The Ryzen 7 4800U is an Absolute Monster: Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 14 Laptop Review

[_MT_]

Pretty much, all that's left is for manufacturers to implement it. The underlying platform (zen 2) clearly supports it, there's desktop boards with tb3 and even the ones without can be made to work with add on cards, I wouldn't put past there being a specific incompatibility with Renoir but I doubt it

I'm still hopeful this is not a mistake, but let's see

No, "Zen 2" doesn't support Thunderbolt. Putting aside that the statement makes no sense since Zen 2 is a code name for the core, not platform (and it's the I/O die that would support it, not the core). But no processor with Zen 2 cores (or any other AMD processor; or chipset) supports Thunderbolt. Yes, it's possible to offer TB3 support on motherboards with Ryzen processors. All you need is PCIe, which is available on those systems, and a Thunderbolt controller. The controller is the problem. Initially, Intel controlled that aspect. I think it was in 2018 that they've opened that up and anyone could make them. So, AMD is free to build a controller into future Ryzen processors or future chipsets (AFAIK). And anyone can make a standalone controller. Back to the point, USB4 support plays no role here. It's possible to have USB4 and no TB support. And in that case, TB devices (GPU, SSD, 10G LAN, etc.) are not going to work. Actually, this configuration can be desirable for companies. Because TB exposes PCIe bus which is not good for security. Sure, you can disable TB in BIOS. The problem with that solution is that you'll lose that port completely. All TB enabled ports will be dead (I guess PD might work, but no USB and no DP AFAIK). So, it's desirable to have USB C ports without TB support in case the customer wants to disable TB.

I think current AMD systems don't have native TB support because it was too late when Intel opened up controller manufacture. And how they see this technology, how important it seems to them, is a question.

What still remains, AFAIK, is the certification. Intel is the certifying body for Thunderbolt. Unless that changed recently. And that could be a struggle. Although, it's possible. I think it's ASRock who have an AM4 motherboard with certified TB3.

[Padmakara]

I have a question for the guys doing the reviews:
How come acer swift 3 ryzen has a score of 87 (with a bad display of 60% srgb and a 4700u that throttles because of bad cooling doing the job like a 4500u) and this yoga 7 with great display, cpu , only has a score of 85.
Also how come in the amd ryzen u series when you test the laptops at comparison you put also the intel H series cpus, and at intel reviews you don't put AMD H Series cpus.
Something with these reviews is very fucked up, and the one in charge with all the reviews should do something, otherwise your website will loose all the credibility!

[Kauri]

You should also mention that there is an option in lenovo vantage for quick charging, which drastically cuts down the charging time. Also there are 1TB versions with the worse SK Hynix SSDs which you should look out for when shopping for this laptop.

[_MT_]

Also how come in the amd ryzen u series when you test the laptops at comparison you put also the intel H series cpus, and at intel reviews you don't put AMD H Series cpus.

In this case, the MSI GE75 with i9-9880H is there to illustrate just how powerful the 4800U is. At least in the first run, but that's not a fault of the 4800U.

[Denis]

I am really impressed with this laptop, the cpu is awesome, the temps are good, the fans are nearly silent and it has a great battery life. The negative aspects that I hold dear, the gpu lacks greatly in power, if they could just add an option with a higher performance one. Having a Thunderbolt 3 would be a great plus, but not a must have. The fact that you can't upgrade the RAM on this laptop is something I just don't understand, why am I seeing more and more laptops with this ludicrous option? It's hard to find perfection in this world, it seems!

[ryannnnn]

I have a question for the guys doing the reviews:
How come acer swift 3 ryzen has a score of 87 (with a bad display of 60% srgb and a 4700u that throttles because of bad cooling doing the job like a 4500u) and this yoga 7 with great display, cpu , only has a score of 85.
Also how come in the amd ryzen u series when you test the laptops at comparison you put also the intel H series cpus, and at intel reviews you don't put AMD H Series cpus.
Something with these reviews is very fucked up, and the one in charge with all the reviews should do something, otherwise your website will loose all the credibility!

I have a question for the guys doing the reviews:
How come acer swift 3 ryzen has a score of 87 (with a bad display of 60% srgb and a 4700u that throttles because of bad cooling doing the job like a 4500u) and this yoga 7 with great display, cpu , only has a score of 85.
Also how come in the amd ryzen u series when you test the laptops at comparison you put also the intel H series cpus, and at intel reviews you don't put AMD H Series cpus.
Something with these reviews is very fucked up, and the one in charge with all the reviews should do something, otherwise your website will loose all the credibility!

Yeah, they're afraid the fact that slim 7 AMD is a real disruptor in today laptop market.

[hfm]

Pretty much, all that's left is for manufacturers to implement it. The underlying platform (zen 2) clearly supports it, there's desktop boards with tb3 and even the ones without can be made to work with add on cards, I wouldn't put past there being a specific incompatibility with Renoir but I doubt it

I'm still hopeful this is not a mistake, but let's see

No, "Zen 2" doesn't support Thunderbolt. Putting aside that the statement makes no sense since Zen 2 is a code name for the core, not platform (and it's the I/O die that would support it, not the core). But no processor with Zen 2 cores (or any other AMD processor; or chipset) supports Thunderbolt. Yes, it's possible to offer TB3 support on motherboards with Ryzen processors. All you need is PCIe, which is available on those systems, and a Thunderbolt controller. The controller is the problem. Initially, Intel controlled that aspect. I think it was in 2018 that they've opened that up and anyone could make them. So, AMD is free to build a controller into future Ryzen processors or future chipsets (AFAIK). And anyone can make a standalone controller. Back to the point, USB4 support plays no role here. It's possible to have USB4 and no TB support. And in that case, TB devices (GPU, SSD, 10G LAN, etc.) are not going to work. Actually, this configuration can be desirable for companies. Because TB exposes PCIe bus which is not good for security. Sure, you can disable TB in BIOS. The problem with that solution is that you'll lose that port completely. All TB enabled ports will be dead (I guess PD might work, but no USB and no DP AFAIK). So, it's desirable to have USB C ports without TB support in case the customer wants to disable TB.

I think current AMD systems don't have native TB support because it was too late when Intel opened up controller manufacture. And how they see this technology, how important it seems to them, is a question.

What still remains, AFAIK, is the certification. Intel is the certifying body for Thunderbolt. Unless that changed recently. And that could be a struggle. Although, it's possible. I think it's ASRock who have an AM4 motherboard with certified TB3.

TB3 interoperability with USB4 is completely up to the USB Host manufacturer and does not require any type of certification, although it can optionally be done.

[Aaron]

This laptop deserves a higher score. I've had the 15.6"/1065G7/16GB/512GB model for almost 5 months and I am absolutely in love with it. Phenomenal screen, glass touchpad, keyboard, battery life, build quality (can be held by the corner of the keyboard deck with no bending, something the C940 can't do). The ONLY thing I wish it had is one of the new Ryzen processors, but I'm satisfied with the addition of Thunderbolt and lack of annoying AMD drivers. Otherwise, it's pretty much the perfect laptop, with minimal compromises aside from marginally worse fit and finish than something like a 2020 XPS. IMO, this is THE best laptop on the market for a value-conscious business user, student, or on-the-go creator. I hope Notebookcheck considers upgrading their score.

[FlipStone]

Is battery performance really that good? I bought the Ideapad S540-13ARE with Ryzen7 4800u and while on charger it's great but on battery performance drops quite a bit, despite the power plan or battery plan selected. (Started investigating after I found the responsiveness not as great, even slower compared to my i7-8550u at times).

Cinebench performs fine, it scales properly and doesn't get a hit from working on the battery.

But Geekbench, Passmark Performancetest and PCMark8 in my case all take a big hit when going on battery, especially on single core, and perform the same whether I have Battery Saving selected or Extreme Performance. Power drawn DOES increase when going fo rthe heavier mode.

Even tried with a non-lenovo clean windows install but no effect so it isn't a lenovo specific windows setting. Some hw/bios thing?

From what I see all performance benchmarks are done when plugged in, and cinebench is the main tool used. But please inspect other benchmark tools and performance on battery... for a laptop, quite important I'd say :/

[Mark S.]

no, NBC won't update their scores to reflect the reality. As long as they get to service Intel's weenie, laptops with Cinebench score 520 will get 88% rating (see X13 Yoga review) while this excellent Slim 7 will not go past 85%.

[rebum]

Can anyone confirm the electronic noise when placing an ear near the keyboard?

[m_eu]

Regarding the SSD drive, I've purchaseed a model with 4800U/16GB/512GB and the drive is from SK Hynix HFS512GD9TNG-L3A0B.

When compared to the Samsung SSD, measurements are only half of Samung ones. I guess another Lenovo lottery :/ The thing is that Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 with Ryzen 4800U is being sold as a premium machine in Europe while in China it's 700€ for the same config.

Measurements attached i.imgur.com/QfoqvFQ DOT png

[mikeshepherd]

This is getting interesting.

It is not wise to say it has 2400mhz ram while it has 4266mhz.

It is not wise to add a 17" inch laptop with desktop grade Intel CPU in multithreaded test if you dont add there also 4900H from AMD? (cinebench multi core charts)

Also I can ask, when you review Intel ultra thin laptops, you never ever put in the same charts 45W AMD 4900H CPUs. Because you dont want to show AMD first, for some reason...

Also you do not mention about the HDR Dolby vision screen.

But the most ridicilous thing is to say it has TB3, it does not.

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[donald gillies]

This CPU (4800u) is completely MIA in the USA.  I suspect it's because there is no PRO version (4850U pro) of the CPU.  AMD stupidly sells a separate line of CPUs for remote management by a corporate IT department.  There just isn't much of a market for an 8-core 16-thread laptop for home use.  The CPU is not qualified for corporate remote administration, so nobody is making a laptop with it.

[The Blitz]

is minimum brightness really 0.27 nits? I have never seen such a low brightness anywhere other than 0.55 nits on some eizo desktop monitors...
Considering same yoga slim with 4700U has minimum 3.5 nits you made a mistake?