With Windows 11 releasing on October 5, Lenovo has announced a pair of new Ideapad laptops that ship with the new operating system: the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon and Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro.
Like several of the best ultrabooks, both laptops run on AMD's Ryzen 5000-series processors and have options for discrete graphics from Nvidia, but they differ in scope. The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon aims to be slim and portable. It starts at $1,289.99 and goes up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U and Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics, as well as up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The 14-inch OLED display has a 16:10 aspect ratio and goes up to 90 Hz.
The Slim 7 Carbon is in a carbon fiber and magnesium chassis that weights 2.37 pounds and is 14.9 mm thick at its thinnest point.
Meanwhile, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro (Yoga Slim 7 Pro internationally) is a more powerful device with a larger screen. It has a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 touch display that goes up to 120 Hz, should you want to use the discrete GPU for some gaming. This laptop starts at $1,449 and includes up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon | Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5800U | Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5800H |
| Graphics | Up to Nvidia GeForce MX450, integrated AMD Radeon graphics | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, integrated AMD Radeon graphics |
| RAM | Up to 16GB LPDDR4x | Up to 16GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD | Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD |
| Display | 14-inch, 2880 x 1800, 90 Hz, Dolby Vision HDR, OLED | 16-inch, 2.5K, Dolby Vision HDR, Optional 120Hz, touch |
| Battery | 61 WHr | 75 WHr |
| Networking | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Starting Price | $1,289.99 | $1,449 |
| Availability | October 2021 | October 2021 |
The Slim 7 Pro is 17.4 mm at its thinnest point and starts at 4.6 pounds. It comes in two different shades of gray: cloud (light) and storm (dark).
Those aren't Lenovo's only announcements today. It's also releasing the Chromebook Duet 5, a 13.3-inch detachable running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 with up to 256GB eMMC SSD storage, 8GB of RAM and an 1080p OLED display.This won't replace the existing Chromebook Duet, but will serve as a slightly higher-end alternative. It will start at $429.99 and arrive in October.
Lenovo is also working on a connection between its Windows PCs and Lenovo Tab P12 Pro tablet called Project Unity, which will let you extend Windows to the Android tablet and use its touch screen, or run Android apps on the tablet next to Windows apps. The latter will likely be far less exciting once Microsoft manages to roll out Android apps in Windows 11. The P12 Pro will start at $609.99 in October.
While the IdeaPads are Lenovo's first Windows 11 PCs, they certainly won’t be the only ones. More are certain to come, and many existing laptops will be up˜gradable from Windows 10.
