Lenovo’s Aura Edition laptops add more smarts to Lunar Lake
Core Ultra Series 2 performance meets slick software
Lenovo wasn’t first in line to announce new laptops powered by Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile CPUs, but that’s because it had something better: a software partnership with the chipmaker meant to make your life that little bit easier. The Lenovo Aura Edition range comes with its own suite of tools that’ll adapt the machine on the fly for specific activities, make it easy to pass pics between your phone and the Windows desktop, and offer real-time troubleshooting when the proverbial hits the fan.
There will be a bunch of models kicking off the new line-up, including the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition.
Both put a range of different modes a tap or two away at all times. Attention mode can block distracting websites; Shield mode highlights privacy alerts and prompts you to activate a VPN if you have one; Collaboration mode steps up video call quality by boosting low light images, blurring your background and increasing clarity; and Wellness mode reminds you to take more regular breaks. There’s also easy-to-access power settings that can maximise your time spent away from the mains, without digging through menus for the most effective energy saving options.
Smart Care then puts real-time support on your screen – either the laptop itself or your smartphone, if you’ve had such a disaster the machine won’t even power on properly. Premium Care subscribers can live chat or call support technicians, while everyone else can use chatbots to diagnose any issues
Finally Smart Share lets you tap a compatible phone on the side of the laptop’s screen to automatically launch a dedicated app on both devices. It’s then just a case of dragging-and-dropping to get your holiday snaps onto the bigger screen, whether you’re on iOS or Android. In my demo it worked very well, detecting the handful of new shots I’d taken just a few seconds earlier, and copying them to the desktop on demand in just a matter of seconds.
Anything to save me uploading photos to cloud storage and redownloading them again on my laptop sounds like a win (because reaching for a cable is far too much effort) but the different modes didn’t feel all that groundbreaking when I tried them briefly at Lenovo’s IFA hands-on session.
What should make the biggest impact for the new lineup – which all use familiar laptop bodies carried over from the previous generation – is Intel’s new Core Ultra (Series 2) processor. These eight-core powerhouses promise greater performance than the outgoing first-gen silicon, yet sip electrons at a much slower rate. In theory that means 24 hours of battery life should be doable, and more.
I spent most time with the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition at Lenovo’s IFA press event. The 1.46kg ultraportable has a 15.3in LCD screen with 2.8K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2) processor, up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB PCIe storage, and a 70WHr battery.
The rounded device corners, up-firing speaker grilles and slight bump in the screen bezel to make space for a Windows Hello-ready webcam were all pretty slick on the Snapdragon-powered Yoga Slim 7x I reviewed earlier this year. At £1400 you’re paying an extra £100 or so for Intel’s hardware and software mix – which, don’t forget, is based on x86 architecture, so won’t throw a wobbly with certain software like Qualcomm’s ARM-based alternative.
A lot of the Aura Edition features rely on Intel tech, but a Lenovo rep said it had the exclusive for the foreseeable – so don’t expect other manufacturers to offer a similar setup for a good while yet.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition will be on sale later this month.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
