Lenovo has set CES 2021 aflame by unleashing newly updated Legion 5 and Legion 7 gaming rigs. One of them is the world's lightest RTX gaming laptop with a 15.6-inch screen.
The laptop giant boasts that its refreshed Legion line offers "savage gaming performance" and "expertly-crafted" cooling solutions. For now, we'll take Lenovo's word for it — just until we can our hands on some Legions and test them out ourselves.
- Lenovo Legion 5 review
- Lenovo Legion 7 review
- Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Lenovo Legion 7: battle of the gaming brothers
Lenovo Legion 5 at CES 2021
The Lenovo Legion 5 is one of the hottest sub-$1,000 gaming laptops of 2019. It also landed on our best cheap gaming laptops list. When we reviewed the Legion 5, we were blown away by its VR-benchmark scores, sturdy design and budget-friendly price tag. It's not an industry-leading gaming laptop by any means (it's a budget gaming rig, so you shouldn't expect it to be), but it offers solid frame rates for your favorite triple-A titles.
As such, we're excited for Lenovo's 2021 Legion 5 refresh. Out with the old, in with the new! The updated Legion 5 offers configurations with next-gen AMD Ryzen CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs. You can choose between a 15.6-inch screen or a 17.3-inch display. The new 15-inch Legion 5, weighing 5 pounds, sports a 1080p IPS display with an ultra-fast 165Hz refresh rate. The 17-inch Legion 5 is also equipped with a 1080p IPS display but offers a solid 144Hz refresh rate.
Phantom Blue color options are available for both the 15-inch and 17-inch Legion 5. Stingray White is only available for the 15-inch Legion 5.
Lenovo also claims the updated Legion 5 is packed with high-efficiency heat pipes via Coldfront 3.0 technology. The gaming rig will also continue to sport beloved features such as the Lenovo Legion TrueStrike keyboard, which offers snappy actuation, satisfying clicks, superior key travel, 100% anti-ghosting, sub-millisecond response times and more. The Legion 5's keyboard, offering you uncanny precision, gives you an unbeatable edge as you kick your enemies' butts.
We also can't forget Lenovo's Q-Control system, powered by enhanced AI technology, that lets users switch between three power settings: Quiet, Balanced and Performance.
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro at CES 2021
If you want to take it up a notch, you'll love Lenovo's new Legion 5 Pro gaming rig. This bad boy is geared toward eSports gamers who push their laptops to the limit. The Legion 5 Pro features a larger thermal intake and a quad ventilation system.
Equipped with next-gen AMD Ryzen CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics, the Legion 5 Pro is ideal for intense gamers who enjoy unrestrained, tunnel-vision gameplay. The Legion 5 Pro is packed with Dual Burn support, which encourages the CPU and GPU to reach their in-game limits so that gamers can experience predictable FPS (frames per second) without thermal throttling.
This 16-inch gaming beast sports a 2560 x 1600-pixel display with a 3ms response time and 100% sRGB color gamut coverage. It can also offer up to 500 nits of brightness. Similar to the Legion 5 model, the Pro variant sports hair-trigger inputs thanks to its TrueStrike keyboard. Lenovo says the Legion 5 Pro is "fully stacked" to help competitive gamers crush the competition and rise in the ranks.
Lenovo Legion 7 at CES 2021
I'm typing on the last-gen Lenovo Legion 7 as we speak. Although I have plenty of other laptops lying around that are tailor-made for productivity, the Legion 7 has a spectacular keyboard — equipped with shield-shaped keys with incredible tactile feedback — that allows me to zip through articles like I'm The Flash.
I expect the new Legion 7 to be just as versatile as its predecessor: beastly specs for gaming and ergonomic design for productivity. The new flagship gaming rig has 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and a taller, 16-inch screen (16:10 aspect ratio). Lenovo increased the Legion 7's screen real estate by 11%, giving gamers a larger field of view.
The new "near-edgeless," 16-inch display offers 2560 x 1600-pixel resolution, a 90% screen-to-body ratio, 500 nits of brightness, a 165Hz refresh rate and Nvidia G-sync for buttery-smooth gaming. The laptop also sports Dolby Vision so you can enjoy top-notch picture quality when you're in the mood for entertainment.
Gamers who work hard as much as they play will be relieved to know that the Legion 7 features eye-care technology (certified by TÜV Rheinland) that reduces blue light to decrease eye strain during productivity and gaming sessions.
The Lenovo Legion 7 will be powered by next-gen AMD Ryzen CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs. Lenovo boasts that the Legion 7 offers superb performance and decent battery life thanks to its 80-watt-hour power capacity. But of course, we'll be the judge of that!
You can show off your personal style with multi-zone RGB lighting via Corsair iCUE software. The Legion 7 will also feature first-class vapor chamber technology that's up to 63% larger than its predecessor. You can also configure the Legion 7 with an optional Wi-Fi 6 module for better connectivity while gaming.
Lenovo Legion Slim 7 at CES 2021
There's a new, ultra-thin gaming rig in Lenovo's gaming portfolio: the Legion Slim 7.
The Legion Slim 7 is the world's lightest RTX gaming laptop with a 15.6-inch screen, and it's the thinnest and lightest gaming rig in Lenovo Legion history. Sporting a slim, sleek profile, the Legion Slim 7 is for gamers seeking solid performance inside a modern, svelte design.
The Legion Slim 7 can be configured with a 4K (3840 x 2160-pixel resolution), narrow-bezel display with a 60Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB color gamut coverage. If you want something faster, you can snag the Legion Slim 7 with a 1080p display and 165Hz refresh rate. Both displays support Dolby Vision.
The Legion Slim 7 slim's thin-and-light metal chassis consists of magnesium and aluminum. It only weighs 4 pounds. Legion Slim 7 offers two color options: Shadow Black and Storm Grey. Other Legion 7 slim features include a 71-watt-hour battery capacity, optional Wi-Fi 6, Coldfront 3.0 thermal technology and a fingerprint reader.
Outlook
The Lenovo Legion 5 and Legion 5 Pro will be available in March. They will have a starting price of $769 and $999, respectively. The Legion 7 will start at $1,669 and will launch in June. The Legion Slim 7 will be released in May (Lenovo has not yet announced a price for the Slim 7).
I'm most excited about the Legion Slim 7. I'm curious to see whether this gaming rig can offer kick-ass gaming performance while still being packed inside a sleek-and-slim chassis. I'm also wondering if the Legion Slim 7 can manage to stay cool under pressure despite its thin profile. We'll just have to wait for the Legion Slim 7 to grace our labs to find out whether it truly lives up to the hype.
