I don’t know if you still remember it. In June last year, we tested the previous generation of Lenovo Zhaoyang business notebook. At that time, the main selling point of that product was rich software and hardware customization and full-process product services. Now, almost a year later, we once again got the 2024 new Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook. This time it comes with the latest Intel Ultra 9 185H processor, RTX 4060 independent graphics, and Lenovo Xiaotian, Lenovo Zhihui and other exclusive AI applications are back again, and product capabilities may not be what they used to be.
Because of this, we have more expectations for this product. After all, you may be able to see Lenovo Zhaoyang in the computers issued by the company in front of the screen. So this time, can the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-power notebook bring a different experience? Hurry up and take a look with Gamingdeputy.
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Appearance design
Gamingdeputy got the 14-inch version, which is said to be a business notebook, but the appearance design of Zhaoyang X7 is more simple and fashionable.
In terms of size, the thickness is 15.9mm and the measured weight is 1.58kg. Although it has increased compared with the previous generation, it is still thin and light. It also adds an RTX 4060 independent display for stronger graphics performance.
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The space-time silver color aluminum alloy unibody body retains the Lenovo metal nameplate on the A side, and the screen still supports 180° opening and closing.
The small bump on the top of the B side makes it easier to open the cover with one hand, and the privacy pick above the camera is also a traditional feature.
The iconic Lenovo keyboard layout on the C side, with curved smile keycaps and concave independent direction keys, is full of a strong “Lenovo flavor”. The independent power button with fingerprint recognition and status indicator light in the upper right corner of the keyboard, as well as the large touchpad are all familiar.
In terms of screen, Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook is equipped with a 14-inch, 16:10 ratio, 2560*1600 resolution, 90Hz refresh rate IPS screen, and a screen brightness of 400nit.
The screen adopts a three-sided ultra-narrow bezel design, and the lower bezel is slightly wider, but the screen-to-body ratio is still as high as 90%. The screen also supports 100% sRGB color gamut, and has dual low blue light certification from TUV Rheinland and eyesafe Display.
Through the actual measurement of the color calibration instrument by Gamingdeputy, the sRGB color gamut volume of this screen has reached 106%, and the color gamut coverage is also 99.9%. The volume and coverage of the other two color gamuts are both above 70%, and the screen color performance is OK.
As for the detailed changes, the two new page-turning keys in the direction key area are definitely one of them.
In terms of interfaces, the Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook uses a 3A2C data port combination. One of the A ports is a hidden 2.4G receiver storage port. There are also HDMI, RJ45 network ports and Micro SD card slots, and even added A GX OCulink graphics card expansion dock interface is truly versatile and comprehensive.
The original 140W output power adapter is also small in size, weighing about 320g, and the travel weight is well controlled within 2kg.
Performance measurement
It should be noted that the D shell of the Zhaoyang X7 we got uses external hexagonal screws. Unscrew all the screws and pry open the buckles along the edge to separate the D shell. It is not difficult to find after removing the casing that the Zhaoyang X7 has a dual-fan and dual-heat pipe design. The two heat pipes are matched in thickness and cover the top of the core CPU and GPU. At the same time, the memory part is also pressed under the heat pipe.
After actual testing by Gamingdeputy, the read and write performance of Zhaoyang X7's built-in memory is very good. The writing speed is slightly lower, reaching 75914MB/s, and the reading and copying speeds have reached more than 80000MB/s. The memory latency is a bit high. , came to 134.6ns.
Under the left and right fans, there is a standard 2280 size M.2 hard drive bay. In the middle is Intel's latest AX211 wireless network card. The machine comes with a 1TB capacity solid state model AM6A1 from Yilian. The actual read and write speed is as follows As shown in the figure.
There is also a large 84W battery at the bottom. In the modern office battery life benchmark test of PC Mark 10, we turned on the smart power saving mode of the machine and tested with 60% screen brightness (about 250nit). The actual battery life score reached 9 Hours 41 minutes, not bad. If you further switch to integrated display mode, I believe there will be better battery life performance.
After watching the disassembly, I feel that the internal scalability and peripheral configuration of this machine are very good. As long as the requirements are not very demanding, it is perfectly fine to buy it and use it in one step. However, whether the heat dissipation combination of dual fans and dual heat pipes can suppress the Ultra 9 185H and RTX 4060 still needs to be verified through a baking machine.
The first is to bake the FPU alone. After 10 minutes, the CPU power consumption remains at 70W. At this time, the CPU's P core frequency is 3.1GHz and the CPU temperature is 93°. This power consumption performance is still significantly improved compared to previous generations of Zhaoyang products. . I still remember that the Zhaoyang X7 we tested last year used the 13th generation i7-13700H standard voltage processor, but the single-baking power consumption was only 55W, and the temperature was also above 90°, so in theory this time the Ultra 9 185H The processor can bring better performance.
Next is the GPU baking machine. After the same baking for 10 minutes, the GPU power consumption can be stabilized at around 75W. At this time, the GPU temperature is 71.2°, the video memory temperature is 72°, and the GPU frequency is slightly lower, around 1650MHz.
Finally, there is the more stressful double-baking session. This time, we double-baked for 20 minutes. Initially, the CPU power consumption reached 54W, and the core temperature directly exceeded 100°. Then it gradually dropped and stabilized at around 32W, and the CPU temperature also dropped back to 88°. . The power consumption on the GPU side is stable at around 63W, and the temperature is not high, only 67°. In this way, the performance of the entire machine is 95W, which is already beyond expectations for a commercial notebook.
Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook is equipped with the latest generation Intel Ultra 9 processor, which is based on the Intel 4 process and has 16 cores and 22 threads, including 6 performance cores, 8 energy efficiency cores and 2 ultra-low power consumption cores. core. The maximum core frequency can reach 5.1GHz. The Intel Ultra series has excellent energy consumption ratio and is very suitable for use in notebooks with thin and light bodies.
In the CineBench R23 test, the Ultra 9 185H processor on the Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook ran a single-core score of 1818 points, a multi-core score of 16895 points, and the lowest score in the 10-round full-core cycle test was 14000 points. Above, as a comparison, the multi-core score of the latest consumer-grade thin and light all-round notebook, the Ultra 9 185H, is around 19200 points. There is still a gap, but it is reasonable to say that this score performs well in the commercial field.
In terms of GPU, I believe everyone is very familiar with the independent graphics card RTX 4060. Let’s look directly at the test. In the 3D Mark Time Spy (DX12 game) test project, the graphics card score of Zhaoyang X7 reached 8549 points.
In another 3D Mark FireStrike (DX11 game) test project, the Zhaoyang X7's graphics card score reached 21707 points, and the results of both tests are not bad.
We even tested the Time Spy stress test prepared for gaming notebooks out of curiosity. In the end, the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook successfully passed the test with a stability score of 98.2%, which is enough to illustrate its excellent and stable performance.
After testing these items, we realized that the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook is not only used to meet the basic office needs of browsing the web, coding and making tables, but its performance is no problem even when running mainstream 3A games.
Now that you can play games, productivity performance is even easier. In the benchmark test of the latest V-Ray 6.0 version, the CPU project score of Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook is as high as 16674 points.
In the two V-Ray for GPU CUDA/RTX tests, the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook scored 1772 and 2733 points respectively, and it can also run some professional modeling and rendering tools.
AI applications
In addition to performance, the name of the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-power notebook is also very interesting this time. It not only sounds more catered to the mainstream consumer market, but also mentions the hottest concept in the PC circle in 2024 – AI PC. Speaking of AI PC, many friends may still not know what its definition is. As long as the machine has a large AI model built into it, does it count as an AI PC if it has a dedicated graphics card and can run DLSS? Obviously not.
In fact, Lenovo officials have summarized the five major features of AI PC for us.
AI PC needs to have built-in, personal-based large-scale models and naturally interactive agents. In plain words, it is a personal AI assistant.
AI PC needs to have a built-in personal knowledge base so that AI can “self-cultivate” based on the data in the knowledge base.
AI PC must have the local heterogeneous AI computing power of CPU+GPU+NPU, which is the basis of AI performance in terms of hardware.
AI PC must be able to connect to the open AI application ecosystem and expand the scenarios for users to use AI.
AI PC should also be able to protect personal privacy and data security, such as locking the screen when people leave, and smart meetings are specific application scenarios.
Obviously, Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook already has the above five major features, but it still sounds relatively “virtual”. Are there any specific application scenarios and functions? Of course there is.
Take the Lenovo Xiaotian AI personal intelligence application built into the system (hereinafter referred to as Lenovo Xiaotian) as an example. It can be said to be a functional service-oriented personal AI assistant built into this machine and based on a large personal model. That is to say, AI computing power can be transformed into specific functions to serve users.
After calling out the application, it will be displayed on the right side of the screen in the form of a floating window overlay. From the interface point of view, it has interactivity for text and document uploading, and is visually simple and easy to understand. The overall capabilities of Lenovo Xiaotian can be summarized into three points, device management, auxiliary office and creation, and it has two operating modes: local and cloud. Personal information will be processed locally to protect user privacy information.
Device management is easy to understand. In local mode, you can ask Xiaotian to help you set some functions, such as setting high-performance mode, fast charging mode, eye protection mode, etc. Taking the eye protection mode as an example, we enter the words “Help me set the eye protection mode” in the text box below, and Lenovo Xiaotian will pop up a prompt bubble asking us if we want to turn on the function to prevent misunderstanding. At this time, click OK, and Xiaotian will automatically generate text instructions for us, then turn on the function, and pop up a status message that the eye protection mode has been activated. In turn, the same operation is done to turn off the eye protection mode.
This function is very suitable for opening functions scattered in Lenovo's various built-in applications. These functions are often hidden deep. It is cumbersome for novice users to find and open such functions through conventional methods, and the learning cost is also high. But Lenovo Xiaotian can do it in just one sentence, which is very convenient.
For the auxiliary office part, you need to rely on the local knowledge base embedded in Lenovo Xiaotian. Everyone needs to process a lot of documents in their daily work, and analyzing and summarizing documents is usually time-consuming and laborious. In Lenovo Xiaotian, click the pin icon in the lower left corner of the input box and feed the document to Lenovo Xiaotian. It will be automatically added to the local knowledge base, and then you can ask Xiaotian questions about the specified document.
For example, I uploaded a Word document introducing the twenty-four solar terms, then clicked the book button at the top of the title bar of Lenovo Xiaotian, found the Word document in the open knowledge base document list, moved the mouse pointer up, and the word “Question” appeared. Just click and enter the question.
Here I asked Lenovo Xiaotian 2 questions about the document “Twenty-Four Solar Terms”. It can help us quickly retrieve documents, extract information and summarize it. It is very worry-free, and the experience is very personal and private. The theory The more documents you feed, and the more specific their types and fields are, the easier it will be for Lenovo Xiaotian to use it.
Of course, what is fed to the knowledge base does not necessarily have to be documents. Online web pages and emails can also be added to the knowledge base and asked by Lenovo Xiaotian to help with summarization or data retrieval. The applicability is very wide.
Then there is the cloud mode, which corresponds to the auxiliary creation part. You can use it to create a weekly work report template, travel plan, or create an AI picture to better inspire creative inspiration or improve creative efficiency. Click the upper right corner of the input box to switch to cloud mode, and then we asked Lenovo Xiaotian to help create an “early spring flower picture”. Xiaotian quickly generated four AI pictures, and the results were very good.
At this time, use the mouse to click on the picture you are satisfied with, and a large picture preview window will pop up on the left. The top provides one-click settings for wallpapers, downloading pictures, and opening photo applications for editing. It is equivalent to a computer. There is a little painter in the game who is ready to help you create.
Of course, the AI features of the Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook do not stop there. Lenovo Xiaotian is just one of the applications. The Lenovo Smart Meeting application and the Lenovo Intelligent Engine application that come with the machine are also very useful. Lenovo Smart Meeting application can help us better participate in video conferences, and it definitely has basic smart beauty and background cutout.
Turn on the tracking mode, and the camera can accurately track the movement and position of the character, and adjust the picture in real time so that the character is always in the center of the picture.
The most powerful thing is this temporary clone function. It can record an avatar of you. When you need to leave temporarily during a meeting, turn it on and your avatar will “attend the meeting” on your behalf. This is enough to make the fake appear real. A temporary avatar status prompt box will pop up in the lower corner until you return to the computer. I don’t need to explain how powerful this function is.
We also tested some third-party AI applications, such as the AIGC Assistant demo version launched by Intel. This application requires hardware support from Intel Core Ultra processors or Intel Arc series graphics cards. It has a built-in language model with up to 20 billion parameters. Library, you can chat with it, ask it to solve problems, let it translate an article, or help you make a travel plan. All operations are run locally without the need for an Internet connection. Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook can run this software perfectly, making your work and creation more efficient.
In the PC version of the video editing software, with the help of NPU's AI computing power, the speed of using the smart keying function is directly 3 times faster than that of thin and light laptops without NPU AI computing power. At the same time, Intel Ultra processors are more powerful in supporting video codecs. Video files exported using AV1 encoding are smaller in size and faster in export speed.
Lenovo Intelligent Engine is an application similar to a control center, which can switch graphics card mode, adjust Dolby sound effects, microphone/speaker noise reduction, fast battery charging, and network optimization.
However, its most practical aspect is AI intelligent scene adjustment, which can automatically switch scene presets and enable or optimize related functions according to the application and function scenarios of using the computer. For example, in a meeting scene, it will automatically turn on the voice mode of microphone noise reduction and Dolby sound effects; in an audio-visual scene, Dolby sound effects will switch to music mode, the microphone noise reduction will be turned off, and touchpad gestures will be enabled to prevent accidental touches, etc. . In other words, the small functions mentioned above will be packaged by the intelligent engine into a scene preset plan for simultaneous execution, which is very suitable for lazy people.
Summarize
In the few days I have been experiencing the Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook, I have truly felt the “opening up” of the commercial notebook market. In the past, the large-volume purchasing and enterprise customer models in the commercial field have made manufacturers accustomed to doing things first. Good service. Although the hardware can be customized, the configuration and performance are significantly different from to C products of the same level. If you want good things, you have to spend a lot of money. Whether due to cost or other reasons, many companies allocate laptops to employees that cannot provide a good user experience. However, this time Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook has achieved an excellent experience in both software and hardware.
Improving the experience is one thing. In terms of soft design, feel and texture, and personalized experience, Lenovo Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook is also the most mature generation. In particular, the highlights of its AI features, such as temporary avatars and local knowledge bases, are eye-catching, rather than the usual emphasis on the rigorous quality testing and privacy protection features of commercial laptops. You can think of the Zhaoyang X7 AI high-performance notebook as the catfish that stirred up the commercial notebook market. I believe that with it, the commercial notebook market will become more mature and dynamic in the future.