Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition: RTX 5060 Power at $2,600

What $2,600 actually buys you

Lenovo sells the Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition in two fixed configurations, and the gap between them is wider than the $300 price difference suggests.

The base model at $2,600 pairs an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H with an Nvidia RTX 5050, 32GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD. Step up to $2,900 and you get a Core Ultra 9 386H and an RTX 5060, but the RAM and storage stay the same. That's a lot of money for a GPU bump, especially when Best Buy has listed the base model at $2,700 and has dropped it below $2,000 during sales.

The 15-inch 2.5K OLED touchscreen is the one component that justifies some of the outlay. It's sharp, bright and well-suited to photo and video work. The chassis is sturdy too, with minimal flex around the lid and hinge, and the port selection is generous for a machine this thin.

The 'Aura Edition' label is marketing, not a performance tier. It simply denotes Intel silicon inside. Don't let it sway your decision.

• Base: Core Ultra 7 356H + RTX 5050, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD — $2,600
• Step-up: Core Ultra 9 386H + RTX 5060, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD — $2,900
• Display: 15-inch 2.5K (2560x1600) OLED touchscreen
• Weight: 3.7 pounds

Performance: strong GPU, middling CPU

The RTX 5060 is the star here, but the Intel chip trails Apple's M5 in single-core tests.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad, the Yoga Pro 7i comfortably outpaces creative rivals like the Dell XPS 16 and M5 MacBook Air, and it even trades blows with budget gaming laptops such as the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 and MSI Cyborg 15. For Blender renders, video exports and 3D modeling, that GPU headroom matters more than a few hundred points in a CPU benchmark.

The CPU story is more nuanced. The Core Ultra 9 386H holds its own against other Panther Lake and Arrow Lake machines, and it wins multi-core tests against the M5. But Apple's chip still leads in single-core Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024 runs. If your workflow leans on single-threaded tasks, the MacBook Air is the faster tool.

Gaming is a secondary concern. The Yoga Pro 7i can run older titles like Guardians of the Galaxy at nearly 160fps on high settings, but a contemporary game like Assassin's Creed Shadows will hover around 60fps. This is a creative laptop first.

Battery life and portability don't quite align

Fifteen hours of battery life is genuinely impressive for this class, but the 3.7-pound weight undercuts the portability pitch.

The Yoga Pro 7i lasted 15 hours in CNET's battery test, which beats the Dell XPS 16's 14 hours and the Yoga Pro 9i 16's 11 hours. For a laptop with a discrete GPU and a high-resolution OLED panel, that's a real achievement. You can leave the charger at home for a full workday.

The catch is the chassis. At 3.7 pounds, this 15-inch machine weighs as much as some 16-inch laptops, including the HP Omnibook 3 16. The build quality is excellent, with a rigid lid and hinge, but your backpack will feel it on a daily commute.

Lenovo also bundles software options like Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft 365, which can push the final price up by several hundred dollars. Watch for that at checkout.

Availability and pricing

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition Gen 11 is available now on Lenovo's US store, with the base model at $2,600 and the step-up at $2,900. Best Buy carries the base configuration at $2,700, though frequent sales have pushed it below $2,000 in the past.

UK and EU pricing has not been announced in the source material, but Lenovo typically lists Yoga models in those markets within weeks of the US launch. Check Lenovo's regional sites for local pricing and VAT-inclusive totals.

Lenovo's Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition Gen 11 gets the fundamentals right: a rigid chassis, a lovely OLED screen, strong GPU performance and battery life that outlasts most rivals. The problem is the price. At $2,600, it sits in awkward territory between cheaper creative laptops and more powerful gaming machines. Wait for a sale, or look at what Apple and Dell offer for similar money.