It’s light. It’s thin. It’s built for productivity and yes, even gaming.
I am writing this piece using Lenovo’s latest unveil of 2025: the Aura Edition of productivity laptops that I was able to try in February of this year at Yokohama, Japan. Speaking to Kevin Beck who bears the title of ‘Chief Explainer’ of Lenovo, I got to learn more about this new line of devices, brought about by a collaboration between Intel and Lenovo. All that was in theory. I finally was able to spend weeks immersed with the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, and I am delightfully floored.
The model I am using is specced at 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB of NVME storage, running on an Intel Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 with an Intel Arc 140V integrated video card. I’ll talk more about this integrated card later.
First, the nomenclature explanation: an ‘Aura Edition’ slapped on a Lenovo device means that this was a computer designed from the ground up to address specific concerns from a focused group of young professionals and students. One example is how this ultrabook comes with a 3.5mm jack!
Let’s get things out of the way. Back in 2015, when Apple started to use Intel chips to produce their MacBook line of laptops, people were using them to install and dual boot to Windows because, apparently, it was the best Windows experience one could find on a laptop. I remember dual booting to Windows, playing video games, having decently long battery life, and most important, the Macbook Pro was pretty portable. This is essentially the rebirth of that time, and an experience I am truly enjoying with Intel and Lenovo partnering to bring forth a device that is perfect for modern day content creators. One such feature is something I demo-ed before – Smart Share lets you transfer photos seamlessly across your phone and laptop without having to plug it in with a USB cable.
@abuggedlife like magic, #lenovo smart share allows seamless connectivity for transferring files, moving calls and messaging from iOS + Android to your Aura laptop. #SmarterAIForYou ♬ original sound – Jayvee – A Bugged Life by Jayvee
On the hardware end, the Aura Edition makes use of the Lunar Lake chip platform . The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition that I am using comes with a Core Ultra 7 chip with an Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics card. The Arc 140V is the centerpiece in this amazing tech buffet experience because it can do mid-range gaming with barely any heat. I find it puzzling that the Lenovo website doesn’t push this card, and merely says “Integrated” when scrolling through tech specs. A bit of history: integrated Intel graphics such as the GMA series from way back was a huge nothingburger. It was either you could get a slim laptop that could not do gaming or a bulky “gaming laptop” that was not portable. These came in plastic and would have huge power bricks bigger and heavier than smartphones.
Gaming and multimedia experience
On the gaming front I am able to run the latest AAA titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Doom: The Dark Ages, Expedition 33, and mid-tier games like Metaphor Refantazio, Rematch, Wuthering Waves and Zenless Zone Zero. The Arc 140V is more or less the equivalent of a 780M, and for an integrated card it’s surprising that it even supports ray tracing. At 1080p gaming, the integrated Arc card delivers.
@abuggedlife Gaming on an #intel arc 140V powered #Lenovo #AuraEdition laptop
♬ original sound – A Bugged Life by Jayvee
And it’s because of all this – this entire package of Aura Edition that brings us to battery life. This ultrabook can run a marathon for most functions. Whereas other devices give you two to three hours tops on a full battery for gaming, I was able to get 15% drain every hour for mid-tier games.
The Yoga Slim 7i comes with a huge 15” OLED touch screen. At 120Hz it’s the perfect size for gaming, and in fact exceeds expectations for build quality and weight for 14” laptops. Case in point: my previous 14” ZenBook is even heavier than this 15” beauty.
TheYoga Slim 7i feels great to type on. The chassis doesn’t give off rickety plastic vibes as it’s made of aluminum. The speakers, located on both ends of the keyboard project a solid and warm audio with a noticeable bass, something you don’t often see in these ultra-thins.
AI when you need it
Because this is an AI PC, I’m compelled to say a few things about the features. Frankly I’m not a huge fan of AI-centric PCs when it comes to how they are being marketed, but that’s the industry for you. The Aura Edition laptops come with a dedicated NPU capable of about 40 TOPS.
Lenovo AI Now app is noteworthy because it’s an on-device AI assistant that helps you organize files, summarize documents, and help find features within your device that you want to turn on and off, like eye care mode, sleep mode, and the like (yes you can turn these on manually, but some people have a hard time finding these – think of it as Clippy on steroids).
Focus sessions might be a Gen Z thing as it didn’t really click with me. It is a way for you to monitor “deep focus” sessions when working which you can start and stop with a timer.
I mentioned that the AI is on-device. Lenovo has an icon labeled ‘Local AI Mode’ that is active whenever you are performing functions that do not require an Internet connection. The functions I mentioned before are a part of this, so it’s like having your own little NotebookLM or ChatGPT that is siloed to your device. This is great for security because it does not connect to the Internet to upload anything. AI Now does have an online mode that is used to search its knowledge database or chat with an AI assistant. I have to reiterate that I appreciate how Lenovo has segregated local and cloud-based chat so you know when you are uploading your data to the cloud.
Aura crusher
The perfect laptop doesn’t exist. But the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition comes very close to it. As someone who travels fairly often, I’ve ditched heavy productivity laptops for ultrabooks. The Yoga series of Lenovo was always a strong contender but it’s now even made better with the addition of Arc 140V graphics. It’s low heat, small form, and light at 1.4kg, contributing a lot (and in this case contributing less) to the thin and light device.
And my dudes, as I get older I really want a super light ultrabook I can easily stash on my sling bag without breaking my back on long haul flights or layovers. As I grow older, “light and thin” make a huge difference.
So to end, here’s the TL;DR: if you want a super lightweight ultrabook that feels premium, has bass, a 3.5mm jack, and can play modern video games on a crisp OLED screen, look no further. The 9th Edition Lenovo Yoga Slim i7 Aura Edition is for you!
