The Lenovo Legion 9i 18 is the latest gaming-grade laptop from the company’s impressive lineup. Packed with impressive hardware and a unique design, the Legion 9i is a beautiful and well-crafted masterclass in 18 gaming laptop design. With an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, GeForce RTX 5080, and 64 GB DDR on board, the Legion 9i offers a well-balanced high-end laptop experience that provides a solid value for dollar ratio.
The design of the Lenovo Legion 9i is striking, offering a practical blend of function and style. While this might seem like a small note, one of my favourite practical design choices is the inclusion of a textured top cover for the Legion. This unique and stylish shell goes beyond simple style preference and addresses one of my biggest gripes with this latest generation of gaming laptops: finger smudges. With that being said, even the matte black finish around the keyboard does an excellent job at repelling oil left behind by hands. I’m not sure what Lenovo’s secret is, but it is the most finger-smudge-repellent casing I’ve seen this year.
The Legion 9i measures 403(L) x 296.9 (W) x 27.95 (at its thickest) mm and weighs around 3.5kg. This puts it squarely in line with other laptops in the 18” category. As a laptop comprised primarily of aluminum (bottom) and an aluminum, forged carbon bi-metal (top), the Legion 9i feels exceptionally sturdy when held or moved around. Its durable and sturdy construction is evident and serves it well as a desktop replacement.
Continuing an examination of the Legion 9i, I am happy to report that, much like Lenovo’s Yoga Pro 9i, the trackpad is centred with the keyboard’s spacebar, not the laptop itself. This is one of the most overlooked features of this generation’s laptop design, and one that Lenovo has gotten right. As for the trackpad’s functionality, although it doesn’t break new ground in its design, it is quite functional, offering smooth tracking and responsive clicking.
“The design of the Lenovo Legion 9i is striking, offering a practical blend of function and style.”
Lenovo has included its TrueStrike Gaming keyboard as part of the Legion 9i’s design, and I’m thankful for it. It provides a solid and responsive actuation point along with N-key rollover, making it an excellent choice for gaming. The keycaps have a rubberized coating that provides increased texture and grip, as well as reducing fingerprint smudging.
Lenovo has also stepped up its RGB game with the release of the Legion 9i. Featuring a fully customizable RGB backlit keyboard, managed by the Legion Space app, you’ll have plenty of options for RGB customization. While this, in and of itself, is a nice customization feature, Lenovo has taken it a step further by offering an additional RGB strip along the underside of the front and corners of the laptop. This underglow effect gives the Legion a striking, unique look that stands out from other gaming laptops.
I am also happy to see a solid lineup of IO ports to work with on the Legion. With 2x Thunderbolt 5, a single USB-C port, 3x USB-A ports, 2.5GbE RJ-45 jack, HDMI, card reader and 3.5mm combo port, the Legion 9i is ready for every peripheral. Those Thunderbolt ports are especially appreciated, allowing for easy pairing with the latest Thunderbolt 5 hubs and easy docking of the Legion 9i with a home gaming setup.
The Legion 9i features a 6-speaker audio system with Nahimic 3D Audio for Gamers. In testing, I had a bit of a mixed experience with the system. While the audio sounded great for games, with lots of low-end rumble to help create immersion, that low-end rumble that serves its purpose in one way became a pain point for music listening. The mids and highs lack clarity and definition in the mix, resulting in an overly warm audio listening experience. Additionally, while there are six speakers, I didn’t find them overly powerful, thus resulting in a quieter listening experience.
The 18-inch, 3.8K IPS display serves the Legion 9i well. Offering up to 240Hz refresh rate, 520 nits of brightness, and full Dolby Vision support, games look great. While not as crisp as the OLEDs I’ve tested in other high-end gaming laptops, the inclusion of an IPS display to help reduce costs is a trend I’ve seen more and more of these past few months, even on higher-end rigs. It does work great while gaming, providing solid dark and light contrast on screen. Of note is the thinner bezel display, which helps the screen pop against the backdrop.
Shifting to performance, the Legion 9i comes ready to game with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GPU, and 64GB of DDR5-5200. While not quite as powerful as the MSI Titan 18 HX, the ROG Strix SCAR 18, or the Razer Blade 18, the Legion 9i still manages to provide an impressive gaming experience. When comparing specs between this year’s high-end 18 gaming laptops, I wrestle with the tension of spec, price and diminishing returns.
When benchmarking the Legion 9i against the aforementioned laptops, it does come in last place. However, this statement needs qualification. Last place here simply means that, at native resolution, it couldn’t quite get 60FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra settings, instead averaging around 51 FPS. However, even the Blade 18 struggled to maintain 60FPS at native resolution, and while the Scar 18 could manage it, the native display resolution is only 2.5K.
The disparity of FPS is reduced greatly, however, when testing with Ray Tracing and DLSS frame generation, seeing the Legion 9i get much closer to the Blade 18’s performance. I bring this up because it perfectly highlights the tension of hardware, price and diminishing returns. While the Legion 9i might provide slightly less FPS (51) than the Blade 18 (59), there is an almost $1,000 difference between the two units. Is that 1,000 dollars worth a few more frames? I don’t think so, but this, of course, is the tension every gamer has to manage.
“One area where the Lenovo Legion 9i impressed me more than any other of the desktop replacements I’ve tested this year, with maybe the exception of the SCAR 18, is in cooling.”
With all this being said, the Legion 9i performed exceptionally well in real-world game testing. I used it as my gaming rig for a recent Extra Life 12-hour live stream, and over the course of the day, it performed admirably. It easily handled any game I threw at it at max settings, without issue. DOOM: The Dark Ages ran incredibly smoothly at max settings, with other titles, such as Diablo 4, performing just as well. The Lenovo Legion 9i is an excellent gaming laptop that can easily take on the most punishing of games.
One area where the Lenovo Legion 9i impressed me more than any other of the desktop replacements I’ve tested this year, with maybe the exception of the SCAR 18, is in cooling. While all of the aforementioned systems have solid cooling solutions, the Legion 9i is superior in two key ways. Heat dissipation away from key areas where the hands rest is excellent here. Even during that 12-hour stream, the laptop never felt hot to the touch or even warm where my hands naturally rested during gaming. The second is fan noise, which, along with the SCAR 18, was quite quiet, especially when compared to the Titan and Blade.
As for the battery life, while the 99.9Wh battery isn’t going to get you through a 12-hour session of gaming, it is in line with what I’ve seen from similar rigs. The note on battery life worth mentioning, though, is Lenovo’s Super Rapid Charge feature, which sees the battery go from 0-100% in 80 minutes, with a 30-minute charge getting you all the way to 70%. It’s the first time I’ve seen a rapid charge system at play in a premium gaming laptop, and I am impressed.
While not the most powerful of this generation’s 18-inch gaming laptops, the Legion offers some of the best dollar of hardware value I’ve seen. Cheaper than all of the other models I’ve mentioned, the Legion 9i offers a similar top-tier gaming experience at a fraction of the price of the competition. While subjective, it’s also the best looking while doing it with the RGB lighting and textured cover plate being standout features. Priced at $4019.99, the Lenovo Legion 9i is an excellent desktop replacement option for the budget-conscious, still looking for a top-end gaming experience.
