Lenovo Yoga Slim 6i (14", Gen 8)- 13th Generation Intel Core i7-13700H Processor - Windows 11 Home 64- 1 TB SSD

I bought this laptop during black Friday sale and it has done wonders for me. Looks and feels premium. 14 inch is a good size, fits any bag and very light with just 1.4kg weight.Amazing powerful laptop that has mx 550 dedicated graphics card.Only downside is battery as the Intel I7 chipset is power hungry. Battery lasts 6-7 hours. Lenovo vantage software definitely helps with its intelligent cooling performance.Wait until the laptop goes on sale before purchasing.

I can’t tell you how long I’ve spent thinking and researching what my next laptop would be. I think two generations of processors came and went in the entries on my spreadsheet until I made my final decision!I wanted something that felt premium and had more screen real estate than my outgoing 13” 16:9 laptop, but I also wanted something not that much heavier than its 1.3kg weight. I really wanted something that was cool and quiet (the i7-8550u in my old laptop seemed to trigger the loud fans frequently) - and ideally had amazing battery life.Honestly – I wanted a MacBook. At least I thought I did until I used one for a few days and realised how frustrating working with multiple windows is on MacOS. The dragging and repositioning of windows, maximising, ... MoreI can’t tell you how long I’ve spent thinking and researching what my next laptop would be. I think two generations of processors came and went in the entries on my spreadsheet until I made my final decision!I wanted something that felt premium and had more screen real estate than my outgoing 13” 16:9 laptop, but I also wanted something not that much heavier than its 1.3kg weight. I really wanted something that was cool and quiet (the i7-8550u in my old laptop seemed to trigger the loud fans frequently) - and ideally had amazing battery life.Honestly – I wanted a MacBook. At least I thought I did until I used one for a few days and realised how frustrating working with multiple windows is on MacOS. The dragging and repositioning of windows, maximising, minimising – all that sort of stuff that you take for granted is just horrible on Mac. Oh well.I ruled out multiple laptops on price, weight, heat, fan noise, screen type (no OLED for me thanks – can’t have Football Manager menus causing burn in) and size (lots of 13” options that are just a bit small). Finally I settled on this marvellous laptop with its 14.5” screen, and crucially ordered the matte version and got the version without the 3050 dGPU – because I knew that the 6800HS has the best integrated graphics ever; plenty good enough for Football Manager!So, where to start with the actual review? It feels premium. Lovely finish, no sharp edges, great screen. Choosing matte was 100% the right choice. I don’t miss the slightly more vibrant output of a glossy screen and I certainly don’t miss the reflections I used to get from my old laptop. If I was watching movies all day in a dark room I might think otherwise, but I’m using this for work and a smidge of entertainment in normally lit rooms and matte is perfect. 14.5” is such a great size – still massively portable, but great for productivity too.The keyboard is nice – perhaps not the best ever but certainly very good. The trackpad seems pretty much as good as you’ll get outside MacBooks (I still use a mouse though).If you get this version with an AMD processor you don’t get Thunderbolt 4 and you get two USB type A ports instead of one plus an HDMI port, in addition to the two USB type C ports, that the Intel version also has. Honestly, I just don’t need Thunderbolt 4 (and yes, it works with my docking station fine) and having two USB type A ports is great – wifi mouse receiver in one, headset in the other – perfect! As well as that you get far better integrated graphics than you would with Intel – a much better decision if you aren’t getting the RTX 3050 as well.The processor and iGPU with Radeon 680M graphics seem amazing. There are three power modes that work whether plugged in or on battery, but I just stick with ‘battery saver’ regardless because even with only 15 watts running to the processor, it does everything that I need it to flawlessly i.e. standard office work, browsing etc. You’d probably need to turn it up to ‘intelligent cooling’ or beyond for some more intensive tasks, but I’m even playing Football Manager on 15 watts because the match engine gives me close to 60fps on medium settings whilst keeping the fans really quiet and the chassis cool. (On intelligent cooling you can get 60fps on high settings but at the expense of more heat and noise – not loads, but I’m being considerate to my lap, and the person next to me on the sofa).Any negatives? Well, the speakers are your standard laptop speakers but do seem a bit quieter than what I’m used to. I also would have loved a 1080p version rather than the slightly pointless 3k resolution, which would have meant more battery life. I haven’t put it to the test, but it looks like a 7-8 hour battery life which is just ‘ok’. It does have that feature where you can charge it just to 80% so as to protect the health of the battery, which is good.In conclusion – I LOVE this laptop! I don’t normally write reviews but just had to this time. I’m so used to over-researching things and then still making a mistake, but this time I really feel I got it right! Even the less than amazing battery life isn’t enough to knock a star off. Highly recommended – get the matte screen and if you don’t need a 3050, don’t bother with it. With those options – and in the sale, I got this for under £1,100 which is about the same as my old laptop, and this is sooo much better!

Having owned a Yoga 900s for almost six years (an unbelievable amount of time for a Windows-based laptop, in my opinion), I was keen to stick with the Lenovo Yoga brand. However, things didn't get off to a good start because Lenovo failed to provide the correct address to DHL for the delivery, which meant I had a 1hr roundtrip to go and pick it up. That, perhaps, should have been a sign...When I initially set up the laptop, the screen would flicker and then went completely black for about 10mins. I very nearly hard-crashed the setup (but decided to be patient a little longer) before it decided to come back to life and finish the process. I'm not sure whether that was a hardware or software issue, so I decided (hoped) it was an anomaly.I've owned the laptop for ... MoreHaving owned a Yoga 900s for almost six years (an unbelievable amount of time for a Windows-based laptop, in my opinion), I was keen to stick with the Lenovo Yoga brand. However, things didn't get off to a good start because Lenovo failed to provide the correct address to DHL for the delivery, which meant I had a 1hr roundtrip to go and pick it up. That, perhaps, should have been a sign...When I initially set up the laptop, the screen would flicker and then went completely black for about 10mins. I very nearly hard-crashed the setup (but decided to be patient a little longer) before it decided to come back to life and finish the process. I'm not sure whether that was a hardware or software issue, so I decided (hoped) it was an anomaly.I've owned the laptop for less than 4 weeks and I'm already seriously considering returning it. After upgrading to W11 and deciding I didn't like it, I downgraded back to W10. That caused all manner of (software) problems, which were eventually resolved by reinstalling W11 (numerous times) to get the laptop working as it should. Given this was a (Windows) software issue, I cant' really blame Lenovo.However, what I have noticed and now started to document is the fact that, on a number of occasions, my laptop has simply refused to wake up after I've put it to sleep. Once, after several minutes, it finally responded. But on at least three occasions, it's remained completely inactive - a blank screen - for more time than I cared to wait (and I'm more patient by nature than I should be). I'm beginning to wonder whether it's related to the same issue I had when setting up the machine the first time.This morning, I went to turn on my laptop and there was nothing. No response. I had put the machine to sleep, so wondered whether this was the usual playbook of simply not responding. However, there was no light showing on the power button so I decided to plug the laptop in and, voila, it came to life. Apparently, the battery was on zero percent! This makes absolutely no sense for a machine put to sleep with well over half the battery power.Unfortunately for Lenovo, they emailed me this morning to request my thoughts, and I really wish I had something better to write. I'm very disappointed with this machine and because of the problems I have experienced so far, I am going to have to return it and start again. Given I am a self-employed freelancer, this is something I could really have done without. I trusted Lenovo to deliver a similar experience to the one I had with my Yoga 900s (albeit with a number of sacrifices: no 2 in 1 / 360 degree hinge; not as light; no touchscreen) but so far I have been left disappointed and frustrated because Lenovo can and should be able to do better than the experience I am having.