Lenovo Legion Professional 7i assessment: Blazing efficiency, good value

The Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 delivers the newest from Intel and Nvidia for a fraction of the price of premium fashions that function higher-grade RTX 40-series GPUs. We’ve reviewed two admittedly spectacular RTX 4090-based gaming monsters—the $4,300 Razer Blade 16 and the $5,300 (!) MSI Titan GT 77 HX 13V—which are extra present items than attainable objects for many. This laptop computer will match into many extra budgets. 

You possibly can outfit the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 with an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 GPU, however our check mannequin includes a RTX 4070 GPU and is roughly half the worth of the Razer Blade 16 we reviewed not too long ago. It lacks the putting design of the slab-like Razer in addition to its dual-mode show, however the look and construct high quality is definitely applicable for a midrange gaming laptop computer. And the 16-inch show is spacious, crisp, shiny, and quick. After dreaming about proudly owning a $4,000 or $5,000 next-gen gaming laptop computer, the next-gen Professional 7i Gen 8 is a stable alternative for once you snap again to actuality and your monetary constraints.

On the lookout for extra choices? If that’s the case, try our roundup of the most effective gaming laptops out there at this time.

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Specs

Our Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 check system prices $2,175 from Lenovo and options the next specs:

• CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i9-13900HX
• Reminiscence: 32GB DDR5 5600MHz
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
• Show: 16-inch QHD (2560×1600) 240Hz show
• Webcam: 1080p with digital kill swap
• Connectivity: 1 x Thunderbolt 4 USB Kind-C, 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 4 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, combo audio jack
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
• Biometrics: None
• Battery capability: 99 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 0.86 x 14.3 x 10.3 inches
• Measured weight: 5.46 kilos (energy brick weighs 2.65 kilos)
• Value: $2,175

The Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 begins at $2,070 for a system with the Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU, GeForce RTX 4070 graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Our check system options two upgrades to the baseline mannequin: 32GB of RAM that provides $55 and a 1TB SSD that provides $50. The best-end mannequin within the line prices $3,600 and options RTX 4090 graphics and a 2TB SSD. The Core i9-13900HX is the one CPU provided and all fashions function the identical 16-inch, 16:10 show with a 2560×1600 decision and speedy 240Hz refresh price.

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Per-key RGB and full-size arrow keys

The Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 seems extra like an overgrown company laptop computer than a gaming laptop computer till you fireplace up the RGB lighting. The aluminum chassis is darkish grey all through, and apart from a pair of small Lenovo badges and a bigger Legion wordmark, there’s a distinct lack of chrome accents. The massive vents on the aspect edges and again edge are your solely hints that it is a high-powered gaming laptop computer.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The laptop computer weighs 5.46 kilos, which is common for a 16-inch 16:10 laptop computer. The glossy Razer Blade 16 truly weighs barely extra at 5.52 kilos, whereas two different 16-inch 16:10 fashions, the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE at 5.29 kilos and the HP Victus 16 at 5.44 kilos, are a bit lighter. The Legion Professional 7i Gen 8’s huge energy brick, nonetheless, will weigh you down. The 300-watt brick weighs a hefty 2.65 kilos, making the general journey weight a considerable eight kilos.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The aluminum chassis feels pretty sturdy, though it does flex a bit in the midst of the keyboard. Mashing the WASD keys close to the left edge felt extra inflexible than urgent keys nearer to the center of the keyboard, however there may be undoubtedly some flex to the keyboard deck. It lacks the rock-solid feeling of the Razer Blade 16. The keys themselves felt snappy, and I respect Lenovo discovering room for each a quantity pad and 4 full-size arrow keys. It’s a wise design option to reap the benefits of the added house afforded by the tall 16:10 show and use it to increase the arrow keys.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 affords per-key RGB lighting, a enjoyable function that isn’t at all times provided on a midrange gaming laptop computer. Most midrange fashions allow you to customise the look of the keyboard with varied lighting patterns or maybe with a four-zone lighting, however the Professional 7i Gen 8 supplies most RGB flexibility with per-key lighting. You possibly can set as much as six RGB lighting profiles and you may cycle via them utilizing the Perform key and spacebar. There’s additionally an LED stripe that runs alongside the entrance fringe of the laptop computer that you would be able to additionally customise with RGB lighting. It has six zones you possibly can customise. The per-key lighting and LED stripe alongside the entrance edge go a protracted strategy to making the laptop computer appear to be a gaming mannequin and never an overgrown ThinkPad.

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Huge, shiny, and quick show

The show is stellar, particularly for a midrange mannequin. It’s large at 16 inches and has a 16:10 side ratio that’s taller than a standard 16:9 widescreen show. It’s crisp with a 2560×1600 decision that’s finer than the 1920×1200 decision discovered on many midrange 16-inch fashions. And it’s quick and shiny with a blazing 240Hz refresh price and rated for 500 nits of brightness. My very own measurements with a lux meter confirmed it was truly a bit brighter than its ranking, reaching a peak brightness of 550 nits. Colours regarded vivid, edges of photos and textual content regarded sharp, and video games confirmed clean motion. 

The laptop computer includes a fashionable 1080p digicam that produces a crisp, well-balanced picture. There’s additionally a kill swap for the webcam on the laptop computer’s left edge that interrupts the facility to the digicam to make sure your privateness when it’s not in use.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

If the show has you dreaming of getting a premium gaming laptop computer AV system at a mainstream value, the audio system will snap you again to actuality. Some higher-end 16-inch fashions such because the Razer Blade 16 discover room for 4 audio system—two tweeters and two subs. You solely get a pair of 2-watt audio system with the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 they usually produce muddy audio with no separation between the highs and mids. With none subs, the bass response is predictably missing. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The port choice is diversified and nicely positioned. There are two USB-C ports, one among which affords Thunderbolt 4 assist. There are 4 USB Kind-A ports—two within the again and one among both sides of the laptop computer. This USB-A association permits left and proper mousers to attach their gaming mouse to their most popular aspect. The audio jack can also be conveniently positioned on the entrance half of the precise aspect for every entry. And with the audio system being what they’re, you’ll wish to maintain your headphones close by. 

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Efficiency

Our Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 check system relies on the Core i9-13900HX CPU and GeForce RTX 4070 graphics. It additionally provides a beneficiant 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The Thirteenth-gen Core i9-13900HX options Intel’s hybrid structure with efficiency and effectivity cores; it has eight efficiency cores, 16 effectivity cores, and a complete of 32 processing threads. The RTX 4070 is a midrange GPU in Nvidia’s newest GeForce 40 collection behind the RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics processors. In our check system, it’s set to run at its most of 140 watts. That’s a mixture of the GPU’s most energy draw of 115 watts and 25 watts equipped by the CPU through Dynamic Enhance.

We began off testing with PCMark 10, which measures efficiency on on a regular basis computing work together with workplace productiveness duties, net searching, and video chats. With a rating approaching 8,000, the Legion Professional 7i Professional 8 proved itself to be overqualified as a productiveness machine. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Our HandBrake benchmark assessments how a laptop computer is ready to deal with crushing CPU masses over a prolonged interval—on this case, transcoding a 30GB MKV file to a format appropriate for Android tablets utilizing HandBrake, the free video encoding utility. The Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 barely broke a sweat on the check, edging the Strix G18 as one of many quickest occasions we’ve seen on the check. It may possibly pull double responsibility as a gaming machine and content material creation laptop computer.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Subsequent up is Cinebench, one other CPU-intensive check however one which renders a posh 2D scene over a brief time frame. The trio of laptops with Thirteenth-gen Core i9 chips crushed the competitors, illustrating the facility of Intel’s newest era of Core processors.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Graphics efficiency

Now we get to the products—3D efficiency. First up are two artificial assessments, 3DMark’s Time Spy and Port Royal. On Time Spy, the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 trailed each RTX 4090-based laptops however edged the RTX 4070-based Asus ROG Strix G18 and a pair of laptops with previous-gen RTX 3080 Ti GPUs. On Port Royal, the outcomes had been largely the identical, though the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 completed in between the 2 RTX 3080 Ti laptops.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

On our real-world sport benchmarks, the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 began off with a bang, averaging 166 fps on our Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at 1920×1080 decision on the Highest high quality preset. That was truly higher than the RTX 4090-based MSI Titan GT 77 HX 13V and solely 4 frames per second lower than the RTX 4090-based Razer Blade 16. The 2 RTX 4090 machines had been capable of flex their muscle mass on the extra demanding Metro Exodus check, and the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8’s efficiency fell extra consistent with the opposite RTX 4070 laptop computer and the pair of RTX 3080 Ti methods.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

To check a laptop computer’s battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Home windows 11’s Motion pictures & TV app, with the laptop computer set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the display brightness at a comparatively shiny 250 nits to 260 nits, which is an effective brightness for watching a film in an workplace with the lights on. Regardless of utilizing a big, 99Whr battery, the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 didn’t final even 5 hours on our battery drain check. That’s a brief runtime even amongst gaming laptops, which not often present respectable battery life. Then once more, you might be unlikely to lug this massive, 16-inch laptop computer round with any regularity and can spend most of your time with it plugged in.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8: Do you have to purchase it?

Prices can shortly spiral uncontrolled when searching for a gaming laptop computer that provides the newest know-how from Intel and Nvidia. The Lenovo Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 delivers the products whereas staying on funds. It supplies wonderful worth by pairing a robust Core i9-13900HX CPU with not RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 graphics, however the more cost effective RTX 4070 GPU. And its roomy, 16-inch 16:10 show is shiny, sharp, and quick sufficient to increase the laptop computer’s worth even additional. For a midrange gaming laptop computer, the quite staid design is adequate. We’d count on a extra fascinating and inflexible enclosure for a higher-end gaming laptop computer, which is why we wouldn’t suggest scaling up within the Legion Professional 7i Gen 8 line and selecting one of many pricier fashions with an RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 GPU. As configured, this machine is a wonderful instance of a mainstream gaming laptop computer that delivers for the worth.