68 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2021REVIEWS LENOVO IDEAPAD SLIM^7
aluminum, slate-gray lid is completely
featureless save for a small “Lenovo” logo on
the side. In other words (and as with other
laptops in Lenovo’s IdeaPad line), don’t
expect the Slim 7 draw any envious looks
while you’re out and about. Still, we
appreciate the lip along the top edge of the
lid, which makes it easier to pry the laptop
open with your fingertip.
Opening the lid reveals more of the same,
with a slate-gray, spill-resistant keyboard and
palmrest matched by a glass trackpad. The
14-inch display is surrounded by relatively thin
side and top bezels, with a slightly chunkier
bezel along the bottom. A long, flat hinge
allows the lid to open all the way to a
180-degree angle, which could come in
handy if you want to flip the display for a
slideshow or PowerPoint presentation.Weighing in at 3.2 pounds,
the IdeaPad Slim 7 feels a tad
heavy for its size. That said, a
sub-three-pound laptop with
the Slim 7’s feature set would
probably cost a few hundred
dollars more.DISPLAY
Rated at 300 nits of brightness,
the Lenovo Slim 7’s 14-inch
full-HD display looked sharp
and bright to my eyes. I
generally kept the brightness
setting down in the 70- to
80-percent range while testing the laptop
indoors--cranking the brightness up to 100
percent made the screen uncomfortably
bright. The display was also easy to see
outside under an umbrella, although its glossy
finish makes for tough reading in direct
sunlight.
The Slim 7’s IPS (in-plane switching)
display boasts characteristically wide viewing
angles. The screen dims only slightly when
viewed from the sides or above. Even when
looking at the display from close to a
90-degree angle, I had little problem reading
the text in an on-screen Word document.KEYBOARD, TRACKPAD,
SPEAKERS, AND EXTRAS
The IdeaPad Slim 7’s keyboard feels great to
type on. The keys themselves offer plenty ofAs far as the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7’s design goes, well ... it’s what’s
inside that counts, right?