On this world of silicon scarcity and scalping of CPUs and GPUs, many are trying on the laptop computer area to offer them with desktop PC substitute gadgets. The Lenovo Legion 7 goals to be one such system, packing the quickest AMD Ryzen Cell CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU available on the market presently. This laptop computer being quick ought to come as no shock to anybody, however can it really be a desktop substitute? And extra importantly, is it well worth the asking value of Rs. 2,39,990? Properly, I’m going to seek out that out and extra on this deep dive evaluate and provide the full image concerning the Legion 7.
So with out additional delay let’s get into the evaluate.
Lenovo Legion 7 (2021) Evaluation
Under you will discover what I believed concerning the Legion 7 intimately. If you wish to soar to any explicit part you need to use the desk beneath to succeed in it rapidly.
Lenovo Legion 7 Specs
CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
RAM | 32GB Twin-channel 3200 MHz DDR4 Reminiscence, Max 64 GB assist |
GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 16GB Laptop computer GPU 165 Watts Max TGP |
Energy Adapter | 300W Slim Adapter @ 870 g |
Storage | WD SN 730 Gen 3 NVMe SSD 1TB |
Show | 16-inch WQXGA IPS 2560 x 1600 16:10 165 Hz G Sync |
Touchscreen | No |
Dimensions | 14.01″ x 10.27″ x 0.93″ (356 x 261.04 x 23.5 mm) |
Weight | 2,496 g |
Ports | 1 x USB Sort-C (USB 3.28 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4) 1 x Audio Jack 1 x USB Sort-C (USB 3.28 Gen 1) 1 x E-Shutter Button 3 x USB Sort-A 3.28 Gen 1 (1 x At all times-On 5V) 1 x USB Sort-C (USB 3.28 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4, Energy Supply) 1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x RJ45 Ethernet |
Wi-Fi | WiFi 2×2 802.11 ax |
Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.1 |
Battery | 4 cell, 80Whr |
Digital camera | 720p with E-camera Shutter |
Audio system | 2 x 2W HARMAN Speaker with Nahimic Audio |
Worth | Rs. 2,39,990 |
Design
Lenovo opts for an aluminum chassis for the development of the Legion 7. The corporate calls the colour of the system ‘Strom Grey’. The chassis has a clean matte end, with aspect and underside vents for cooling. Construct high quality feels very premium with negligible flex. There are additionally no sharp edges on my take a look at system. Lengthy-term Lenovo customers will really feel proper at residence with acquainted construct philosophy in comparison with final 12 months’s mannequin.
Legion 7 has a dimension of 14.01″ x 10.27″ x 0.93″, which is pretty commonplace for a tool with a 16-inch display screen. The burden of the system is on the heavier aspect, at 2.5Kgs. Furthermore, the laptop computer additionally comes with a beefy 300-watt energy brick. At 870g the facility brick is on the heavier aspect and the entire package deal stands at round 3.4Kgs. Nevertheless, the burden distribution is strong and you’ll open it one-handed with ease. Additionally, the hinges of the show are agency and it will probably tilt to a most of 175 levels.
The design is discreet sufficient to cross it off as a piece laptop computer, nevertheless it packs the RGB punch in case you are into that kind of stuff. Synced RGB is current on the keyboard, the aspect vents, and the underside edges. The inbuilt firmware or Corsair iCUE controls all issues RGB on this system. The ‘Y’ contained in the ‘LEGION’ brand on the show will also be managed by means of the firmware or iCUE.
Many of the I/O is positioned behind the display screen and is backlit. I like this design side because it makes it simpler to plug issues into the laptop computer when you find yourself in entrance of the system and utilizing it. The facility button is surrounded by perforations that act as intakes for the system. The cooler is a vapor chamber (extra on that later) and liquid steel is used because the thermal compound.
The internals of the laptop computer could be accessed by eradicating all 10 screws on the underside. The duvet must be eliminated with a assist of a flat spatula. There’s a free SSD slot that’s PCIe Gen 3 succesful. You possibly can improve the RAM if you wish to, however since each the slots are populated you will have to exchange each sticks.
Show
The Lenovo Legion 7 packs one of many higher screens I’ve seen in a gaming system. It has a 16 inch 2560×1600 WQXGA display screen working at 165 Hz. Being IPS in nature the display screen has good viewing angles and the matte end makes it good for outside environments as effectively. The display screen feels quick whereas gaming and the marketed 3ms response instances seem like true. There was no ghosting throughout gaming and the Blur Busters UFO Take a look at additionally confirmed this reality.
Lenovo claims that the display screen helps 100% sRGB and for probably the most half it seems to be true. The movies and flicks I streamed on the display screen regarded pure and there was no blue hue that many ‘gaming’ screens undergo from. Nevertheless, there’s a slight backlight bleeding current, with the ‘LEGION’ textual content of the wallpaper being current on the display screen even after sleeping the system or shutting it down.
One of many huge positives of this system is the actual fact it helps FreeSync and G-SYNC each. So whether or not you’re on the iGPU in hybrid mode or utilizing the RTX 3080 in discrete mode, you will have Variable Price Refresh (VRR) accessible to you. The Show can also be VESA DisplayHDR 400 licensed and has a peak brightness of 500 nits, that means you need to use it for fundamental HDR media consumption.
Efficiency
The Lenovo Legion 7 packs the highest-end elements one can think about in a gaming laptop computer. My take a look at machine packs the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 HX which has 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of three.3 GHz and a max enhance of 4.6 GHz. It additionally options the complete energy NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop computer that includes 6144 CUDA Cores, 48 RT cores, and 192 Tensor cores. It additionally options 16 GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 reminiscence on a 256-bit extensive reminiscence bus. As such I had very excessive hopes for the efficiency of this method and for probably the most half, it does ship.
There’s a Vega 8 iGPU within the system which could be disabled utilizing the Legion Vantage software program. The laptop computer has additionally been examined on the ‘Efficiency Mode’ with the charger plugged in. For comparability, I’ve used an MSI GP66 Leopard with an i7 11800H + RTX 3070(140 watts) and an Asus G15 Benefit Version that includes the Ryzen 9 5900HX + RX 6800M (145 watts). The Asus G15 knowledge has been taken from Jarrod’sTech YouTube channel.
As for the checks, I ran quite a few them to push the GPU and CPU of this system. For testing the CPU I ran Cinebench R23, Blender, 3D Mark Firestrike, and 3D Mark Timespy. The rasterization efficiency of the system was examined utilizing Counter World Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, Assassins’s Creed Valhalla, The Witcher 3, and Pink Lifeless Redemption 2. Ray Tracing and DLSS had been examined utilizing Cyberpunk 2077 and Metro Exodus Enhanced Version. Since each the competing gadgets had 16:9 screens, I ran all of the gaming benchmarks at 1080p as an alternative of 1600p.
Cinebench R23 Multithread
First up is Maxon’s Cinebench R23. It’s a fairly intensive CPU take a look at that pushes all 3 methods fairly laborious. The Intel 11800H is quicker however the Ryzen 9 isn’t far behind. Curiously the Ryzen 9 within the Asus G15 finally ends up being the quickest.
UL 3D Mark Firestrike
3D Mark Firestrike is a comparatively outdated DX 11 based mostly benchmark. The RTX 3080 Legion 7 took the lead over the GP66 however for some cause, it’s nonetheless behind the Asus G15 Benefit version.
UL 3D Mark TimeSpy
The newer 3D Mark Time Spy reveals an anticipated consequence, the Legion 7 leads the pack with none subject.
Counter-Strike World Offensive
Valve’s 2012 shooter continues to be very fashionable and calls for excessive fps for a aggressive edge. The Legion 7 has no subject powering this recreation, delivering effectively over 400 FPS with each setting cranked to the max.
Murderer’s Creed Valhalla
Ubisoft’s 2020 entry into the Murderer’s Creed franchise is a really taxing recreation. I examined it on the Extremely Excessive settings. The Legion 7 performs effectively however is somewhat underwhelming on this take a look at. I believe the restricted PCIe lanes that Ryzen Cell CPUs present with the upper overhead of the NVIDIA DX 12 driver path limits the efficiency of this method.
Cyberpunk 2077
CDPR’s 2020 RPG is an ideal showcase for RTX and is the primary recreation on this checklist to characteristic the brand new expertise. The primary take a look at is a pure rasterization take a look at, with no RTX or DLSS. The Legion trails the G15 by a slim margin however is thrashing the GP66 with ease.
Within the RT take a look at, we see the facility of Ampere come to life. The Legion 7 beats everybody and decimates the 6800M within the G15. The DLSS take a look at pushes the 3080 to even higher heights, which the 6800M cant match because it has no assist for DLSS and this recreation doesn’t assist AMD FSR.
Rainbow Six Siege
This 2015 Ubisoft shooter is likely one of the hottest esports proper now. I used the max settings and the Vulkan render path to check the efficiency and the Legion 7 had no downside maxing the refresh price of the panel it ships with.
Pink Lifeless Redemption 2
Rockstar’s 2019 masterpiece is up subsequent. RDR2 is understood to brutalize methods, however the Legion 7 had no points. Examined at 1080p with all the things set to the best and the tremendous taxing ‘Full Decision Ambient Occlusion’ turned to ON.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Version
Metro Exodus was one of many first RTX ON titles NVIDIA showcased again in 2018. In 2020 4A Video games launched the Enhanced Version of the sport. Due to this fact, I examined it at Extremely Settings and Extremely Settings+DLSS ON, and in each cases, the Legion 7 blew away all the things else.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2015 Sport of The 12 months, The Witcher 3 continues to be a wonderful recreation to have a look at and might tax your system fairly effectively. At Extremely Settings @ 1080p, the Legion 7’s restricted PCIe bandwidth once more limits its efficiency. It Falls behind the GP66 and G15 and turns its weakest end in my testing.
Apart from the above checks I additionally ran the PudgetSystem’s Adobe Premiere Professional take a look at and the Adobe Photoshop take a look at. The Premiere Professional take a look at turned in a rating of 715 and the Photoshop take a look at was at 990. Blender BMW was additionally tremendous quick on the laptop computer with simply over 3 minutes to finish the render.
The included SSD isn’t any SN 850 nevertheless it held its personal. The speeds it achieved had been greater than sufficient for a quick boot and app startup expertise.
Total I can’t complain concerning the efficiency of the system. My day-to-day utilization included workplace work (together with this evaluate), having tons of chrome tabs open, enjoying video games reminiscent of Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, Counter-Strike World Offensive, and The Witcher 3 in my off time together with video streaming on Disney+, Netflix, and YouTube. My gaming periods lasted for about 4 hrs minimal and the laptop computer didn’t decelerate or have thermal throttling points throughout these periods.
Thermals
Coming to the thermals, the Ryzen 9 5900HX and the RTX 3080 are the 2 strongest chips current on the planet proper now and as such require a sturdy cooling answer to maintain them below management. Lenovo has deployed what they name Coldfront 3.0 to chill this beast. It’s a vapor chamber cooler with liquid steel because the thermal compound. For probably the most half, it does work. The temperature of the interior elements was recorded utilizing MSI Afterburner and the chassis temps had been examined utilizing a Fluke 59 MAX IR thermometer.
The GPU sits round 75 °C below full load, be it whereas gaming or rendering. This can be a superb consequence because it means the GPU can hit its enhance clocks and keep it with ease. The CPU although does get sizzling to alarming ranges. I measured 90 °C on many events be it Cinebench or whereas gaming. Ryzen Cell CPUs can’t be undervolted and the laptop computer presents no guide fan management apart from the three modes managed by the firmware. These limitations imply that apart from disabling the enhance clocks there may be just about no answer to this downside.
Additional, I additionally examined the laptop computer on a Cosmic Byte Meteoroid cooling pad. It did drop the GPU temps to 71 °C however the CPU was nonetheless across the 88 °C mark. I’ve to level out in both configuration the CPU did keep core clocks of round 4300 MHz whereas gaming and 3900 Mhz in CPU-only stress checks, so it was not thermal throttling.
As for the chassis, the aspect vents had been reporting temps of round 62 °C with the IR thermometer. You additionally really feel the warmth whereas utilizing the keyboard throughout gaming. The keyboard space was reporting temps of round 45 °C and the facility button bay with the highest dealing with consumption vents reported temps of 51 °C. Total it did get just a little uncomfortable utilizing the keyboard, particularly the ‘W’ and ‘R’ keys.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Coming to Keyboard the Legion 7 has what Lenovo calls a Trustrike Keyboard. It has comfortable touchdown keys and is primarily targeted on gaming. Typing on it was good, and just about high of the road for gaming gadgets. As a result of strong development of the chassis, there may be 0 flex within the keyboard bay. I’m nonetheless not a fan of the quantity pad, as but once more I saved on hitting the ‘Num Lock’ or ‘/’ whereas making an attempt to sort. The keyboard is RGB enabled and requires iCUE software program from Corsair to manage it with granularity. I’m additionally not a fan of this software program because it has a really excessive impression on battery life (extra on that later) but when RGB is your factor you’ll adore it.
The Trackpad is a 16:10 glass trackpad. It’s adequate for day-to-day operation however isn’t appropriate for gaming. Its placement is a bit odd, as a result of Numpad. That is one side I didn’t like concerning the design. The trackpad additionally helps home windows gestures and has no metallic cling to it, an enormous downside I discovered with the MSI GP66 I take advantage of day by day.
Software program
The Legion 7 comes with a honest quantity of software program pre-installed. A few of them are fairly ineffective and simply decelerate the entire expertise. McAfee Whole Safety is included with the laptop computer. It was one of many first apps I uninstalled. It additionally comes with the Legion Vantage management heart which is required to disable the iGPU of the laptop computer and likewise to alter the efficiency profile.
Subsequent up we additionally get iCUE from Corsair, that is wanted to manage all of the RGB the laptop computer packs. I ended the app and did my testing however in order for you the RGB and don’t thoughts dropping 5% of body charges hold it open. In any case, it shouldn’t be uninstalled.
We additionally get Tobii expertise pre-installed which is important in order for you the eye-tracking options of the laptop computer.
Final however not the least, for Audio we now have the pre-installed Nahimic Audio Swimsuit. It offers varied modes, nonetheless, none of them do a lot of something and it’s best to make use of a headphone with this system.
Total it’s not probably the most bloated laptop computer on the market however I’d very a lot respect it in the event that they stopped bundling in McAfee and Norton with each laptop computer I open up.
Audio and Webcam
Audio of this system is dealt with by 2 down-firing 2W Harman audio system. The audio system are okay for probably the most half and have rather less bass in comparison with what I used to be anticipating. It’s completely effective for video streaming and music. Nevertheless, you’ll desire a pair of headphones in case you are planning on working heavy video games. The followers within the Legion 7 spin very excessive whereas gaming and have a really noticeable buzzing sound. This overwhelms the audio coming from the audio system and truthfully is a bit distracting as effectively. The audio driver half is dealt with by Nahimic.
LatencyMon checks present the system isn’t very appropriate for video audio manufacturing when the followers are engaged. That is no shock because the followers are fairly audible below load.
The Webcam is a 720p one. It’s okay in correct lighting with plenty of noise throughout low-light settings. That is to be anticipated and I used to be type of hoping, the Legion 7 would pack a 1080p standalone Webcam because the G15 Benefit Version does. I do just like the E shutter that Lenovo packs for added safety. It’s a good contact in my view and ought to be current in all laptops from my perspective.
Ports
The Legion 7 has most of all of the ports one can ask for. The left aspect of the system packs a USB Sort C Gen 2 with Show Port 1.4 capabilities and a headphone microphone combo jack. The appropriate aspect accommodates a USB Sort C Gen 1 and the E Shutter button. The rear accommodates all the most important ports. There are 3 5 volts always-on USB 3 Sort-A, 1 USB Sort C Gen 2 with Energy Supply and Show Port,1 HDMI 2.1, 1 RJ45, and the DC energy in.
Total the port choice is lots within the Legion 7. Thunderbolt clearly is not going to be current as this isn’t an Intel system. Creators trying to make use of this system would additionally really feel a bit disillusioned by the lack of an SD Card reader however with so many USB 3 Sort-A ports accessible, a dongle isn’t a nasty answer.
The built-in WiFi is nice, as I didn’t expertise any drops throughout gaming or video streaming on a modest 40 Mbps line. the 5.1 Bluetooth additionally labored seamlessly with my Ambrane Dots Slay. Total good efficiency on the wi-fi entrance.
Battery and Charging
The battery is an honest one within the Lenovo Legion 7. It’s a 4 cell, 80 WHr battery. The specs are fairly typical for a gaming laptop computer and greater than the one discovered within the MSI GP66 Leopard. There are 2 charging modes, the conventional charging mode takes 1hr and 50 minutes to cost the system whereas the quick charging reduces it to 1 hrs and 20 minutes.
Transferring onto the battery life, we discover that like most gaming laptops, it’s mediocre and can solely final you about 3 Hrs with gentle use. The media consumption take a look at with ‘Tears of Metal’ working in a loop and 5 chrome tabs open with ‘Prioritize Battery Life’ settings on yielded a results of 2 hrs and 40 minutes. Nevertheless like talked about earlier than, having iCUE on has a drastic impact on battery life, the RGB lighting consumes the battery like a carnivore and leaves the utilization time to 1hr 10 minutes. iCUE additionally cuts into framerate whereas gaming by round 5% so it’s finest to show it off for efficiency and battery.
Lenovo Legion 7: The Backside Line!
Execs
- Show: If you need a comparatively vibrant, matt show with a 1600p decision this one is not going to disappoint, The refresh price can also be fairly good at 165 Hz. The show additionally helps HDR and VRR reminiscent of GSYNC and Free Sync.
- Efficiency: Packing the best finish silicon from AMD and NVIDIA it’s no shock that the Legion 7 is a chart-topper. It’s just about the quickest laptop computer cash should buy.
- Guarantee: The three-year guarantee that Lenovo offers may be very spectacular. It offers the consumer a sure peace of thoughts that their system is effectively supported by the producer.
- Audio: For music and video the included audio system are effective, the inbuilt mic is evident throughout zoom calls and the Nihamic audio drivers are good for anybody who needs to tinker with their audio settings.
- Ports: You get plenty of ports, with a number of USB C ports even. The one ports lacking are Thunderbolt and SD Card reader.
- RGB: When you love RGB and wish granular management over it, this system is not going to disappoint. Corsair iCUE offers lots of choices to the end-user.
Cons
- Portability: Weighing at 2500 g this laptop computer isn’t meant for carrying round. Your again will kill you in the event you plan on carrying this and the charging brick all day.
- Battery Life: As with all gaming gadgets, this laptop computer has fairly mediocre battery life. However If you’re utilizing this in a static surroundings it’s effective. However with simply above 3 hrs of battery life, you aren’t working this by means of a complete workday with out charging.
- Worth to Efficiency: It’s the quickest laptop computer I’ve examined by far, however it is usually the priciest. Costing almost 70,000 rupees over the GP66 11UG it doesn’t present that a lot of a efficiency leap. Normally, it’s across the 10% mark.
The Legion 7 has definitely impressed me loads. It has a few of the most spectacular specs crammed in a laptop computer type issue. From my testing, this 16-inch laptop computer performs almost the identical as an RTX 2080Ti PC. That may be very spectacular in my view and speaks volumes concerning the scalability of each AMD Ryzen and NVIDIA RTX 3000 that energy it. It definitely works as a desktop substitute system and gained’t make you are feeling like you’re enjoying on a conveyable system (considerably) in the event you hook it as much as a monitor.
Priced at 2,39,990, the Legion 7 is an expensive product for individuals in search of top-of-the-line efficiency with no compromises. To be honest not one of the RTX 3080 laptops are value to efficiency champions. It’s a reality of electronics, the upper you go the much less return you’re going to get out of your rupee. However that doesn’t imply this system isn’t value shopping for? Properly, that is the top of laptop computer efficiency, and to get it it’s important to pay a premium.
If you’re somebody who’s in search of a tool with an identical construct however with a greater value to efficiency ratio, the Legion 5 Professional is for you. It’s priced at 1,69,900 and packs the identical display screen in the identical type issue. It has a conventional warmth pipe setup for cooling and packs 16 GB of RAM as an alternative of 32 GB. The 140 Watt RTX 3070 can also be very succesful by itself and may solely be marginally behind its larger brother.
AMD followers even have an excellent system to think about with the ASUS ROG Strix G15 Benefit Version. Priced at Rs. 1,54,500 this system will get very near the Legion 7 in efficiency (as proven above). It packs a smaller 15.6-inch display screen with 16GB of RAM. The laptop computer additionally has liquid steel and vapor chamber cooling. The environment friendly 7nm Radeon GPU yields higher battery life than the Legion 7 as effectively. The one negatives appear to be some driver optimization points and the shortage of a MUX Swap to allow discrete GPU operations.
And with that, we come to the top of the evaluate of the Lenovo Legion 7. I like this system and might wholeheartedly endorse it to individuals who have the finances for it. Pontificate within the feedback beneath about your ideas on this system and whether or not you’ll take into account shopping for this over the RTX 3070/ RX 6800M choices.