Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC initiative has a first round of laptops arriving running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipsets. They promise good performance and better battery life, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is one of the best early entrants.
Contents
- Specs and configurations
- Design
- Performance
- Display and audio
- Portability
- The Yoga Slim 7x is very good, but the MacBook Air M3 is betterShow 1 more item
But, it’s going up against the Apple MacBook Air M3, for some time now one of the best 13-inch laptops you can buy. Can the Yoga Slim 7x provide the performance and efficiency it needs to compete?
Recommended Videos
Specs and configurations
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
Apple MacBook Air M3 (13-inch)
Dimensions
12.79 inches x 8.86 inches x 0.51 inches
11.97 inches x 8.46 inches x 0.44 inches
Weight
2.82 pounds
2.7 pounds
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100
Apple M3 (8-core)
Graphics
Qualcom Adreno
8 GPU cores
10 GPU cores
RAM
16GB
32GB
8GB
16GB
24GB
Display
14.5-inch 16:10 3K (2944 x 1840) OLED
13.6-inch 16:10 Liquid Retina (2560 x 1664) IPS
Storage
512GB
1TB
256GB SSD
512GB SSD
1TB SSD
2TB SSD
Touch
Yes
No
Ports
3 x USB4
2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
1 x 3.5mm audio jack
1 x MagSafe 3
Wireless
Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3
Webcam
1080p with infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition
1080p
Operating system
Windows 11 on Arm
macOS Sonoma
Battery
70 watt-hours
52.6 watt-hours
Price
$1,199+
$1,099+
Rating
4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5 stars
The Yoga Slim 7x has just two configurations. The base model has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14.5-inch 3K OLED display for $1,199. For $1,313, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
The MacBook Air M3 has more options. It starts at $1,099 with an Apple Silicon M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Upgrading can be a bit expensive, such as choosing the 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 for an additional $100, while RAM and storage upgrades can be pricey. You’ll end up spending over $2,000 for a fully loaded machine.
Design
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
The Yoga Slim 7x is perhaps the most attractive of the early Copilot+ laptops, with a streamlined aesthetic that rivals the MacBook Air M3’s minimalist elegance. Its refined color scheme and thin bezels give it a modern appearance, with a reverse notch instead of the display notch you’ll find on the MacBook Air M3. Both are lovely laptops, and we suppose some people will like Apple’s additional color options.
The Yoga Slim 7x is as robust as the MacBook Air M3, with an all-aluminum chassis that resists bending and twisting but with a lid that’s a bit bendable. The MacBook has the same. The Lenovo’s hinge isn’t quite as smooth as Apple’s, but that’s a quibble. These are equally well-built laptops.
The MacBook Air M3’s Magic Keyboard is just slightly better than the Yoga Slim 7x’s version, with both having large keycaps and plenty of key spacing. But the MacBook’s key switches are just the tiniest bit more snappy and precise. It’s a close call, though. The MacBook’s Force Touch haptic touchpad, though, is more precise than the Yoga Slim 7x’s mechanical version, and it’s a huge advantage.
Connectivity is similar, with the Yoga Slim 7x relying on three USB4 ports that have roughly the same functionality as the MacBook Air M3’s two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. While the Lenovo has one additional port, the MacBook makes up for that somewhat with a MagSafe 3 connection for power. Lenovo made the unfortunate choice of dropping a 3.5mm audio jack, which Apple kept on the MacBook Air M3. Wireless connectivity is more futuristic on the Yoga Slim 7x.
Both laptops have 1080p webcams and provide a quality videoconferencing experience. The Yoga Slim 7x has a very fast neural processing unit (NPU) that supports enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software along with some other AI-assisted tools. The MacBook Air M3’s Neural Engine is a bit slower, and Apple Intelligence won’t be rolling out with AI features until sometime in 2025.
Performance
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipsets are mated with an improved Windows on Arm platform for a new kind of Windows laptops. The Yoga Slim 7x has the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 version, which is slowest version available. It has 12 cores (eight performance and four efficient) and runs at 3.4GHz without the line’s dual-core boost. The MacBook Air runs with the 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 chipset that’s been a solid performer.
In our benchmarks that run natively on Windows on Arm, the Yoga is faster than the MacBook Air M3 in CPU-intensive tasks but its GPU isn’t as fast. The M3 chipset also has CPU optimizations that speed up various creative tasks like encoding and decoding video. That makes the MacBook a faster machine for creators, but productivity users will find the Yoga Slim 7x to be a bit quicker. Neither laptop is a legitimate gaming machine.
Geekbench 6
(single/multi)
Cinebench R24
(single/multi)
3DMark
Wild Life Extreme
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
(SnapDragon X Elite X1E-78-100)
2,454 / 14,039
106 / 872
6,067
Apple MacBook Air M3
(M3 8/10)
3,102 / 12,078
141 / 601
8,098
Display and audio
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The Yoga Slim 7x enjoys an excellent 14.5-inch OLED display running at 3K (2944 by 1840). That compares to the MacBook Air M3’s 13.6-inch IPS display at 2560 by 1664. That makes the MacBook’s display slightly sharper.
But the Yoga has almost as much brightness to go with OLED’s usual inky blacks and near infinite contrast. Its colors are also wider and more accurate. The Yoga’s display is a lot better for producers, creators, and media consumers.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
(OLED)
Apple MacBook Air M3
(IPS)
Brightness
(nits)
489
495
AdobeRGB gamut
96%
87%
sRGB gamut
100%
100%
DCI-P3 gamut
100%
99%
Accuracy
(DeltaE, lower is better)
0.67
1.24
Portability
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
The MacBook Air M3 is the thinnest laptop you can by today at just 0.44 inches, and it’s light at 2.7 pounds. The Yoga Slim 7x is also thin at 0.51 inches, and it’s slightly heavier at 2.82 pounds. The MacBook has a smaller display, and so its overall size is a bit more portable.
More than anything else, though, the Qualcomm chipset is aimed at rivaling the MacBook Air M3’s class-leading efficiency. Apple Silicon has taken the battery life crown since its introduction, and the Yoga Slim 7x is meant to challenge it.
However, it falls significantly short. While it comes closest in the least demanding video looping test, it falls further behind as things get harder. Simply put, if you want your laptop to last longer while you get work done, the MacBook Air M3 remains your best choice.
Web
Video
Cinebench 2024
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
(SnapDragon X Elite X1E-78-100)
12 hours, 5 minutes
17 hours, 3 minutes
1 hour, 52 minutes
Apple MacBook Air M3
(M3 8/10)
19 hours, 38 minutes
19 hours, 39 minutes
3 hours, 27 minutes
Both laptops have four-speaker setups with dual tweeters and woofers. Both get plenty loud, and both have clear mids and highs. In terms of their audio quality, I’m calling a draw. For what it’s worth, the 15-inch MacBook Air has a much more impressive six-speaker setup.
The Yoga Slim 7x is very good, but the MacBook Air M3 is better
The Yoga Slim 7x is one of the more attractive Copilot+ laptops available so far, with strong performance, a quality and attractive build, and an excellent OLED display. It also comes in cheaper compared to the MacBook Air for what you get since the starting configuration comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Its battery life doesn’t quite live up to the Qualcomm chipset’s promise, though. The lack of a headphone jack is unfortunate, too.
The MacBook Air M3, meanwhile, isn’t quite as fast in CPU-intensive tasks, but it has much better battery life and an even better build quality. For my money, the MacBook Air is worth the extra money for the better overall package, but the Yoga Slim 7x has plenty of advantages on its side, whether that’s the OLED panel or the more affordable configuration.
Editors’ Recommendations
-
Best Prime Day MacBook deals still available: Air, M1, M2, M3
-
The new Surface Laptop beats the MacBook Air in every way but one
-
The MacBook Air just got a huge price cut
-
Best MacBook deals: Get an Air for $605 and save on M3 MacBook Pro
-
Amazon cut the price of the 2024 MacBook Air by $150
