Lenovo has introduced the Slim 7i Aura Edition, a more affordable take on its ultra-thin Panther Lake laptop launched at CES. The new 14-inch model starts at €1,149 (around $1,250) in Europe when it launches in March 2026, undercutting the Slim 7 Ultra Aura Edition's $1,630 starting price. The tradeoff for the lower cost is slightly more heft, with the Slim 7i weighing 1.14 kg (2.51 lbs) for non-touch models or 1.22 kg (2.69 lbs) with a touchscreen, compared to the Ultra's 975 grams (2.15 lbs).
The laptop packs Intel's Panther Lake processors, with options including the Core Ultra 5 322, Core Ultra 5 325, or Core Ultra 7 355, though it lacks the higher-performance Core Ultra X7 or X9 chips found in the pricier Ultra model. Intel's Panther Lake platform arrives with strong upstream Linux kernel support already in place, as Linux kernel 6.17 includes stable Xe3 graphics drivers enabled by default and NPU 5 firmware support, while Mesa OpenGL and Vulkan drivers no longer require force probe parameters for Panther Lake hardware. That said, device-level Linux compatibility for this specific 14-inch model remains unconfirmed ahead of its March release, and similar Aura Edition laptops have shown mixed results, with the 15-inch Yoga Slim 7i Aura requiring UEFI firmware updates and kernel 6.15 or later for basic functionality.
The 14-inch OLED display comes in two configurations: a 600-nit 1920 x 1200 pixel panel or a brighter 1100-nit 2880 x 1800 pixel version, both with optional touchscreen support. The aluminum chassis measures 31.2 x 22.1 x 1.4 cm (12.3 x 8.7 x 0.55 inches) and houses a 70 Wh battery alongside 16GB or 32GB of soldered LPDDR5x-7467 memory.
Port selection includes three Thunderbolt 4 connectors supporting 65W USB Power Delivery and DisplayPort 2.1 Alt Mode, though Lenovo omitted dedicated headphone, HDMI, and SD card slots. Storage is limited to a single M.2 2242 slot for PCIe 4.0 SSDs, but users can at least upgrade capacity after purchase. The laptop also features a 5MP infrared webcam, quad speakers (two 2W woofers and two 2W tweeters), WiFi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
