Best daily deals

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

Lenovo's new Legion laptops pair 165Hz screens with NVIDIA RTX GPUs

Practical designs and new Intel 11th Gen CPUs are also on the menu.
By
May 11, 2021
Lenovo Legion 5i front 1
Lenovo
TL;DR
  • Lenovo is bringing four new Legion gaming laptop models to market.
  • The headlining model packs Intel’s new Core i9 CPU with the NVIDIA RTX 3080 alongside a 16-inch 165Hz display.

A few weeks after its new Legion gaming phone made its debut, Lenovo is buffing its Legion gaming laptop line complete with upgraded Intel and NVIDIA hardware. All four models now pack 11th generation Intel Core H CPUs with NVIDIA’s RTX 30 series graphics cards.

Lenovo sticks with simple design cues across the models, but there’s plenty of RGB to go around. The usual bevy of I/O is primarily located at the rear of the machines, with backlit keyboards and large cooling slats also present. The key differences reside in the screen sizes and technology.

Lenovo Legion 5i series

The base model, the Legion 5i, comes with a 15.6-inch display headlined by a 2,560 x 1,440 165Hz IPS panel. A 1080p 165Hz, 120Hz, and standard 60Hz panel are also offered. Graphics options top out with the NVIDIA RTX 3070 GPU, while that can be mated to an Intel Core i7-11800H, up to 32GB of 3,200MHz RAM, and 2TB of NVMe storage.

Lenovo Legion 5i rear 1
Lenovo

If size is what you’re after, Lenovo’s also bringing a 17-inch version of this model packing similar internals, although only two 1080p display options are on offer, one of which packs a 144Hz refresh rate.

See also: The best laptops you can buy right now

The third new model in the lineup, the Legion 5i Pro, brings the same Intel CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, and RAM to the table, but it ups the display tech on offer. A 16-inch 2,560 x 1,600 screen with a 165Hz refresh rate is the standout feature. The screen also features 500 nits of max brightness and Dolby Vision support. Lenovo claims the 16:10 aspect ratio should allow gamers to view more of their surroundings in-game. This could give them the advantage in racing titles or battle royale shooters.

Lenovo Legion 7i

lenovo legion 7i 1
Lenovo

Finally, Lenovo is also bringing a model with all the silicon bells and whistles. The range-topping Lenovo Legion 7i packs a similar 16-inch display as the Legion 5i Pro. It also includes more powerful processing options. Its top config offers the Intel Core i9-11980HK alongside the NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 RAM. This combo should easily run most esports titles at 2,560 x 1,600 at 165Hz. Keeping this power-greedy cocktail cool is Lenovo’s Coldfront thermal management system. The laptop also packs a Corsair keyboard, Wi-Fi 6 support, and a 300W power adapter.

There’s no word on the new Lenovo Legion models’ pricing or release dates just yet, but expect the range-topping Legion 7i config to cost more than a few pennies.