Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) review

One would imagine that after ASUS released its proper gaming tablet, the entire industry will quickly move away from 2-in-1 laptops. While this might become the case in the future, the convertibles feel as strong as ever in the present. At least this is what Lenovo wants us to think about its Yoga 7i (14″, 2022).

It is a complete redesign over last year (much needed if you ask us), and it has a lot of new things to talk about. Hardware-wise, there is the processor. You are now treated to a 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU from Intel, and you can choose between two U-series and two P-series processors. The main difference between the two is the base TDP budget (15W vs 28W) and the core count – both feature 8 Efficiency cores, but the U-series has 2 P-cores, while the P-series has 4 of them.

In addition to that, you can now choose from two 16:10 displays. One of them has a 2.2K IPS panel, working at 60Hz, while the other is a 2.8K OLED 90Hz unit, which will arguably be the more sought-after of the two.

But before we get into tests, let’s check out what Lenovo changed on the outside, because the company didn’t miss to do that either.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-yoga-7i-14-2022/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) - Specs

  • LEN140WUXGA+ (LEN89BB)
  • Color accuracy  1.9  1.1
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Battery
  • 71Wh, 4-cell, 71Wh
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 316.66 x 220.25 x 17.35 mm (12.47" x 8.67" x 0.68")
  • Weight
  • 1.45 kg (3.2 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
  • 2x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.1
  • Card reader
  • MicroSD
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • optional
  • Web camera
  • FHD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Microphone with Noise Cancellation, far-field, support for Lenovo Voice Assistant
  • Speakers
  • 4x 2W (2x woofers, 2x tweeters) Stereo Speakers, Smart Amplifier, Dolby Atmos
  • Optical drive

All Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package of this device, you will find some paperwork, a 65W USB Type-C charger, and an optional stylus.


Design and construction

Gone are the sharp edges of yesterday. As soon as the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 got released last year, we knew that this was going to happen. Lenovo has not skipped the influence train, which makes the Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) one of the rounded-body laptops out there.

Ultimately, the build quality is amazing. There is virtually no flex in neither the base nor the lid (which is further supported by the glass display cover). This machine is built entirely out of aluminum and has a thickness of 17.35mm. Its weight depends on the display option, with the IPS unit standing at 1.45 kg, while the OLED panel is about 30 grams lighter – 1.42 kg.

Even though this is a convertible, its hinges are smooth enough to let you open the display with a single hand. It has slim bezels all around with a notable protrusion in the top one, which makes gripping the lid easier. However, it doesn’t look very good from a design standpoint, since the edges of the laptop are now rounded, while the notch is pretty square-ish. Nevertheless, it houses a Full HD Web camera with a privacy shutter and an IR face recognition scanner.

Next, we have the keyboard. It is a solid unit with a backlight, decent key travel, and clicky feedback – nothing unexpected from Lenovo. This makes it really comfortable for typing, with the only exception of the “Up” and “Down” Arrow keys which are half-sized. As you can see, the keyboard is surrounded by a couple of speaker cutouts. This laptop features a total of four runners – two tweeters, and two woofers, all having 2W of rated power.

Moving further down, we see the touchpad. It comes with a glass surface, which is really smooth and provides a lot of comfort. Furthermore, the tracking is accurate, while the response is pretty quick. By the way, there is a fingerprint reader too, which, thankfully, is separated from the touchpad.

Turn the laptop upside down, and you will find the other couple of speaker cutouts. In addition, there is the ventilation grill, which feeds cool air to the fan. The hot air is then exhausted through a vent on the back.

Ports

On the left side, there is an HDMI connector, followed by two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, and a MicroSD card slot. Switch sides, and you will see the power button, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an audio jack.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

To access this laptop’s internals, you’ll need to undo all 7 Torx-head screws, that keep the bottom panel attached. After that, pry it with a plastic tool, and lift it away from the chassis.

You get a 71Wh battery inside. It lasted us for about 11 hours of Web browsing, or 9 hours of video playback. To take it out, unplug the battery connector, and undo all 5 Phillips-head screws.

Unfortunately, the memory here is soldered to the motherboard. However, you get up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, working at 4800 MHz. In terms of storage, there is one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which fits Gen 4 drives.

Lastly, the cooling comprises two heat pipes and a fairly large fan. Furthermore, there is a metal heat spreader on top of the VRMs.


Display quality

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) uses a 2.2K IPS touchscreen panel, model number LEN140WUXGA+ (LEN89BB). Its diagonal is 14″ (35.6 cm), and the resolution – 2240 x 1400. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 189 ppi, their pitch – 0.13 x 0.13 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 46 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 332 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 318 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 10%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6570K (average) – almost matching the 6500K optimum for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 81% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.08 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is very good – 1700:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 97% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 16 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022)’s backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes it comfortable for long periods of use.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 108 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) configurations with 14.0″ LEN140WUXGA+ (LEN89BB) (2.2K 2240 x 1400) IPS.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/yoga-series/yoga-7-14ial7/downloads/driver-list

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device sports a 71Wh battery pack, which lasts for 10 hours and 50 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 5 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

This laptop can be found with the Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U, Core i5-1240P, or Core i7-1260P.

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.


GPU options

There are no dedicated GPU options here. Instead, you’ll have to settle for the Iris Xe Graphics, which is no slouch either.

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo Yoga 7i (14", 2022) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS144 fps92 fps64 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS160 fps106 fps61 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i5-1240P (28W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022)3.30 GHz @ 2.56 GHz @ 76°C @ 64W2.95 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 90°C @ 53W2.13 GHz @ 1.82 GHz @ 68°C @ 31W

This laptop tends to run at a quite low temperature in long runs. Is this a setback? Well, yes, if you want to be on the limit all the time. However, 68°C is a very low temperature for a Prime95 stress test.

Comfort during full load

On the bright side, this leads to low external temperatures as well as relatively low noise levels.


Verdict

Some notebooks these days require us to nit-pick so hard… this is the case with the Yoga 7i (14″, 2022), which is one of the most solid 14-inch convertibles on the market. Its redesign makes it feel fresh, while the feature package is beyond impressive. Lenovo has paired it with a quad-stereo speaker setup and provides you with not one, but two biometric authentication sensors – a fingerprint reader, and an IR face recognition scanner.

Furthermore, the latter is working in conjunction with a 1080p Web camera, which is an improvement by itself. Add a privacy shutter to the mix, and you end up with a rather secure and private little machine.

Lenovo Yoga 7i (14″, 2022)’s 2.2K IPS panel has comfortable viewing angles and a very high contrast ratio. It covers 97% of the sRGB color gamut, which is pretty wide and results in a rather vibrant color output. Furthermore, it doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. What is equally important for creators and designers is that the color accuracy is right within the sRGB standard. One thing that may be a setback is the high gloss level, which will naturally prompt you to use higher brightness levels outdoors. This, in effect, will lower the battery life.

On the bright side, you have some room to play with, as the notebook lasts nearly 11 hours of Web browsing or about 9 hours of video playback on a single charge. Build quality is another impressive feature, as the laptop shows very good rigidity when we try to twist it.

This is not only due to the aluminum chassis but also because of the glass cover of the display. So, what about the downsides? Every laptop has at least one, right? Well, that’s correct, the Yoga 7i (14″, 2022) doesn’t allow you to upgrade its memory. On the other hand, you get a single M.2 PCIe x4 slot for Gen 4 SSDs. Plus, the external port situation looks good, thanks to the two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, MicroSD card slot, HDMI connector, and regular USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port.

So, don’t be afraid. This machine is proving to be one of the good 14-inch convertibles for the money. Not only do you get solid and powerful hardware, but the execution is amazing, and its input devices are up to a high standard.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-yoga-7i-14-2022/

Pros

  • Good battery life
  • Strong aluminum chassis
  • Decent cooling
  • 98% sRGB coverage + great color accuracy with our Gaming and Web design profile
  • High resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio
  • No PWM
  • IR face recognition + fingerprint reader
  • 2x Thunderbolt 4 + HDMI + MicroSD card


Cons

  • Soldered memory

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axel
axel
1 year ago

Super buen analasisis, gracias