Lenovo Legion 9i overview: Attractive design, highly effective GPU, flawed show

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Lenovo Legion 9i

Players who desire a trendy laptop computer are prone to love Lenovo’s new Legion 9i. It has an eye catching “solid carbon” look that’s distinctive but not overdone. The laptop computer additionally packs nice recreation efficiency and a variety of bodily connectivity. Nonetheless, the laptop computer’s show and CPU efficiency don’t match as much as friends, which narrows its attraction.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Specs and options as-tested

The Lenovo Legion 9i that I acquired for overview was geared up with spectacular {hardware}. It has not solely an Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX and Nvidia RTX 5080, but additionally 64GB of RAM and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 solid-state drive, to not point out Thunderbolt 5 and USB-C 4.

The one specification that isn’t spectacular is the show, which, although it gives a pointy 3840×2400 decision, depends on a mediocre IPS-LCD panel.

• Mannequin quantity: 18IAX10
• CPU: Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX
• Reminiscence: 64GB SO-DIMM DDR5-5200
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080 16GB (175W TGP)
• NPU: Intel AI Increase as much as 13 TOPS
• Show: 18-inch 3840×2400 shiny IPS with 240Hz refresh fee, G-Sync
• Storage: 2TB PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD
• Webcam: 5MP with digital privateness shutter
• Connectivity: 1x HDMI 2.1 (8K/60Hz), 2x USB-C with Thunderbolt 5 and USB-4 80Gbps, DisplayPort, 100-watt Energy Supply, 1x USB-C 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 3x USB-A 10Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x 2.5GbE Ethernet, 1x SD card reader, 1x energy connector
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Facial recognition
• Battery capability: 99 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 15.87 x 11.69 x 1.1 inches
• Weight: 7.72 kilos
• Working System: Home windows 11 Residence
• Value: $3,695.49 MSRP

The Lenovo Legion 9i begins at $3,476.99 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of strong state storage. Lenovo’s improve pricing is extremely inexpensive. Shifting as much as 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD provides solely $220 to the MSRP.

Lenovo gives a “Bare-Eye 3D” show choice in some Legion 9i laptops. This can be a glasses-free 3D know-how just like Acer’s SpatialLabs. My overview unit didn’t have this show, nonetheless, and as a substitute got here with a dual-mode show that helps 240Hz at 3840×2400 decision or 440Hz at 1920×1200 decision.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Design and construct high quality

Look, I’m about to inform you what I take into consideration the Lenovo Legion 9i’s design. However earlier than I do, take a second to take a look at the pictures. I’ll wait.

It appears superb, proper?

There’s nothing uncommon about how the Legion 9i’s design capabilities, as I’ll talk about shortly. However Lenovo’s distinctive lid design, which the corporate calls “solid carbon,” is a winner. It’s engaging and trendy, however not in-your-face or garish. It’s a design assertion, and I like what it says.

General, the laptop computer each appears and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s rivals are a full step behind.

That apart, the Legion 9i delivers what I anticipate from a high-end efficiency gaming laptop computer. It’s a beefy machine that measures over 15 inches vast, over an inch thick, and ideas the scales at almost eight kilos. The recycled aluminum chassis is extraordinarily inflexible. Flex could be discovered within the show lid and keyboard deck, however you’ll have to concentrate to identify it.

General, the laptop computer each appears and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s rivals are a full step behind. Even engaging rivals just like the Alienware Space-51 strike me as old style in comparison with the Legion 9i.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse

Typing on the Lenovo Legion 9i is a superb expertise. The keyboard gives good key journey and every key prompts with a lightweight but satisfying tactile snap. Lenovo gives a superb structure, too. Most keys are giant, with solely the backspace key and the numpad key feeling a bit slim—although they’re nonetheless giant sufficient.

The keyboard is RGB-LED backlit and gives per-key lighting customization, though you may not know that initially. The per-key customization is simply seen when the “customized” mode is chosen from an inventory of presets in Lenovo’s Legion House software program. The LED backlight is brilliant, uniform, and provides a variety of brightness appropriate for each dim and brilliant rooms.

Lenovo additionally packs an RGB-LED mild bar on the entrance underside of the chassis, and RGB-LED lights throughout the Legion emblem for the lid, which may coordinate with the keyboard. I just like the lightbar, which gives a refined gradient between LED mild zones that creates the phantasm of a single uniform mild relatively than a number of, particular person LEDs. The Legion 9i helps Home windows Adaptive Lighting as nicely, although assist have to be turned on within the laptop computer’s BIOS.

The included numpad means the keyboard is shifted in the direction of the left, and the touchpad follows. The touchpad itself is sizable at about six inches vast and 4 inches deep. You will discover bigger touchpads on some aggressive laptops, just like the Razer Blade 18, however the Legion 9i has no scarcity of room for executing Home windows’ multi-touch gestures.

I additionally discovered the touchpad responsive and didn’t have issues with unintended inputs. A bodily mouse button motion is accessible by urgent on the decrease half of the touchpad. It does the job, however it’s relatively refined and prompts with a uninteresting thud as a substitute of a handy guide a rough click on.

Whereas the Legion 9i’s keyboard and touchpad aren’t excellent, they’re a robust level when in comparison with options. The Razer Blade 18 has a superb keyboard and greater touchpad, however its RGB-LED lighting choices aren’t as spectacular. Alienware’s Space-51 additionally has a superb keyboard, and a few first rate RGB-LED lighting, however the touchpad is modest. The Legion 9i delivers greater than rivals total and avoids downsides.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Show, audio

The show is the Lenovo Legion 9i’s solely apparent weak spot, however it’s an enormous one. It falls quick in show high quality and makes a half-hearted try and ship ultra-high refresh charges.

Let’s speak refresh fee first. The Legion 9i’s 18-inch show helps a refresh fee as much as 240Hz at a decision of 3840×2400. Alternatively, it could possibly attain 440Hz at a decision of 1920×1200.

Nonetheless, the main points of Lenovo’s implementation aren’t nice. Customers should entry BIOS to flip to 1200p/440Hz or again to 2400p/240Hz. That’s an annoying drawback, and Lenovo doesn’t do something to assist customers mitigate it. The boot display screen doesn’t even state the button a person must press to entry the BIOS. I think most individuals who purchase this laptop computer will use it for years with out realizing the 1200p/440Hz mode exists.

Personally, I’d by no means use the function, anyway. I’d relatively follow 2400p/240Hz, which is already loads fast, as a substitute of rebooting my laptop computer to entry 440Hz at a decrease decision.

The actual drawback is not only that the 1200p/440Hz is of questionable use, but additionally that it means the Legion 9i can’t supply an OLED or Mini-LED show.

The Legion 9i’s IPS-LCD show is a superb instance of the breed with excellent coloration accuracy, a coloration gamut that spans 100% of sRGB and 99 % of DCI-P3, and a most brightness of 520 nits (I measured as much as 519, however what’s a nit between mates?)

Nonetheless, like most IPS-LCD shows, it has a restricted distinction ratio (I measured a most of 1340:1). An OLED will ship much better distinction which ends up in a richer and extra immersive look. I additionally seen the Legion 9i’s show is cool in coloration tone, with a measured white level of seven,600K at 50 % brightness. And whereas the show is brilliant, it’s additionally shiny, which suggests glare is a matter in brilliant rooms.

Finally, the Legion 9i’s show is a miss, however the audio system gives some redemption. Lenovo packs the laptop computer with two audio system, two tweeters, and two woofers, which collectively ship a transparent, crisp sound stage and cheap bass. High quality audio system or a superb headset will after all be superior, however the Legion 9i’s sound is pleasant for a variety of content material, from podcasts to music and video games.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 5MP webcam with an digital privateness shutter. It’s good, although not distinctive. It gives a pointy and colourful picture and handles combined lighting nicely, although it’s nonetheless apparent that the digicam is a webcam. Its high quality is corresponding to most fashionable gaming laptops. The microphone is equally competent, offering good voice seize with out the necessity to elevate your voice.

An IR digicam is included and gives assist for Home windows Good day facial recognition. This can be a quick, simple method to log in to a Home windows machine. However, as soon as once more, it is a widespread function for a contemporary gaming laptop computer. A fingerprint reader shouldn’t be included.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Connectivity

Lenovo swings for the fences with the Legion 9i’s connectivity, and there’s loads to dig into.

The star of the present is the laptop computer’s pair of USB-C ports. They ship Thunderbolt 5, USB 4 with as much as 80Gbps of information, as much as 100 watts of Energy Supply, and DisplayPort 2.1. It’s the entire enchilada, or very near it.

Most fashionable gaming laptops assist Thunderbolt and USB-C, however the Legion 9i provides nice assist for the most recent variations of those requirements. That interprets to raised knowledge charges. In case you want high-speed connectivity, or wish to connect with a dock or a Thunderbolt / USB-C monitor with quite a few downstream ports, these ports are up for the duty.

Nonetheless, the Legion 9i isn’t targeted solely on Thunderbolt and USB-C. It additionally gives HDMI 2.1, three USB-A ports, Ethernet, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. I’ve no notes: this is a wonderful array of connectivity choices.

Wi-fi connectivity is powerful, too, because the laptop computer helps Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the most recent variations of every normal. It’s normal tools for a contemporary gaming laptop computer, however nonetheless good to see.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Efficiency

The Lenovo Legion 9i has an Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX CPU paired with an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU. The GPU has a most thermal graphics energy of 175 watts, which is probably the most obtainable to the RTX 5080 cellular—although, most different gaming laptops additionally hit that mark. The Legion 9i has wholesome specs in RAM and storage with 64GB and 2TB, the SSD connects over PCIe 5.0.

Our first take a look at is PCMark, a holistic system benchmark. It turned in a good rating of 8,417. Although that is technically a bit behind some various laptops, the margins are skinny. I’d say this is kind of a tie between the 4 top-scoring machines, which incorporates the Legion 9i.

Subsequent up is Cinebench 2024, a closely multi-threaded rendering benchmark. Right here the Lenovo Legion 9i got here up quick with a rating of 1,511. That’s fast however, because the graph exhibits, it’s behind a spread of laptops which might be comparable in measurement and have comparable {hardware}.

Handbrake, a closely multi-threaded video transcoding and encoding instrument, additionally places the Legion 9i in an unfavorable mild. Lenovo’s laptop computer accomplished the transcode of a 1080p feature-length movie from a .mp4 to .mkv format in eight minutes and 12 seconds. That’s a speedy consequence, and nearer to the competitors than in Cinebench 2024. Nonetheless, the Legion 9i lags the sphere.

Whereas the Lenovo Legion 9i struggles a bit in closely multi-threaded CPU exams, it delivers higher leads to GPU exams. 3DMark’s Fireplace Strike and Port Royale exams present the Legion 9i can ship outcomes which might be in the direction of the excessive finish for an RTX 5080 cellular. It’s additionally not too far off the RTX 5090 cellular.

The efficiency unfold widens a bit in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older recreation that’s not too demanding on newer {hardware}. The Legion 9i achieved a mean of 191 frames per second at 1080p decision and the Highest element setting, with out use of DLSS or different body reconstruction. Ray-tracing wasn’t used, both.

Because the graph exhibits, this hits the mark for an RTX 5080 laptop computer, and might depart some RTX 4090 laptops within the mud. Nonetheless, the RTX 5090 laptops take a sizeable lead right here, as the sport’s common FPS is roughly 35 to 40 FPS greater on these machines.

Metro: Exodus narrows the sphere once more. Whereas that is an older recreation, and we don’t run this benchmark with ray-tracing enabled, it stays a formidable title when the Excessive preset is used. The Legion 9i does nicely right here, scoring between the Maingear Ultima 18 with RTX 5080 and the pair of RTX 5090 laptops.

Cyberpunk 2077 additionally speaks favorably of the Legion 9i. Right here, Lenovo’s laptop computer can common 148 frames per second at 1080p and the Extremely preset, or 43 on the insanely demanding Overdrive ray-traced preset. Each figures, keep in mind, are with none type of DLSS or body reconstruction, so in apply higher efficiency is feasible.

Nonetheless, these numbers stack up favorably. They’re good for an RTX 5080 cellular and never all that far off the RTX 5090 laptops.

On the entire, the Lenovo Legion 9i’s efficiency appears to favor GPU efficiency over CPU efficiency. That results in strong leads to video games and considerably disappointing numbers in closely multi-threaded CPU exams. On steadiness the Legion 9i is a nice performer, however it’s undoubtedly tilted in the direction of gaming relatively than productiveness.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Battery life and portability

The Lenovo Legion 9i has a 99 watt-hour battery. That is the utmost obtainable in a shopper laptop computer attributable to limitations on the dimensions of lithium-ion batteries allowed on a passenger airliner.

It’s a really giant battery. And the Legion 9i goes to the difficulty of supporting Nvidia Optimus, a switchable graphics resolution that may flip off the Nvidia GPU (and change to the Intel IGP) when the GPU isn’t wanted.

Nonetheless, it’s not sufficient to ship nice battery life. You’ll be able to anticipate anyplace between two and 6 hours of real-world battery life, relying on how a lot effort you place into avoiding demanding duties.

Nonetheless, because the graph exhibits, this isn’t uncommon for a high-end gaming laptop computer. The quickest laptops are inclined to land round two to a few hours of battery life. Those who do handle to surge forward, just like the Razer Blade, achieve this with using much less highly effective CPUs and extra miserly GPU energy configurations.

There’s a transparent trade-off right here. A contemporary gaming laptop computer can ship most efficiency, or first rate battery life, however it could possibly’t present each. The Legion 9i leans extra in the direction of efficiency.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Conclusion

The Lenovo Legion 9i is a design assertion that appears nice and proves pleasant to make use of day-to-day. It additionally delivers robust recreation efficiency and an unbelievable array of modern ports. These advantages are countered by a mediocre show with a 1200p/440Hz (or, alternatively, glasses-free 3D) mode that’s of questionable use. CPU efficiency additionally fell wanting expectations. Nonetheless, the Legion 9i is an affordable selection in the event you care principally about GPU efficiency and can typically join the laptop computer to an exterior show.