Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a 14-inch laptop built around Intel's Core Ultra 7 355, an eight-core processor, housed in a magnesium alloy case that brings the system's weight down to 975 grams (Lenovo PSRF datasheet). The machine is part of Lenovo's "Aura Edition" program, a co-engineering collaboration with Intel, though that branding shows up more in marketing than in any feature you'd actually notice in daily use.

The display is a 14-inch POLED panel — a type of OLED screen built on a plastic rather than glass substrate, allowing thinner, lighter construction — running at 2.8K resolution, with up to 500 nits of brightness in standard mode and 1,100 nits in HDR mode. It covers 100 percent of both the sRGB and P3 color gamuts, meaning it can reproduce the full range of colors those standards define (Engadget). That combination of POLED technology, high sustained brightness, and full P3 coverage places this panel in the upper tier of current ultraportable displays, alongside what Dell's XPS line and Asus's Zenbook OLED models offer. The screen has a slight notch at the top housing a 5-megapixel camera and hardware for Windows Hello facial recognition. A physical hardware switch on the side disables the camera, a privacy measure that has become standard across Lenovo's premium lineup.

Connectivity is where the design choices get polarizing. The laptop has three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports — two on the left, one on the right — and nothing else. No USB Type-A. No HDMI. No headphone jack (Engadget). This is a port selection that signals confidence in the direction peripheral connectivity is heading, and a certain indifference to anyone still carrying USB-A flash drives or wired headphones.

Lenovo's official US website lists the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition starting at $2,049.99 (Lenovo). PCMag's review, published June 22, tested a configuration priced at $2,119.99 that includes 32GB of dual-channel DDR5 memory running at up to 7,467 MT/s (PCMag). The system also packs a 75Wh high-density battery (Lenovo), which is a notably large cell for a sub-kilogram 14-inch chassis and suggests Lenovo is prioritizing runtime over thermal headroom — the amount of heat the cooling system can dissipate before the processor has to slow itself down.

Engadget's review, published August 4 and written by Devindra Hardawar, covers the system in detail (Engadget). The PCMag review, which appeared about six weeks earlier, provides the configuration-specific pricing and memory details.

The broader design pattern here is familiar. Ultraportables are converging on a shared formula: OLED panels, sub-1kg magnesium or alloy chassis, and Thunderbolt-only ports. Apple set this template with the MacBook Air; Intel's Evo and now Aura programs have pushed Windows manufacturers toward similar engineering targets. The difference is in the execution. A 75Wh battery at 975 grams is an aggressive density figure, and the POLED panel with 1,100 nits of HDR brightness gives the Lenovo a credible answer to the display quality argument that has historically favored Apple's mini-LED and OLED panels.

The omission of a headphone jack deserves attention. On a phone, the absence is now routine. On a $2,000-plus laptop, it is more debatable. Professionals who use wired in-ear monitors or studio headphones for audio work will need a dongle or a USB-C audio interface. The lack of any USB Type-A port means legacy peripherals require an adapter too. For a device marketed at creative professionals — the implied audience for a P3-capable POLED display — these omissions may be friction points in workflows that still involve older hardware.

In my view, the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition reads as a well-engineered ultraportable that makes deliberate tradeoffs in favor of portability, display quality, and battery capacity at the expense of I/O flexibility. The pricing places it firmly in premium territory, competing directly with the XPS 14, MacBook Air 15, and Zenbook 14 OLED. Whether the combination of a 975-gram magnesium chassis, a full-P3 POLED display, and a 75Wh battery is worth losing every legacy port is a question that depends entirely on what a buyer already keeps in their bag.