Skip to main content

My most anticipated laptop of the year just got leaked

The rendering of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 on a white background.
Lenovo

The hype for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite laptops is building. Having seen what these machines can do in person already, it’s safe to say that these are the laptops I’m most excited about this year.

And today, a leak has revealed what some of the first devices with this much-anticipated chip will look like. Recently shared on X by the usually reliable Microsoft leaker WalkingCat are photos of a new product being referred to as the “Yoga Slim 7 14 Snapdragon Edition.”

The laptop looks similar to the already existing Lenovo Slim 7i — but much sleeker. It looks razor-thin around the edges, and there are no visible vents for fans. We don’t know exactly how thin it is, but it certainly looks slim. That doesn’t necessarily mean this is a fanless laptop like the MacBook Air, but it seems possible.

The photos shared by WalkingCat do expose every inch of the device, though, and you can see it below in all its glory, right down to the new “Lenovo” branding on the lid.

Yoga Slim 7 14(.5) 2024 Snapdragon Edition pic.twitter.com/k29LupeWk6

— WalkingCat (@_h0x0d_) April 17, 2024

The device also has a Copilot key, three USB-C ports onboard, and what looks like a 14-inch display. Beyond that, not much else is known in terms of specifications, according to the leaker.

Lenovo’s Yoga brand already is home to some great laptops like the dual-screen Yoga Book 9i and the Yoga 9i, so a Yoga Slim 7 14 Snapdragon Edition would be welcome. This is Lenovo’s most premium brand, showing that laptop manufacturers are going to match the performance with high-end laptops as well.

It also shows that laptop makers might be considering pushing these Qualcomm-powered devices more uniquely, and not just as alternatives to the Intel versions. Hence, the “Snapdragon Edition” branding. Companies will need to find ways to market and sell these MacBook Air killers, and hopefully that means finding a way to undercut them in price.

Clearly, these devices look to be premium but could end up being more mainstream in price. For reference, the Yoga Slim 7 14 is within the $800 the $1,000 range. Lenovo’s previous ThinkPad X13s, which featured Qualcomm’s older Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 chip, came in at a whopping $1,800 when it launched, putting it out of reach for most people.

From all the rumors we’ve heard, this laptop will join another rumored one from Microsoft, the Surface Laptop 6. Though the company hasn’t said anything about it, the Surface Laptop 6 is believed to feature a Qualcomm chip under the hood, and will get a redesign, much like the Surface Pro 10. We’re expecting all of the biggest names in the game to join in too, including Dell, HP, Asus, and more. Hopefully, other companies will follow suit and deliver Snapdragon Edition laptops in lines like the XPS, Spectre, and Zenbook.

Editors' Recommendations

Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
I’m worried about the MacBook’s next big rival
The MacBook Air on a white table.

MacBooks have dominated the laptop landscape over the past few years.

As good as Windows laptops are, they just haven't been able to compete with MacBooks in terms of efficiency or performance-per-watt. It's what allows modern MacBooks to be thinner, quieter, and longer-lasting, without losing performance. They're so efficient that you don't even lose performance when on battery.

Read more
Here’s proof that Snapdragon X Elite laptops can play hit games without issue
A laptop and a camera on a table with a Qualcomm logo on the screen.

Windows laptops with Qualcomm's ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite chip are set to come this summer, but we're already getting a preview of how good the devices will be for gaming. A recent video surfaced online showing how one of the most popular PC games, Baldur's Gate 3, can run on a Qualcomm reference laptop with the chip -- and it does look to be pretty impressive.

As shared by Devin Arthur on X, Qualcomm ran this game on a sample laptop at 1080p resolution. The demo was done in a public setting, and it's not clear what else was changed beyond that, but it does appear stable, with little to no lag.

Read more
Qualcomm just made some bold claims about gaming on ARM PCs
A laptop and a camera on a table with a Qualcomm logo on the screen.

Qualcomm shared an exciting teaser during the 2024 Game Developers Conference (GDC), hinting that the PC gaming market might not be so limited to x86 architecture going forward. The company spoke during a session titled "Windows on Snapdragon, a Platform Ready for Your PC Games," and it claimed that Windows games will simply work on laptops equipped with the latest Snapdragon X Elite chip -- no extra prep required -- all thanks to emulation.

As reported by The Verge, Qualcomm's engineer Issam Khalil discussed how the company hopes to achieve realistic gaming on its ARM-based chip as early as May this year. Khalil explained the ins and outs of x86/64 emulation on Snapdragon X Elite, explaining that game devs will be able to port their titles to native ARM64 for the best performance, but they can also do "next to nothing" -- the game should just work anyway due to x64 emulation.

Read more