Lenovo’s Latest Legion 7 Gaming Laptops Are Its Most Powerful and Portable Yet

August 26, 2022 Joshua Goldman (advanced, amd, devices), intel, laptops, lenovo, micro, notebooks

    Lenovo announced its latest high-end Legion 7 series gaming laptops on Tuesday. At the top of the line are the Legion 7 and 7i, which Lenovo said are the world’s most powerful 16-inch gaming laptops. A pair of thinner, lighter versions, the Slim 7 and 7i, were also announced.?
    The Legion 7 (AMD) and 7i (Intel) feature a 16-inch 2,560×1,600-resolution 16:10 display with either a 165Hz refresh rate or a variable refresh rate up to 240Hz and 500-nit brightness. There are three display choices, including a mini-LED one with a peak brightness of 1,250 nits and 100% P3 color gamut coverage.?

    This is the world’s most powerful 16-inch gaming laptop, Lenovo says.
    Josh Goldman/CNET
    The body of these laptops is made from aluminum and magnesium and has RGB lighting pouring from its keyboard, fan vents, lid and front edge. The redesigned keyboard has a little more key travel than its predecessor as well as improved curved keycaps and force sensors on the WASD keys for greater control over the acceleration of in-game characters.?
    Configurations will be available with:

Up to 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900HX or AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processors
Up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX6850M XT discrete graphics
Up to 32GB of 4,800MHz DDR5 memory (optional 5,600MHz DDR5 OC memory with 7i version)
Up to 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4 SSD

    Other features include a 99.99Whr battery, a full-HD webcam with a privacy shutter and a large port assortment including 2.5Gbps Ethernet, HDMI 2.1 and Thunderbolt 4 (Legion 7i) and USB 4 (Legion 7). The Legion 7i will start at $2,449 when it starts shipping later in May. That converts to roughly ￡1,985 or AU$3,520. The Legion 7 arrives in June starting at $2,059.?

    The Slim 7 and 7i (one example on left) isn’t much thinner than the Legion 7 and 7i, but they weigh about a pound less.
    Josh Goldman/CNET
    Those who don’t mind trading some gaming performance for increased portability will want to look at the Legion Slim 7 or 7i. The body is 16 millimeters thick (0.6 inch) and has a starting weight of 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). By comparison, the regular Legion 7 is 19mm (0.8 inch) and 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds). The Slim 7 has the same display choices but adds a 1,920×1,200-resolution option, too. Combined with more midrange graphics chips, this model starts at a more affordable price of $1,519 for the Slim 7 and $1,589 for the Slim 7i.?
    Component choices will include:

Up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900HK or AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processors
Up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX6800S discrete graphics
Up to 24GB 4,800MHz DDR5 memory (8GB onboard)
Up to 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4 SSD

    The Legion Slim 7 doesn’t put on the same light show as the Legion 7. ?
    Josh Goldman/CNET
    The port assortment isn’t quite as full as the Legion 7’s set; there’s no Ethernet jack for example. But the Slim 7 does have one advantage that makes this a little more attractive for those who are gamers and creators: a full-size SD card slot.?
    The Legion 7i and Slim 7i will be available later this month while the Legion 7 and Slim 7 arrive in June. Of course, due to the continued chip shortages and supply chain problems, the timing could slip or availability could be limited to specific configurations.