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.
