Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 review: an almost-perfect MacBook Air alternative
With great performance and battery life, it's hard not to like this laptop
š Rating: 4/5
ā
Pros
š Fantastic performance thanks to the Snapdragon X2 Elite
š Battery life that lasts all day (and then some)
š Sleek design thatās lightweight and thin
āØļø Very comfortable keyboard
šŗ OLED display is perfect for watching videos
ā Cons
š° You have to pay a premium to get a 2.8K 120Hz display
š· 1080p webcam isnāt as sharp or clear as others
š¹ļø Gaming isnāt one of its strong suits
š Diving-board trackpad feels dated
The Shortcut review
Lenovo is no stranger to making some of the best Windows laptops on the market, and the Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 (2026) fits perfectly in that category. Itās an upgraded version of the 2024 model that helped put the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chip on the map, which proved to be an incredible performer in the laptop. The new version of the laptop includes the Snapdragon X2 Elite, an even more capable chip, and it doesnāt disappoint.
After three weeks of testing this $1,379.99 laptop, itās proven to be not just a great Windows laptop, but also a great MacBook Air alternative. Between its design, performance, battery life, and size, itās a fantastic option if you want the perks of a MacBook Air, minus macOS.
With very few compromises and a reasonable price, the Yoga Slim 7x is a great choice for anyone who just needs a good laptop. Unless you plan to play heavy games or edit complex videos, itās ideal for nearly every workflow.
Review notes
š Same thin-and-light design. When I unboxed the Slim 7x, I did a double-take to make sure it wasnāt the old version. The new model has the same exact design as the original, which isnāt a bad thing. The laptop weighs just over 2.5 pounds and measures 13.9mm thick (just over half an inch), making it ideal for portability. The 14-inch screen also keeps its footprint compact, so it wonāt take up much room in your bag. As a productivity machine for on the go, this laptop aces it.
šµ Hope you like blue. Similarly, much like the last generation, Lenovo is only selling this laptop in a dark blue finish. While it does look nice straight out of the box, it collects fingerprints like a magnet. Itās pretty easy to clean, but youāll be doing it often if you want it to look its best all the time. I just decided to ignore it and hope that Lenovo eventually ships a version in dark gray or silver.
šŗ A lovely OLED screenā¦ The 14-inch display on the Yoga Slim 7x uses an OLED panel, which helps make colors vibrant and punchy. Black levels remain deep and rich, and thereās support for HDR content with Dolby Vision. Itās also a touchscreen, which is always a nice touch. It really is a lovely screen, but thereās a catch: there are two tiers.
š° ā¦ but for a price. I was sent a Yoga Slim 7x with a Full HD 60Hz display. While that isnāt necessarily a dealbreaker, the old model came standard with a 2.8K 90Hz display, which looks sharper and smoother in comparison. That option is still available in Lenovoās lineup (with an upgraded 120Hz refresh rate, too), but you have to pay an extra $200-$300 depending on which model youāre eyeing up. Again, itās not a dealbreaker, but itād be nice if the better screen came standard as it did on the old Slim 7x.
āØļø Comfortable keyboard with a dated trackpad. I love the keyboard on this laptop. Lenovo never fails to impress with its ability to make a comfortable keyboard, and the Slim 7x delivers. Key travel is satisfying with good clicking sounds across the board, and itās great for long typing sessions. The trackpad is another story; while itās certainly functional and capable enough for multi-touch gestures, the diving board mechanism feels dated in 2026. With so many premium laptops switching to haptic touchpads, itād be nice to see Lenovo bring one to one of its premier Snapdragon-powered laptops.
š MacBook Air-like performance. The Snapdragon X2 Elite inside the Yoga Slim 7x is a game-changer for anyone coming from older, inefficient Intel chips. It uses a similar ARM architecture as Appleās M series, and it delivers even better performance than the first X Elite chip. With up to 31% faster CPU performance, better graphics, and better AI processing, the Slim 7x is a speedster. This is where the most parallels between it and the MacBook Air come into play; itās way faster than you think, it sips power, and itās somehow crammed into a laptop this thin and light. All that for under $1,500 is pretty great.
ā Great for productivity, general use, and more. This is a very powerful laptop for the price and its size, which makes it ideal for anyone who needs something dependable to get work done on the go. The boosted CPU performance makes the experience feel smooth and snappy, and with up to 32GB of RAM, you can keep a bunch of stuff running at the same time with no issue. Even the 16GB model Iāve been testing has handled all the apps I need every day like Google Chrome (with a bunch of tabs open), Spotify, Lightroom, Slack, and Todoist.
š„ It runs warm, but only under serious stress. You have to have a ton of things going on this laptop for it to get warm. Unlike a MacBook Air that will stay cool during almost any workload, the Yoga Slim 7x will eventually reach a point where it gets quite hot in the middle of the base toward the hinge. I noticed this a couple of times when sitting outside working; between the heat of the New York City sun and Lightroom running on all cylinders, it didnāt stand a chance staying cool. Most of the time, itāll be fine, but itās definitely susceptible to heating up.
š¹ļø Gamers: skip this one. If thereās one thing the Yoga Slim 7x isnāt designed for, itās gaming. Trying to get your favorite titles to run on all cylinders with an ARM-based Windows laptop is tough to begin with, and between the lackluster graphics and middling heat management, itās not a great idea to buy this laptop in hopes of playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the go.
š Battery life that lasts all day. The efficiency of the Snapdragon X2 Elite coupled with the 70WHr battery give the Yoga Slim 7x impressive endurance. It can last a full 8-hour day with no issue with my heavier-than-average usage. Those who stick to typical office work and productivity apps can probably extend it to 12-14 hours of usage, which falls way behind Lenovoās claim of 20-24 hours of usage but is still enough to be considered great battery life. Plus, the supplied 65W charger is fast enough to juice up the laptop in well under two hours from 0%.
š Limited IO. The Yoga Slim 7x has three USB 4 ports on its sides andā¦ thatās it. Thereās no SD card reader, HDMI port, or even a headphone jack. Youāre stuck with just three USB-C ports. Granted, theyāre very versatile ports that all support 40Gbps speeds, but if you want to connect anything beyond a USB-C cable, youāll have to use an adapter.
š Middling speakers and webcam. The speakers on this laptop have a decent amount of bass, but donāt provide much clarity or richness for listening to music. Theyāre passable for video calls and listening to podcasts, but for anything more, youāll want a Bluetooth speaker or a pair of headphones. Meanwhile, the 1080p webcam is sharp (and can be electronically disabled with a physical switch on the side of the Slim 7x), but makes you look washed out and grainy in most lighting conditions. Again, fine for video calls, but not the best on the market.
Should you buy the Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11?
Yes, ifā¦
ā You want great performance and battery life
ā You need a thin and light laptop
ā You want a Windows-powered alternative to the MacBook Air
No, ifā¦
ā You need more ports beyond USB-C (get the ThinkPad X1 Carbon)
ā Youāre a gamer (get the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10)
ā You want a nicer screen for less money (get the Acer Swift 16)
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. Heās been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.