I am very picky when it comes to laptops. I know what I like, and it is generally elegance and simplicity, as is evidenced in my current daily driver, the ASUS TUF Dash F15. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i became available recently, and I jumped all over the chance to see how Lenovo was able to construct a gaming laptop to rival some of the top machines on the market today.
I have always heard great things about Lenovo’s laptops, specifically their productivity and notebook lines, like the Yoga. They have been a visual favourite of mine for a very long time due to their simplistic looks and muted aesthetics. The Legion Pro 7i is very much going against the grain in that the RGB possibilities are on full display here.
Starting with the keyboard, the Lenovo TrueStrike Gaming Keyboard is easy to use and feels great under my fingers. There is very minimal travel distance for the keys, which I love compared to mechanical keyboards available, a full-size number pad and per-key RGB lighting available via Lenovo Spectrum via the Lenovo Vantage app. With up to 6 profiles available to be preset, there is an RGB setting for all your different needs, from gaming to music to productivity.
As someone who has been using a laptop without a number pad for the last 3 years, it has taken a lot of discipline to re-learn the position of the keys as they are slightly more to the left than when a number pad is not installed. The one-piece trackpad has also been shifted slightly to the left to accommodate the lower position of the arrow keys (that are also full-size). The trackpad itself is smooth to the touch and silky-smooth to use. It is responsive and large enough to allow for long movements and small enough not to become invasive (I’m looking at you, MacBook).
“The display itself is surrounded by an extremely thin bezel, maximizing the amount of screen that can be crammed into the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i.”
The physical construction of the Legion Pro 7i ticks all of the boxes for me, with an all-aluminum chassis and a very aesthetically pleasing Eclipse Black colourway. The aluminum chassis keeps things lightweight for ease of travel, and it is strong enough to withstand a bump or two here and there. Coming in at around 22mm (0.86”) in thickness and roughly 2.62 kg (5.78 lbs), the Legion Pro 7i makes quite the travel companion for those days you need to be on the road, despite its physical size.
The biggest issue I have always had with gaming laptops has always been screen size. Manufacturers seemed to believe that bigger is better for gaming laptops when it comes to screen size, and it put me off them for a very long time. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i bucks that trend with its 16” display featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio (2560 x 1600) and 240hz refresh rate. 500-nits of brightness and Dolby Vision are also available to provide the user with one of the best visual experiences a laptop can offer.
The display itself is surrounded by an extremely thin bezel, maximizing the amount of screen that can be crammed into the Legion Pro 7i. A matte finish on the screen reduces glare while allowing for crisp images to be shown while maintaining the muted aesthetic the Legion Pro 7i is showing off.
Unlike the TUF Dash F15 I have been using for a couple of years now, the Legion Pro 7i has a webcam built into the display. The FHD webcam is available up to 1080p and is housed at the top of the display. To maintain a minimalistic design, there is no physical shutter for the webcam on the display, with Lenovo opting for an electronic camera shutter for privacy, which is controlled by a switch on the side of the machine.
“The physical construction of the Legion Pro 7i ticks all of the boxes for me, with an all-aluminum chassis and a very aesthetically pleasing Eclipse Black colourway.”
One of the biggest issues I have with laptops, in general, is the mediocre speakers that always seem to be installed. The Legion Pro 7i leaves that trend in the dust with the Harman Super Linear Speaker System that it comes equipped with. With the settings that can be pre-installed, sounds were crystal clear, and the volume went up to levels that can actually be heard in another room. Nahimic 3D Audio for Gamers helps to improve surround sound immersion, and all sound settings can be customized in the Nahimic app.
Performance-wise, the Legion Pro 7i I tested came equipped with an Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900HX processor and 32 GB of RAM, as well as an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU. What this meant for me is that I was able to run some of my more visually demanding games, like New World and Cities: Skylines II, at maximum settings and experienced almost no slowdowns or framerate issues. In fact, New World was able to run at ~105 fps when I was wandering around highly populated areas and ~150 fps when I was out exploring the wilds.
When it came to tasks outside of gaming, like writing this review or catching up on a couple of YouTube videos, I was able to have multiple programs and windows open simultaneously while maintaining a high level of processing speed. There were no issues going between apps and no slowdowns when loading games.
All of this processing power is bound to generate some heat, right? Well, the fine folks at Lenovo have thought of that too and outfitted the Legion Pro 7i with the Legion ColdFront: Vapor cooling system. ColdFront: Vapor uses a dual-fan and vapour chamber system to pull cool air in via the keyboard and bottom covers and pushes hot air out through the back of the chassis and out the sides. ColdFront also utilizes liquid metal on certain key components inside to allow for the best heat transfer, keeping your system cool.
“Where I was taken aback was Lenovo’s Super Rapid Charge system, which restores roughly 70% of battery life with a simple 30-minute charge!”
The last thing about cooling is the thermal modes available on the Legion Pro 7i. A quick press of the Fn+Q keys allows the user to cycle through three different thermal modes: Quiet, Performance, and Balanced. They operate exactly as one would expect, with Performance offering higher CPU voltage and high fan speeds, Quiet offering lower CPU voltage, lower fan speeds and better battery life, and Balanced is the automatic settings.
The Legion Pro 7i gaming laptop offers a spectacular battery life and can be equipped (depending on the model you get) with the largest battery that can be legally installed at 99.9 watt-hours. What this meant for me is that I was able to get a few hours of battery life out of the machine before requiring a charge, which is about what I expected to get from a gaming laptop.
Where I was taken aback was Lenovo’s Super Rapid Charge system, which restores roughly 70% of battery life with a simple 30-minute charge! The Legion Pro 7i can also be charged with a USB-C charger up to 135W via the port on the back of the machine, but only when the device is set to Hybrid Mode in the Lenovo Vantage app.
Now that we are on the topic of ports, the Legion Pro 7i has a fair selection available for use. On the sides of the machine, you have a headphone/microphone jack, two USB-A (5GBPS) ports and a Thunderbolt 4 port. On the back, you get the charging port, a USB-C (10GBPS) port, HDMI, and two more USB-A (5GBPS) ports. This was the first machine I have used that had the power connector at the back of the machine, and I honestly don’t know how I got on without it. It was never in the way and allowed me to have desk space free at the side of the machine.
Overall, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i gaming laptop is a fantastic machine that is a welcome addition to my deskspace. I didn’t think anything would supplant my current machine, but the fine folks at Lenovo have done just that. With its ability to open almost fully flat, incredible graphics capabilities and battery life, the Legion Pro 7i is easily the best laptop I have used in my career. With all of the goodness comes a price, and the Legion Pro 7i comes in at a healthy $2699.99 USD for the model tested. It’s not awful, given its capabilities, but it’s something to consider if you are in the market.
