This Lenovo laptop I tested rivals the MacBook Air in ways Windows PCs once struggled in | ZDNET
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Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Close Home Tech Computing Laptops This Lenovo laptop I tested rivals the MacBook Air in ways Windows PCs once struggled in The Slim 7x (2026) has impressive performance improvements, but its target user - the modern professional - remains the same. Written by Kyle Kucharski, Senior EditorSenior Editor May 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m. PT Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (2026) 4 / 5 Very good pros and cons Pros Improved performanceFantastic displayExcellent keyboard, webcam, and buildGreat battery Cons Screen is very glossyBright display and high refresh affects batteryNot cheapFingerprint magnet View now at Best Buy Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.The aptly-named Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is the epitome of a lightweight business laptop, with a vivid, 14-inch OLED display, solid stack of hardware, and great battery life. It's a sleek package that weighs 2.8 pounds, with a dark blue finish that's business-friendly yet versatile enough for mobile and hybrid workers alike. Also: Dell vs. Lenovo: I've tested dozens of laptops from both brands, and here's my pickThe 2026 refresh is powered by a Snapdragon X2 Elite processor and Qualcomm's Adreno GPU, with different configurations scaling up to 32GB and 1TB of storage, priced around $1,000 -- depending on hardware.It's a supremely enjoyable device, with a premium build, fantastic 9MP webcam, great keyboard, and more horsepower than the previous generation with Qualcomm's next-generation CPU. Its battery life is good, but in the trade-off for more computing power, it means it's no longer the absolute longest-lasting laptop on the market. ZDNET RECOMMENDS Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (2026) The latest-gen Slim 7x sees a jump in performance from the 2024 model. details View at Best Buy Best laptop deals of the week Dell 15 DC15250 Intel i7 13th Gen 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 15.6-inch Laptop: $430 (save $270) Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 Ryzen 7 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 14-inch Laptop: $818 (save $421) Asus Chromebook Plus CX14 Intel 3 128GB SSD 8GB RAM 14-inch Laptop: $249 (save $180) Dell 14 Premium Intel Ultra 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 14-inch 2K Laptop (Platinum): $1,000 (save $550) HP OmniBook X Flip Intel Ultra 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 16-inch 2K 2-in-1 Laptop: $600 (save $600) Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article. Build and hardwareThe model I tested features a 2.8K OLED display at 120Hz refresh and 1,100 nits peak brightness. It's a crisp display, but also quite glossy. The overhead lighting in my office, for example, required me to adjust the display angle every time I moved to a new location. This is hardly a deal-breaker, though. The display is gorgeous, and a lovely device to work on. Note that this laptop can get exceptionally bright, and that can take a toll on the battery. In fact, I found the display to attack the battery even more than demanding tasks. One day in the office, I left the laptop on max brightness and went about my day: working in the browser, taking a video call or two, and multitasking, only to find it dropped to 20% by 1 p.m. Don't do that. Instead, I suggest reserving max brightness for when you're plugged in. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETPowering the device is Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) chip with 18 cores at 4.7GHz max frequency -- Qualcomm's highest-end chip for this model. The Hexagon NPU delivers up to 45 TOPS for faster on-device AI applications, something to keep in mind if you're using any AI-powered workflows. This generation of Snapdragon chips is a significant step up from the previous in terms of power, but it retains the same 70Wh battery as the 2024 version, supporting my experience that with the additional performance here, there also follows a little more awareness of the battery life, particularly with the display brightness and refresh rate. But it's not just that the battery lasts a long time; it's that its performance is virtually indistinguishable whether it's plugged in or not (this was the case on the previous generation, too). There's no slowdown when you're unplugged, and power management is optimized to provide the same experience regardless of your charging situation. There is also a focus on fast charging. Lenovo cites a feature called "Rapid Charge Express" that gives three hours of runtime after a 15-minute charge. I found this to be true under ideal conditions, but it still charges very fast. When I charged the laptop at 2%, it was at 45% in under 30 minutes. Either way, you get the picture: it's a breezy ultraportable PC to rival the MacBook Air. Compatibility is the name of the gameTwo years ago, when the first Snapdragon processors hit the market, there were compatibility concerns across the board with certain apps, device drivers, and games. Today, most of those issues are solved, except for gaming. More on that later. Also: This ultraportable Lenovo is one of my favorite laptops for remote work - here's whyThe majority of apps the everyday professional uses now run natively on ARM. The only exceptions are niche apps, proprietary software, older device drivers, games, and potentially some audio-related apps and MIDI controllers. If you're working extensively with anything in these categories, you might want to double-check for compatibility or emulation within Windows' Prism before investing in an ARM device. If none of that sounds familiar, however, and you're just looking for a device for work, school, or everyday use, issues should be rare. Day-to-day usability The Yoga Slim 7x doesn't just compare to the MacBook Air in theory. It hits the right notes to make it a viable conversion for MacBook users. For example, the 9MP webcam is very good -- way better than the dingy webcams most Windows PCs come with (even on high-end devices) and comparable to what a Mac user would be used to. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETAdditionally, the lightweight build just feels like a premium device, with very little flex on the aluminum chassis (except the grill on the underside, which does respond to pressure). It mostly passes the one-finger test (if you go slow), and the keyboard is also very good -- better than a MacBook Air, even -- with Lenovo's signature design and tactile key travel, so you can use it all day. Also: I tested the Surface Pro with 5G, and it's Microsoft's most complete business 2-in-1 yetThe "Cosmic Blue" colorway on the Slim 7x is also more or less the same color as the "Midnight" on the MacBook Air, pointing at a design throughway that makes a statement about the two devices' class similarity. It looks great, but it's an absolute fingerprint magnet. Also like the MacBook Air, ports are limited, with three USB-C 4.0 ports -- all three with power delivery, 40Gbps transfer speed, and DisplayPort 1.4. Something to keep in mind if you need a more versatile device. PerformanceAs mentioned above, the Snapdragon X2 Elite paired with 32GB of RAM on this version is significantly more powerful than the 2024 version. It's not just snappy and responsive; there's enough performance here to push this device well into versatile PC territory. I'm talking video editing, creative tasks, and even gaming. I ran some games on the Slim 7x, including "Elden Ring" -- and they played better than I anticipated. I even fired up "Cyberpunk 2077" just to see, and it turned out mostly playable after adjusting some settings. Enjoyable? Debatable. Playable? Yes. Older games, however, like "Eve Online," were much more playable, even enjoyable, on the bright OLED display.Either way, it's not what I was expecting, which leads me to believe that the Snapdragon X2 Elite is powerful enough to carry here, with enough muscle even for high-end titles. That being said, just because the X2 Elite can run these things doesn't mean it's optimized for it. There are still games tha