Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 (2024) Laptop Review

The Lenovo Yoga is available in Arctic Gray or Storm Gray color ways. See the bottom of the laptop. 

The Lenovo Yoga feels well-built. Its all-aluminum chassis feels premium, and it's quite rigid overall; there's only some minimal flex throughout the chassis, like when pressing down on the keyboard deck or when twisting the display with the lid open. The laptop is also well assembled despite minor gaps around the touchpad. The finish could be more durable, though. It's prone to accumulating scratches after use and also likes to collect gunk from fingers. There are no complaints about the feet, as they stick firmly to the bottom of the chassis. 

The Lenovo Yoga's hinge is outstanding. It feels solid and is very stable, even when typing vigorously. It wobbles only when using the touchscreen with your finger or the stylus. Despite the high hinge resistance, you can open the screen with one finger if you move slowly. 

The Lenovo Yoga's serviceability is mediocre. Though accessing the internals is straightforward, you'll need some organization, as not all the screws are the same size. To access the internals, remove four M2 x L3 and three M2 x L7.5 torque screws, then use a pick to pry the cover open; this may require some force as the cover can be sticky. The storage slot supports M.2 2242 SSDs.

You can find the user manual on Lenovo's website. 

• User documentation
• 65W USB-C power adapter and cord
• Lenovo Digital Pen (includes a AAAA battery installed)
• Pen clip
• Privacy cover sticker

The Lenovo Yoga is available with the following displays: 

• 14" IPS 1920 x 1200 60Hz (glossy, 45% NTSC, 300 cd/m²)
• 14" OLED 1920 x 1200 60Hz (glossy, 100% DCI-P3, 400 cd/m²)

Both displays look quite sharp. They use a 16:10 aspect ratio, which provides additional vertical real estate compared to a traditional 16:9 display. This lets you see more information at once when browsing the web or doing productivity tasks like working on spreadsheets or word processing. The only thing to remember is that the OLED display option is susceptible to permanent burn-in, so it's best to vary the content on the screen and take precautions to remove any static element, like hiding the taskbar. 

All of the Lenovo Yoga Laptop's displays have a 60Hz refresh rate. The IPS panel's slow response time results in visible ghosting behind fast-moving content, so it isn't great for gaming. While most OLEDs have a fast response time, this laptop's OLED will likely perform similarly to the IPS owing to its 60Hz refresh rate.

The IPS panel has a very good contrast ratio, particularly for IPS panels. The downside is that this contrast level makes blacks look gray in dim settings. The OLED panel effectively has an infinite contrast ratio as it can turn off individual pixels; this results in perfect black levels in all viewing environments. 

The IPS display's brightness is adequate for most indoor settings but isn't always bright enough to overcome direct reflections from lamps or other bright lights. It's not bright enough for outdoor use. Its minimum brightness is very low, so you can easily use it in dark settings without causing eye strain. The OLED has an advertised peak brightness of 400 cd/m², making it better suited for bright environments. 

The display's glossy coating creates a mirror-like effect with direct light sources. Even when set to maximum brightness, the display doesn't get bright enough to overcome these reflections. The OLED also uses a glossy finish; while its reflection handling will have the same characteristics, its higher peak brightness means that reflections won't be as noticeable with the screen at maximum brightness. 

The OLED panel will effectively have perfect black uniformity as it can turn off individual pixels. 

The IPS display's horizontal viewing angle is decent. The image dims and washes out relatively quickly as you move off-center. You can share color-critical work with someone else as long as the other person isn't too far off to the side. The OLED panel is likely better regarding color washout and brightness loss but will suffer more from color shift.

The IPS panel's vertical viewing angle is decent. Like the horizontal viewing angle, the image remains accurate until you look at it from a moderately steep angle above or below. The OLED panel won't dim or wash out as much, but it'll suffer more from color shift.

The IPS display's out-of-the-box accuracy is sub-par. The white balance is noticeably off at higher brightness, leaning slightly green. While many colors are noticeably off due to the panel's narrow color gamut, blues are by far the worst. The color temperature is very close to neutral, and although the gamma follows the curve pretty closely at mid-brightness, very dark scenes are too dark, and very bright scenes are too bright. 

The IPS display has a very narrow color gamut, as it doesn't even offer coverage of the commonly used sRGB color space, so content like websites or videos will look washed out. The OLED display advertises 100% DCI-P3 coverage, so this display is the best choice if you need to perform color-critical work like HDR movie production. 

The OLED panel likely flickers. 

The Lenovo Yoga 7 has a great keyboard. The layout is fairly standard and shouldn't require a long adjustment period. The keys are generally very stable, except for the function keys, which have some wobble. The keys have a fair amount of travel and require a decent amount of force to actuate, so the keyboard can be fatiguing to use for long periods. Typing noise is quite low, which is great if you share a workspace with others, but it may be disappointing if you like a clicky or louder sound. There's white, adjustable backlighting that shines through the keycaps nicely, making the legends easy to see. You can adjust the backlighting using the spacebar hotkey. 

The Lenovo Yoga 7's touchpad is great. Tracking works very well, as does palm rejection, and there are no issues when performing gestures. You can only click on the bottom half, as this is a diving board touchpad, but clicking is satisfying and tactile. While it's large enough for most actions, it could be larger as there's some space available on the chassis' lower deck.

The Lenovo Yoga's speakers are loud and clear, making them great for listening to dialogue-heavy content like podcasts. That said, there isn't much bass and higher frequencies can get tinny. Finally, the speakers hiss at louder volumes, resulting in an unpleasant listening experience.

The Lenovo Yoga 7's webcam has decent video quality. The color temperature skews warm, and colors tend to be a bit oversaturated, but it can resolve a good amount of fine detail. Unfortunately, there's some visible noise in the image. There's some compression in the microphone, resulting in a slightly stuffy, albeit understandable, voice recording. The privacy cover is only a physical switch. You can turn off the microphone using the F4 hotkey. 

The Lenovo Yoga has a great port selection. The USB-A port supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps and is always on, so you can use it to charge devices while the laptop sleeps. The USB-C port closest to the laptop's rear is a USB4 port, supporting data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps, DisplayPort, and Power Delivery. The latter allows for fast charging of the laptop and other connected devices. The USB-C port closest to the front of the laptop supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, DisplayPort, and Power Delivery. Although Lenovo only advertises HDMI 2.0 bandwidth (4k 60Hz) for the HDMI port, our unit was able to output a 4k 144Hz video signal. 

The Lenovo Yoga Laptop's wireless adapter is a MediaTek RZ616 Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E has faster speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference than previous Wi-Fi standards. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 6E to benefit from these features. If you're curious about upgrading your home router, check out our recommendations for the best Wi-Fi routers. 

The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 is available with the following CPUs: 

• AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS (6 cores/12 threads, up to 4.9GHz, 16MB L3 cache)
• AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS (8 cores/16 threads, up to 5.1GHz, 16MB L3 cache)

These Zen 4 CPUs are high-performance CPUs but run at a lower TDP than HS models ending in -45. The 8040 series features the same architecture as the previous 7040 series. Still, it runs at a higher TDP and slightly higher clock speeds than its predecessors while also offering better NPU (Neural Processing Unit) performance for AI tasks. These processors can handle some demanding workloads like programming, as well as some light video editing and gaming. The Ryzen 7 8840HS is noticeably faster than the Ryzen 5 8640HS in multi-threaded applications as it has two additional cores. As indicated in the GPU section below, the iGPU is a part of the CPU, so if you plan to play games occasionally, it's best to choose the configuration based on the iGPU rather than the CPU.

See more information about the Ryzen 8040-series CPUs in AMD's product brief.

The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 is available with the following iGPUs:

• AMD Radeon 760M (iGPU with Ryzen 5)
• AMD Radeon 780M (iGPU with Ryzen 7)

These iGPU's are best suited to handle light tasks like web browsing and video playback. While neither iGPU is appropriate for high-end gaming, the 780M can be fast enough to play modern titles at 1080p low settings. The 760M cannot deliver playable performance in demanding games at 1080p, regardless of the settings.

You can get this laptop with either 8GB or 16GB of soldered RAM; it isn't user-replaceable. 

You can get this laptop with 512GB or 1TB of storage. The storage is user-replaceable, and the storage slot is compatible with M.2 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs. 

Despite purchasing a model with 512GB of storage, Lenovo used a drive that's known to only have a 477GB storage capacity, which is deceptive marketing. Let us know in the comments if this also happens to you. 

The Lenovo Yoga 7 14 performs well in the Geekbench 5 benchmarks. Its AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS delivers strong single-thread performance. Its multi-thread performance is good enough for general productivity tasks and some moderately intensive workloads. You can expect models with the Ryzen 7 8840 to deliver marginally better single-core performance due to higher clock speeds and significantly better multi-threaded performance thanks to its greater core and thread count. Nevertheless, there are substantially faster CPUs on the market, like the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)'s M3 Max SoC and Intel's Core i9-14900HX in the Razer Blade 18 (2024). As for the GPU, although its AMD Radeon 760M performs decently for an integrated GPU, it's still far too slow for highly demanding workloads. Models with a 780M perform much better but still lag behind laptops with discrete graphics. 

Note on Performance Settings: We've performed all benchmarks using the laptop's best-performing mode (Best Performance, in this case) instead of the default Balanced mode, which usually throttles the performance to prolong battery life. This represents the laptop's maximum potential (you can always turn it down if you prioritize battery life or prefer lower fan noise and thermals). By contrast, the Balanced mode would only show the manufacturer's tuning of that mode. 

Note on Graphics Settings: To test the best-case scenario for the iGPU, we've enabled AMD's HYPR-RX feature set in the AMD Adrenaline Software for our gaming benchmarks. HYPR-RX is a graphic driver preset that uses multiple features to improve performance. These features include: 

• RSR (Radeon Super Resolution), a driver-based upscaler;
• AFMF (AMD Fluid Motion Frames), a driver-based frame generation feature;
• Radeon Boost, which dynamically lowers the render resolution of frames during fast on-screen motion;
• Radeon Anti-Lag, which reduces the input latency by dynamically adjusting frame times. 

See the driver menu for exact settings. Finally, AMD has certain DX11 and DX12 games that are "HYPR-Tuned"; in these cases, upscaling is automatically enabled and set one full resolution step below native. Borderlands 3 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are both HYPR-Tuned games and therefore, the results are upscaled from 720p rather than rendered at a native 1080p resolution. 

The Lenovo Yoga 7 scores well in the Cinebench R23 benchmarks. Its AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS CPU's multi-thread performance is good enough for moderately intensive workloads and heavy multitasking. You can expect up to 25% better performance from models with the Ryzen 7 8840HS. Nevertheless, significantly faster CPUs on the market can provide a smoother experience and complete tasks in less time in highly demanding tasks.

While you can perform 3D rendering tasks in Blender using the CPU, it's best to get a laptop with a discrete GPU. Even an entry-level dedicated GPU, like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, can render images significantly faster.

The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14's AMD Radeon 760M performs poorly in the Basemark GPU benchmark. This means it can't push playable frame rates in graphically demanding games, as you'll see in the gaming benchmarks, even with HYPR-RX enabled. Models with the 780M are much better suited to gaming and can play some demanding titles at low settings.

To better simulate typical usage, we've conducted the web browsing and video playback tests using the Balanced mode and the gaming test using the Performance mode. Models with an OLED display will have a shorter battery life.

Borderlands 3 is unplayable using the Lenovo Yoga 7 with an AMD Radeon 760M iGPU, even on the lowest settings. While you can get above 30 fps by turning down settings, AFMF has been reported to increase input latency (we did not test the latency), resulting in unresponsive gameplay below a certain fps threshold. AMD notes the latency increase in their 24.1.1. driver release notes, and initially only recommended enabling AFMF when achieving at least 55 fps. You can expect playable performance on low settings at 1080p with models using the 780M iGPU. 

Though not the smoothest experience, you can play Civilization VI and other similarly demanding strategy games using the Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 with an AMD Radeon 760M iGPU. Turning down settings will provide smoother gameplay, although you'll still have to wait a while between turns. This kind of game is no problem for models with the faster 780M iGPU, even using high settings, and you can expect faster turn times. 

Counter-Strike 2 is only playable using the AMD 760M iGPU at low settings. Despite averaging over 50 fps when using high settings, gameplay is choppy, and the generated frames from AMD's AFMF are reported to increase input latency (though we didn't test this), which are both problems that make FPS games difficult to play. As a result, AMD notes that AFMF may not be suitable for fast-paced competitive games. Models with the 780M will provide a much better experience in CS2 and other competitive FPS titles, but you still may experience spikes in frametimes.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is unplayable on the Lenovo Yoga's AMD Radeon 760M. Although using the lowest settings achieves over 30 fps, AFMF has been reported to increase input latency (we did not test the latency), resulting in unresponsive gameplay below a certain fps threshold. AMD notes the latency increase in their 24.1.1. driver release notes, and initially only recommended enabling AFMF when achieving at least 55 fps. By contrast, models with a 780M can achieve playable framerates in this and other similarly demanding titles at 1080p with low settings. 

This laptop is silent when idle. While you can hear the fan under load, it's not very loud. It reaches a barely audible 33.2 dBA when using the Battery Saver mode, while its default Power Adaptive Mode reaches the same 41.8 dBA as the Performance mode. 

The laptop's hotspot varies in temperature depending on your desired fan and power mode. Using the Battery Saver mode, the hotspot is a cool 40.5 °C (104.9 °F), while the Adaptive Power Mode sees a hotspot of 46 °C (114.8 °F). Thankfully, the hotspot is away from the keyboard, but the laptop deck is still noticeably warm to the touch. The bottom of the laptop gets even hotter when using the Performance mode, peaking at 50 °C (114.8 °F). It's uncomfortably hot to have on your lap for extended periods. 

This test was performed using the Best Performance mode in Windows, with the fans set to Performance mode in Lenovo Vantage instead of the default Balanced mode for power and fan control, which we've used in previous laptop reviews.

The Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14 (2024) has many pre-installed applications, including: 

• Dolby Access: Adds Dolby Atmos support. Requires in-app purchase for headphone functionality.
• Lenovo Hotkeys: Lets you create keyboard macros.
• Lenovo Now: Ads for Lenovo Support Services, like Accidental Damage Protection and Smart Lock (remote lock and data wipe). Also contains ads for Amazon Music, Dropbox, Adobe Acrobat, and Lenovo accessories.
• Lenovo Pen Settings: Lets you change the pen's settings.
• Lenovo Vantage: Lets you check for drivers/BIOS updates, view system status, change power and audio settings, and view warranty information.
• McAfee: Antivirus software. Requires subscription.
• WebAdvisor by McAfee: Protects you from malware when browsing the internet. Requires subscription.

This laptop has a fingerprint sensor on the keyboard deck below the right arrow key and a facial recognition IR camera. You can use either to log in quickly, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites. Some models also come with a Lenovo Digital Pen, a Wacom AES stylus with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt support. If you lose the pen or it isn't included, you can use any Wacom AES stylus. You can store the pen using the pen clip that plugs into the USB-A port; this solution feels precarious, like it may damage the USB port if you aren't careful. 

As for the inking experience with the Digital Pen, the pen feels responsive, and there are no issues with tracking. Unfortunately, the pen isn't rechargeable, and you need to use a AAAA battery.