Lenovo Legion 7 Leads Gaming PCs Upgrade: Intel & AMD Out To Play

Lenovo has revamped its Legion gaming notebook line, adding processors from Intel's newest Core H-Series as well as offering bigger batteries and better RGB lighting. The new Lenovo Legion 7, Legion 5 and 5i, Legion Tower 5i, and IdeaPad Gaming 3 run the gamut from flagship gaming workhorse through to more affordable models, with the company also throwing in some new gaming displays and peripherals too.

Flagship of the new gaming notebook range, the Legion 7 is a sleek and more refined version of Lenovo's high-end machine. It keeps the all-aluminum chassis and the sub-20mm thick body, but pairs it with a smaller "LEGION" logo on the lid. There's still an RGB "Y" in that, however, to match the expanded Corsaid iCUE RGB lighting elsewhere on the body.

That includes LED strips that run around the front of the Legion 7 now, as well as the sides and rear. The display is a new 15.6-inch IPS panel, running at 1080p Full HD resolution with 100-percent sRGB coverage and 500 nits of brightness. Notably, it can be had in 144Hz or 200Hz refresh rate forms.

As for CPU, there's a choice of Intel 10th Generation Core i7 or Core i9 chips, paired with up to NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super graphics. Lenovo is offering up to 32GB of DDR4 memory and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD, too. The webcam has moved up, to the top of the display, and there's WiFi 6, Dolby Atmos, and a 39-percent larger trackpad. A new Legion TrueStrike keyboard with a full number pad is standard, too.

Battery life could be as much as eight hours from the 80 Wh battery, though that's not under heavy gaming conditions. The Legion 7 will go on sale from May 2020, priced from $1,599.99.

The Legion 5 and 5i – the "i" referring to Intel processors – are Lenovo's midrange gaming models. They get 15.6-inch Full HD displays with up to 500 nits of brightness, and can be had in 60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, and 240Hz forms. On the CPU/GPU side they use either Intel's 10th Generation Core i5 and i7 processors with up to GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, or AMD's Ryzen R5 or R7 processors with up to GeForce GTX 1650 or 1650Ti graphics.

Memory is up to 8GB with the AMD machines or 16GB with the Intel; either way there's up to 1TB of PCIe SSD storage. The Phantom Black casing uses ABS plastic, and as standard there's a 60Wh battery. An 80Wh battery will be optional, as will be upgrading the white backlit keyboard to 4-zone RGB.

A third option will be the Legion 5i 17" which, as the name suggests, has a 17.3-inch display. Still Full HD, it'll come in 60Hz or 144Hz forms. Only Intel's 10th Generation Core i7 will be offered, with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, up to 16GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD. It'll have an 80Wh battery option.

As with the Legion 7, there's a larger trackpad and a Legion TrueStike keyboard. The Legion 5 15" will start at $759.99 [Updated: Lenovo tells us the AMD-powered Legion 5 will in fact be cheaper than initially announced], while the Legion 5i 15" will start at $829.99 when they go on sale in May. The Legion 5i 7" will start at $1,299.99 and go on sale at the same time.

Most affordable of today's notebooks, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 promises a more attainable gaming option. It still gets Intel 10th Generation Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, plus up to GeForce GTX 1650 graphics, along with up to 8GB of DDR4 memory and up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage.

The 15.6-inch Full HD display can be had in 60Hz or 120Hz forms; either way there's 250 nits of brightness. Lenovo says the battery is good for up to 9.6 hours of use. It'll get what the company is calling an "advanced gaming keyboard" though not the same one as the more expensive Legion models; still it has a 30-percent larger touchpad than its predecessor, blue key backlighting, and a full-size number pad and arrow keys. The 720p webcam has a privacy shutter, too.

The IdeaPad Gaming 3 will go on sale from May, priced from $729.99. It'll be offered in Onyx Black and Chameleon Blue.

The sole desktop PC in Lenovo's gaming gush today, the Legion Tower 5i will kick off with Intel 10th Generation Core processors. A non-i version with AMD chips will follow later in 2020. For now, there's the choice of up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics, up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, and up to a 1TB PCIe SSD.

The 28L mATX chassis moves its integrated handle to the rear, for better balance, and the optional transparent side panel now has a larger window. Liquid cooling is optional too, while dual fans front and rear are standard, as is a 260W PSU. Lenovo has kept the useful top-panel ports too.

RGB lighting is optional, while WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are standard. The Legion Tower 5i will go on sale in May, priced from $799.99

Lenovo's latest gaming monitor, the Legion Y25-25 offers a 24.5-inch Full HD IPS screen with an anti-glare coating. It has 400 nits of brightness and a 240Hz refresh ratio for fast-moving games. There's also HDR decoding, plus AMD Radeon FreeSync and NVIDIA G-SYNC support.

Lenovo says the Legion Y25-25 will go on sale this June, priced from $319.99.

Offering either wired or wireless use from its detachable USB-C cable, the Legion M600 Wireless Gaming Mouse uses a Pixar 3335 16,000 DPI optical sensor. A switch can adjust DPI on-the-fly, and there are 9 buttons. Lenovo says it's been designed to be truly ambidextrous, too, and there's 16.8m color support on the logo and the wheel.

In power-efficiency mode, with the lights off and a lower resolution, it'll last up to 200 hours on a charge. It'll go on sale this month, priced at $79.99.

If you don't need the wireless option, Lenovo will also have the Legion M300 RGB Gaming Mouse. That will be wired-only, but still have 8,000 DPI and a 1,000Hz polling rate, on-the-fly DPI control, nine programmable buttons, and 16.8m colors for the illuminated logo. It'll be $29.99 from April 14.

Last but not least, there's the Legion K300 RGB Gaming Keyboard. It'll arrive in May, priced at $49.99, and has customizable 5-zone RGB illumination. Up to 24 keys are programable, too.

Lenovo isn't using mechanical switches – as the price tag might suggest – but says that its new membrane keyboard is "mechanical-like" under the fingers. Those keys are rated for up to 20 million presses, too. Finally, it's water-resistant just in case of splashes.