Lenovo Legion 7 is currently one of the most capable gaming laptops based on AMD Ryzen power you can buy today. Here’s our full review on this machine.
Lenovo had the gaming community’s attention in 2021 with the Legion 5 Pro and Legion 7. We tested the Legion 5 Pro and were left highly impressed with its capabilities as a hardcore gaming laptop. Hence, with the Lenovo Legion 7, our expectations have been only higher, given its maxed-out spec sheet and an eye-watering price tag. And you know what? It has kept me hooked.
Costing ₹ 2,39,990, the Legion 7 compared with the Dell Alienware m15, HP Omen 16, Asus ROG Strix, and other top-end gaming laptops. Instead of the Intel 11th Gen chips, Lenovo is using a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900H, which is no slouch by any means. Paired to the rest of the package, this looks like the perfect package for gamers and creators alike. But is it?
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To find out, I have based my daily work and play on a Lenovo Legion 7 review sample for two weeks. Read on to find out whether this is still the gaming laptop you should get if your budget allows.
Lenovo Legion 7 Design
Lenovo has not changed the basic design and structure of the Legion laptops over the last few years. It is both good and bad: good in the sense that this is a rugged and practical design that simply works for gamers; bad in a way that it looks old. Even with its fancy RGB lighting around the edges and slim bezels, the Legion 7 does not look as exciting as a Alienware m15, or an ROG Strix Scar. What’s worrying is that someone with a Legion 5i has the same design as your more expensive Legion 7. I think Lenovo should bring a change with the design and looks of the entire Legion lineup.
Nonetheless, for what’s what, the Legion 7 is a solidly built gaming laptop. A simple understated lid design, a neatly laid out keyboard deck that lights you up with its beautiful RGB light show, and the cleverly placed I/O ports – I can see content creators and gamers being happy with the ergonomics of this machine. I am a fan of those muscular air vents adorning the sides and the light coming out of them. It weighs 2.4 kilos but considering what it packs inside, I have no complaints here.
Since we touched ports, here’s the list of all the ports you get with this laptop. There’s a 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, a headphone jack, and a 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 pixel resolution of 2560 x 1600. In layman’s English, this means that it is a big display that looks plenty sharp, especially while gaming. The unique aspect ratio 16:10 is a bit unusual while gaming, given that most games are still built for the 16:9 aspect ratio in mind. However, once you adjust the settings accordingly, that extra space surely helps with the immersions.
Paired to the 165Hz of refresh rate and NVIDIA’s G-Sync at play, it makes for a very smooth and seamless viewing experience. The narrow bezels are helpful in cutting down the distraction while the vivid colour reproduction makes games look stunning; Forza Horizon 5 and Battlefield 2042 look amazing, although not as much as on the display of the Dell XPS 17.
Lenovo Legion 7 Performance
A top-tier laptop like the Legion 7 has is bound to offer the best of gaming experiences you can expect from a laptop. The unit which I had at my disposal had the Ryzen 9 5900H processor, a 165W TDP NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM, 32GB dual-channel DDR4 RAM, and NVMe SSD storage of 1TB. Although it launched with Windows 10, my unit gave me a prompt to download Windows 11 right out of the box. Neat.
With such insane levels of hardware underneath, the Legion 7 has devoured anything I have thrown at it. Be it Forza Horizon 5 or Battlefield 2042, the Legion 7 kept its cool and kept performing as expected. I was able to play Forza Horizon 5 at Ultra settings at QHD resolution with an average frame rate 50-60 fps for 3 hours straight on weekends. The laptop went wild with its fan speed to keep it cool but I did not see a drop in frame rates, or unusual stutters.
A buggy and unoptimized Battlefield 2042 also ran at maxed-out settings on QHD resolution, although I witnessed occasional frame drops in busier areas. Codemaster’s F1 2021 ran the Ultra settings with ray tracing enabled to High, returning 50-60 fps with ease. Dropping the resolution to 1080p boosted the frame rates.
Lenovo’s vantage software helps keep an eye on the thermals and provides granular controls over the fan speeds as well as overall performance output. The app even lets you enable Rapid Charge and auto-bootup while opening the lid.
When not gaming, the Legion 7 has more power than what one usually needs. Windows 11 has been a breeze on the Legion 7, with smooth animations and quick loading times. On the busiest of days when Google Chrome had to deal with 11-12 tabs, Photoshop running in the background, and Steam downloading updates for Forza Horizon 5, the Legion 7 did not show signs of struggle. With such firepower underneath, you cannot expect any less.
As a portable desktop, the Legion 7 works nicely. Lenovo makes some of the nicest laptop keyboards and the one on the Legion 7 has is comfortable to type on. The keys have sufficient travel with adequate feedback and spacing. While gaming, the layout seems comfortable, especially with the arrow keys protruding out of the keyboard’s usual confines. The trackpad is fine but I would have preferred a larger one.
I wish the Legion 7 had some nice speakers onboard for a chunky gaming laptop. The current ones are fine; they get loud and there’s some decent midrange performance. However, they lack any sort of bass and detailing. For better results, you need to have an external speaker or a pair of gaming headphones. The microphone system is impressive and did not disappoint during online meetings.
Lenovo Legion 7 Battery life
With an 80Whr battery life, Lenovo claims it offers great stamina considering the internal power-hungry specs. On battery power, I was able to do my office work and had to plug the charger after 3-3.5 hours, when Windows 11 threw alerts of low battery under 10 percent. Gaming on battery power can last at most an hour, although the performance is affected. Lenovo bundles a 300W slim charger in the box that can top up the battery 1.5 hours with Rapid charging turned on. There’s support for USB-PD charging as well, something I found comfy while taking my work to the bed during the cold days.
Lenovo Legion 7 Verdict
The Lenovo Legion 7 is mighty to play on by all means. For ₹ 2.4 lakh, you are getting some serious power here, which is great if you want a machine to play the latest AAA titles at the highest of settings without compromising on resolution and frame rates. Paired with the practical ergonomics and a good keyboard, the Legion 7 also works as a great desktop replacement for power users. And that RGB lightshow does liven up the mood.
That said, the Legion 7 could have done with better speakers. And since you are paying a fortune, there’s no shame in asking for a fancy design that stands out from another cheaper Lenovo Legion variant costing less than ₹ 70,000. A similarly priced Alienware or HP Omen machine looks ungodly in comparison, the Legion 7 pales out.
On the whole, the Lenovo Legion 7 is offering a lot of specs and a superb performance for the price it sells. If you are looking for a super powerful portable desktop replacement, or just a beastly gaming laptop, we recommend checking out the Legion 7.
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Lenovo Legion 7 Review: The Indomitable King!
In this world of silicon shortage and scalping of CPUs and GPUs, many are looking at the laptop space to provide them with desktop PC replacement devices. The Lenovo Legion 7 aims to be one such device, packing the fastest AMD Ryzen Mobile CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU on the market currently. This laptop being fast should come as no surprise to anyone, but can it truly be a desktop replacement? And more importantly, is it worth the asking price of Rs. 2,39,990? Well, I am going to find that out and more in this deep dive review and give you the complete picture about the Legion 7.
So without further delay let’s get into the review.
Lenovo Legion 7 (2021) Review
Below you will find what I thought about the Legion 7 in detail. If you want to jump to any particular section you can use the table below to reach it quickly.
Lenovo Legion 7 Specifications
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
| RAM | 32GB Dual-channel 3200 MHz DDR4 Memory, Max 64 GB support |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 16GB Laptop GPU 165 Watts Max TGP |
| Power Adapter | 300W Slim Adapter @ 870 g |
| Storage | WD SN 730 Gen 3 NVMe SSD 1TB |
| Display | 16-inch WQXGA IPS 2560 x 1600 16:10 165 Hz G Sync |
| Touchscreen | No |
| Dimensions | 14.01″ x 10.27″ x 0.93″ (356 x 261.04 x 23.5 mm) |
| Weight | 2,496 g |
| Ports | 1 x USB Type-C (USB 3.28 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4)1 x Audio Jack1 x USB Type-C (USB 3.28 Gen 1)1 x E-Shutter Button3 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 2.11 x RJ45 Ethernet |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 2×2 802.11 ax |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Battery | 4 cell, 80Whr |
| Camera | 720p with E-camera Shutter |
| Speakers | 2 x 2W HARMAN Speaker with Nahimic Audio |
| Price | Rs. 2,39,990 |
Design
Lenovo opts for an aluminum chassis for the construction of the Legion 7. The company calls the color of the device ‘Strom Gray’. The chassis has a smooth matte finish, with side and underside vents for cooling. Build quality feels very premium with negligible flex. There are also no sharp edges on my test device. Long-term Lenovo users will feel right at home with familiar build philosophy compared to last year’s model.
Legion 7 has a dimension of 14.01″ x 10.27″ x 0.93″, which is fairly standard for a device with a 16-inch screen. The weight of the device is on the heavier side, at 2.5Kgs. over, the laptop also comes with a beefy 300-watt power brick. At 870g the power brick is on the heavier side and the whole package stands at around 3.4Kgs. However, the weight distribution is solid and you can open it one-handed with ease. Also, the hinges of the display are firm and it can tilt to a maximum of 175 degrees.
The design is discreet enough to pass it off as a work laptop, but it packs the RGB punch if you are into that sort of stuff. Synced RGB is present on the keyboard, the side vents, and the bottom edges. The inbuilt firmware or Corsair iCUE controls all things RGB in this device. The ‘Y’ inside the ‘LEGION’ logo on the display can also be controlled through the firmware or iCUE.
Most of the I/O is located behind the screen and is backlit. I like this design aspect as it makes it easier to plug things into the laptop when you are in front of the device and using it. The power button is surrounded by perforations that act as intakes for the system. The cooler is a vapor chamber (more on that later) and liquid metal is used as the thermal compound.
The internals of the laptop can be accessed by removing all 10 screws on the underside. The cover needs to be removed with a help of a flat spatula. There is a free SSD slot that is PCIe Gen 3 capable. You can upgrade the RAM if you want to, but since both the slots are populated you will need to replace both sticks.
Display
The Lenovo Legion 7 packs one of the better screens I have seen in a gaming device. It has a 16 inch 2560×1600 WQXGA screen running at 165 Hz. Being IPS in nature the screen has good viewing angles and the matte finish makes it good for outdoor environments as well. The screen feels fast while gaming and the advertised 3ms response times appear to be true. There was no ghosting during gaming and the Blur Busters UFO Test also confirmed this fact.
Lenovo claims that the screen supports 100% sRGB and for the most part it appears to be true. The videos and movies I streamed on the screen looked natural and there was no blue hue that many ‘gaming’ screens suffer from. However, there is a slight backlight bleeding present, with the ‘LEGION’ text of the wallpaper being present on the screen even after sleeping the device or shutting it down.
One of the big positives of this device is the fact it supports FreeSync and G-SYNC both. So whether you are on the iGPU in hybrid mode or using the RTX 3080 in discrete mode, you have Variable Rate Refresh (VRR) available to you. The Display is also VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified and has a peak brightness of 500 nits, meaning you can use it for basic HDR media consumption.
Performance
The Lenovo Legion 7 packs the highest-end components one can imagine in a gaming laptop. My test machine packs the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 HX which has 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 3.3 GHz and a max boost of 4.6 GHz. It also features the full power NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop featuring 6144 CUDA Cores, 48 RT cores, and 192 Tensor cores. It also features 16 GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit wide memory bus. As such I had very high hopes for the performance of this system and for the most part, it does deliver.
There is a Vega 8 iGPU in the system which can be disabled using the Legion Vantage software. The laptop has also been tested on the ‘Performance Mode’ with the charger plugged in. For comparison, I have used an MSI GP66 Leopard with an i7 11800H RTX 3070(140 watts) and an Asus G15 Advantage Edition featuring the Ryzen 9 5900HX RX 6800M (145 watts). The Asus G15 data has been taken from Jarrod’sTech YouTube channel.
As for the tests, I ran a number of them to push the GPU and CPU of this device. For testing the CPU I ran Cinebench R23, Blender, 3D Mark Firestrike, and 3D Mark Timespy. The rasterization performance of the device was tested using Counter Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, Assassins’s Creed Valhalla, The Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Ray Tracing and DLSS were tested using Cyberpunk 2077 and Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. Since both the competing devices had 16:9 screens, I ran all the gaming benchmarks at 1080p instead of 1600p.
Cinebench R23 Multithread
First up is Maxon’s Cinebench R23. It is a pretty intensive CPU test that pushes all 3 systems pretty hard. The Intel 11800H is faster but the Ryzen 9 is not far behind. Interestingly the Ryzen 9 in the Asus G15 ends up being the fastest.
UL 3D Mark Firestrike
3D Mark Firestrike is a relatively old DX 11 based benchmark. The RTX 3080 Legion 7 took the lead over the GP66 but for some reason, it’s still behind the Asus G15 Advantage edition.
UL 3D Mark TimeSpy
The newer 3D Mark Time Spy shows an expected result, the Legion 7 leads the pack without any issue.
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
Valve’s 2012 shooter is still very popular and demands high fps for a competitive edge. The Legion 7 has no issue powering this game, delivering well over 400 FPS with every setting cranked to the max.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Ubisoft’s 2020 entry into the Assassin’s Creed franchise is a very taxing game. I tested it at the Ultra High settings. The Legion 7 performs well but is rather underwhelming in this test. I suspect the limited PCIe lanes that Ryzen Mobile CPUs provide with the higher overhead of the NVIDIA DX 12 driver path limits the performance of this system.
Cyberpunk 2077
CDPR’s 2020 RPG is a perfect showcase for RTX and is the first game on this list to feature the new technology. The first test is a pure rasterization test, with no RTX or DLSS. The Legion trails the G15 by a slim margin but is beating the GP66 with ease.
In the RT test, we see the power of Ampere come to life. The Legion 7 beats everyone and decimates the 6800M in the G15. The DLSS test pushes the 3080 to even greater heights, which the 6800M cant match as it has no support for DLSS and this game does not support AMD FSR.
Rainbow Six Siege
This 2015 Ubisoft shooter is one of the most popular esports right now. I used the max settings and the Vulkan render path to test the performance and the Legion 7 had no problem maxing the refresh rate of the panel it ships with.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar’s 2019 masterpiece is up next. RDR2 is known to brutalize systems, but the Legion 7 had no issues. Tested at 1080p with everything set to the highest and the super taxing ‘Full Resolution Ambient Occlusion’ turned to ON.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
Metro Exodus was one of the first RTX ON titles NVIDIA showcased back in 2018. In 2020 4A Games released the Enhanced Edition of the game. Therefore, I tested it at Ultra Settings and Ultra SettingsDLSS ON, and in both instances, the Legion 7 blew away everything else.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2015 Game of The Year, The Witcher 3 is still a beautiful game to look at and can tax your system pretty well. At Ultra Settings @ 1080p, the Legion 7’s limited PCIe bandwidth again limits its performance. It Falls behind the GP66 and G15 and turns its weakest result in my testing.
Other than the above tests I also ran the PudgetSystem’s Adobe Premiere Pro test and the Adobe Photoshop test. The Premiere Pro test turned in a score of 715 and the Photoshop test was at 990. Blender BMW was also super fast on the laptop with just over 3 mins to complete the render.
The included SSD is no SN 850 but it held its own. The speeds it achieved were more than enough for a fast boot and app startup experience.
Overall I can’t complain about the performance of the device. My day-to-day usage included office work (including this review), having tons of chrome tabs open, playing games such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, and The Witcher 3 in my off time along with video streaming on Disney, Netflix, and YouTube. My gaming sessions lasted for about 4 hrs minimum and the laptop did not slow down or have thermal throttling issues during these sessions.
Thermals
Coming to the thermals, the Ryzen 9 5900HX and the RTX 3080 are the two most powerful chips present on the planet right now and as such require a robust cooling solution to keep them under control. Lenovo has deployed what they call Coldfront 3.0 to cool this beast. It is a vapor chamber cooler with liquid metal as the thermal compound. For the most part, it does work. The temperature of the internal components was recorded using MSI Afterburner and the chassis temps were tested using a Fluke 59 MAX IR thermometer.
The GPU sits around 75 °C under full load, be it while gaming or rendering. This is a very good result as it means the GPU can hit its boost clocks and maintain it with ease. The CPU though does get hot to alarming levels. I measured 90 °C on many occasions be it Cinebench or while gaming. Ryzen Mobile CPUs cannot be undervolted and the laptop offers no manual fan control other than the 3 modes controlled by the firmware. These limitations mean that other than disabling the boost clocks there is pretty much no solution to this problem.
Further, I also tested the laptop on a Cosmic Byte Meteoroid cooling pad. It did drop the GPU temps to 71 °C but the CPU was still around the 88 °C mark. I have to point out in either configuration the CPU did maintain core clocks of around 4300 MHz while gaming and 3900 Mhz in CPU-only stress tests, so it was not thermal throttling.
As for the chassis, the side vents were reporting temps of around 62 °C with the IR thermometer. You also feel the heat while using the keyboard during gaming. The keyboard area was reporting temps of around 45 °C and the power button bay with the top facing intake vents reported temps of 51 °C. Overall it did get a little uncomfortable using the keyboard, especially the ‘W’ and ‘R’ keys.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Coming to Keyboard the Legion 7 has what Lenovo calls a Trustrike Keyboard. It has soft landing keys and is primarily focused on gaming. Typing on it was good, and pretty much top of the line for gaming devices. Due to the solid construction of the chassis, there is 0 flex in the keyboard bay. I am however not a fan of the number pad, as yet again I kept on hitting the ‘Num Lock’ or ‘/’ while trying to type. The keyboard is RGB enabled and requires iCUE software from Corsair to control it with granularity. I am also not a fan of this software as it has a very high impact on battery life (more on that later) but if RGB is your thing you will love it.
The Trackpad is a 16:10 glass trackpad. It’s good enough for day-to-day operation but is not suitable for gaming. Its placement is a bit odd, due to the Numpad. This is one aspect I did not like about the design. The trackpad also supports Windows gestures and has no metallic cling to it, a big problem I found with the MSI GP66 I use daily.
Software
The Legion 7 comes with a fair amount of software pre-installed. Some of them are pretty useless and just slow down the whole experience. McAfee Total Protection is included with the laptop. It was one of the first apps I uninstalled. It also comes with the Legion Vantage control center which is required to disable the iGPU of the laptop and also to change the performance profile.
Next up we also get iCUE from Corsair, this is needed to control all the RGB the laptop packs. I stopped the app and did my testing but if you want the RGB and don’t mind losing 5% of frame rates keep it open. In any case, it should not be uninstalled.
We also get Tobii experience pre-installed which is necessary if you want the eye-tracking features of the laptop.
Last but not the least, for Audio we have the pre-installed Nahimic Audio Suit. It provides various modes, however, none of them do much of anything and it is best to use a headphone with this device.
Overall it’s not the most bloated laptop out there but I would very much appreciate it if they stopped bundling in McAfee and Norton with every laptop I open up.
Audio and Webcam
Audio of this device is handled by 2 down-firing 2W Harman speakers. The speakers are ok for the most part and have a little less bass compared to what I was expecting. It’s perfectly fine for video streaming and music. However, you would want a pair of headphones if you are planning on running heavy games. The fans in the Legion 7 spin very high while gaming and have a very noticeable humming sound. This overwhelms the audio coming from the speakers and honestly is a bit distracting as well. The audio driver part is handled by Nahimic.
LatencyMon tests show the device is not very suitable for video audio production when the fans are engaged. This is no surprise as the fans are quite audible under load.
The Webcam is a 720p one. It is okay in proper lighting with lots of noise during low-light settings. This is to be expected and I was kind of hoping, the Legion 7 would pack a 1080p standalone Webcam as the G15 Advantage Edition does. I do like the E shutter that Lenovo packs for added security. It is a nice touch in my opinion and should be present in all laptops from my point of view.
Ports
The Legion 7 has most of all the ports one can ask for. The left side of the device packs a USB Type C Gen 2 with Display Port 1.4 capabilities and a headphone microphone combo jack. The right side contains a USB Type C Gen 1 and the E Shutter button. The rear contains all the major ports. There are 3 5 volts always-on USB 3 Type-A, 1 USB Type C Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port,1 HDMI 2.1, 1 RJ45, and the DC power in.
Overall the port selection is plenty in the Legion 7. Thunderbolt obviously will not be present as this is not an Intel device. Creators looking to use this device would also feel a bit disappointed by the lack of an SD Card reader but with so many USB 3 Type-A ports available, a dongle is not a bad solution.
The built-in Wi-Fi is good, as I did not experience any drops during gaming or video streaming on a modest 40 Mbps line. the 5.1 Bluetooth also worked seamlessly with my Ambrane Dots Slay. Overall good performance on the wireless front.
Battery and Charging
The battery is a decent one in the Lenovo Legion 7. It is a 4 cell, 80 WHr battery. The specs are pretty typical for a gaming laptop and bigger than the one found in the MSI GP66 Leopard. There are 2 charging modes, the normal charging mode takes 1hr and 50 mins to charge the device while the fast charging reduces it to 1 hrs and 20 mins.
Moving onto the battery life, we find that like most gaming laptops, it is mediocre and will only last you about 3 Hrs with light use. The media consumption test with ‘Tears of Steel’ running in a loop and 5 chrome tabs open with ‘Prioritize Battery Life’ settings on yielded a result of 2 hrs and 40 mins. However like mentioned before, having iCUE on has a drastic effect on battery life, the RGB lighting consumes the battery like a carnivore and leaves the usage time to 1hr 10 mins. iCUE also cuts into framerate while gaming by around 5% so it’s best to turn it off for performance and battery.
Pros
- Display: If you want a relatively bright, matt display with a 1600p resolution this one will not disappoint, The refresh rate is also pretty good at 165 Hz. The display also supports HDR and VRR such as GSYNC and Free Sync.
- Performance: Packing the highest end silicon from AMD and NVIDIA it’s no surprise that the Legion 7 is a chart-topper. It is pretty much the fastest laptop money can buy.
- Warranty: The 3-year warranty that Lenovo provides is very impressive. It gives the user a certain peace of mind that their device is well supported by the manufacturer.
- Audio: For music and video the included speakers are fine, the inbuilt mic is clear during zoom calls and the Nihamic audio drivers are good for anyone who wants to tinker with their audio settings.
- Ports: You get lots of ports, with multiple USB C ports even. The only ports missing are Thunderbolt and SD Card reader.
- RGB: If you love RGB and want granular control over it, this device will not disappoint. Corsair iCUE provides a lot of options to the end-user.
Cons
- Portability: Weighing at 2500 g this laptop is not meant for carrying around. Your back will kill you if you plan on carrying this and the charging brick all day.
- Battery Life: As with all gaming devices, this laptop has pretty mediocre battery life. But If you are using this in a static environment it’s fine. But with just above 3 hrs of battery life, you are not running this through a whole workday without charging.
- Price to Performance: It is the fastest laptop I have tested by far, but it is also the priciest. Costing nearly 70,000 rupees over the GP66 11UG it does not provide that much of a performance leap. In most cases, it’s around the 10% mark.
The Legion 7 has certainly impressed me a lot. It has some of the most impressive specs crammed in a laptop form factor. From my testing, this 16-inch laptop performs nearly the same as an RTX 2080Ti PC. That is very impressive in my opinion and speaks volumes about the scalability of both AMD Ryzen and NVIDIA RTX 3000 that power it. It certainly works as a desktop replacement device and won’t make you feel like you are playing on a portable device (somewhat) if you hook it up to a monitor.
Priced at 2,39,990, the Legion 7 is a pricey product for people looking for top-of-the-line performance with no compromises. To be fair none of the RTX 3080 laptops are price to performance champions. It is a fact of electronics, the higher you go the less return you will get out of your rupee. But that does not mean this device is not worth buying? Well, this is the pinnacle of laptop performance, and to get it you have to pay a premium.
If you are someone who is looking for a device with a similar build but with a better price to performance ratio, the Legion 5 Pro is for you. It is priced at 1,69,900 and packs the same screen in the same form factor. It has a traditional heat pipe setup for cooling and packs 16 GB of RAM instead of 32 GB. The 140 Watt RTX 3070 is also very capable on its own and should only be marginally behind its bigger brother.
AMD fans also have a very good device to consider with the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition. Priced at Rs. 1,54,500 this device gets very close to the Legion 7 in performance (as shown above). It packs a smaller 15.6-inch screen with 16GB of RAM. The laptop also has liquid metal and vapor chamber cooling. The efficient 7nm Radeon GPU yields better battery life than the Legion 7 as well. The only negatives seem to be some driver optimization issues and the lack of a MUX Switch to enable discrete GPU operations.
And with that, we come to the end of the review of the Lenovo Legion 7. I like this device and can wholeheartedly endorse it to people who have the budget for it. Sound off in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев below about your thoughts on this device and whether you would consider buying this over the RTX 3070/ RX 6800M options.
Lenovo Legion 7 RTX 3080 Hands On and First Impressions
Lenovo’s gaming line particularly the Legion 7 series has quickly captured the hearts of enthusiasts and reviewers due to its competitive pricing and exemplary performance. This year’s iteration of the Legion 7 series aims to continue, if not, surpass its standing with the help of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and RTX 3080 and new technologies such as Legion Coldfront 2.0. Let’s find out if this year’s iteration of the Legion is worth your hard-earned bucks
Lenovo Legion 7 Specs
| Lenovo Legion 7 Configurations | |||
| Model | 82N60007PH | 82N60052PH | 82N60051PH |
| Display | 15.6″ FHD 165Hz IPS | 15.6″ FHD 165Hz IPS | 15.6″ FHD 165Hz IPS |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
| RAM | 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | 32GB DDR4 3200MHz |
| Storage | 1TB SSD | 2TB SSD | 2TB SSD |
| GPU | RTX 3060 100W | RTX 3070 140W | RTX 3080 165W |
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home |
| Price | 109,995 | 139,995 | 174,995 |
Legion 7 configurations available in the Philippines all have 32GBs of DDR4 memory and at least 1TB of NVMe SSD storage. What I find troubling in this configuration is the middle Ryzen 7 5800H variant with the 140W RTX 3070 GPU. The other two variants have a much more powerful AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor albeit the lower variant has an RTX 3060 and the top-end configuration sports an RTX 3080 165W. The specific unit that we have here is not actually offered as we have an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H paired with an RTX 3080 165W variant. Specs-wise this should sit in the middle of Php 139,995 and 174,995 variants.
Lenovo Legion 7 Unboxing and User Experience
The Lenovo Legion 7 comes in a stylish black box packaging which has been the standard for Legion gaming devices as we’ve seen in our previous reviews.
The Legion 7 retains the same design of its predecessor with a whole matte black-slash-gray finish across the board. The top lid has a reflective Legion logo on the top left with a Lenovo logo badge located perpendicular to it.
The back shows a vent cutout that covers almost one-thirds of the whole laptop. The cutout lets you take a look at the Legion Coldfront cooling system. I applaud Lenovo for having this much exposed area for its intake vents as we can attest to the brand’s goal of providing better cooling.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Lenovo Legion gaming laptop with the signature vents that you can see on the back and top right corners of the laptop. The left side houses one USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack while the right side has another USB Type-C port and a physical camera switch.
The back is where most of the ports can be found and oh boy never have we been so grateful for having this much amount of ports in a gaming laptop. You have three USB Type-A ports, one ethernet port, one HDMI 2.0 port, another USB Type-C port, and a power plug. You have more than enough I/O to plug in a USB mouse, headset, and keyboard and still have ports for other accessories and peripherals such as an external SSD or a USB microphone.
The Legion 7 uses Lenovo’s signature TrueStrike keyboard for its gaming laptops and its definitely one of the best gaming laptop keyboards out there. There’s a very satisfying tactile feedback with almost little wobbliness on the keys themselves. The consistent actuation makes it feel like a premium keyboard. The RGB lighting on the keyboard is one of the most vibrant yet refreshing RGB lighting I’ve seen in a gaming laptop. The legends are properly lit with no uneven markings as seen on most RGB gaming laptops.
The trackpad on the other hand is a compromise in terms of ergonomics as its positioned towards the left which is uncommon for gaming laptops as most brands tend to shift the trackpad to the right to avoid misclicks when your palm is positioned on the WASD area. This issue can simply be fixed by disabling the trackpad when gaming as its actually a tradeoff that most will take as users will enjoy a full-sized arrow keys as opposed to the half-sized arrow keys we normally see on gaming laptops.
Lenovo Legion 7 Display
In a world where brands squeeze a high-resolution display in their gaming laptops, Lenovo is one of the few brands that don’t give in to the trends as the Legion 7 still has a 1080p 165Hz display which to us is still the ideal resolution for gaming and is frankly overall better in terms of the gaming laptop’s lifespan as you have higher frames rates on a 1080p display compared to having a 1440p one.
While we’ve seen better color accuracy on the rest of Lenovo’s lineup, the Legion 7 still passes our standards for good laptop display as the Legion 7 scores 99% sRGB, 74% AdobeRGB, and 76% DCI-P3. The numbers simply mean that the Legion 7 can be used for professional-grade photo and video editing.
Lenovo Legion 7 Benchmarks
While this isn’t a full review, we managed to take some gaming benchmarks on the Lenovo Legion 7 albeit are quick 1-minute runs and are technically incomplete per our testing methodology as we usually test in three different power profiles. That said, we feel that it’s not worth it to do a full run given our limited time and more importantly that our specific unit isn’t offered in the Philippines. That said, we’d still like to give readers some sort of performance metric to serve as a reference.
DOTA 2
Most gamers play at least one of the following free-to-play titles: League of Legends, CS: GO, Dota 2, and/or Fortnite. Dota 2 is a good representation of the F2P titles as it is the most demanding game in the spectrum. The benchmark will give you an idea of the laptop’s relative performance on other lesser demanding titles. Our benchmark sequence is based on a replay of OG vs. Liquid in the TI9 grand finals from the team fight that happened from 28:30 to 29:30.
Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Seige is one of the few popular AAA games that’s still popular in 2019 due to its competitive gameplay mechanics. R6S uses the AnvilNext game engine, which is developed by the game’s publisher, Ubisoft. As of writing, Rainbow Six Siege is currently the most popular Tom Clancy title beating out Wildlands, Breakpoint and even, Division 2.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is arguably the most hyped game of 2020. Developed by CD Projekt Red, the dystopian open-world, action-adventure RPG sports is one of the most demanding titles to date. Cyberpunk 2077 also supports three Ray Tracing settings as well as DLSS which makes the game a great tool to measure Ray tracing performance for both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most popular console-port RPG developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Horizon Zero Dawn is a multi-award-winning action RPG and its popularity resulted in an exclusive Complete Edition game bundle in Steam.
F1 2020
F1 2020 is the official video game of the 2020 Formula 1 and Formula 2 championships developed by Codemasters. F1 2020 is the twelfth installment in the franchise and uses the Ego Engine 3.0. F1 2020 is a good representation of racing games thanks to its realistic graphics and fairly demanding spec requirements.
Shadow of The Tomb Raider
Shadow of The Tomb Raider or SOTR is the latest installment of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider franchise. Developed by Square Enix, SOTR uses the Foundation engine and is further enhanced by Eidos Montreal. STOR is also one of the first games to come out with Ray Tracing and DLSS support.
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is the third Metro game trilogy based on Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novels. The game is a first-person shooter with survival horror and stealth elements. The post-apocalyptic game is using 4A Engine by 4A games. Released last 2019, Metro Exodus remains to be one of the most graphically pleasing and demanding games that’s popular to date.
Initial Verdict
The Lenovo Legion 7 is not only a good-looking gaming device as it has the performance to back it up. Lenovo stays true to the Legion tagline “Stylish Outside. Savage Inside.” as the Legion 7 is the perfect materialization of that line. Despite its monochrome design the Legion 7 gives you the choice to “POP” in style with daring RGB lighting scattered all throughout the laptop or go for a much more minimalistic approach by setting the lighting to a single color or simply turn it off entirely. That said, I cannot stress enough the wonderful RGB implementation on a gaming laptop, especially the well-lit keyboard that serves the primary function of keyboard lighting. Performance-wise, our benchmark numbers show that the Lenovo Legion 7i is more than capable of driving its 165Hz display. The higher TGP RTX 3080 pushes the capabilities of the device paired with the Lenovo Coldfront cooling system. It’s simply a gaming laptop that you shouldn’t overlook as it ticks the right boxes on what we would consider a no-frills, no-gimmick gaming laptop that simply focuses on performance and build quality.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: Blazing performance, good price
At a glance
Pros
- Strong overall performance
- Display is big, bright and fast
- Per-key RGB lighting
Our Verdict
Armed with a 13th-gen Core i9 CPU and RTX 4070 graphics, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 is mid-priced powerhouse.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 delivers the latest from Intel and Nvidia for a fraction of the cost of premium models that feature higher-grade RTX 40-series GPUs. We’ve reviewed two admittedly impressive RTX 4090-based gaming monsters—the 4,300 Razer Blade 16 and the 5,300 (!) MSI Titan GT 77 HX 13V—that are more show pieces than attainable objects for most. This laptop will fit into many more budgets.
You can outfit the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 with an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 GPU, but our test model features a RTX 4070 GPU and is roughly half the price of the Razer Blade 16 we reviewed recently. It lacks the striking design of the slab-like Razer as well as its dual-mode display, but the look and build quality is certainly appropriate for a midrange gaming laptop. And the 16-inch display is spacious, crisp, bright, and fast. After dreaming about owning a 4,000 or 5,000 next-gen gaming laptop, the next-gen Pro 7i Gen 8 is a solid choice for when you snap back to reality and your financial constraints.
Looking for more options? If so, check out our roundup of the best gaming laptops available today.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Specifications
Our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 test system costs 2,175 from Lenovo and features the following specs:
- CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i9-13900HX
- Memory: 32GB DDR5 5600MHz
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 16-inch QHD (2560×1600) 240Hz display
- Webcam: 1080p with electronic kill switch
- Connectivity: 1 x Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C, 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 4 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, combo audio jack
- Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
- Biometrics: None
- Battery capacity: 99 Watt-hours
- Dimensions: 0.86 x 14.3 x 10.3 inches
- Measured weight: 5.46 pounds (power brick weighs 2.65 pounds)
- Price: 2,175
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 starts at 2,070 for a system with the Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU, GeForce RTX 4070 graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Our test system features two upgrades to the baseline model: 32GB of RAM that adds 55 and a 1TB SSD that adds 50. The highest-end model in the line costs 3,600 and features RTX 4090 graphics and a 2TB SSD. The Core i9-13900HX is the only CPU offered and all models feature the same 16-inch, 16:10 display with a 2560×1600 resolution and speedy 240Hz refresh rate.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Per-key RGB and full-size arrow keys
The Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 looks more like an overgrown corporate laptop than a gaming laptop until you fire up the RGB lighting. The aluminum chassis is dark gray throughout, and aside from a pair of small Lenovo badges and a larger Legion wordmark, there is a distinct lack of chrome accents. The large vents on the side edges and back edge are your only hints that this is a high-powered gaming laptop.
The laptop weighs 5.46 pounds, which is average for a 16-inch 16:10 laptop. The sleek Razer Blade 16 actually weighs slightly more at 5.52 pounds, while two other 16-inch 16:10 models, the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE at 5.29 pounds and the HP Victus 16 at 5.44 pounds, are a bit lighter. The Legion Pro 7i Gen 8’s massive power brick, however, will weigh you down. The 300-watt brick weighs a hefty 2.65 pounds, making the overall travel weight a substantial eight pounds.
The aluminum chassis feels fairly sturdy, although it does flex a bit in the middle of the keyboard. Mashing the WASD keys near the left edge felt more rigid than pressing keys closer to the middle of the keyboard, but there is definitely some flex to the keyboard deck. It lacks the rock-solid feeling of the Razer Blade 16. The keys themselves felt snappy, and I appreciate Lenovo finding room for both a number pad and four full-size arrow keys. It’s a Smart design choice to take advantage of the added space afforded by the tall 16:10 display and use it to extend the arrow keys.
The Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 offers per-key RGB lighting, a fun feature that isn’t always offered on a midrange gaming laptop. Most midrange models let you customize the look of the keyboard with various lighting patterns or perhaps with a four-zone lighting, but the Pro 7i Gen 8 provides maximum RGB flexibility with per-key lighting. You can set up to six RGB lighting profiles and you can cycle through them using the Function key and spacebar. There’s also an LED stripe that runs along the front edge of the laptop that you can also customize with RGB lighting. It has six zones you can customize. The per-key lighting and LED stripe along the front edge go a long way to making the laptop look like a gaming model and not an overgrown ThinkPad.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Big, bright, and fast display
The display is stellar, especially for a midrange model. It’s big at 16 inches and has a 16:10 aspect ratio that’s taller than a traditional 16:9 widescreen display. It’s crisp with a 2560×1600 resolution that’s finer than the 1920×1200 resolution found on many midrange 16-inch models. And it’s fast and bright with a blazing 240Hz refresh rate and rated for 500 nits of brightness. My own measurements with a lux meter showed it was actually a bit brighter than its rating, reaching a peak brightness of 550 nits. Colors looked vivid, edges of images and text looked sharp, and games showed smooth movement.
The laptop features a modern 1080p camera that produces a crisp, well-balanced image. There’s also a kill switch for the webcam on the laptop’s left edge that interrupts the power to the camera to ensure your privacy when it’s not in use.
If the display has you dreaming of getting a premium gaming laptop AV system at a mainstream price, the speakers will snap you back to reality. Some higher-end 16-inch models such as the Razer Blade 16 find room for four speakers—two tweeters and two subs. You only get a pair of 2-watt speakers with the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 and they produce muddy audio with no separation between the highs and mids. Without any subs, the bass response is predictably lacking.
The port selection is varied and well located. There are two USB-C ports, one of which offers Thunderbolt 4 support. There are four USB Type-A ports—two in the back and one of each side of the laptop. This USB-A arrangement allows left and right mousers to connect their gaming mouse to their preferred side. The audio jack is also conveniently located on the front half of the right side for each access. And with the speakers being what they are, you’ll want to keep your headphones nearby.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Performance
Our Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 test system is based on the Core i9-13900HX CPU and GeForce RTX 4070 graphics. It also supplies a generous 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The 13th-gen Core i9-13900HX features Intel’s hybrid architecture with performance and efficiency cores; it has eight performance cores, 16 efficiency cores, and a total of 32 processing threads. The RTX 4070 is a midrange GPU in Nvidia’s latest GeForce 40 series behind the RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics processors. In our test system, it’s set to run at its maximum of 140 watts. That’s a combination of the GPU’s maximum power draw of 115 watts and 25 watts supplied by the CPU via Dynamic Boost.
We started off testing with PCMark 10, which measures performance on everyday computing work including office productivity tasks, web browsing, and video chats. With a score approaching 8,000, the Legion Pro 7i Pro 8 proved itself to be overqualified as a productivity machine.
Our HandBrake benchmark tests how a laptop is able to handle crushing CPU loads over a lengthy period—in this case, transcoding a 30GB MKV file to a format suitable for Android tablets using HandBrake, the free video encoding utility. The Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 barely broke a sweat on the test, edging the Strix G18 as one of the fastest times we’ve seen on the test. It can pull double duty as a gaming machine and content creation laptop.
Next up is Cinebench, another CPU-intensive test but one that renders a complex 2D scene over a short period of time. The trio of laptops with 13th-gen Core i9 chips crushed the competition, illustrating the power of Intel’s latest generation of Core processors.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Graphics performance
Now we get to the goods—3D performance. First up are two synthetic tests, 3DMark’s Time Spy and Port Royal. On Time Spy, the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 trailed both RTX 4090-based laptops but edged the RTX 4070-based Asus ROG Strix G18 and a pair of laptops with previous-gen RTX 3080 Ti GPUs. On Port Royal, the results were largely the same, although the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 finished in between the two RTX 3080 Ti laptops.
On our real-world game benchmarks, the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 started off with a bang, averaging 166 fps on our Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1920×1080 resolution at the Highest quality preset. That was actually better than the RTX 4090-based MSI Titan GT 77 HX 13V and only four frames per second less than the RTX 4090-based Razer Blade 16. The two RTX 4090 machines were able to flex their muscles on the more demanding Metro Exodus test, and the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8’s performance fell more in line with the other RTX 4070 laptop and the pair of RTX 3080 Ti systems.
To test a laptop’s battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 11’s Movies TV app, with the laptop set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the screen brightness at a relatively bright 250 nits to 260 nits, which is a good brightness for watching a movie in an office with the lights on. Despite using a large, 99Whr battery, the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 failed to last even five hours on our battery drain test. That’s a short runtime even among gaming laptops, which rarely provide decent battery life. Then again, you are unlikely to lug this large, 16-inch laptop around with any regularity and will spend most of your time with it plugged in.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8: Should you buy it?
Costs can quickly spiral out of control when shopping for a gaming laptop that offers the latest technology from Intel and Nvidia. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 delivers the goods while staying on budget. It provides excellent value by pairing a powerful Core i9-13900HX CPU with not RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 graphics, but the more cost-effective RTX 4070 GPU. And its roomy, 16-inch 16:10 display is bright, sharp, and fast enough to extend the laptop’s value even further. For a midrange gaming laptop, the rather staid design is sufficient. We’d expect a more interesting and rigid enclosure for a higher-end gaming laptop, which is why we wouldn’t recommend scaling up in the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 line and choosing one of the pricier models with an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 GPU. As configured, this machine is an excellent example of a mainstream gaming laptop that delivers for the price.
