I have been unhealthily obsessive about Razer Blade gaming laptops because it actually nailed that matte black MacBook aesthetic over the previous couple of years, and managed to jam high-end graphics silicon inside that glossy chassis and nonetheless make it fly. It is unhealthy as a result of the damned issues are so frickin’ costly, commanding a premium as a result of there hasn’t actually been one other PC machine to return shut.
Now, I do not wish to channel the Jeremy Clarkson/Prime Gear ‘…till now’ factor an excessive amount of, however Lenovo has nearly come out of nowhere this yr to hit the highest of my most-wanted gaming laptop computer checklist. The most recent Legion machines supply a degree of favor, efficiency, and construct high quality that belies their relative affordability.
In comparison with equivalently specced Razer Blade or Asus ROG laptops your Lenovo Legion will ship all the identical gaming and artistic efficiency however usually for a far decrease price. Certainly, our favorite gaming laptop computer, the Lenovo Legion Professional 7i, has been on sale at B&H Picture for many of the yr, making all of it however inconceivable to suggest some other RTX 4080-toting pocket book.
However once I say it is ‘come out of nowhere,’ that is doing an enormous disservice to Lenovo. It is paid its dues as one of many main workplace laptop computer makers on this planet, with its ThinkPad gadgets dominating tray tables in half the enterprise class seats within the air proper now. It is solely this yr, nevertheless, that its Legion laptops have made an actual splash within the gaming market.
It seems I am additionally weirdly a sucker for its clean ceramic keycaps and the texture of the cast carbon lid.
It is not solely in its worth proposition the place the Legion machines have staked a declare for this nerd’s coronary heart, both. I like a little bit of smart-speccing and smarter pricing, for certain, however I do nonetheless have goals, these money-no-object needs, too. That is the place the glossy black Blade machines have lived for thus lengthy, however I have been testing the Legion 9i lately and it is wonderful.
It is the RTX 4090 model, and I nonetheless stand by my assertion that solely a idiot would buy a gaming laptop computer with that fake top-end Ada GPU inside it, as a result of you will get an RTX 4080 model with all the identical good things inside it. And it actually is sweet stuff, even when the promise of built-in liquid cooling is a bit over-enthusiastic (c’mon, it is an energetic vapour chamber, at greatest).
Principally it is due to that wonderful 1,200cd/m2 mini-LED display, the beautiful keyboard, and the completely rock-solid, inflexible, however nonetheless impressively slim, chassis. It seems I am additionally weirdly a sucker for its clean ceramic keycaps and the texture of the cast carbon lid. It is so damned tactile, even when it seems to be like some odd city camo.
This yr has been all about cellular gaming improvements for me—I’ve cherished testing the Steam Deck OLED, have tweaked and toyed with a ton of different nice handheld gaming PCs, and pulled aside my forgiving Framework 13 laptop computer to stay in lots of new, completely different mainboards and a few with real gaming chops, too. Nevertheless it’s my affection for the Legion laptops that has stunned me essentially the most.
Lenovo might not have 2024 all its personal approach, although. Razer is certain to be updating its Blade vary, and I am excited to see a 13-inch Meteor Lake Stealth. However we additionally know that Asus is upping its recreation to try to be extra like Razer, switching out the plastic Zephyrus chassis for an all-metal unibody design. That is going to make the Asus Zephyrus G14 an actual factor of magnificence and I for one can not wait to get my palms on that.
Although, if Lenovo releases a 14-inch Legion subsequent yr, that is deal lower than the ROG or Razer premium, it may nonetheless get my vote. And my coronary heart. And my axe.
