Lenovo’s latest Legion 7 gaming laptops slim down and power up
Gaming beasts let you pick between AMD and Intel hardware, and power or portability
Are you all about the most powerful hardware possible, or is it OK to give up a bit of performance in the name of portability? The new Lenovo Legion 7 Series laptops have something for everyone. While the Legion 7 and 7i are about as powerful as 16in notebooks get, the Legion Slim 7 and 7i shed a few grams – but still promise to pump out high frame rates in games.
The full-fat Legion 7 and 7i aren’t exactly porkers themselves, weighing in at a luggable 2.5kg and measuring just 19mm at their thinnest point. Yet Lenovo has managed to squeeze in the very best from Intel and Nvidia (if you go with the Legion 7i) or AMD (the Legion 7). The former can be outfitted with a 12th Gen Core i9-12900HX and RTX 3080 Ti dedicated GPU, while the latter gets a Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU and Radeon RX6850M XT graphics chip. DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage are impressively speedy too.
Each model gets a gamer-friendly 16in LCD display with high 165Hz refresh rate as standard, but players with eagle eyes will be able to option a 240Hz refresh rate panel. AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync support comes baked-in, but the 16:10 aspect ratio is pretty novel for a gaming machine. Peak brightness is an eye-searing 1250 nits, and the panels are calibrated for 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space.
Both machines get a 99.99Whr battery, which is the largest you’ll find on any 16in gaming laptop today. Wire-free gaming will still leave you hunting for a plug socket in double-time, but USB-C fast charging means a complete top-up takes just over an hour, at a blistering 135Whrs.
A staggered release sees the Legion 7i arrive first, landing later this month for $2450 (around £2000). The AMD-powered Legion 7 will follow in June, at a slightly more wallet-friendly $2059 (£1680)
Slim when you’re winning
For something a little more portable, there’s the Legion Slim 7 and Slim 7i. Essentially slimmed-down versions of the main Legion 7 models, each drops to 16mm thick and tips the scales at 2kg.
There’s no compromise on the CPU front, with the same top-end Intel and AMD chips available. GPU support drops to an Nvidia RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800S, but Lenovo reckons there’s ample cooling here to keep them chugging along at full throttle while gaming.
It’s the Intel model that stands out more here, with the option of a 2560×1600 Mini LED display. It won’t be ready until later the in the year, though, so impatient types will have to ‘settle’ for a 240 Hz high refresh rate LCD.
As with the more powerful Legion models, the Slim versions are being drip-fed to gamers over the next few months. The Intel-powered Slim 7i lands in the US. later this month for $1589 (£1300) and the Slim 7 turns up in June for $1519 (around £1250). There’s no word on UK prices just yet.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
