Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x vs. Apple MacBook Air M3

Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC initiative has a first round of laptops arriving running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chipsets. They promise good performance and better battery life, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is one of the best early entrants.

But, it’s going up against the Apple MacBook Air M3, for some time now one of the best 13-inch laptops you can buy. Can the Yoga Slim 7x provide the performance and efficiency it needs to compete?

Specs and configurations

The Yoga Slim 7x has just two configurations. The base model has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14.5-inch 3K OLED display for $1,199. For $1,313, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

The MacBook Air M3 has more options. It starts at $1,099 with an Apple Silicon M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Upgrading can be a bit expensive, such as choosing the 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 for an additional $100, while RAM and storage upgrades can be pricey. You’ll end up spending over $2,000 for a fully loaded machine.

Design

The Yoga Slim 7x is perhaps the most attractive of the early Copilot+ laptops, with a streamlined aesthetic that rivals the MacBook Air M3’s minimalist elegance. Its refined color scheme and thin bezels give it a modern appearance, with a reverse notch instead of the display notch you’ll find on the MacBook Air M3. Both are lovely laptops, and we suppose some people will like Apple’s additional color options.

The Yoga Slim 7x is as robust as the MacBook Air M3, with an all-aluminum chassis that resists bending and twisting but with a lid that’s a bit bendable. The MacBook has the same. The Lenovo’s hinge isn’t quite as smooth as Apple’s, but that’s a quibble. These are equally well-built laptops.

The MacBook Air M3’s Magic Keyboard is just slightly better than the Yoga Slim 7x’s version, with both having large keycaps and plenty of key spacing. But the MacBook’s key switches are just the tiniest bit more snappy and precise. It’s a close call, though. The MacBook’s Force Touch haptic touchpad, though, is more precise than the Yoga Slim 7x’s mechanical version, and it’s a huge advantage.

Connectivity is similar, with the Yoga Slim 7x relying on three USB4 ports that have roughly the same functionality as the MacBook Air M3’s two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. While the Lenovo has one additional port, the MacBook makes up for that somewhat with a MagSafe 3 connection for power. Lenovo made the unfortunate choice of dropping a 3.5mm audio jack, which Apple kept on the MacBook Air M3. Wireless connectivity is more futuristic on the Yoga Slim 7x.

Both laptops have 1080p webcams and provide a quality videoconferencing experience. The Yoga Slim 7x has a very fast neural processing unit (NPU) that supports enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software along with some other AI-assisted tools. The MacBook Air M3’s Neural Engine is a bit slower, and Apple Intelligence won’t be rolling out with AI features until sometime in 2025.

Performance

The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipsets are mated with an improved Windows on Arm platform for a new kind of Windows laptops. The Yoga Slim 7x has the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 version, which is slowest version available. It has 12 cores (eight performance and four efficient) and runs at 3.4GHz without the line’s dual-core boost. The MacBook Air runs with the 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 chipset that’s been a solid performer.

In our benchmarks that run natively on Windows on Arm, the Yoga is faster than the MacBook Air M3 in CPU-intensive tasks but its GPU isn’t as fast. The M3 chipset also has CPU optimizations that speed up various creative tasks like encoding and decoding video. That makes the MacBook a faster machine for creators, but productivity users will find the Yoga Slim 7x to be a bit quicker. Neither laptop is a legitimate gaming machine.

Display and audio

The Yoga Slim 7x enjoys an excellent 14.5-inch OLED display running at 3K (2944 by 1840). That compares to the MacBook Air M3’s 13.6-inch IPS display at 2560 by 1664. That makes the MacBook’s display slightly sharper.

But the Yoga has almost as much brightness to go with OLED’s usual inky blacks and near infinite contrast. Its colors are also wider and more accurate. The Yoga’s display is a lot better for producers, creators, and media consumers.

Portability

The MacBook Air M3 is the thinnest laptop you can by today at just 0.44 inches, and it’s light at 2.7 pounds. The Yoga Slim 7x is also thin at 0.51 inches, and it’s slightly heavier at 2.82 pounds. The MacBook has a smaller display, and so its overall size is a bit more portable.

More than anything else, though, the Qualcomm chipset is aimed at rivaling the MacBook Air M3’s class-leading efficiency. Apple Silicon has taken the battery life crown since its introduction, and the Yoga Slim 7x is meant to challenge it.

However, it falls significantly short. While it comes closest in the least demanding video looping test, it falls further behind as things get harder. Simply put, if you want your laptop to last longer while you get work done, the MacBook Air M3 remains your best choice.

Both laptops have four-speaker setups with dual tweeters and woofers. Both get plenty loud, and both have clear mids and highs. In terms of their audio quality, I’m calling a draw. For what it’s worth, the 15-inch MacBook Air has a much more impressive six-speaker setup.

The Yoga Slim 7x is very good, but the MacBook Air M3 is better

The Yoga Slim 7x is one of the more attractive Copilot+ laptops available so far, with strong performance, a quality and attractive build, and an excellent OLED display. It also comes in cheaper compared to the MacBook Air for what you get since the starting configuration comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Its battery life doesn’t quite live up to the Qualcomm chipset’s promise, though. The lack of a headphone jack is unfortunate, too.

The MacBook Air M3, meanwhile, isn’t quite as fast in CPU-intensive tasks, but it has much better battery life and an even better build quality. For my money, the MacBook Air is worth the extra money for the better overall package, but the Yoga Slim 7x has plenty of advantages on its side, whether that’s the OLED panel or the more affordable configuration.