ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Legion Professional 7i (2025) is a top-tier gaming laptop computer, on sale now for $2,450.
- It effortlessly runs the newest gaming titles, exudes premium energy, and contains a 16-inch OLED show that calls for your consideration.
- Moreover the excessive value, all that {hardware} runs sizzling, it is power-hungry, and it has an enormous, cumbersome energy provide.
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The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is the newest gaming laptop computer within the Legion sequence. It’s accessible at 16 inches and places all its stat factors into the standard of the show and {hardware}.
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The result’s a classy laptop computer with dramatic (however totally customizable) RGB lighting, a smooth kind issue, and a stacked set of {hardware}. It begins out with 32GB of RAM (upgradable to 96GB), 2TB of storage, a 24-core Intel Core Extremely 9 processor, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU.
All this, mixed with the 16-inch 500nit, 240Hz refresh OLED show, makes for not solely a aggressive gaming machine but in addition a succesful workstation for professional creatives, animators, and designers.
A design with commanding presence
The Legion Professional 7i is hefty, to make certain, however for a gaming laptop computer, it’s really on the smooth facet. This places it in a kind of center floor: it is a bit of too massive to be one thing you’d wish to recurrently commute with, nevertheless it’s actually not sure to the desk.
Sadly, the matte black end is a fingerprint magnet, like lots of Lenovo’s different laptops (ahem — ThinkPads) that, if this bugs you prefer it bugs me, will compel you to maintain a material available. All of that is mitigated by the keyboard lighting, nonetheless, which could be adjusted per key to be as delicate or loud as you need.
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The gamer aesthetic is in full impact right here, with a dramatic single bar of sunshine throughout the entrance of the clamshell that displays onto the floor and appears completely superior. The again is illuminated throughout the diamond-shaped fan exhausts, and the “Legion” emblem pulses with the remainder of the results.
The total-size keyboard with outstanding arrow keys, appropriately-sized quantity pad (and a delicate branding on one letter key particularly) feels premium and well-made, if slightly normal. Key journey feels good, and the trackpad — aligned over the area bar — is satisfactory and useful.
The ability button on the high middle of the keyboard acts as a visible indicator of your efficiency profile: Quiet is blue, Balanced is white, and Efficiency is pink. (It is known as Silent mode each due to the fan and since muting the laptop computer robotically disables the lighting results.)
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All of those parts are individually customizable within the Legion app and could be shut off completely if you must save battery energy or preserve a low profile within the workplace or espresso store.
That being stated, this isn’t precisely the kind of laptop computer you will wish to convey to the tiny bistro desk in your neighborhood espresso store. It is massive, it is heavy (5.67 kilos), and it’s thirsty for energy. Even if you happen to do have entry to a close-by outlet, the 400W energy brick is so huge that it is basically the burden of one other laptop computer.
It is chonky, sure, nevertheless it’s additionally highly effective — offering 70% battery energy in simply half-hour, a surprisingly speedy quantity of juice for the massive 99.9Wh battery. The charger connects through a proprietary port on the left facet of the laptop computer (not the again), which some will discover extra handy, however is barely much less so if you happen to’re utilizing the laptop computer as a desktop and are used to having your connections within the again.
By way of different I/O, the laptop computer has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI and USB-A on the left facet, two extra USB-As, a headphone jack, and a 2.5GB Ethernet jack. In case you do not wish to plug the laptop computer instantly into your modem, it additionally helps Wi-Fi 7 for quick connectivity.
All in regards to the visuals
The Legion Professional 7i’s show is one in every of its greatest options. It’s vivid and vivid and completely pops at 500 nits and a 240Hz refresh charge. It options 100% of the SRGB shade gamut, 93% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3 and swirls with deep, inky blacks and wealthy neons.
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The 16-inch show is non-touch and has WQXGA decision at a 16:10 side ratio. It’s powered by the GeForce RTX 5080 GPU and provides a various set of use case prospects for players, creatives, animators, and designers. Simply word that this can be a notably shiny show, and it’ll replicate mild sources relying on its positioning, particularly with how darkish the blacks get.
Efficiency: Deliver on the boss combat
Let me not mince phrases right here. This factor is a beast. The Legion Professional 7i is designed to shred via essentially the most demanding titles on the market proper now, and the {hardware} on board effectively equips it to take action. The Nvidia GeForce 5080 GPU paired with the 24-core Intel Core Extremely 9 leads to responsive, snappy efficiency in “Cyberpunk 2077” and “Baldur’s Gate 3”, with older titles not breaking a sweat.
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That being stated, all this highly effective {hardware} heats up. Temperatures throughout intense gaming classes can simply strategy 100 °C, which is just too sizzling for sustained use. In Efficiency mode, the followers can hearth at max energy, which considerably brings the temperature down, however you will additionally need to hearken to them cranking.
The cooling system is environment friendly, expelling sizzling air out the again and bleeding a minimal quantity of warmth out via the entrance to the keyboard. Nevertheless, the fan does take some getting used to, because it pops on even throughout regular day-to-day duties like multitasking and net looking.
The Legion Professional 7i is a pleasure to recreation on, nonetheless, with its well-designed keyboard, beautiful show, and improbable efficiency. The expertise carries over to the audio, as its audio system are above common for a laptop computer. Two are upward-facing and two are downward, leading to a sound that is a bit of extra engrossing and fuller than most laptops’ shallow sound profile.
By way of benchmarking, the Legion Professional 7i proves it may well dangle with spectacular numbers, particularly in multi-core efficiency.
Cinebench 24 MC | Geekbench 6.2.2 SC | Geekbench 6.2.2 MC | |
Lenovo Legion Professional 7i | 1,887 | 3,084 | 19,981 |
Apple MacBook Professional M4 | 1,000 | 3,823 | 14,849 |
Asus ProArt P16 | 1,096 | 2,804 | 12,787 |
Minisforum AI X1 Professional | 1,243 | 2,960 | 15,375 |
The caveat of a gaming laptop computer
Like every laptop computer with this quantity of {hardware} on board, the 99Wh battery is extraordinarily variable. This isn’t a skinny and light-weight Copilot+ PC with a battery that drains at a trickle when it is not on. The truth is, it depletes surprisingly shortly simply sitting round, one thing to bear in mind if you happen to depart it unplugged for a day or two and count on to return again to it prepared to fireside up.
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The efficiency mode you activate will drastically affect how lengthy your battery lasts, in addition to what you are doing. For instance, I took this laptop computer to the workplace and labored unplugged in Balanced mode, solely to seek out the laptop computer did not fairly make it via the workday. It acquired to 1% proper round six hours, and that is after regular duties that are not notably demanding.
In case you’re speaking about gaming, you will get round 1.5 hours of recreation time unplugged, which really is not all that dangerous for a gaming laptop computer of this caliber. All of that is to say that the Legion Professional 7i performs about as anticipated contemplating the {hardware} on board and the OLED show. Whereas it is doable to hold round, you will be pressured to maintain the charging brick in tow as its thirst for energy is actual.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i appears like an 18-inch gaming laptop computer in a extra subtle, 16-inch kind. I really like the show, the stalwart but nonetheless smooth construct, and the {hardware} that gives what you are on the lookout for in a gaming laptop computer: efficiency.
Ultimately, Lenovo employed a considerate design right here to compensate for the system’s weaknesses. It runs sizzling however has a really efficient cooling system. It is extremely power-hungry, nevertheless it expenses approach quicker than you’d count on.
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The elephant within the room is the sky-high beginning value, at $2,600 for the 32GB configuration, going as much as $3,200 in order for you the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. I would completely advocate this laptop computer to players on the lookout for a robust, out-of-the-box gaming laptop computer that hits all the correct notes, so long as it is inside your finances. The Legion Professional 7i is a classy, highly effective machine that dares you to run your favourite recreation at max settings and can in the end depart you feeling spoiled.
