Lenovo Ideapad Slim 5 vs Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 Pro

Question

I am having difficulty choosing the most appropriate laptop for my work. I usually use my laptop for statistical software and programming (SPSS, R, Stata, Excel), and multitasking (Microsoft Office and Chrome browsing with multiple tabs). I came across these two laptops, and I am having difficulty choosing which is the best. Here is the detail of the two laptops:

1. Model: Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 Pro 
Processor: Intel Core i7-11370H 
RAM: 16GB 
Storage: 1 TB SSD 
OS: Windows 11 Home 64x 
Display: 14" FHD (2880x1800) 
Battery: 61 Wh Price: 850 USD 
Other features: Touchscreen

2. Model: Lenovo Ideapad Slim 5
Processor: Intel Core i7-1065G7
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 512GB SSD
OS: Windows 10 Home 64x
Display: 15.6" FHD (1920x1080)
Battery: 57 Wh
Price: 725 USD

Personally, I think Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 Pro is superior in terms of performance and battery life (which is the two most important specs for me since I will be using my laptop for coding/programming and I will probably carry my laptop to places without outlet. However, I was wondering whether the upgrades (battery, storage, OS, touchscreen, model) are worth 125 USD.

Furthermore, for those using Lenovo Ideapad Slim 7 Pro, can I have your opinions especially in build quality, heating issues, etc.?

Any insights will be much appreciated. Thank you very much in advance

Answer 1

On the Slim 7 Pro, the OS is not an upgrade, only an update, but this is an easy fix for the Slim 5 if you like Win11 (I cannot reccomend Win11 though over Win10, Win7, WinXP or Linux, but that's just personal perefference). Since you are a developer, you might want to dualboot Linux (like most guys at my school do), and for that use case, the 1TB ssd is way better. If you know what you are doing and want to upgrade/update some parts yourself go for the Slim 5, it will be cheaper and about the same in performance.

But please take my answer with a grain of salt. I am a devver too, but I have more experience with old laptops (and Linux) and have no experience with Lenovo.