01.08.2023 
If you’re looking for a powerful gaming laptop that can handle any game or demanding task, you might want to check out the Lenovo Legion Pro 7. It’s the latest flagship model from Lenovo’s gaming laptops series, offering impressive performance, design, and features. In this review, I’m taking a closer look at the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 and what it can do both in real life and in benchmarks. Do you want to know more about it? Read on and see what makes the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 stand out from the crowd:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7: Who is it good for?
This laptop is an excellent choice for:
- Gaming, video editing, and computer-aided design (CAD)
- Users who need high performance, comparable to a desktop computer
- Those who want fast Wi-Fi or Ethernet network connectivity on their laptop
Pros and cons
There are a lot of good things to say about the Lenovo Legion Pro 7:
- Incredible gaming performance
- Solid frame and excellent build quality
- Large high-quality IPS display with a fast 240Hz refresh rate
- Beautiful and customizable keyboard and chassis RGB lighting
- Storage that’s fast, generous, and extendable
- Excellent wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi 6E)
- Many ports, including USB-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery
- Efficient cooling system
There are some downsides to consider as well:
- Can get loud under stress, like when you’re gaming
- Battery life could be better
Verdict
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is a powerful gaming laptop that offers impressive performance, a sleek design, and a stunning display. It can handle any game or task with ease, thanks to its 13th generation Core processor, plenty of RAM, and high-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series graphics card. The 16-inch IPS screen delivers crisp and vibrant visuals, with a 240Hz refresh rate and high brightness levels. The laptop also features an excellent RGB-lit keyboard, an efficient cooling system, and a generous selection of ports. The only thing I can hold against it is its battery. Although it has a large capacity of 99.99 Whrs, I believe that the laptop’s autonomy could be improved with some firmware optimization. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is not an affordable device, but it’s worth every penny. If you’re a gamer or a professional creator, this might be the laptop for you.
Unboxing the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 (16IRX8H) gaming laptop
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop arrives in a black cardboard box with a minimalistic design. All you see on its front side is a red and white Lenovo logo in a corner and a large glossy Legion text that covers the box in its entirety.
Unboxing the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
Open the box, and you’ll find the gaming laptop accompanied by its power charger and cable, a small box with a couple of keycaps, a quick start guide, and the warranty details.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7: What's inside the box
Unboxing the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop is a straightforward yet pleasant experience, and the bundled additional keycaps are a nice touch that gamers will definitely appreciate.
Hardware specifications
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop can be equipped with a 13th Generation Intel Core i9-13900HX processor. This is a high-end CPU that can reach a maximum speed of 5.40 GHz with Turbo Boost. It features 24 cores, out of which 8 are performance cores and 16 are efficient cores, thus resulting in a total number of 32 threads. The P-cores can run at a maximum frequency of 5.40 GHz, while the E-cores can tick at a maximum clock of 3.90 GHz. Complementing its cores, the processor offers 36 MB of Intel Smart Cache memory. Evidently, we’re talking about a very powerful laptop CPU, which means that its power requirements are also quite high, though far from what you’d expect from a similar desktop processor. The Intel Core i9-13900HX has a PBP (Processor Base Power) of 55 Watts and an MTP (Maximum Turbo Power) of 157 Watts. Note that, although at the moment this is the only CPU available for this laptop, Lenovo might add other options (including Intel Core i7 models) in the future.
CPU specifications shown by CPU-Z
The laptop can be equipped with up to 32 GB of DDR5 memory, running at 5600 MHz, and with up to two PCIe 4 solid-state drives, each with a maximum storage capacity of 1 TB. As you can see in the next screenshot, the model I tested had the maximum amount of RAM possible - 32 GB - and one SSD with a storage capacity of 1 TB.
Memory and SSD installed in the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
As the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is a laptop designed for gaming, the options you get in terms of graphics are excellent too. Besides the Intel UHD graphics chip built into the processor, depending on your budget and preferences, you can equip this laptop with any of these graphics cards from the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB GDDR6)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (16GB GDDR6)
The sample I received in testing was the one with an RTX 4080 GPU and 12 GB of GDDR 6 RAM. Worth noting, both graphics cards are built on the same efficient Nvidia Ada Lovelace architecture and support the new DLSS 3 (Deep Learning Super Sampling 3) technology. Furthermore, these cards are compatible with other technologies you may want. For instance, you get Nvidia Reflex (lower latencies in competitive games), as well as Tensor cores that are specially designed for running AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) applications. In short, although the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is presented as a gaming laptop, it can be a great choice for creators and professionals too.
GPU specs for the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
The screen that Lenovo chose to use for the Legion Pro is a 16” WQXGA matte display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels. Based on an IPS panel (In-plane switching) that ensures excellent colors and viewing angles, the display also offers an impressive 240 Hz refresh rate, high brightness levels (up to 500 nits), and support for Nvidia G-Sync.
The IPS screen has a 240Hz refresh rate
The audio is delivered by two 2W Harman speakers with Nahimic Audio. On the upper frame, above the screen, you’ll also find a webcam with a standard 1080 FHD resolution, useful for making video calls or, why not, showing yourself while streaming/broadcasting your favorite game.
The 1080p webcam on the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
Regarding connectivity options, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 laptop is quite generous. On its left side, you get one USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port and one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port. The latter is compatible with DisplayPort 1.4 and supports 140W Power Delivery.
The ports on the left side of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
On the right side of the laptop, you get a 3.5 mm audio jack, a webcam e-Shutter switch (enables/disables the webcam), and a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A port.
The ports on the right side of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
Last but no least, the rear edge of the Legion Pro 7 is also home to a series of ports: one RJ-45 LAN, one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (with DisplayPort 1.4 and 140W Power Delivery), one HDMI 2.1, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, and, of course, the DC-in jack used for powering and charging the laptop.
Back ports on the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
In terms of networking options, the laptop comes with a Gigabit Ethernet card made by Realtek and, more importantly, with a Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1675i 160MHz wireless network adapter. The latter supports the latest 802.11ax standard and offers 2x2 MIMO, which means it can use two spatial streams of transmitting and receiving data on the same channel or frequency. On top of all that, you also get a Bluetooth 5.1 chip.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 has Wi-Fi 6E
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gets its autonomy from a 99.99 Watt Hour battery that supports fast charging (80% in about 30 minutes, 100% in about one hour). The power adapter is capable of an output of 20V DC, 16.5 A, 330W, which is more than enough to keep the laptop going even for very long gaming sessions. Check the last part of the benchmarks section in this review to see what to expect from the battery in real life.
Battery details for the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
Depending on its configuration, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 weighs at least 2.8 kg (6.17 lbs), but no less than that. As for its physical dimensions, the laptop is 363.4mm (14.3 inches) in width by 262.15mm (10.32 inches) in depth. Depending on what graphics card it’s equipped with, its thickness can be 21.95 or 25.9 mm (0.86 or 1.01 inches).
If you want more details, you can find the official hardware specifications here: Lenovo Legion Pro 7 Tech Specs.
The hardware specifications of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 portray a powerful gaming laptop that should be capable to flawlessly run any game regardless of how high its system requirements might be, as well as any creative software, no matter how demanding.
Read the next page of this review to see what my experience using it was like, what software is bundled with the Lenovo Legion Pro 7, and also what benchmarks had to say about its performance.
Design and user experience
I’ll start this section by saying right away that the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is a gaming laptop that manages to offer both a sleek and stylish design and an amazing amount of performance. The frame of the laptop is made of aluminum and features a dark gray (almost black) color scheme that looks great. When turned off and with its lid closed, all you see is a small silver(-ish) Lenovo logo on one corner of the lid, and a larger Legion text engraved on the opposite corner.
The lid of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
The bottom is divided into two large sections: one is filled with many small rectangular perforations for venting, while the other one is completely flat, holding only some stickers. Towards the back of the frame, as well as in the front corners of the laptop’s bottom, you’ll also find some thick rubber feet. These are useful for keeping the laptop away from the desk or table you’re using it on, thus ensuring proper ventilation.
The bottom of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
For all you RGB lovers out there, the good news is that the Legion Pro 7 features such lights. The keyboard is fully RGB-lit, and there’s also a side-to-side strip on the front edge. While not really visible when holding the laptop in your lap 🙂, the strip throws a nice light on the desk where the laptop is placed, especially at night.
The RGB-lit keyboard of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7
When I opened the lid, the first thing I noticed was that the laptop’s hinges seem very solid and that the screen doesn’t bend or twist, not even by a bit. That’s probably a direct consequence of using metal for the laptop’s frame. Then, the second thing I liked was the fact that, except for the bottom one, the bezels of the screen are quite thin. Call me pretentious, but I’ve become a fan of thin bezels. The more invisible they are, the better. One more thing to mention: the top bezel has a part that sticks out: the webcam resides there, and it also serves as a handle (which you use to open the lid).
The screen has thin bezels
Moving on to the actual user experience offered by the Legion Pro 7, I only have good things to say. It offers a lot of power and performance for gamers and creators alike. In my daily tasks - writing, browsing the internet, watching videos, etc. - it doesn’t break a sweat. And the same was true in the few games I played, which by the way, I’ve set to maximum quality visuals! The stunning display, powerful processor, high-end graphics card, and advanced thermal system really make the Legion Pro 7 stand out from the crowd.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 offers top performance
The only thing I could hold against it is the battery. Although on paper, the battery is quite generous (99.99 Whrs), in real life, I’ve found it to be a bit underwhelming. In regular use, the laptop kept on going for about two hours, but in gaming, it didn’t manage to get even one hour of functioning (after 45 minutes, the battery would deplete).
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is a gaming laptop that looks stylish and professional, and it manages to deliver an exquisite user experience. The hardware on it is powerful, and it can run any game or app without issues. Except for an underwhelming autonomy on battery, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 is a top-performer in every aspect.
