Which Lenovo Legion gaming laptop should you buy?
Best answer: Folks who want the best overall Lenovo Legion laptop should go with the Lenovo Legion 7i, as it offers fantastic specs, an awesome display, and a premium design for a good price. However, some may also prefer the Lenovo Legion 5i since it's a less expensive option that still delivers great performance.
What makes the Lenovo Legion 7i the best?
Compared to the rest of the Lenovo Legion lineup, the latest Lenovo Legion 7i stands out because it offers top-notch performance and design quality at a competitive price. With it, you can get excellent specs like i7 and i9 H-Series 11th Gen Intel CPUs, up to an RTX 3080 GPU, up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 2TB of SSD storage. This isn't the best hardware you can get in a gaming laptop today, but it's not far off, and it also costs considerably less than devices with absolutely maxed-out specs.
The 16-inch WQXGA (2560x1600) 165Hz display is gorgeous thanks to its rich color gamut, strong contrast ratio, and 500 nits of peak brightness. Its balance between high resolution and high refresh rate makes it a very well-rounded panel for gaming, as being able to enjoy the benefits of both is fantastic.
The design of the laptop is great as well. It's relatively slim despite the beefy hardware inside, and both the keyboard and trackpad are very comfortable to use. The display bezels are nice and thin and offer a pleasant viewing experience, and the inclusion of dual Thunderbolt 4 and three USB-A ports gives you plenty of peripheral connectivity, too. Overall, it's a phenomenal laptop all around, and it's the Lenovo Legion device you should buy if you're looking for a premium gaming machine.
Why you might want the Lenovo Legion 5i
While we do consider the Lenovo Legion 7i to be the best Lenovo Legion laptop, that doesn't mean that it will be a good fit for everyone. Even though it's less expensive than many other top-of-the-line gaming devices, it's not the most affordable laptop around. Therefore, we recommend the Lenovo Legion 5i if you're in need of something that's less expensive but still offers good gaming performance.
There are more configurations of the Legion 5i than the more advanced 7i, with i5 and i7 11th Gen Intel H-Series CPUs, AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 5000 Series CPUs, and GPUs like the GTX 1650 and RTX 3070 all available as options. You can also equip it with up to 16GB of DDR4 memory and up to 1TB of SSD storage, which will be enough for most gamers. The FHD 165Hz display could be brighter (it only has a max brightness of 300 nits), but the color gamut is great and the contrast is solid, too. The laptop's design is also sleek and stylish, and it features a Thunderbolt 4 slot as well as five USB-A ports.
Ultimately, the Lenovo Legion 5i is a fantastic option if the Legion 7i isn't in your price range. It's one of the best mid-range gaming laptops available today, and we can't recommend it enough.
The Lenovo Legion 7i is the best overall Lenovo Legion gaming laptop, offering excellent specs, an awesome display, and a premium design for a competitive price.
The Lenovo Legion 5i is our runner-up pick for anyone in need of something more affordable. It's less expensive than the 7i, but still offers good gaming performance and a fantastic design.
