Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) review
Laptop Mag Verdict
The Lenovo Legion 7i packs stellar performance, a gorgeous display and long battery life into a sleek, compact design, but its keyboard and audio are rough around the edges.
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It’s rare to find a gaming laptop that goes all out for under $2,000, but consider that loot drop snagged with the Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel).
For $1,859, the Legion 7i offers incredible performance from its Intel Core i7-11800H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, a beautiful 16-inch display, long battery life and a svelte design. But despite how well it performs, its keyboard doesn’t live up to the Lenovo ThinkPad standard, and the speakers are practically unusable.
However, if you can get used to the keyboard and have an alternative audio solution, the Lenovo Legion 7i is a hell of a gaming laptop to have by your side. It’s even worthy of a spot among our best gaming laptops.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) price and configurations
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) specs
Price: $1,859
CPU: Intel Core i7-11800H
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB SSD
Display: 16-inch, 1600p, 165Hz
Battery: 5:02
Size: 14.2 x 10.
2 x 0.8~0.9 inches
Weight: 5.5 pounds
The Lenovo Legion 7i that I tested totals up to $1,859; It’s outfitted with an Intel Core i7-11800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 1600p, 165Hz display.
If you’re looking to save some money, you can drop that total to $1,439, but you’d be stuck with an RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Want to go balls to the wall? The $3,154 model will be more than enough to accommodate your needs, outfitting the Legion with a Core i9-11980HK CPU, an RTX 3080 GPU, and a 2TB SSD.
The Legion can get a bit pricey, so if you’re looking for something more affordable, consider checking out our best cheap gaming laptops page.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) design
Like most Lenovo gaming laptops, the Legion 7i features a subtle aesthetic that doesn’t scream “I’m a gaming laptop, please rob me.” Despite its 16-inch stature, the chassis is rather compact, adding to its svelte design.
The gunmetal paint pours over the expansive lid, surrounding the Lenovo logo in the bottom right and the RGB-lit Legion logo in the top left. Beyond the lid is a thin cylinder that acts as the precipice to the rest of the hinge, which houses an array of ports.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
To my surprise, opening the lid not only lit up the keyboard with an RGB flair, but the lip and the sides of the deck showed off a bright underglow via a discrete lightbar. It felt like a real “business in the front, party in the back” situation. Above the keyboard is a vent surrounded by a power button. Meanwhile, the display takes up a wide space with little to no bezels apart from the center lip, which is home to a webcam and a protrusion that features an engraved Legion logo.
At 5.5 pounds and 14.2 x 10.2 x 0.8~0.9 inches, the Legion 7i is rather slim and compact for a 16-inch gaming laptop. The Asus TUF Dash F15 (RTX 3070) (4.4 pounds, 14.2 x 10 x 0.8 inches), MSI GS76 Stealth (5.
4 pounds, 15.6 x 10.2 x 0.8 inches), and Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021) (5.5 pounds, 14.3 x 10 x 0.9 inches) range from 15 to 17 inches, but the Legion 7i managed to keep the shortest length.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) ports
There’s a wide array of ports onboard the Legion 7i thanks to its backside (booty ports as we call it in the tech business). However, it would’ve been nice to see a Mini DisplayPort.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
On the left, there’s a headphone jack and a Thunderbolt 4 port, while the right side features a USB Type-C port and a kill-switch for the webcam.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
Meanwhile, the backside holds room for the power jack, three USB Type-A ports, an RJ45 Ethernet port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, and an HDMI port.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
If you need more ports, check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) display
The Lenovo Legion 7i’s 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 display is impressively bright and quite vivid.
The 165Hz refresh rate is the cherry on top.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
In the trailer for Operation Fortune, the blue ocean popped on screen during the establishing shot of some fancy villa. Even when badass secret agent Jason Statham cleared a house at night, I could make out the glass dome in the background filled with blue and purple lights. Statham’s dark stubble was sharp as a knife on screen thanks to the display.
I played some Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the bush I found myself hiding in was surrounded by lush greenery that exploded on the display against the gorgeous sunset in the distance. When navigating through a dark cave, the display perfectly balanced the brightness and contrast so I could actually see where I was going. When I turned down some graphics settings, I saw my ax land into some dude’s neck at a silky 165Hz.
When tested, the Legion 7i showed off 80.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is great compared with the average mainstream gaming laptop (69.
6%). It was more colorful than the Dash F15 (77.9%) and Helios 300 (73.7%), but was outmatched by the GS76 Stealth (112.1%).
At 488 nits of brightness, the Legion 7i outshined the category average (319 nits) as well as the Dash F15 (265 nits), GS76 Stealth (300 nits), and Helios 300 (283 nits).
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) keyboard and touchpad
I didn’t enjoy typing on the Lenovo Legion 7i’s keyboard. While the keys were bouncy, the key travel was just short enough to make the typing experience a bit frustrating as opposed to satisfying.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
I hit 73 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is a little short of my 78 wpm average. The spacing can take a bit to get used to, but I don’t think I’d ever get used to the keys. If the key travel stayed the same but were clicky, then that would be more satisfying than the mushy, bouncy experience that each key delivers. If you are still sold on the Lenovo Legion 7i then consider adding one of the best gaming keyboards to your cart along with it.
The 4.7 x 3.0-inch touchpad is soft and provides a medium-depth click. Two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing gestures worked perfectly well on the Legion 7i’s touchpad.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) audio
The Lenovo Legion 7i’s bottom-firing speakers are shallow and not worth listening to.
I listened to GIRLI’s “More Than A Friend,” and the opening vocals were loud, but the percussive beats that backed the vocals were hollow and artificially bassy. All the instruments sounded far away, like I was hearing a neighbor’s block party from inside my house. The speakers weren’t able to keep the song present.
When I spoke to an NPC in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, their voice sounded shallow and echoey. Similar to music, I felt like I was hearing someone else play the game from a different room. I slashed a bear with my greataxe, and it sounded like a distorted metallic shriek. Even when I used my assassin vision to search the area, the sound effect was so low that I barely heard it.
The Legion 7i features the Nahimic audio app, which comes with presets for Music, Movie, Communication, Gaming, and Smart (automatic). Each one has an array of settings, like bass, treble and voice, to drastically change the sound, but you can’t fix crappy speakers with software alone.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) gaming, graphics and VR
Powering the graphical engine of the Lenovo Legion 7i is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. It was more than capable of running Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 69 frames per second on Ultra, 1600p settings while I wrangled a polar bear for a cowardly NPC.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
On the Borderlands 3 benchmark (Badass, 1080p), the Legion 7i nailed 89 fps, crushing the mainstream gaming laptop average (66 fps). With the same GPUs, the Dash F15 (62 fps), GS76 Stealth (72 fps), and Helios 300 (77 fps) couldn’t keep up with the Legion. At 1600p, the Legion 7i averaged 60 fps.
The Legion 7i achieved 103 fps on the Far Cry New Dawn benchmark (Ultra, 1080p), excelling beyond the category average (82 fps), the Dash F15 (70 fps), the GS76 Stealth (82 fps), and the Helios 300 (84 fps).
The Legion 7i scored 92 fps on the 1600p test.
On the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the Legion 7i averaged 77 fps, which sped past the average mainstream gaming laptop (58 fps). Once again, Lenovo made short work of the Dash F15 (52 fps), GS76 Stealth (64 fps), and Helios 300 (69 fps). When cranked up to 1600p, the Legion 7i averaged 49 fps.
Yet again the The Legion 7i scored a wild 105 fps, this time on the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Highest, 1080p), which blew away the category average (71 fps), the Dash F15 (69 fps), the GS76 Stealth (84 fps), and the Helios 300 (86 fps). At 1600p, the Legion 7i scored 64 fps.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) performance
What really makes the engine come to life is the Lenovo Legion 7i’s Intel Core i7-11800H CPU and 32GB of RAM. It easily cleared through 50 Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos without an issue. Even though Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs are here, the Legion 7i is still quite impressive.
On the Geekbench 5.4 overall performance test, the Legion 7i nailed (9,250), racing past the average mainstream gaming laptop (7,332). The Dash F15’s Core i7-11375H (5,166), the GS76 Stealth’s Core i9-11900H (8,102), and the Helios 300’s Core i7-10750H (6,257) couldn’t keep up.
The Legion 7i took only 5 minutes and 44 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our HandBrake benchmark, surpassing the category average (8:55) with ease. The Dash F15 (10:40), GS76 Stealth (7:36), and Helios 300 (9:18) couldn’t come close.
The key to the Legion 7i’s success may lie with its 1TB SSD, which boasts a whopping 1,806 megabytes-per-second transfer rate. On average, mainstream gaming laptops are as fast as 826 MBps. Meanwhile, the SSDs in the Dash F15 (1,003 MBps), GS76 Stealth (1,107 MBps), Helios 300 (544 MBps) can’t even cross the same atmosphere as the Legion 7i.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) battery life
Battery life in gaming laptops is getting better as the years go on, and the Legion 7i narrowly adheres to that trend.
On our Laptop Mag battery test, the Legion 7i lasted 5 hours and 2 minutes, surpassing the average mainstream gaming laptop (4:43). It also outpaced the GS76 Stealth (5:01) and Helios 300 (4:40), but the Dash F15 (6:53) still came out on top.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) webcam
A 720p webcam is a bad webcam no matter what laptop it’s in.
(Image credit: Rami Tabari)
In my test shot, my face was blotchy, and you couldn’t see the stubble on my face whatsoever. My dark green shirt turned blue, and the poor contrast blew out parts of my skin, whitewashing this lovely arab skin. I wouldn’t even think about playing D&D Online with this thing. Treat yourself and make yourself look the best you can be with a tour of our best webcams page.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) heat
The Lenovo Legion 7i can get a little warm under the hood. After gaming for 15 minutes, the Legion 7i’s underside reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, climbing above our 95-degree comfort threshold.
The center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 101 and 73 degrees, respectively. However, the hottest it got was 125 degrees on the far left underside, middle-left of the vent.
When it’s not gaming, the Legion remained relatively cool after streaming a 15-minute video, with its underside reaching 91 degrees. The keyboard reached 89 degrees and the touchpad measured 77 degrees. It got the hottest in the same spot as before, reaching 99 degrees.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6, Intel) software and warranty
The only important app that’s included with the Legion 7i is Lenovo Vantage. This app includes performance modes, fan modes, component monitoring, overall system settings, and hardware scan and troubleshooting features.
However, there’s still some Windows bloatware, like Disney+, Hidden City, and Amazon Prime Video.
The Legion 7i comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Lenovo performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.
Bottom line
The Lenovo Legion 7i has a lot going for it, from its incredible performance and long battery life to its gorgeous display and design. However, it’s not perfect, and one of its flaws is hard to ignore considering you’ll be constantly using it (the keyboard).
If you want to save some money and get a better keyboard, consider the Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021). However, you’d be sacrificing a better display and longer battery life.
Keyboard aside, the Lenovo Legion 7i is a great gaming laptop, and you’ll be hard pressed to find another with as powerful performance and as bright and vivid of a display under $2,000.
Rami Tabari is an Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder’s dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game.
He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge.
Lenovo Legion 7i Review: The Strongest Intel Laptop Yet
Tom’s Hardware Verdict
The Lenovo Legion 7i is slick, if not the slickest, plus has leading power for a few hundred dollars less than the competition.
Pros
- +
+ Powerful for gaming
- +
+ Slightly cheaper than competitors
- +
+ Bright screen
- +
+ Comfortable keyboard
- +
+ Clear audio
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Intel’s 45W Tiger Lake chips and Nvidia’s mobile RTX cards have been around for a while now, but if the Lenovo Legion 7i is anything to go by, they still have untapped potential waiting to be unlocked.
This is easily among the most powerful Intel/Nvidia laptops we’ve reviewed yet, and what makes it better is that its lack of lifestyle branding leaves it just a touch cheaper than what you’ll find with competitors like Alienware.
Designed to compete with the best gaming laptops, this is definitely still an expensive PC, and we can’t speak on how configs with lower specs that we didn’t review perform. But for the absolute top of the line, the Lenovo Legion 7i is an excellent option if you’re willing to sacrifice some fashion cred for a machine that’s still plenty slick and packs leading power.
Lenovo Legion 7i Specifications
| CPU | Intel Core i9-11980HK |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 |
| Memory | 32GB DDR4-3200 |
| Storage | 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Display | 16-inch, 16:10, 2560 x 1600, 165Hz, IPS |
| Networking | 802.11ax Intel Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5. 1 |
| Ports | 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm Headphone/Mic Combo Jack |
| Camera | 720p |
| Battery | 80 Wh |
| Power Adapter | 300W |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Dimensions(WxDxH) | 14.17 x 10.23 x 0.92 inches (359.92 x 259.84 x 23.37 mm) |
| Weight | 5.5 pounds (2.49 kg) |
| Price (as configured) | $3,269 |
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)- Lenovo Legion 7i at Lenovo USA for $1,349.99
The Lenovo Legion 7i is a flat laptop with a backside that notably stretches past the device’s hinge and houses most of the computer’s ports. Branding is fairly prevalent across the device, and despite the whole machine being coated in a silvery matte metal, it is a fingerprint magnet.
It has also got an RGB strip along its bottom, so it can reflect a rainbow aura off your desk.
In other words, it’s not too aesthetically unique from other recent Legion laptops. Maybe its most noticeable feature is its stylish but bulky vents, which sit along the laptop’s sides, under its screen and along its bottom to provide it with plenty of cooling without ruining its slick appeal. Its side vents in particular are large enough that they’re probably a good deal of the reason for this machine’s ports mostly being situated along its back.
Moving beyond looks, this machine is slightly larger than your typical 15-inch laptop, probably in part because of its 16-inch display. For instance, at 14.17 x 10.23 x 0.92 inches, it’s a little thicker than the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s 14.1 x 10.6 x 0.80 inches. At the same time, it’s still much smaller (if not thinner) than what you’ll find on 17 inch devices like the Alienware x17, which measures in at 15.72 x 11.79 x 0.
84 inches
At 5.5 pounds, this laptop’s weight is roughly on par with the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE’s 5.3 pounds but is much lighter than the Alienware x17’s 7.05 pounds.
The I/O for this laptop is mostly located along its backside. The laptop’s left side has a single Thunderbolt 4 port and 3.5 mm combination microphone/headphone jack, while its right side just has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port and a switch for turning physical power to the webcam off. Otherwise, you’ll need to reach behind the screen to find the other Thunderbolt 4 port, the three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, the HDMI 2.1 connection, the RJ-45 ethernet input and the charging cable slot.
Lenovo Legion 7i Gaming Performance
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)Our configuration of the Lenovo Legion 7i came stacked with just about the most powerful internals an Intel gaming laptop can have, with an Intel Core i9-11980HK CPU, an RTX 3080 mobile GPU and 32GB of DDR4 RAM with a 3200 MHz speed.
That GPU had a 165W TGP and a 1,545 MHz boost clock. With specs like these, we consistently got chart-topping performance from this machine versus other high performance RTX 3080 laptops we’ve tested like the Alienware x17 and Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.
For instance, in Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s built-in benchmark running with its highest settings at 1080p, the Legion 7i averaged more than 30 frames more per second than its competition. Its 2560 x 1600p performance was also impressive here, coming in only slightly below its rivals’ 1080p performance.
Grand Theft Auto V and Far Cry: New Dawn also saw the Legion 7i outclassing its competition at 1080p, although not by as wide of a margin. For instance, the Legion’s 1080p Grand Theft Auto V benchmark averaged 139 fps while the Alienware’s averaged 129 fps and the Asus’ averaged 111 fps.
The Legion 7i’s 2560 x 1600 performance in Far Cry: New Dawn is also notable here, as the laptop still pushed out more frames at this higher resolution than its rivals did at 1080p.
Specifically, it averaged 99 fps at this resolution while the Alienware averaged 94 fps and the Asus averaged 91 fps. That’s not something we saw in any of the other games we tested, but it’s a good sign regardless.
The Legion 7i’s 2560 x 1600 performance started to significantly drop below the 1080p performance of the laptop’s competitors in the other games we tested, but that’s to be expected. The good news here is that the laptop’s 1080p performance still came in above its rivals in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Borderlands 3, even if just barely. Red Dead Redemption 2’s 1080p benchmark averaged 83 fps on the Legion while it averaged 81 fps on the Alienware and 71 fps and the Asus, for instance.
In other words, there’s no game we ran where the Legion 7i didn’t have the fastest 1080p performance among the laptops we tested.
On an anecdotal note, I also played Control on the Legion 7i for about a half-hour to get a personal feel for what gaming on this laptop is like.
With ray tracing off and the game running with high settings, I generally hit between 98 — 108 fps at FHD and between 58 — 65 fps at 2560 x 1600 (depending on how much action was on screen). Turning ray tracing on had me hovering around 66 fps at FHD and 32 fps at 2560 x 1600. During this time, the fans were pretty loud and the vent on the computer’s right-hand side was consistently blowing hot air on my mouse hand. This was a constant across all settings.
We also ran the Legion 7i through Metro: Exodus’ built-in RTX benchmark for 15 runs in a row, to simulate a standard demanding play session. During this test, the Legion 7i’s CPU ran at an average of 4.49 GHz and registered an average temperature of 75.72 degrees Celsius. Its average GPU speed was 1.5 GHz, with an average temperature of 75.85 degrees Celsius. The benchmark itself ran at an average 88 fps throughout this test.
Lenovo Legion 7i Productivity Performance
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)It turns out the best Intel gaming specs you can get on a laptop also make for pretty strong productivity performance, at least against other high-spec gaming laptops.
With its 45W Intel Core i9-11980HK CPU, this laptop’s productivity potential easily outclassed the Intel Core i7-11800H on the Alienware x17 configuration we tested and even the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX on the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.
Geekbench 5, a synthetic test for measuring general PC performance, saw the Legion 7i scoring far ahead of both of its competitors on both single and multi-core performance. In a hard hit for AMD fans, the Alienware’s i7 CPU actually came closer to the Legion 7i’s performance than the near top-of-the-line 5900HX on the Zephyrus Duo. The Legion 7i scored 1,680 on multi-core tests and the Alienware x17 scored 1,539, but the Zephyrus Duo only scored 1,467.
Our Handbrake video encoding test, where we track how long it takes a PC to transcode a video down from 4K to FHD, also saw similar results. The Legion 7i was slightly faster than the Alienware here, with the former completing the task in 5 minutes and 48 seconds while the latter did so in 5 minutes and 51 seconds.
Both were much faster than the Zephyrus Duo, which took 6 minutes and 11 seconds to finish transcoding.
Outside of CPU performance, the Legion 7i also transferred files quickly. In a turnabout, the Zephyrus Duo snagged second place here over the Alienware x17. Still, neither competitor came close to the 1,860.55 MBps we saw on the Legion.
Lenovo Legion 7i Display
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Lenovo Legion 7i sets itself apart with a large 16-inch IPS display that runs at a max resolution of 2560 x 1600 and a max refresh rate of 165Hz. That makes it the latest entry in the 16:10 aspect ratio trend, which gives you extra vertical space for reading web pages, writing documents or coding.
Obviously, I had to test such an impressive screen by watching the trailer for the cinematic masterpiece of our time, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. This actually turned out to be a great decision, since the trailer’s many blacks looked especially deep on this screen while Carnage’s rippling red muscles were still vivid on it.
Viewing angles were generous at max brightness, with the picture holding up until around 75 degrees away from the screen. That said, I did notice heavy glare during some of the movie’s darker scenes, either from my office’s window or from ambient light in my environment. And there’s a lot of them in that movie.
That’s a bit of a shame, since this display registered nearly 500 nits of average brightness in our lab. That’s a little ahead of other premium competitors like the Alienware x17, and well ahead of laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.
DCI-P3 color was a bit more standard on this laptop, with its 79% coverage being roughly even with the Zephyrus Duo’s 78% but well behind the Alienware x17’s 116%.
Lenovo Legion 7i Keyboard and Touchpad
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Lenovo Legion 7i comes with a full per-key RGB keyboard complete with a number pad, a large touchpad and Lenovo style keycaps. It doesn’t quite live up to what you’ll find on most ThinkPads, but you can still see Lenovo’s expertise with keyboards in play here.
On 10fastfingers.com, I easily hit between 76 to 81 words per minute across my many attempts, which is about my standard. Travel distance felt unremarkable, but the curved bottoms on the keycaps made finding my way around the keyboard by touch a bit more approachable. Presses also felt springy and comfortable, exerting little strain on my fingertips. I do miss the slight concave indentation that ThinkPad keycaps have here, but I can also see how your finger sinking into a key could make twitchy inputs in games more of a hassle.
What isn’t a hassle is the large, 4.7 x 3-inch touchpad. Its smooth, glass surface makes for easy and comfortable cursor control, and I had no problems inputting multi-touch gestures like scrolling with two fingers and switching apps with three fingers.
Lenovo Legion 7i Audio
The Lenovo Legion 7i comes with two bottom firing speakers designed in collaboration with Harman. In my experience, these speakers were loud and produced clear, crisp audio that wasn’t too dissimilar to what I might hear on my Sennheiser headphones.
When I listened to Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran on these speakers, I reached easily audible volume at around 14%, which became comfortably loud at around 36%. Pushing the volume all the way to 100% was completely unnecessary but filled my entire two bedroom apartment with sound without issue.
I could easily make out the song’s vocals, high notes and even bass throughout my whole listening experience, without any hint of tinniness and with virtually no lost information.
Nahimic audio software also comes on this laptop, with settings to optimize your speakers for music, movies, gaming and communication. Music was, of course, the best preset for this test, but each has its strengths and weaknesses, adjusting bass and treble to best fit the task at hand. The movie and gaming presets also have software centric surround sound, which worked well for me so long as I kept my head directly in front of the laptop’s screen.
Lenovo Legion 7i Upgradeability
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)The Lenovo Legion 7i is not difficult to open up or upgrade.
Just unscrew the 10 Phillips head screws on the laptop’s bottom (I used a PH000 screw bit) and gently pry off the case to access its components. Once inside, you’ll see three bits of removable shielding over the components you can swap out. You can just pull off the RAM shielding with your fingertips, but you’ll have to unscrew 3 screws each (I used a PH000 bit here as well) for the M.2 SSD shielding.
After the shields are removed, you’ll have access to the two pre-installed sticks of RAM, the pre-installed M.2 SSD, an open M.2 SSD slot (if both slots aren’t full in your configuration) and the networking chip.
Lenovo Legion 7i Battery Life
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
To simulate an extended multitasking work session, our battery test continually streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.
The Lenovo Legion 7i had a battery life of about 5 hours on our in-house battery test, which is within expectations for a gaming laptop with these kinds of specs.
For instance, the Alienware x17 is another Intel Core i9/RTX 3080 laptop that actually had about a half hour less battery life on the same test. That said, we do occasionally see exceptions, such as the 5:58 battery life we saw on the AMD-powered Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. While we got those numbers with just one of that laptop’s two displays turned on, the Zephyrus only had 5 fewer minutes of battery life than the Legion when we tested it again with both displays running.
To simulate an extended multitasking work session, our battery test continually streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.
Lenovo Legion 7i Heat
The Lenovo Legion 7i’s heat was congregated mostly near its hinge when we took its temperature, which was during the 11th of 15 consecutive Metro: Exodus benchmark runs set to the RTX preset. Temperatures topped out at 53.2 degrees Celsius (127.76 degrees Fahrenheit), with the hottest point on the laptop being the center of the hinge.
Touchpoints such as the center of the keyboard (between the G and H keys) ran closer to 46.9 degrees Celsius (116.42 degrees Fahrenheit).
This is fairly toasty, even for a gaming computer, and it means fans were running at full force during testing. The laptop’s side vents, which are unfortunately located close to where your mouse hand might be, were also blasting out hot air at this time.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)Lenovo Legion 7i Webcam
The Lenovo Legion 7i has a 720p webcam that accurately captures colors and details but tends to produce fuzzy pictures in either dim or oversaturated conditions. It’s unfortunately not quite up to part with other Lenovo webcams, in that it doesn’t have a physical camera shutter. There is a toggle on the right hand side of the laptop for physically cutting off the power to the webcam.
This laptop also comes with Tobii Experience, an eye tracking program that uses the built-in webcam to add bonus features to games, like having the HUD disappear when you’re not looking at it.
However, this is a software dependent feature, and the Legion 7i’s webcam doesn’t have eye tracking tech built into it.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)Lenovo Legion 7i Software and Warranty
Lenovo tends to avoid bloatware with its laptops, and that’s no different here. You’ll find a number of utility programs on the Lenovo Legion 7i, but aside from typical Windows 10 pack-ins like Spotify and Microsoft Solitaire Collection, the only arguable bloat here is Tobii experience. This is an eye tracking program that’s supposed to help make gaming more immersive by letting you aim or move the camera with your eyes, on top of other features like having the HUD fade away when you’re not looking at it. It might be fun to toy with if you play any of its supported games, but you otherwise won’t get much use out of it. It’s also entirely software dependent, so you can easily download the software from Tobii’s site, with alternate builds being available for use with Alienware, Acer and MSI laptops.
As far as utility apps go, you’ll get Dolby Vision and X-Rite Color Assistant for adjusting your picture, plus Nahimic for adjusting your sound. Lenovo Welcome helps you set up your computer with recommended apps and settings based on what your primary use case for it is, and Lenovo Vantage is where you’ll view your thermals, update your drivers, set up macros for your numpad, view CPU usage and the like. Finally, there’s Lenovo hotkeys, an app that’s inexplicably separate from Vantage and lets you set up various function key shortcuts for system features, like being able to adjust the refresh rate of your display with a simple Fn + R command.
Lenovo Legion 7i Configurations
The Lenovo Legion 7i starts at $1,799, although the configuration we reviewed came with top-end components that pushed the price closer to $3,269. Those include an Intel Core i9-11980HK processor, an RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB M.2 SSD.
Our review laptop also came with a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS screen with a 165 Hz refresh rate, as do all other configurations for this laptop.
Speaking of other configurations, the starting configuration bumps you down to an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD. There’s also two middle-of-the-road configurations listed on Lenovo’s site, one of which bumps up the starting config’s SSD to 1TB and costs $1,969. The other has an i7-11800H CPU, an RTX 3080, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and costs $2,899.
You can also customize your own build, mixing and matching select specs from the other configurations.
With its max specs, the Lenovo Legion 7i is about as powerful as you can get for an Intel gaming build, even when compared against similarly specced but more expensive laptops like the Alienware x17. Its aesthetics might not quite live up to that laptop’s fancy design and it lacks the bells and whistles of rivals like the AMD-powered Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. However, the screen is still bright, the audio is clear, the case feels sturdy and the keyboard has Lenovo’s typical brilliance.
While it’s still a punch to the wallet at $3,269, the configuration we reviewed isn’t just more powerful than the competition, but it’s also more affordable. Both of the laptops we tested this machine against cost closer to $3,600. You might want to consider either of those alternatives if you’re opting for cheaper specs, since the performance games will probably even out and those computers are arguably a touch more premium elsewhere— though perhaps a little too flashy for some. But for performance that’s the best of the best and a body that’s still above average, the Legion 7i is your best bet for now.
Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom’s Hardware. She’s been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master’s degree in game design from NYU.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6) review: New displays, better performance, same high-end design
The Legion 7i, now in its sixth generation, is Lenovo’s most premium offering when it comes to gaming laptops.
It was updated around the same time as the Legion 5 Pro, which turned out to be one of my favorite gaming laptops of the year. I’ve now (finally) turned my attention to the Legion 7i to test its performance and cooling abilities, as well as the rather generous set of features that’s also seen some improvements. Is the Legion 7i (Gen 6) worth the price? Let’s find out.
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6)
Bottom line: The Legion 7i is Lenovo’s high-end gaming laptop, and it’s priced to match. The Gen 6 model builds on its predecessor with stunning new 16-inch QHD+ displays, impressive audio, and better performance than ever. If you can justify the premium price, the Legion 7i (Gen 6) should satisfy enthusiasts who want to remain mobile.
For
- Superb audio
- 16:10 QHD+ display makes games look great
- Tons of performance on AC power
- Keyboard and touchpad good for productivity too
- System stability is no issue
Against
- Camera only 720p, no IR or fingerprint reader
- Performance on battery is unimpressive
- Fans get loud on Performance mode
- System runs (understandably) hot
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Price, availability, and specs
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
Lenovo supplied Windows Central with a review unit of the Legion 7i (Gen 6).
This review model has inside Intel’s 11th Gen Core i9-11980HK octa-core CPU, 32GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3080 Laptop GPU with 16GB of VRAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive (SSD). The new display with 16:10 aspect ratio has a QHD+ resolution, 165Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, and more. This exact model costs about $3,270 at Lenovo.
There are a fair amount of configuration options still available at the official site, with RTX 3060 models starting at about $1,800. You can also find Legion 7i (Gen 6) models at many other major online retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. An AMD version of the Legion 7 (Gen 6) is availalbe at Lenovo as well, starting at the same price as Intel models. It has up to an RTX 3080 laptop GPU and an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU.
Here are the exact specs as found in my review unit.
| Category | Spec |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 Home Windows 11 Home |
| Processor | 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11980HK 8 cores, 16 threads Up to 5.  0GHz |
| RAM | 32GB DDR4-3200MHz Dual-channel Upgradeable |
| Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 3080 Laptop 16GB GDDR6 VRAM 165W |
| Storage | 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD Two M.2 slots |
| Display | 16 inches 16:10 aspect ratio 2560×1600 (WQXGA) IPS, 500 nits 165Hz refresh rate 100% sRGB HDR 400 Dolby Vision NVIDIA G-Sync X-Rite Pantone calibration |
| Ports | Two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1) Three USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) 3.5mm audio combo RJ45 Ethernet HDMI 2.1 |
| Audio | Dual 2W speakers Nahimic Audio tuning |
| Connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Camera | Front-facing 720p E-shutter |
| Keyboard | Lenovo TrueStrike Corsair iCUE RGB 1.3mm travel |
| Touchpad | Precision Glass |
| Security | Camera shutter TPM 2.  0 |
| Battery | 80Wh Rapid Charge |
| Dimensions | 14.17 x 10.23 x 0.79–0.92 inches (360mm x 260mm x 20.1–23.5mm) |
| Weight | 5.5 pounds (2.5kg) |
| Color | Storm Grey |
Lots of RGB, if you want it
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Design and features
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
The Legion 7i (Gen 6) follows the same design trend that we’ve seen from Lenovo’s gaming laptops for a few years now. Its modern appeal is due to a flat lid, a bank of ports along the back edge, wedge-shaped chassis, and understated exhaust vents. The Storm Grey color isn’t too flashy, and it’s nearly all metal (save for some of the exhaust shrouding) for a solid feel. It weighs in at 5.5 pounds (2.5kg) and measures 0.92 inches (23.5mm) at its thickest point. It’s not the lightest laptop out there, but considering the hardware inside and the all-metal build there’s nothing to complain about.
This being the premium gaming option, Lenovo has included customizable RGB lighting for its side and rear exhaust vents, as well as a thin ring around the front and sides. The TrueStrike keyboard is also infused with customizable RGB lighting. It’s all handled via Corsair’s iCUE app instead of Lenovo Vantage, and it can all be synced up together. Holding down the Fn key lights up all your possible shortcuts, giving you plenty of quick control over the system. The RGB lighting does not enable itself when the system restarts if it was disabled beforehand; this was an issue in the past that Lenovo seems to have fixed.
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
The keyboard has 1.3mm of key travel, making for a fairly comfortable typing experience. It’s 100% anti-ghosting, keys have a firm actuation point with a soft landing, and you get a full number pad. Within the Vantage app, you can set up a number of gaming macros for the numpad, making it useful even if you’re not crunching numbers.
The Precision touchpad is large and tracks well; it can be disabled quickly while gaming to avoid accidental presses. A mechanical option might be preferred by some at this price, but the TrueStrike keyboard has grown on me this time around.
Between the keyboard and display are some aesthetic pinpoints that surround the centered power button, likely adding a bit of ventilation for the internal hardware. Sound is pumped out by a 2W speaker on either side of the bottom of the laptop, near the front. Before even getting into the Nahimic app for custom tuning I was blown away by the sound quality. Listening to music is no problem, and the 3D audio abilities through the app help simulate surround sound while gaming. There’s a ton of bass, volume can drown out the fans at their loudest, and there’s no distortion at full volume.
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
An FHD camera should be included in the Legion 7i considering the asking price.
Above the screen is a communications bar that extends physically just past the lid edge for easier opening. It houses a 720p camera and a microphone; the e-shutter toggle is on the right side of the laptop. I’d like to see an FHD camera in a PC this price, but the HD one here isn’t awful.There’s no fingerprint reader or IR camera option, so you’re out of luck if you like the security of biometric logins. If you have streaming ambitions, something from our best webcams roundup will likely be a better fit.
The Legion 7i (Gen 6) comes with Tobii Horizon software that enables head tracking for camera movement in more than 45 games. It can also keep track of screen time, it can be used to auto-lock your PC if you walk away (but no unlock like true human presence detection), and it can blur your screen for added privacy if you look away. The main head tracking feature isn’t something I would use, but it can certainly come in handy (especially for gamers using a controller).
Ports are mainly grouped along the back edge of the laptop. There are small white LED symbols above each port (they can be disabled) so that you can see what you’re plugging in without having to turn the whole laptop around. The back has RJ45 Ethernet, Thunderbolt 4, three USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1), HDMI 2.1, and Lenovo’s proprietary AC connector. The left side has another Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5mm audio combo jack for a headset, while the right side adds a standard USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1) port. Wireless connectivity is Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1.
Super specs
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Display
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
The Legion 7i (Gen 6) has three 16-inch display options, all with a 165Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, NVIDIA G-Sync, and a 2560×1600 (QHD+) resolution. Those extra pixels come thanks to the taller 16:10 aspect ratio, which removes most of the chin below the screen. With the lid open, the laptop is all screen and keys for a modern look.
The Legion 7i’s stunning new 16-inch QHD+ displays solve one of my main gripes about the previous 7i generation.
I have the «basic» display option in my review unit, with anti-glare finish and HDR 400. I tested color and brightness with my SpyderX Pro colorimeter, getting back 100% sRGB, 80% AdobeRGB, and 81% DCI-P3 color reproduction. It hit 546 nits brightness at maximum. This is the screen I’d recommend for most gamers. It looks fantastic and it costs the least amount of money.
If you’re interested in design and development work, the other two displays should be a better fit. The next step up has a Mini-LED backlight, 1,000 nits brightness, anti-glare finish, 97% DCI-P3 color reproduction, and HDR 1,000. If you also need precise AdobeRGB color, the final option boasts 1,250 nits brightness (with Mini-LED backlight), anti-glare finish, 100% DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB color, and HDR 1,000. All displays also come with X-Rite Pantone color calibration.
These displays are absolutely stacked, at least as long as you don’t want to make the step up to 4K. You can always check out our collection of the best PC gaming monitors for something larger, but I wouldn’t be upset gaming primarily on the built-in Legion 7i display.
Core i9 and RTX 3080
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Gaming
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
Lenovo’s usual AI performance engine is onboard here, working with Q Control 4.0 for quick movements between Performance, Balanced, and Quiet profiles. This is something I first saw in Lenovo’s 2020 Legion 5i 15 and again in the Legion 5 Pro. It’s all found in the included Lenovo Vantage app, where you can also toggle things like network boost, auto close (which nukes certain apps when you start a game), hybrid mode (for discrete and integrated graphics), screen response time overdrive, and touchpad lock.
The Legion 7i (Gen 6) is one of the fastest gaming laptops we’ve tested.
Q Control’s Balanced profile has an option to allow the system to tune the CPU and GPU performance on a per-game basis. I left this enabled for testing; it caused no issues with fan noise or heat despite the warning included. This is a rather powerful system with high-end performance hardware, but the dual-fan setup and four exhaust vents seems to do a decent job of keeping the system from overheating to a point where it throttles. The center of the keyboard got noticeably hot when under extended load, and you won’t want to game with the machine on your lap. Still, it sits well within acceptable limits.
I began with a system stress test to check for thermal throttling and powers. There was a tiny blip at the very start while the CPU was in Turbo, but otherwise throttling was nonexistent. I ran the test using Lenovo Performance mode, allowing the system to run full out. The GPU sat at about 70° Celsius at a 135W TDP, which is quite a bit lower than the quoted 165W maximum.
This is an issue that plenty of laptop GPUs suffer from. The CPU sat at about 48W with a temperature holding around 75° Celsius.
In Performance mode the fans climbed up to about 55 decibels, though they ran at a smooth RPM. In Balance mode the system was closer to 35 or 40 decibels.
Image 1 of 3
When I reviewed the Legion 5 Pro with AMD Ryzen processor, I suspected that it was falling into the AMD performance for battery tradeoff that we’d seen in the Razer Blade 14 and the Surface Laptop 4 15. These laptops saw everything from CPU to SSD speeds being compromised when on battery power, something that wasn’t as common with Intel systems. The Legion 5 Pro did see a reduction in performance for the CPU and GPU, but everything else seemed fine. I still blamed this mostly on AMD.
Now, after testing this Intel system, I see it’s more likely an issue with Lenovo’s power profiles. There is a huge reduction in performance when running on battery here for the Intel system as well.
I understand that any battery will have a hard time keeping up with the power demands of this high-end hardware, but I didn’t expect the system to achieve only about a quarter of its AC-power potential.
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
Running Balanced mode without AC — Performance mode isn’t an option on battery — Time Spy scored 2,869 (compared to 12,401 on AC) while Fire Strike scored 6,020 (compared to 24,025 on AC). This is a laptop that you’ll want to keep plugged in while gaming, which isn’t much of a surprise. And if you run the system on Balance mode while plugged in, you’ll lose about a tenth of performance. The Legion 7i scored 11,287 in Time Spy and 24,025 in Fire Strike on the Balance power mode.
I tested some of my favorite (and demanding) games on the Legion 7i (Gen 6) to see how it fares running games at the native QHD+ resolution. I went with in-game settings maxed out and with the laptop running on AC power with Performance mode enabled, with DLSS and RTX off unless specified.
- Far Cry 5: 114 FPS
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (AC): 77 FPS (DLSS off), 92 FPS (DLSS Balanced)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Battery): 18 FPS (DLSS Balanced)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 113 FPS
These are excellent results, and you can always scale down the resolution if you find that frame rates aren’t high enough. And thanks to NVIDIA’s DLSS and now NVIDIA DLDSR, you have plenty of options when it comes to boosting game fidelity. This is one of the most powerful laptops we’ve ever tested, and gamers will undoubtedly be happy with the level of performance on offer.
Hours of productivity work
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Performance and battery
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
The Legion 7i (Gen 6) is a gaming laptop first, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also crush fairly intensive productivity, design, or development work.
The keyboard is comfortable for typing, the touchpad is large, and the display provides accurate color reproduction. If you want to do some editing or design work, this laptop should be up to the task.
That brings into question battery life, since you might not always be around a plug when a deadline is approaching. And besides, if you’re just typing up some documents you don’t want to be tethered. I ran PCMark 10’s Modern Office battery rundown with 50% screen brightness (about 250 nits) and the Better Battery Windows profile. The Legion 7i hit 4 hours and 49 minutes. That’s respectable, and it could be extended further if needed.
I ran PCMark 10’s Gaming battery rundown next, with the same 50% screen brightness but using the Best Performance Windows profile. The laptop managed an hour and 15 minutes. This result isn’t surprising, and if you’re gaming you’ll likely be plugged in anyway to get maximum performance.
Running some CPU-intensive benchmarks in hybrid mode (where the discrete GPU isn’t employed unless absolutely necessary), AC and battery performance differences aren’t as pronounced as they are when gaming.
Image 1 of 5
The PCIe 4.0 storage included is exceptional, achieving high read and write speeds. Load times aren’t an issue here. The system has two M.2 slots inside for future upgrades, and you can outfit a PC with two SSDs (up to 3TB) from the factory. Memory is also upgradeable, with two SODIMM slots under the back panel.
Lots of options
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6): Competition
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
The Legion 5 Pro is easy to recommend if you’d like to stick with AMD Ryzen processors and don’t want to spend quite as much. It doesn’t have all the same RGB accoutrements, there’s no Tobii Horizon, and the higher-end display options aren’t available, but it’s still one of the best options if you’re just focused on gaming. It has a 16:10 QHD+ display, up to an RTX 3070 GPU, and up to a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU.
Sticking with 16-inch options, the HP Omen 16 is a better option for anyone on a tighter budget.
Models start at about $800, with plenty of upgrade options available. AMD and NVIDIA GPUs are available, and you can get up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU. FHD and QHD displays — with 16:9 aspect ratio — can be configured.
In terms of truly premium gaming PCs, the Razer Blade 15 is still at the pinnacle. New models for 2022 are expected to be made available for preorder January 25, with the latest Intel and AMD CPUs, NVIDIA RTX 30-series GPUs, DDR5 RAM, displays with higher refresh rates, and more. If you have a big budget, this might be the way to go.
Take a look at our picks for the best gaming laptops out there if you’re still not convinced.
It’ll cost ya
Should you buy the Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6)?
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)
Who it’s for
- Those who want premium gaming performance and features
- Those who prefer a PC that can handle gaming and specialized work
- Those who have more than $1,800 to spend
Who it isn’t for
- Those who can’t spend thousands of dollars on a gaming PC
- Those who don’t need the absolute best performance
- Those who prefer something smaller than 16 inches
The Legion 7i (Gen 6), now with its taller 16-inch display, improved audio, RTX 30-series laptop GPUs, and 11th Gen Intel Core CPUs, is a significant step forward compared to the Legion 7i 15 (Gen 5).
One of my main issues with the previous generation was the lack of anything above an FHD resolution, and that’s been resolved here. Even the «basic» QHD+ screen is gorgeous, and there’s plenty of room for upgrades if you want to get into specialized work.
I’d like to see a bump up to FHD as standard for the camera at this price, and either a fingerprint reader or IR sensor for facial recognition would also be appreciated. There is a camera shutter included for extra privacy, and the 720p camera does a decent job. The extra RGB lighting — with synchronized keyboard, exhaust vents, and body trim — gives that Wow look when enabled, and the otherwise flawless aluminum construction has more of a professional feel.
High-end performance is really where this laptop shines. It’s one of the most powerful gaming laptops we’ve tested, and Lenovo’s power balancing keeps it from overheating and throttling. Fans do get loud under full load, but the amount of hardware under the hood makes the sound easier to justify.
Like with the AMD-based Legion 5 Pro, you’ll want to keep the Legion 7i plugged in when you need utmost performance. Switching to battery power saps CPU and GPU gaming performance considerably, to the point where most intensive games become unplayable. Productivity work (where both the CPU and discrete GPU aren’t being taxed simultaneously) is certainly doable on battery power, losing out only about a quarter of overall performance and lasting nearly five hours on a charge.
This is a gaming laptop that I’d recommend to any enthusiasts with a lot of money to spend. It crushes modern AAA games, the stacked display is gorgeous, and the design and construction are undeniably premium. If it’s a bit too expensive but you like what Legion has to offer, be sure to have a look at Lenovo’s other gaming laptops before venturing into the broader market.
High-end mobile gaming
Lenovo Legion 7i (Gen 6)
With new 16-inch QHD+ displays with 16:10 aspect ratio, updated performance hardware, better audio, and many more refinements, the Legion 7i (Gen 6) is better than ever.
If you’re an enthusiast gamer who wants to keep it mobile, this is a top option.
Cale Hunt is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on laptop reviews, news, and accessory coverage. He’s been reviewing laptops and accessories full time since 2016, with hundreds of reviews published for Windows Central. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.
Lenovo Legion 7 laptop review: silence must be!
Over the past few years, we have visited several models of Lenovo laptops. The company has apparently found a balance for itself, in which it is possible to install components of absolutely different levels in the same chassis. Without radically changing the components of the cooling system and the geometry of the case, the company saves. And it turns out devices, respectively, of a basic or productive level for different user groups.
It’s hard to say for sure whether it’s good or bad, but the devices fulfill their task, and our feeling of deja vu can be pressed down for a while and surrender to the content.
Games, working with content, sitting in boarding schools and other things that are not so strong and depend on the design of the case.
Last year, we tested several Lenovo Legion Series 5 models. Then it became interesting how the undemanding GTX 1650 Ti video card and the many times more powerful GeForce RTX 3070 live in the same case. It turned out that yes, the 1650 Ti video adapter has such a case as the now fashionable oversize. It looks like it’s meant to be, but it’s kind of confusing. The 3070 graphics card can get hot under load, but the cooling system copes well. Now we were offered to look at the Legion 7 model, already with the RTX 3080. It’s funny that it has the same case, which now will probably be «in the guise», but the tests will show.
Design
Lenovo Legions of recent years are devices that remind us of hatchbacks from the automotive world. They can be gray in color, with inexpressive body shapes, with an unpretentious body design and, by and large, boring.
But you can do chip tuning, insert RGB lighting, stick a couple of stickers and you get a “hot” hatchback. Something like this is done by automakers and this is how we see Lenovo Legion 7.
If you turn on power save mode, choose a single-color keyboard backlight, turn off the glow from the ventilation grilles, and put on a corporate desktop wallpaper, Legion 7 can easily be confused with a workhorse for every day.
It uses predominantly gray panels. All of them are straight, forming parallelepipeds or trapezoidal shapes. This applies to both the base with the filling and the lid with a screen. An LED backlight was installed in the edges beveled at an angle, and a unit with a webcam and face recognition and presence sensors is issued from it in the lid.
The air outlet grilles are installed in the part of the sidewalls farthest from the user, as well as on the back side. So hot streams touch the user to a minimum.
In this model, they are also decorated with lighting, and it intriguingly flows from them, illuminating the space around the laptop. Part of the Legion logo on the lid also glows.
The keyboard also has multi-colored backlighting. It is configured through the Corsair iCUE RGB app.
Of the other software goodies, the laptop has support for Tobii technology. Earlier we talked about its work in one of the monitor tests. Here it allows you to automatically monitor whether the owner is sitting at the laptop. Dims the screen if it has moved away, and/or locks it on a timer. Some games also support the technology, allowing you to turn your head to control a character or camera.
In terms of interfaces, there is everything for both work and night rides. On the sides are high-speed USB Type-C ports. On the left, this port is complemented by an audio jack, and on the right, a digital switch for the webcam shutter.
All major ports are located on the rear. Among them are USB Type-A, and Ethernet, and full-sized HDMI. This arrangement is a great solution so that the connectors and wires do not get tangled at hand.
Remember we’re talking about a 3080 laptop? Therefore, at the base, the cover has a wide air intake strip and rather high legs. Also visible on the sides are mesh Harman speakers with support for Nahimic sound tuning technologies.
Equipment
In the course of the story, a desire arose to compare the Legion 7 model with the representative of the lower class — Legion 5. It is curious that not only in design, but also in technical terms, they are largely similar.
So, their display matrices are the same. Installed IPS, a resolution of 2560×1600, a diagonal of 16 inches. The resulting ratio of 16:10 allows you to feel less squeezed in content editors — you can more comfortably place timelines and toolboxes from below.
The matrix has a refresh rate of 165 Hz, and therefore support for NVIDIA G-Sync. 100% sRGB is displayed, and the display is VESA DIsplayHDR 400 certified. So color reproduction and image smoothness are in order.
Legion 7 and 5 have an identical set of ports and drives. Up to 2 SSDs with a total capacity of 2 TB are installed. In this case, these are two WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-1T00. Optionally, the Legion 7 may have a Killer Wi-Fi AX1650 (2×2) adapter.
AMD versions differ in what Legion 7 can get in the Ryzen 7 5900H top, and Legion 5 — Ryzen 7 5900H. Which in this case turned out to be in our sample. This is one of the most suitable options for mid-range gaming laptops. The architecture of the chip includes eight cores operating at a nominal frequency of 3.2 GHz and up to 4.44 GHz in dynamic overclocking mode. For graphics processing, the Ryzen 7 5800H processor has an integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics core.
Legion 7 comes with up to 32 GB of RAM, and Legion 5 comes with up to 16 GB of RAM.
Another noticeable difference is that in the maximum version, Legion 7 can have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, while Legion 5 has an RTX 3070.
Let’s describe what has changed. By and large, the 3080 is just as hot as the 3070. If the 3070 was rated at 140W, the 3080 is already 165W, including 15W in high performance mode. The obtained measurements roughly correspond to this increase — within the limits of up to 10%.
When working on light tasks, everything is quiet. The system has enough minimum speed, which is practically inaudible to the user.
More noticeable noise appears a little earlier than 30-40% of the load. The system «swells up with a margin» and a little earlier than the load with the test package becomes stable.
Of course, during long-term operation at full load, at 98-100%, the video card requires active air removal.:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20107346/cfaulkner_200714_4099_0005.0.jpg)
We managed to warm it up to 88-92 °C continuous maximum load and high frame rate. At the same time, the system makes a noticeable noise, but there is no escape from this. The case also noticeably heats up as it gets closer to its installation site. At the bottom corners under the keyboard, the surface is just warm.
However, it is worth noting that even at maximum speed, the laptop is noticeably quieter than models with the same video card. On the one hand, this has a much more favorable effect on comfort, on the other hand, you involuntarily worry about overheating. However, even with long stress tests, the system worked correctly, managing to drop critical degrees.
Improvements inside are much more noticeable — the chassis still allows you to install powerful models of video cards with a high TGP. Yes, this affects the noise and forces you to make the sound louder or wear headphones. But performance does not suffer and its level is maintained under prolonged loads.
Of the noticeable manifestations — a strong heating of the case.
It’s funny that in an effort to make the case more compact, and it is such, taking into account the installed 3080, there is no escape from power needs. When planning to take a laptop with you, do not forget about the 300-W power supply, which in terms of volume is a quarter of the entire laptop. Yes, and it weighs 800 g. However, if a video card is not needed, it will be possible to power the system via USB with Power Delivery support.
In our opinion, Lenovo Legion 7 in the version that we visited, this is already the limit of the power-comfort balance. We are not sure that models with Ryzen 9 or Core i9, which also exist, will be optimal and you will not want to change them to something quieter.
Characteristics Lenovo Legion 7 (16ach6) |
|
| Display: | 16, 2560 × 1600, 165 Hz | 4xUSB Type-A 3. 2 Gen1, 2xUSB Type-C 3.2 Gen1, 1xHDMI, Ethernet, 3.5mm audio 2-in-1 |
| Webcam, microphone: | Yes 720p, yes | 80 W, 5210 MAHCH, Li-Ion |
| Additional: | Button the webcam disconnect, Color backlighting of the keyboard and building |
| Sound: | |
| OS: | Windows 11 |
The Lenovo Legion 7 (82N6001NRU) features a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and NVIDIA RTX 3080 discrete graphics with a maximum TGP of . 
Under it, you can also find an envelope with documentation and warranty information. 
The backlight is controlled in the application of the same name, which allows you to customize the effects and control all the backlight zones on the sides and even each key on the keyboard. Also illuminated are the port designations on the back of the laptop on the ledge behind the screen cover. Finally, the backlight of the laptop can work even when the battery is disconnected from the mains. 
2 Gen 1, one of which supports charging external devices with a current of up to 2A. On the left side is another USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with DisplayPort Alt Mode support, but no Power Delivery support, as well as a combo minijack audio connector for connecting audio devices such as headsets, headphones and microphones. 
The Lenovo Legion 7 (82N6001NRU) has small bezels. The side ones occupy only 4 mm each, from the top — from 4 to 6 mm, and from the bottom, with the inscription LEGION, as usual the largest — by 12 mm. Above the screen, where the frame expands, there is a WEB-camera with a standard resolution of 720p, suitable only for calls, and an activity LED to the right. The microphone holes are located on the bottom of the frame. 
It has a round concave shape and an LED that indicates the selected performance mode in different colors. The fingerprint sensor for unlocking by fingerprint, which is usually built into the power button, is not available in this model. On the sides of the button there are perforations from many points through which air is also captured for cooling. 
By the way, when you press FN on the keyboard, only those buttons that have additional functions are highlighted. 
03GHz 7nm AMD Ryzen 9 59X processor. The processor is 8-core and runs in 16 threads, with 16MB of cache in the third level, and the maximum frequency is 4.6 GHz. The TDP of the processor is set at 45W. 
Two 16 GB sticks are installed in the expansion slots, and if you wish, you can replace them yourself. The role of the internal drive in the test sample was performed by a 1 TB NVMe SSD from SKHynix (HFS001TDE9X084N). You can also install a second drive in an available M.2 2280 slot. 
Disabling the hybrid mode reduces the autonomy of the laptop by about half. Under load, the laptop will last about 1 hour. 
The maximum temperature of the SSD under load reached 58°C. 
1% Low — 62 FPS). 
Among them is simply a gorgeous bright QHD screen with Dolby Vision support, excellent response time for games and high-quality factory calibration that content creators will appreciate. 
10.2022
10.2022
Instead of 11th generation Intel chips, Lenovo is using the powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900H, which is by no means weak. Combined with the rest of the package, this looks like the perfect package for gamers and content creators alike. But is it?
To find out, we based our daily work and played with a Lenovo Legion 7 test unit for two weeks. Read on to find out if this gaming laptop is right for you if your budget allows.
Lenovo hasn’t changed the basic design and structure of Legion laptops over the past few years. This is both a good thing and a bad thing: good in the sense that it’s a solid and practical design that just works for gamers; bad in the sense that it looks old. Even with fancy RGB lighting around the edges and thin bezels, the Legion 7 doesn’t look quite as exciting as the Alienware m15 or ROG Strix Scar. The concern is that someone with a Legion 5i has the same design as your more expensive Legion 7. Lenovo would do well to make changes to the design and look of the entire Legion line.
Still, the Legion 7 is a solid gaming laptop. With a simple understated lid design, a neatly placed keyboard that illuminates you with a beautiful RGB light show, and thoughtfully placed I/O ports, content creators and gamers alike will be pleased with the ergonomics of this machine. The air vents adorning the sides and the light emanating from them leave a pleasant impression. It weighs 2.4kg, but given what it contains inside, you won’t have any complaints.
Since we’ve touched on ports, here’s a list of all the ports you get with this laptop. There is USB Type-C (USB 3.28 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4), another USB Type-C (USB 3.28 Gen 1), 3 x USB Type-A 3.28 Gen 1 (1 x Always-On 5V), 1 x USB Type -C (USB 3.28 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4, Power Delivery), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x RJ45 Ethernet, headphone jack and proprietary charging port. There is also a physical shutter key for the webcam.
Lenovo Legion 7 Display
The Legion 7 features a 16-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.
In layman’s terms, that means it’s a large display that looks reasonably sharp, especially while gaming. The unique 16:10 aspect ratio is a little unusual for gaming, given that most games are still made with 16:9 aspect ratio. However, once you adjust the settings accordingly, that extra space will certainly help with immersion.
Combined with a 165Hz refresh rate and NVIDIA G-Sync technology while gaming, this results in a very smooth viewing experience. Narrow bezels help reduce distractions, while vibrant colors make games look amazing; Forza Horizon 5 and Battlefield 2042 look amazing, although not quite as strong as on the Dell XPS 17 display. . The device we had at our disposal had a Ryzen 9 processor5900H, NVIDIA RTX 3080 TDP 165W GPU with 16GB VRAM, 32GB Dual Channel DDR4 RAM, and 1TB NVMe SSD. Even though it starts with Windows 10, our device prompted us to download Windows 11 right out of the box.
With this insane level of hardware, the Legion 7 handled the load just fine.
Whether it’s Forza Horizon 5 or Battlefield 2042, Legion 7 kept its cool and continued to perform as expected. We were able to play Forza Horizon 5 on Ultra settings at QHD+ resolution with an average frame rate of 50-60 fps for 3 consecutive hours on weekends. The laptop went berserk with fan speed to keep it cool, but we didn’t notice frame rate drops or unusual stuttering.
The buggy and unoptimized Battlefield 2042 also ran at max settings at QHD+ resolution, although we did experience occasional frame drops in busier areas. Codemaster’s F1 2021 ran Ultra settings with ray tracing enabled on High, returning 50-60 fps with ease. Lowering the resolution to 1080p increased the frame rate.
Lenovo Vantage software helps you monitor temperatures and provides granular control of fan speed and overall performance. The app even lets you turn on fast charging and auto-boot when you open the lid.
When not playing, Legion 7 has more power than it normally needs. Windows 11 ran great on Legion 7 with smooth animations and fast loading times.
On the busiest days, when Google Chrome had to deal with 11-12 tabs, Photoshop was running in the background, and Steam downloading updates for Forza Horizon 5, Legion 7 showed no signs of overload. With this kind of firepower, you can’t expect less.
Keyboard
Lenovo makes some of the most beautiful laptop keyboards, and the Legion 7’s keyboard is comfortable to type on. The keys have ample travel with adequate feedback and spacing. While gaming, the layout feels comfortable, especially with the arrow keys protruding beyond the normal limits of the keyboard. The trackpad is ok, but we would have preferred a larger one.
Speakers
I wish the Legion 7 had good built-in speakers for a massive gaming laptop. Current is OK; they get loud and there are decent mids. However, they lack any bass and detail. For best results, you’ll need an external speaker or a pair of gaming headphones. The microphone system is impressive and did not disappoint during online meetings.
Battery Life
Lenovo claims that with a battery life of 80 Wh, it provides excellent endurance given the internal power-hungry characteristics. On battery power, we were able to do our office work and had to plug in the charger after 3-3.5 hours when Windows 11 gave low battery warnings below 10 percent. Game play on battery can last no more than an hour, although this affects performance. Lenovo ships a 300W slim charger in the box that can charge the battery for 1.5 hours with fast charging enabled. There is also support for USB-PD charging, which seemed convenient.
Conclusion
You can play anything on Lenovo Legion 7. For $1,439 you get some serious power, which is great if you want a machine that plays the latest AAA games at the highest settings without sacrificing resolution or frame rates. Combined with practical ergonomics and a good keyboard, the Legion 7 is also a great desktop replacement for power users. And this RGB light show really brings the mood to life.