050 Ti GPU for good measure. In every benchmark, the two AMD machines outperform the Intel field, with the exception of Geekbench 5, where the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro with the 35-watt Intel Core i7-11370H CPU comes close.
However, AMD triumphed in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video as H.265 and Cinebench R23, both of which are quite realistic benchmarks, and the Acer Swift X outperformed the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon.
That’s most likely owing to Lenovo’s slim design, which didn’t allow for as robust a thermal design as the Acer’s machine. Despite this, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro is a fantastic productivity workhorse that can also handle some light creative chores.
Gaming, on the other hand, is a different matter. The IdeaPad Slim 7 scored the lowest in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark with only integrated Radeon graphics, and it only managed 20 frames per second (fps) in Fortnite at 1,200p and maximum graphics. Even Intel Iris Xe machines are behind this, so you will want to stick to older and more simple games.
If you’re looking for a similar laptop with superior graphics, check out the Acer Swift X, MacBook Pro 14-inch, or Surface Laptop Studio. You will, however, have to spend somewhat more.
You may also like Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Review
IdeaPad Slim 7 Display
A 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate is included with the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. It’s the first OLED display I’ve seen that runs at a rate higher than 60Hz, and we have to say, it’s stunning. Colors pop, blacks are as black as ink, and the animations in Windows 11 are as smooth as butter.
Whether you’re a productivity worker or a creative professional, this is a fantastic display. Furthermore, Netflix and other streaming material that supports Dolby Vision promise superb high dynamic range (HDR) performance. From the time we turned it on, we were blown away.
My colorimeter backed me up. It’s bright at 397 nits, which is just above the ZenBook 14X OLED’s 389 nits and considerably beyond our 300 nit criterion for combating strong indoor lighting. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro clocked in at 369 nits, which is also excellent.
The contrast of the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon was likewise impressive, at 27,590:1 ( we have been using a new colorimeter for my recent evaluations, and it reports lower contrast with OLED panels than my previous colorimeter, but at these levels, it’s irrelevant). The ZenBook 14X OLED had a contrast ratio of 27,010:1, whereas the Slim 7i Pro had a ratio of 1,340:1, which is acceptable for an IPS panel but not as dark as the OLED screens.
Colors were also good, with a sRGB value of 100 percent and an AdobeRGB value of 96 percent. With a DeltaE of 0.88, color accuracy was exceptional (anything under 1.0 is considered excellent). The ZenBook 14X OLED achieved 100% sRGB and 97 percent AdobeRGB with an accuracy of 1.2, whereas the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro fell short with 100% sRGB, 80 percent AdobeRGB, and an accuracy of 1.65. These are remarkable results for an IPS display, but they fall short of OLED.
This is a show that everyone will enjoy. That’s how good it is. When we first turned on the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon, We were blown away by the brilliant colors and contrast, and I enjoyed the 90Hz refresh rate. Beyond 60Hz, Windows 11 is so much smoother, and I was spoiled by the experience.
Four speakers, two downward-firing on the bottom of the chassis and two upward-firing tweeters on either side of the keyboard provide audio. The sound quality was fantastic, with plenty of loudness, some bass, and crystal-clear highs and mids. Unless you want things to get incredibly loud, this laptop may be used to binge-watch Netflix and listen to music without headphones or external speakers.
You may also like Lenovo Tab M10 Plus with Octa-Core Processor
IdeaPad Slim 7 Keyboard and Touchpad
Lenovo didn’t say much about the keyboard, but it’s not the standard Lenovo keyboard you will find on non-ThinkPad Lenovo devices. For one thing, it has more travel than any other Lenovo keyboard we have used outside of a ThinkPad, and it has the most comfortable bottoming action and precise switches of any Lenovo keyboard we have used. It’s only a smidgeon below my favorite Windows PCs, the HP Spectre and Dell XPS series, with only Apple’s newest MacBook keyboard outperforming it. I like the keyboard of the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon to most other Lenovo keyboards.
Because of Microsoft’s Precision touchpad drivers, the touchpad is wide and expansive for a 14-inch laptop, with a smooth surface and good response. On a 14-inch machine, it has one of the finest touchpads I’ve seen. The display is touch-enabled as well, and it works well. The ability to provide input is a strength.
Privacy and security
Windows 10 Hello is supported by an infrared camera and facial recognition, which is performed swiftly and accurately. Lenovo’s security features, such as its Intelligent sensing technology, are incorporated with the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon. When the user walks away, Zero Touch Lock puts the laptop to sleep, and Zero Touch Login wakes it up and logs the user in using facial recognition when the user returns.
Zero-touch video playback, which can start and stop a video in the same situations, uses the same technology. Lenovo took a physical switch on the right side from HP and used it to turn off the webcam electronically for complete privacy.
You may also like Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga Review
Battery life
The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon has a battery capacity of 61 watt-hours, which is sufficient for a 14-inch laptop. The Ryzen processors from AMD have been shown to be very energy efficient, but there’s still a power-hungry OLED display to consider. I was skeptical about the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon’s battery life.
For the most part, incorrect. The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon lasted just over 10 hours on our web browsing test, which runs through a variety of popular and complicated websites. That’s a good result, and it’s 2.5 hours longer than the ZenBook 14X OLED and IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro. The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon lasted approximately 11.25 hours in our video test, which was 30 minutes longer than the ZenBook 14X OLED and 1.5 hours less than the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro. In this test, we would prefer to see a longer result, but this was a good outcome for a high-resolution OLED panel.
We also ran the PCMark 10 Applications test, which is the most accurate indicator of productivity battery life, and the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon lasted nearly 9.5 hours. This is again another high score, indicating all-day battery life. It outlasted the ZenBook 14X OLED by around 80 minutes while only losing by five minutes to the IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro. The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon lasted roughly 2.5 hours in the PCMark 10 Gaming test, which best illustrates how hard a system operates on a battery. This is longer than the normal two hours. The IdeaPad Slim 7i Pro lasted over 1.5 hours, while the ZenBook 14X OLED lasted a little under 1.5 hours.
Overall, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro’s battery life was excellent, making it ideal for productivity tasks. It will survive an entire business day and then some, which is impressive for a laptop with such a powerful processor and an OLED display.
CamRojud may earn a certain commission on products purchased via our links, which supports our effort on this content.
Would you like to read more about Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon-related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
