Lenovo has unveiled a major update to its Legion line of gaming notebooks, featuring Intel’s recently introduced Tiger Lake-H processors and NVIDIA’s most powerful dedicated graphics cards.
Lenovo Legion is the Chinese company’s specific line for PC gamers. An increasingly important gaming segment that HP covers with the Omen; ASUS with the ROG; Dell with Alienware or Acer with the Predator. As expected, all of them are presenting at this time their new equipment once Intel has presented its new CPUs. We start with Lenovo.
Lenovo Legion 5i
The company will market two different models under this series, according to screen size: 15 and 17 inches. Both models sport the new eleventh-generation Intel processors with the possibility of mounting a Core i5-11400H or a Core i7-11800H and NVIDIA Ampere series dedicated graphics to choose from up to the GeForce RTX 3070 or the new RTX 3050 and Ti also officially announced today by NVIDIA. They can equip up to 32GB RAM and PCIe NVMe solid-state drives.
The 15.6-inch version offers four panels to choose from up to the top of the range with native 2K resolution, refresh rate up to 165 Hz, and support for 100% of the sRGB color gamut. The larger 17-inch version is similar in most respects, but with a few key differences, the panels go up to Full HD, with refresh rates up to 144Hz. All panels feature blue light protection.
Other features to note are the improved Legion Coldfront 3.0 cooling system that provides 18% more airflow to reduce system temperature, while the Legion AI Engine has been optimized with AI for higher frame rates in overclocked situations by dynamically switching power between the CPU and GPU in resource-intensive titles.
They feature the Nahimic 3D audio system, support Dolby Vision, incorporate Legion TrueStrike backlit keyboards, and full connectivity with Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, or Thunderbolt 4.
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro
A special model that stands out for a 16-inch screen with more display space and limited size compared to the 17-inch ones. It mounts an IPS LCD panel that reaches a native resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and with a refresh rate of 165Hz, and a 16:10 aspect ratio.
The base configuration mounts an Intel Core i5-11400H processor, while fully equipped it installs the Core i7-11800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 dedicated graphics. Memory capacity, storage, and connectivity are similar to the previous models.
Lenovo Legion 7i
The most powerful of Lenovo’s new gaming laptops equips a 16-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, 165Hz refresh rate, and striking gray color of its aerospace-grade aluminum chassis.
In CPU and GPU options the company offers the best of what is available, the top-of-the-line Tiger Lake-H, the Core i9-11980HK, and GeForce RTX 3080. It supports up to 32GB DDR4-3200 memory, up to 2TB storage with PCIe NVMe solid-state drives, and optional Intel Optane memory support.
Includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports and four USB 3.2 Type-C and Type-A, HDMI 2.1 output, and Gigabit Ethernet. It offers two-watt stereo speakers with Nahimic 3D and Dolby Vision audio support, a 720p webcam with a shutter that can be closed with the push of a button on the side of the computer, support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, and a backlit keyboard with Corsair iCUE RGB per-key lighting effects.
Lenovo delivers a 95W USB-C power adapter or a 300W slim adapter. Undoubtedly the most impressive of the models presented, which like the previous models feature the Legion Coldfront 3.0 cooling system and the Legion AI Engine.
Price and release date
- The Lenovo Legion 5i will be available in July with a starting price of $969.
- The Legion 5i Pro will be available in June starting at $1,329.
- The Legion 7i will be available in June with a base price of $1,769.
