Image: Lenovo
Following a huge rollout of conventional Slim-branded laptops last week, Lenovo is announcing four high-end gaming models to round out the brand. The new Lenovo Legion 7 series features some of the most powerful CPUs and GPUs on the market, along with advanced cooling systems and a redesigned chassis with easy port access on the rear.
Legion 7i and Legion 7
Lenovo is coming hard with its flagship gaming laptops. The redesigns Legion 7i (the “i” is for “Intel,” as with many other Lenovo designs) features your choice of Intel’s ferocious new Core i7-12800HX or an even more bombastic Core i9-12900HX paired with either 16 or 32GB of 4800MHz RAM. Not fast enough? There’s an overclock available for the 32GB package, up to 5600Mhz. Discrete graphics options are either the RTX 3070 Ti or the 3080 Ti — no middle ground or low-end options here.
Lenovo
Lenovo
Lenovo
Physically, the Lenovo Legion 7i is a 16-incher with a 2560×1500 16:10 IPS screen. You can choose between a 165Hz or 240Hz screen, both with G-Sync. Other charms include full USB-C power delivery at up to 135 watts (with a 300-watt proprietary adapter included), two USB-C ports on the left and a third on the right. Storage comes in 4th-gen PCIe SSD form, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB. You’ve got even more ports centered on the back, easy to spot from the top of the laptop thanks to illuminated markers: full-sized Ethernet and HDMI, one more USB-C (four total), and two USB-A ports. The design also features a full CNC aluminum-magnesium body, “Killer” Wi-Fi 6E, a maximum-capacity 99.99 watt-hour battery, and a full RGB backlit keyboard.
Lenovo
Lenovo
Lenovo
The Legion 7, the AMD variant, packs in equally impressive Ryzen 7 6800H and Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU options, but the overclocked RAM choice is dropped. Matching AMD graphics card choices are the Radeon RX6700M and RX 6850MXT. The only other major changes are dropped Thunderbolt support and branded Killer Wi-Fi (though it’s still 6e).
The Legion 7i starts at $2450 with availability later this month. The Legion 7 will follow in June at a much cheaper $2060 base price.
Legion Slim 7i and Slim 7
For the sleeker Legion Slim 7i and Legion Slim 7, Lenovo keeps a surprising amount of the same hardware intact. The only big sacrifice for going with the sleeker, .67-inch design is the choice of graphics cards: the Intel model offers RTX 3050 Ti, 3060, and 3070 cards from Nvidia, while the AMD version goes with the Radeon RX 6600S and RX 6800S. Those high-end processors from the Legion 7i and Legion 7 are still available, with an extra Core i5-12500H or Ryzen 5 6600H on offer, respectively.
Lenovo
Lenovo
Lenovo
The Slim version offers the same impressive screens (1080p option on base), storage, RAM (8GB also offered, overclock dropped), and battery with USB-C charging. The base webcam is dropped from 1080p to 720p, though the upgrade is available. The smaller chassis swaps out a USB-C port on the right side for an SD card slot, a strange choice, and also erases the USB-C and full-sized Ethernet ports from the rear. The Intel version gets an extra USB-A port, three total. Unfortunately they couldn’t squeeze in those illuminated indicators, either.
Lenovo
Lenovo
Lenovo
The Legion Slim 7i goes on sale later this month starting at $1590, while the AMD-packing Legion Slim 7 will sell in June starting at $1520.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who’s been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.
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