Lenovo Legion 9i evaluation: Beautiful design, highly effective GPU, flawed show

Finest Costs At this time: Lenovo Legion 9i

Avid gamers who need a trendy laptop computer are more likely to love Lenovo’s new Legion 9i. It has an attention-grabbing “solid carbon” look that’s distinctive but not overdone. The laptop computer additionally packs nice sport efficiency and a variety of bodily connectivity. Nevertheless, the laptop computer’s show and CPU efficiency don’t match as much as friends, which narrows its enchantment.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Specs and options as-tested

The Lenovo Legion 9i that I acquired for evaluation was outfitted with spectacular {hardware}. It has not solely an Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX and Nvidia RTX 5080, but in addition 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 Enhance 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 Dwelling
• Value: $3,695.49 MSRP

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

Lenovo gives a “Bare-Eye 3D” show possibility in some Legion 9i laptops. It is a glasses-free 3D know-how much like Acer’s SpatialLabs. My evaluation unit didn’t have this show, nonetheless, and as an alternative 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

Foundry / Matthew Smith

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 have a look at the pictures. I’ll wait.

It seems to be wonderful, proper?

There’s nothing uncommon about how the Legion 9i’s design features, as I’ll focus on 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.

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

Total, the laptop computer each seems to be and feels premium, and most of Lenovo’s opponents are a full step behind. Even engaging opponents just like the Alienware Space-51 strike me as old school in comparison with the Legion 9i.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Typing on the Lenovo Legion 9i is a good expertise. The keyboard gives good key journey and every key prompts with a light-weight but satisfying tactile snap. Lenovo gives a great format, too. Most keys are massive, with solely the backspace key and the numpad key feeling a bit slender—although they’re nonetheless massive sufficient.

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

Lenovo additionally packs an RGB-LED mild bar on the entrance underside of the chassis, and RGB-LED lights throughout the Legion brand for the lid, which might coordinate with the keyboard. I just like the lightbar, which gives a delicate 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 huge and 4 inches deep. Yow 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 offered by urgent on the decrease half of the touchpad. It does the job, nevertheless it’s relatively delicate and prompts with a uninteresting thud as an alternative of a quick click on.

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

Lenovo Legion 9i: Show, audio

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The show is the Lenovo Legion 9i’s solely apparent weak spot, nevertheless it’s an enormous one. It falls brief 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 may attain 440Hz at a decision of 1920×1200.

Nevertheless, 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 consumer must press to entry the BIOS. I believe most individuals who purchase this laptop computer will use it for years with out realizing the 1200p/440Hz mode exists.

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

The true drawback isn’t just that the 1200p/440Hz is of questionable use, but in addition that it means the Legion 9i can’t provide an OLED or Mini-LED show.

The Legion 9i’s IPS-LCD show is a good instance of the breed with excellent colour accuracy, a colour gamut that spans one hundred pc 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?)

Nevertheless, 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 results in a richer and extra immersive look. I additionally observed the Legion 9i’s show is cool in colour tone, with a measured white level of seven,600K at 50 % brightness. And whereas the show is shiny, it’s additionally shiny, which implies glare is a matter in shiny rooms.

In the end, 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 affordable bass. High quality audio system or a great headset will in fact 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 similar to most trendy gaming laptops. The microphone is equally competent, offering good voice seize with out the necessity to increase your voice.

An IR digicam is included and gives assist for Home windows Hiya facial recognition. It is a quick, straightforward option to log in to a Home windows machine. However, as soon as once more, this can be a widespread characteristic for a contemporary gaming laptop computer. A fingerprint reader is just not included.

Lenovo Legion 9i: Connectivity

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Lenovo swings for the fences with the Legion 9i’s connectivity, and there’s quite a bit 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 knowledge, as much as 100 watts of Energy Supply, and DisplayPort 2.1. It’s the entire enchilada, or very near it.

Most trendy 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 higher information charges. For those who want high-speed connectivity, or wish to hook up with a dock or a Thunderbolt / USB-C monitor with quite a few downstream ports, these ports are up for the duty.

Nevertheless, the Legion 9i isn’t targeted completely 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 robust, too, because the laptop computer helps Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. These are the most recent variations of every customary. It’s customary gear 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 essentially the most obtainable to the RTX 5080 cell—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.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Our first check 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.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

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

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Handbrake, a closely multi-threaded video transcoding and encoding device, 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 end result, and nearer to the competitors than in Cinebench 2024. Nonetheless, the Legion 9i lags the sphere.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

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

Foundry / Matthew Smith

The efficiency unfold widens a bit in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older sport that’s not too demanding on newer {hardware}. The Legion 9i achieved a median 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 may depart some RTX 4090 laptops within the mud. Nevertheless, the RTX 5090 laptops take a sizeable lead right here, as the sport’s common FPS is roughly 35 to 40 FPS increased on these machines.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Metro: Exodus narrows the sphere once more. Whereas that is an older sport, 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.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

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 cell 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 stable ends in video games and considerably disappointing numbers in closely multi-threaded CPU assessments. On stability the Legion 9i is a tremendous performer, nevertheless 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 client laptop computer resulting from limitations on the scale of lithium-ion batteries allowed on a passenger airliner.

It’s a really massive 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 swap to the Intel IGP) when the GPU isn’t wanted.

Nonetheless, it’s not sufficient to ship nice battery life. You may count on wherever between two and 6 hours of real-world battery life, relying on how a lot effort you set into avoiding demanding duties.

Foundry / Matthew Smith

Nevertheless, 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 3 hours of battery life. People who do handle to surge forward, just like the Razer Blade, achieve this with the usage of 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 respectable battery life, however it may’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 sport 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 inexpensive selection should you care largely about GPU efficiency and can usually join the laptop computer to an exterior show.