A mainstream laptop with lots of value

On its own, this year’s Lenovo Yoga 7i is an excellent laptop. What I mean by that if that if no one told you that this is a mainstream device, you wouldn’t think less of it. It’s just that good. It’s got a great keyboard that feels awesome to type on, a new design that feels premium, and excellent Dolby Atmos speakers.

The one thing that I don’t care for is the screen. The 300-nit 2.2K LCD doesn’t feel bright enough. Luckily, there’s an OLED option, which you should totally opt for if you can.

But while this is a great laptop overall at $1,199, it’s actually $300 off at Best Buy at the time of this writing. For $899, it’s an absolute steal, offering more value than any other laptop in the game. There’s also a base model that’s on sale for $699. You can’t beat it.

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Lenovo Yoga 7i (2022) pricing and availability

• The Lenovo Yoga 7i comes in Stone Blue and Storm Gray, and starts at $999

Available now, the Lenovo Yoga 9i starts at $999.99, and you can get it from retailers like Lenovo.com and Best Buy. That price will get you a Core i5-1235U processor, 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 2.2K LCD. At the time of this writing though, it’s actually $300 off at Best Buy.

The unit that Lenovo sent me for review includes a Core i7-1255U, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 2.2K LCD, and that one will run you $1,199.99 at Best Buy. It’s also $300 off right now. It also comes in the new Stone Blue color, with the other option being the more traditional Stone Grey.

Lenovo Yoga 7i (2022) specs

There’s also an option for a 2.8K OLED display, and not only does it have a better screen, but that model is 0.2 pounds lighter.

Design: It comes in a pretty new Stone Blue color

• It has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB Type-A port, HDMI, and a microSD card slot
• It features Lenovo’s Comfort Edge design

There are two key things to know about the look and feel of the Lenovo Yoga 7i. One is that there is a new color. You can get it in Storm Grey, which is the normal gunmetal gray color that Lenovo has been putting in consumer laptops for ages, or you can get it in the all-new Stone Blue. Personally, I love the new color.

I also hate Storm Grey. It’s boring, and nothing about it feels inspired at all. Stone Blue is a nice change. It’s a subtle shade of blue that could be mistaken for gray in the wrong lighting, but it’s not a light color like Microsoft’s Ice Blue or Apple’s Sierra Blue. This is a darker color, and it gives it a stylish and personalized look that doesn’t come off too flashy.

The other thing that you need to know is that it has Lenovo’s new Comfort Edge design, which debuted with the Yoga 9i. Comfort Edge is coming to most of Lenovo’s consumer laptops, and I’m here for it. It offers soft, curved edges instead of the flat edges and sharp corners that we’re used to. Not only is it more stylish, but it’s more functional, making it easier to live the lid.

A key difference between the Yoga 7i and the Yoga 9i is that the more premium Yoga 9i has mirrored edges, where the Yoga 7i is all matte. It’s a bit more subtle, which is probably better for many people.

The port selection is about what you’d expect from one of Lenovo’s consumer laptops these days, meaning that there are two USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port. The left side actually has the two Thunderbolt 4 ports, microSD, and an HDMI port. Dual Thunderbolt ports are nice to see at this price point, since so many companies have cheaped out and included only one.

On the right side, you’ll find the USB Type-A port, a headphone jack, and the power button.

The port selection is fine. Like I said, you’ll find that combo of two USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port on tons of Lenovo consumer laptops; the same goes for HP too, in fact. HDMI is great if you need it, as is microSD.

I’m personally just a big fan of the design of Lenovo’s newest laptops. They’re not wedge-shaped like many devices are; they’re a uniform thickness throughout. It makes it feel good to use, and it makes it feel like the weight is evenly distributed.

Display: The good model comes with 2.8K OLED

• The two display options are 2.2K LCD and 2.8K OLED

As usual, the Yoga 7i comes with a 14-inch display, and this one is 16:10. The aspect ratio is pretty common now, and frankly, it’s just better than the 16:9 displays that we’ve seen in previous years. There are two options: 2.2K LCD and 2.8K OLED. Obviously, OLED is better, but it’s actually a lot better.

For one thing, the OLED model can go up to 90Hz, while the LCD one is capped at 60Hz. The OLED screen is also brighter at 400 nits instead of 300 nits. Frankly, the 2.2K screen on the variant that Lenovo sent me – while offering sufficient resolution – isn’t very good.

As you can see, it supports 99% sRGB, 76% NTSC, 80% Adobe RGB, and 81% P3. You can bet that the OLED screen would be in the 90s across the board. On the 2.8K OLED screen on the Yoga 9i (presumably, it’s the same panel), it supported 100% sRGB, 92% NTSC, 94% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3.

Brightness came in at 299.5 nits, right around the 300 nits that were promised. The Contrast ratio maxed out at 1,280:1, which is fine, but again, it’s nowhere near what you’d see with OLED.

On the LCD panel that this model has, it’s just fine. After all, the Yoga 7i is all about value. With some of the deals that are offered, you can get this unit that has the 2.2K LCD, a Core i7-1255U, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD all for under $900. And despite all of that, it’s a really good laptop But if you want that kind of value for the price, OLED simply won’t come standard.

One thing that’s nice is that it has a 1080p webcam, which is pretty good. It’s not as good as the 5MP sensor that HP is using these days, but it’s much better than we’ve seen on the 720p cameras that were on previous years’ laptops. It also has a privacy guard that you can use in case you’re worried about that.

The one issue with the privacy guard, of course, is that it will also block Windows Hello facial recognition, which this laptop does include. I’ve started keeping Windows Hello off by default, given that Microsoft has done virtually nothing to improve the experience since it was introduced with Windows 10 in 2015. If you’re OK with typing a PIN, then turning on the privacy guard won’ t be an issue.

Keyboard and touchpad: Excellent for a mainstream laptop

• As usual, Lenovo offers one of the best keyboards
• It has Dolby Atmos speakers on the keyboard deck

The keyboard really hasn’t changed generation over generation. Probably the biggest difference is just the feel since it’s not a wedge-shaped design anymore. I really do like this design for Lenovo’s laptops a lot.

The keyboard is both comfortable and accurate. When you type on it, it feels premium. The keys don’t seem to wobble, it’s fairly quiet, and the amount of force required to press a key feels just right. Naturally, it’s backlit as well. Considering how premium it feels, it’s really nice to see at the price point.

The touchpad is great too. It’s a Precision touchpad, as you’d expect, and it takes up most of the available real estate. You can see to the right that there’s also a fingerprint sensor, in case you’re not a fan of facial recognition.

The speakers are located right on the keyboard deck, and they’re pretty great. The two speakers that flank the keyboard are 2W tweeters, while there are two 2W woofers on the bottom of the laptop. They’re both loud and clear, and they sound fantastic whether you’re using the laptop in laptop mode, tent mode, or anything in-between.

Performance: It uses Intel’s 12th-gen U-series processors

• Intel’s 12th-gen U-series processors are the right choice
• Battery life is pretty great thanks to a 71WHr battery

The Lenovo Yoga 7i packs Intel’s 12th-gen U-series processors, and I love it. There are lots of choices for laptops at this point. Intel has three of its own, but in my experience, when you try to pack a 28W P-series processor or a 45W H-series processor into an ultrabook chassis, you end up with issues with sustained performance, and it eats up battery life . AMD has some great new Ryzen 6000 U-series processors, but those, like their predecessors, struggle with performance when not connected to power.

Intel’s 15W 12th-gen U-series processors just feel like the sweet spot for me. This is a productivity-focused machine, and the performance is great for that. It’s also good for photo editing. Intel didn’t really offer any improvements to Iris Xe graphics with this generation, but it’s still pretty good.

For benchmarks, I used PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, Cinebench, and CrossMark.

As you can see, there isn’t that much of a performance difference between the three tiers of Intel processors that are showing up in ultrabooks. The Yoga 9i does better with the P-series processor, but it’s also using a similar chassis. I have other test results, like the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360, that uses a 28W processor and actually gets a lower PCMark 10 score.

Battery life is pretty great too. The worst I got was five hours and 18 minutes, and the best I got was six hours and 50 minutes. As usual, this was with the power slider set to balanced. Screen brightness was set to 75%, since that’s the lowest that was comfortable with this 300-nit screen. If you can average six hours of battery life on an x86 laptop, and you can with this one, that’s pretty great.

Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga 7i (2022)?

The Lenovo Yoga 7i is an excellent convertible laptop. Here’s who should buy it.

Who should buy the Lenovo Yoga 7i (2022):

• People who want a lot of value for their money
• People who work from home
• Anyone who takes their laptop on the go and needs battery life

Who should not buy the Lenovo Yoga 7i (2022):

• Customers that need a lot of power for video editing
• Those who want the best of the best

Using the Yoga 7i, I’m kind of in love with it. It’s such a great convertible. But still, I’m even more in love with the Yoga 9i. After all, that’s why it tops our best laptops list. So if you do want the best of the best, you should totally go for the Yoga 9i. For a bit more value, the Yoga 7i is a fantastic choice.