The Copilot+ PC may be great at AI, but what about gaming? To find out, I tested a variety of games on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, and the results were… interesting, but not gloomy.
Copilot+ PCs are a new collection of AI-powered laptops powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus chipsets. Qualcomm’s chips run on a different type of architecture than Intel and AMD chips, so many apps and games can’t run natively on Copilot+ PCs, at least for now. For now, anything that can’t run natively on Qualcomm’s Arm architecture goes through Microsoft’s Prism emulator instead.
As a result, gaming on Snapdragon-powered laptops can be hit or miss. If you’re considering buying a Copilot+ PC and want to game, there are a few things you should know first. Below is my gaming experience on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x:
Gaming on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x… is it okay?
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a slim and sleek mid-range laptop suitable for a variety of everyday tasks, including web browsing and media consumption. However, it is not a dedicated gaming laptop and does not come equipped with a dedicated GPU. Our review unit came equipped with a Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 CPU, integrated Qualcomm Adreno graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. Overall performance was good, but it did offer an interesting gaming experience.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Snapdragon X Elite, so I started off by trying some low-spec games and slowly leveling up from there. I usually prefer to use Xbox Game Pass during game testing, but it doesn’t work with the Copilot+ PC (unless you’re streaming games with Xbox Cloud Gaming), so I used Steam instead.
I started like this Death’s Dooris a fairly lightweight indie title. When I launched the game on my Yoga Slim 7x, it defaulted to the maximum graphics settings (2944 x 1840, 89 fps), which caused a bit of lag but was still playable. I changed the graphics settings to medium (1920 x 1280, 59 fps) and it ran perfectly. Death’s Door It looked great on the OLED display, ran smoothly and made for an overall enjoyable experience.
Next started Risk of Rain 2 We checked how the Yoga Slim 7x handled and rendered a generated world and a ton of creatures. The Snapdragon X Elite had a bit of a lag while a new world was loading, but then it ran smoothly, keeping up with quick movements and rendering the cartoony alien hordes without too much trouble.
After the first two games, I was feeling a bit more optimistic: at the very least, the Yoga Slim 7x could run casual titles, right? But what about more demanding single-player games?
I’ll go a step further Horizon Zero Dawn and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Next. Both games are designed for computers with dedicated GPUs. Zero Dawn If you try to run it on a PC without a dedicated GPU, a popup will appear warning you of potential graphics issues. I ignored the popup and ran it on my Yoga Slim 7x anyway, and was pleasantly surprised by the results.
Horizon Zero Dawn Boot-up was pretty quick and my most recent save game loaded without any issues. It ran perfectly well on low graphics settings, averaging 55 fps. I completed quests, searched for supplies, and fought hordes of robots without any issues. Combat was smooth and responsive.
Surprisingly, it was a perfectly playable experience. The OLED display also helped to compensate for the low graphics settings. The Snapdragon X Elite was a bit slower at medium and high graphics, but I still consider it an “acceptable” experience overall.
Yoga Slim 7x has been successful three times so far, but when I try to run Assassin’s Creed ValhallaFinally, I realized its limitations.
Snapdragon X Elite’s Gaming Shortcomings
Although several years have passed, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a pretty demanding game, especially for a mainstream laptop like the Yoga Slim 7x. I quickly had to lower the graphics quality, which is set to “High” by default. When I was stationary, the graphics looked great on the OLED display, but the Yoga Slim 7x just couldn’t keep up with movement at “High” graphics.
We set everything to “Medium” and ran in-game benchmark tests at a few different graphics.
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Graphics Settings | FPS Range | Average FPS |
|---|---|---|
| Medium (Auto SR On) | 6 to 58 fps | 21fps |
| Low (Auto SR On) | 4 to 68 fps | 19fps |
| Low (Auto SR off) | 4 to 63 fps | 19fps |
These results are consistent with our laboratory tests. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: The Gathering StormAt 1080p, the Yoga Slim 7x averaged 20.8 fps, which is much lower than the frame rates I got in other games. The Auto Super Resolution (Auto SR) didn’t help much either, but that’s probably because Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Not yet supported.
Auto SR is a feature of Copilot+ PC that uses AI to improve graphics performance. It can increase FPS by lowering the rendering resolution. This is a new feature, so it only works in a few games for now. Unfortunately, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Not one of them (at the time of writing).
Valhalla Even at lower graphics settings, it was barely playable. The 20 fps average in our benchmark tests matched what we got in real-world gameplay. We did a bit of running around, but combat, parkour and other moves were met with headaches due to frame drops.
Unfortunately, the Yoga Slim 7x is not my Assassin’s Creed Valhalla test.
Things got even worse when we moved to the final stage of game testing: multiplayer. The first title I tried to play was Apex LegendsThe app suddenly quit with a popup informing me that it was not compatible with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset. Apex Legendsand other esports titles like it, use anti-cheat software, and so far it has completely blocked these games from running on ARM-based PCs.
After that failure, I started Elder Scrolls Online We tried out this game to see how the Yoga Slim 7x would handle large environments with lots of moving players and creatures. The game would run, but it was completely unplayable. The Snapdragon X Elite struggled to render it properly, resulting in invisible monsters and floating grass. The keyboard deck also got noticeably warmer, especially in the top-left corner where the WASD keys are.
Unfortunately, both multiplayer tests were a failure, and while the Snapdragon X Elite has its limitations, it’s not a total failure when it comes to gaming.
What about streaming games?
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Apex Legendsand Elder Scrolls Online Copilot+ PC gaming has a dark stigma, but there may be a solution: cloud gaming. NVIDIA GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming run on the Snapdragon X Elite and allow you to play games that the Yoga Slim 7x can’t. It’s not a perfect solution since it relies on an internet connection, but many modern games require one anyway.
I played a little Forza Horizon 5 I tried GeForce Now on the Yoga Slim 7x and had a great time. Resolution and frame rates were on par with what I typically get on a desktop gaming PC, and the graphics on the Yoga Slim 7x’s OLED display were crisp and colorful. The keyboard deck did get a little warm, but not nearly as hot as it was when I tried to run it. Elder Scrolls Online.
Cloud gaming is a way for game developers and publishers to bridge the gap until they can port their titles to the ARM architecture. While there have been other attempts to put Qualcomm chips into laptops, the Copilot+ PC is the first time that so many Snapdragon-powered laptops have hit the market. So it may be some time before more games are optimized to run natively on the Arm architecture. In the meantime, cloud gaming can provide a great experience.
Conclusion
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a lot of things: a Copilot+ PC, a Snapdragon-powered laptop, a MacBook Air rival, and more, but a “gaming PC” isn’t one of them. It’s designed as a mid-range mainstream laptop, and it delivers on that purpose. If you’re looking for a device dedicated to gaming, you’d be better off with one of the best gaming laptops, or even a handheld gaming PC.
But if you’re looking for a slim, light, versatile laptop that can also handle gaming, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a great choice. It stumbled when trying to run graphics-intensive games or multiplayer titles, but ran casual games without any issues. Indie titles performed particularly well in my testing.
You can even bring this laptop onto an airplane and do some light gaming with it. Hades or Death’s Door It works without a hitch. The Yoga Slim 7x is currently running surprisingly well, considering that I run most of my games on emulators. If you want to play more resource-intensive games, you can always use cloud gaming platforms like NVIDIA GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming. Plus, the games look great on the 3K OLED display.
If you’re considering buying the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x but are concerned about gaming performance, be aware that many games are not yet optimized for Qualcomm chips, though this may improve over time.
Whether the Yoga Slim 7x or any other Copilot+ PC is the right laptop for you will depend on what games you like to play. Competitive gamers who stick mainly to multiplayer titles should opt for a gaming laptop instead, while casual gamers and indie game fans will likely be fine with the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x.
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