I’ve never been a gaming PC guy, but this laptop changed my perspective for the better

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 incorporates a 16-inch OLED show that calls for your consideration.
• In addition to the excessive worth, all that {hardware} runs scorching, it is power-hungry, and it has a giant, 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 complicated laptop computer with dramatic (however totally customizable) RGB lighting, a modern 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 sure, however for a gaming laptop computer, it’s truly on the modern facet. This places it in a type of center floor: it is a little bit too massive to be one thing you’d need to recurrently commute with, but it surely’s definitely not sure to the desk.

Sadly, the matte black end is a fingerprint magnet, like a lot of Lenovo’s different laptops (ahem — ThinkPads) that, if this bugs you prefer it bugs me, will compel you to maintain a fabric readily available. All of that is mitigated by the keyboard lighting, nevertheless, which may be adjusted per key to be as refined 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 consequences.

The complete-size keyboard with distinguished arrow keys, appropriately-sized quantity pad (and a refined branding on one letter key specifically) feels premium and well-made, if somewhat normal. Key journey feels good, and the trackpad — aligned over the area bar — is enough and practical.

The ability button on the high heart of the keyboard acts as a visible indicator of your efficiency profile: Quiet is blue, Balanced is white, and Efficiency is purple. (It is referred to as Silent mode each due to the fan and since muting the laptop computer mechanically disables the lighting results.)

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All of those parts are individually customizable within the Legion app and may be shut off fully if you could save battery energy or hold a low profile within the workplace or espresso store. 

That being mentioned, this isn’t precisely the kind of laptop computer you may need to carry 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 when you do have entry to a close-by outlet, the 400W energy brick is so large that it is basically the burden of one other laptop computer. 

It is chonky, sure, but it surely’s additionally highly effective — offering 70% battery energy in simply half-hour, a surprisingly speedy quantity of juice for the large 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 when you’re utilizing the laptop computer as a desktop and are used to having your connections within the again.

When it comes to 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. Should you do not need to plug the laptop computer straight 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 all its greatest options. It’s shiny and vivid and completely pops at 500 nits and a 240Hz refresh price. It options 100% of the SRGB colour 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 avid gamers, creatives, animators, and designers. Simply be aware that it is a notably shiny show, and it’ll mirror gentle sources relying on its positioning, particularly with how darkish the blacks get.

Efficiency: Convey on the boss battle

Let me not mince phrases right here. This factor is a beast. The Legion Professional 7i is designed to shred by means of probably the most demanding titles on the market proper now, and the {hardware} on board nicely 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 mentioned, all this highly effective {hardware} heats up. Temperatures throughout intense gaming classes can simply method 100 °C, which is simply too scorching for sustained use. In Efficiency mode, the followers can fireplace at max energy, which considerably brings the temperature down, however you may additionally should take heed to them cranking. 

The cooling system is environment friendly, expelling scorching air out the again and bleeding a minimal quantity of warmth out by means of the entrance to the keyboard. Nonetheless, 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 sport on, nevertheless, 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 little bit extra engrossing and fuller than most laptops’ shallow sound profile. 

When it comes to benchmarking, the Legion Professional 7i proves it may well hold with spectacular numbers, particularly in multi-core efficiency.

The caveat of a gaming laptop computer

Like several 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. Actually, it depletes surprisingly rapidly simply sitting round, one thing to bear in mind when you depart it unplugged for a day or two and anticipate 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 by means of the workday. It received to 1% proper round six hours, and that is after regular duties that are not notably demanding. 

Should you’re speaking about gaming, you may get round 1.5 hours of sport time unplugged, which truly 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 potential to hold round, you may be compelled 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 like the show, the stalwart but nonetheless modern 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 scorching however has a really efficient cooling system. It is extremely power-hungry, but it surely expenses approach sooner than you’d anticipate. 

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The elephant within the room is the sky-high beginning worth, at $2,600 for the 32GB configuration, going as much as $3,200 if you’d like the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. I might completely suggest this laptop computer to avid gamers on the lookout for a strong, out-of-the-box gaming laptop computer that hits all the appropriate notes, so long as it is inside your finances. The Legion Professional 7i is a complicated, highly effective machine that dares you to run your favourite sport at max settings and can finally depart you feeling spoiled.