I Tested This Powerhouse Windows 11 Laptop, And It Sets A New Benchmark For Mobile Gaming

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Legion Pro 7i (2025) is simply a top-tier gaming laptop, connected waste now for $2,450.
• It effortlessly runs nan latest gaming titles, exudes premium power, and features a 16-inch OLED show that demands your attention.
• Besides nan precocious price, each that hardware runs hot, it's power-hungry, and it has a big, bulky powerfulness supply.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is nan latest gaming laptop successful nan Legion series, sticking to an accessible 16-inch size and putting each its stat points into nan value of nan show and hardware. 

Also: One of nan astir refined Windows 11 PCs I've tested this twelvemonth is not what you think

The consequence is simply a blase laptop pinch melodramatic (but afloat customizable) RGB lighting, a sleek shape factor, and a stacked group of hardware. It starts retired pinch 32GB of RAM (upgradable to 96GB), 2TB of storage, a 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. All this, mixed pinch nan 16-inch 500nit, 240Hz refresh OLED display, makes for not only a competitory gaming instrumentality but besides a tin workstation for pro creatives, animators, and designers. 

A creation pinch commanding presence

The Legion Pro 7i is hefty, to beryllium sure, but for a gaming laptop, it is really connected nan sleek side. This puts it successful a benignant of mediate ground: it's a small excessively large to beryllium thing you'd want to regularly commute with, but it's surely not bound to nan desk.

Unfortunately, nan matte achromatic decorativeness is simply a fingerprint magnet, for illustration galore of Lenovo's different laptops (ahem -- ThinkPads) that, if this bugs you for illustration it bugs me, will compel you to support a cloth connected hand. All of this is mitigated by nan keyboard lighting, however, which tin beryllium adjusted per cardinal to beryllium arsenic subtle aliases large arsenic you want.

Also: My cleanable MacBook Pro replacement is nan Windows laptop you slightest expect

The gamer artistic is successful afloat effect here, pinch a melodramatic azygous barroom of ray crossed nan beforehand of nan clamshell that reflects onto nan aboveground and looks perfectly awesome. The backmost is illuminated crossed nan diamond-shaped instrumentality exhausts, and nan "Legion" logo pulses pinch nan remainder of nan effects.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The full-size keyboard pinch salient arrow keys, appropriately-sized number pad (and a subtle branding connected 1 missive cardinal successful particular) feels premium and well-made, if alternatively standard. Key recreation feels good, and nan trackpad -- aligned complete nan abstraction barroom -- is capable and functional.

The powerfulness fastener astatine nan apical halfway of nan keyboard acts arsenic a ocular parameter of your capacity profile: Quiet is blue, Balanced is white, and Performance is red. (It's called Silent mode some because of nan instrumentality and because muting nan laptop automatically disables nan lighting effects.)

Also: My favourite Windows laptop for hybrid activity sewage a creation makeover - and it's moreover better

All of these elements are individually customizable successful nan Legion app and tin beryllium unopen disconnected wholly if you request to prevention artillery powerfulness aliases support a debased floor plan successful nan agency aliases java shop. 

That being said, this is not precisely nan type of laptop you'll want to bring to nan mini bistro array successful your vicinity java shop. It's big, it's dense (5.67 pounds), and it is thirsty for power. Even if you do person entree to a adjacent outlet, nan 400W powerfulness ceramic is truthful monolithic that it's fundamentally nan weight of different laptop. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

It's chonky, yes, but it's besides powerful -- providing 70% artillery powerfulness successful conscionable 30 minutes, a amazingly accelerated magnitude of juice for nan immense 99.9Wh battery. The charger connects via a proprietary larboard connected nan near broadside of nan laptop (not nan back), which immoderate will find much convenient, but is somewhat little truthful if you're utilizing nan laptop arsenic a desktop and are utilized to having your connections successful nan back.

In position of different I/O, nan laptop has 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI and USB-A connected nan near side, 2 much USB-As, a headphone jack, and a 2.5GB Ethernet jack. If you don't want to plug nan laptop straight into your modem, it besides supports Wi-Fi 7 for accelerated connectivity. 

All astir nan visuals

The Legion Pro 7i's show is 1 of its champion features. It is agleam and vivid and perfectly pops astatine 500 nits and a 240Hz refresh rate. It features 100% of nan SRGB colour gamut, 93% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3 and swirls pinch deep, inky blacks and rich | neons. 

Also: I compared nan M5 MacBook Pro to older Mac models - here's my buying proposal successful 2025

The 16-inch show is non-touch and has WQXGA solution astatine a 16:10 facet ratio. It is powered by nan GeForce RTX 5080 GPU and offers a divers group of usage lawsuit possibilities for gamers, creatives, animators, and designers. Just statement that this is simply a peculiarly glossy display, and it will bespeak ray sources depending connected its positioning, particularly pinch really acheronian nan blacks get.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Performance: Bring connected nan leader fight

Let maine not mince words here. This point is simply a beast. The Legion Pro 7i is designed to shred done nan astir demanding titles retired location correct now, and nan hardware connected committee good equips it to do so. The Nvidia GeForce 5080 GPU paired pinch nan 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 results successful responsive, snappy capacity successful "Cyberpunk 2077" and "Baldur's Gate 3", pinch older titles not breaking a sweat.

Also: The astir breathtaking Intel Panther Lake upgrades for Windows PCs are flying nether nan radar

That being said, each this powerful hardware heats up. Temperatures during aggravated gaming sessions tin easy attack 100 °C, which is excessively basking for sustained use. In Performance mode, nan fans tin occurrence astatine max power, which importantly brings nan somesthesia down, but you'll besides person to perceive to them cranking. 

The cooling strategy is efficient, expelling basking aerial retired nan backmost and bleeding a minimal magnitude of power retired done nan beforehand to nan keyboard. However, nan instrumentality does return immoderate getting utilized to, arsenic it pops connected moreover during normal day-to-day tasks for illustration multitasking and web browsing. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The Legion Pro 7i is simply a joyousness to crippled on, however, pinch its well-designed keyboard, gorgeous display, and awesome performance. The acquisition carries complete to nan audio, arsenic its speakers are supra mean for a laptop. Two are upward-facing and 2 are downward, resulting successful a sound that's a small much engrossing and fuller than astir laptops' shallow sound profile. 

In position of benchmarking, nan Legion Pro 7i proves it tin bent pinch awesome numbers, particularly successful multi-core performance.

The caveat of a gaming laptop

Like immoderate laptop pinch this magnitude of hardware connected board, nan 99Wh artillery is highly variable. This is not a bladed and ray Copilot+ PC pinch a artillery that drains astatine a trickle erstwhile it's not on. In fact, it depletes amazingly quickly conscionable sitting around, thing to support successful mind if you time off it unplugged for a time aliases 2 and expect to travel backmost to it fresh to occurrence up. 

Also: How overmuch RAM do you request successful 2025? My master proposal for Windows and Mac users

The capacity mode you activate will drastically effect really agelong your artillery lasts, arsenic good arsenic what you're doing. For example, I took this laptop to nan agency and worked unplugged successful Balanced mode, only to find nan laptop didn't rather make it done nan workday. It sewage to 1% correct astir six hours, and this is aft normal tasks that aren't peculiarly demanding. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

If you're talking astir gaming, you'll get astir 1.5 hours of crippled clip unplugged, which really isn't each that bad for a gaming laptop of this caliber. All of this is to opportunity that nan Legion Pro 7i performs astir arsenic expected considering nan hardware connected committee and nan OLED display. While it's imaginable to transportation around, you'll beryllium forced to support nan charging ceramic successful tow arsenic its thirst for powerfulness is real. 

ZDNET's buying advice

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i feels for illustration an 18-inch gaming laptop successful a much sophisticated, 16-inch form. I emotion nan display, nan stalwart yet still sleek build, and nan hardware that provides what you're looking for successful a gaming laptop: performance. 

In nan end, Lenovo employed a thoughtful creation present to compensate for nan device's weaknesses. It runs basking but has a very effective cooling system. It's incredibly power-hungry, but it charges measurement faster than you'd expect. 

Also: This Windows laptop has MacBook Pro written each complete it (but it's amended successful cardinal ways)

The elephant successful nan room is nan sky-high starting price, astatine $2,600 for nan 32GB configuration, going up to $3,200 if you want nan top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. I'd perfectly urge this laptop to gamers looking for a powerful, out-of-the-box gaming laptop that hits each nan correct notes, arsenic agelong arsenic it's wrong your budget. The Legion Pro 7i is simply a sophisticated, powerful instrumentality that dares you to tally your favourite crippled astatine max settings and will yet time off you emotion spoiled.