Here’s why Lenovo Legion 7i (12TH Gen) is a gaming laptop for grown-ups

The best gaming laptop needs to deliver respectable performance so that you don’t feel the need for a desktop gaming PC. It needs to strike the right balance of size and weight. Even with the best graphics card, SSD and processor to blow your mind, a gaming laptop is incomplete without proper airflow. Such specs don’t come cheap. And Lenovo Legion 7i with 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900HX is not all mouth and no trousers. It is not just a great gaming laptop; video editors and architects too can easily achieve the task at hand. It’s a complete device, a powerhouse that won’t let you down.

NO-NONSENSE DESIGN

Lenovo sent us a fully specced-out version. By way of accessories, you get power cords, a huge power supply that’s quite flat and has a flattip connector. It’s something we have seen before and it fits well in a bag. The most interesting addition is a little plastic Legion case containing a keycap remover and some switches. There are white keycaps that can be attached to the WSAD keys. And the little box has a nice little touch in the form of a magnetic lock.

Also inside the box is a handy page on the function shortcuts, which you can use to work on a number of things, like changing the screen refresh rate or changing performance modes.

The port selection makes it a worthy laptop to have. Even though there is no SD card slot, I am pretty happy with the two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left-hand side; on the right, you will find a little switch that can turn the webcam off, USB-C port and headset jack. On the rear you have the power jack, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1, a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port that can do power delivery and an RJ-45 port. The vents look a lot nicer than before.

Speaking of the keyboard experience, there’s an aluminium palm rest, a nice large trackpad and the keys are well spaced out. The power button is on the top and the colour ring around it signifies the power mode that’s being used.

After firing up the machine, the RGB lighting is inescapable. It’s a delight for most gamers. There is a beautiful light strip right around the base of the laptop and you have got the same perky RGB lighting on the keyboard and it can be customized to your liking.

Here’s something interesting: the WASD keys are pressure-sensitive switches, so you can map it within the games. An example: You can hold down hard on the W key and your video-game character can sprint. It’s a brilliant touch.

All the major ports are at the back and there are some on the sides

COLOUR-ACCURATE DISPLAY

Moving to the screen, it’s a bright, 165HZ, 2,560x1,600 panel, which is a must for a gaming/productivity-oriented laptop. Gamers will understand the weight aspect, which is at 2.5kg. The screen can be opened out to 180 degrees and when it’s at 90 degrees, there is almost no wobble. It’s a 16-inch 2.5K IPS display with support for NVIDIA G-Sync. Plus, it’s anti-glare, so no reflections will be directly visible. The icing on the cake is Dolby Vision and colour accuracy is not an issue.

Above the screen is a 1080p webcam. The shutter key to control it is on the side, which makes it easier to navigate.

The keys have more depth this time, making typing a comfortable task. Also, the numeric keypad has been retained… a win for anyone who has to punch in numbers all day long.

The trackpad is massive and is highly responsive

BEAST OF A PERFORMER

The biggest feature of the laptop is processing power. We have a review unit with 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900HX CPU. There are 16 cores — eight performance cores and eight efficiency cores. Add to that spec 24 threads and the maximum turbo power is 157W. Also present — NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti graphics card with a TGP of 175W. TGP stands for Total Graphics Power and it denotes the amount of power (measured in Watts) that is consumed by the graphics card. The variant we have for review comes with 32GB DDR5 4800Mhz frequency and 1TB SSD.

The laptop is meant for AAA titles, which run smoothly. For example, turn to Cyberpunk 2077. Turn the resolution to 2.5K and turn on DLSS settings and Ray Tracing to the highest settings. On an average, you will get 85fps, complete with all the reflections and shadows. Playing Halo Infinite, you will get 137fps at FHD+ or 104fps if you go QHD+.

The next question will surely be about thermals. To keep the power flowing, there is a sizeable cooling chamber and even when you move to ‘performance’ mode, the temperature won’t shoot through the roof. Press Function+Q and the colour around the power ring will change to reflect the mode you are in. Red is for performance mode or load Vantage software to dive into more details.

Another clever addition is the Legion AI software engine that lets the system shift power between the CPU and the GPU based on what it needs and it also adjusts the fan curves to match the mode you are in. At this point, in case you are wondering if it makes sense to build a PC, remember you need to have a fair idea of the mix-and-match process.

On the one hand is gaming while on the other are productivity-driven apps, like Adobe Premiere Pro. You can easily work with a 4K video at 60fps, involving four layers. It renders pretty fast. Photoshop too works beautifully and so does After Effects.

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

Let’s talk about battery. It’s as good as on any gaming laptop. It comes with a massive 99.9Wh battery that will last around three hours. Gaming laptops are constantly connected to a power source, so it’s not something you need to worry about. The only noticeable drawbacks are the absence of a card reader and to an extent, battery life. Other than that, LenovoLegion 7i is a gaming laptop for grown-ups. You know what we are saying!

AT A GLANCE