Lenovo Refreshes Legion Gaming Laptops With Intel 9th Gen Core
Lenovo announced today its plans to refresh its Legion gaming laptop line with the addition of Intel’s latest 9th generation Core CPUs paired with shoppers’ choice of Nvidia’s new GTX graphics cards or premium RTX ones. Starting at $1,119.99, the upgraded laptops will be rolling out in the U.S. in late May.
Lenovo Legion Gaming Laptop Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Lenovo Legion Y740 | Lenovo Legion Y540 | Lenovo Legion Y7000p | Lenovo Legion Y7000 | Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming |
| CPU | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i7 | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i7 | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i7 | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i7 | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i7 |
| Graphics | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 |
| Display | 15-inch or 17-inch, up to 144 Hz FHD with G-Sync | 15-inch or 17-inch | 15-inch | 15-inch FHD, 144 Hz, IPS with anti-glare | 15-inch or 17-inch |
| Price | 15-inch: Starts at $1,609.9917-inch: Starts at $1,669.99 | 15-inch: Starts at $1209.99 (with GTX 1660 Ti)17-inch: Starts at $1,269.99 (GTX 1660 Ti) | Starts at $1,199.99 (GTX 1660 Ti) | TBD | 15-inch: $869.9917-inch: $919.99 |
| Availability | Late May 2019 | 15-inch: Late May 2019 17-inch: Late June 2019 | Late May 2019 | TBD | Late May 2019 |
The revamped gaming line targets gamers who can’t get enough playtime, whether sitting at a desk, on the couch or traveling. In fact, Lenovo conducted global research of 7,800 gamers to learn what they wanted most from their gaming PCs. The top three desired components upgrades were memory, followed by CPU and GPU.
Legion Y740
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17-inch Legion Y740
At the most premium end is the Legion Y740, which Lenovo is upgrading with options for a RTX 2080 Max-Q or a lesser GTX 1660 Ti and up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 RAM. It’s available with 15-inch and 17-inch G-Sync displays with FHD resolution (1920x1080) and a 144Hz refresh rate. Both display sizes support Dolby Vision HDR, 4K resolution, and can reach up to an impressive 500 nits of brightness, according to Lenovo.
Those 500 nits should be a welcome upgrade to the current model of the Legion Y740, which we found to be limited by its sub-par brightness (just 112 nits in our tests).
Two Dolby Atmos speakers handle sound, and there’s also Dolby Sound Radar, a sound quality tweaker targeting games, especially first-person shooters.
The anti-ghosting RGB keyboard offers almost 16 million customization choices via Corsair's iCUE RGB software. Like the previous Legion Y740, the vents and “O” in the Legion logo on the lid are RGB too.
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The 15-inch is cheaper but also has pesky webcam positioning, in the center of the display’s bottom bezel. The 17-inch camera is in a generally preferred location, the upper bezel, which is thicker than that of the 15-inch. The choice is yours.
Legion Y540
15-inch Legion Y540
For a more affordable option, there’s the Legion Y540, which comes in Raven Black. It goes up to an RTX 2060, but you can alternatively opt for a GTX 1660 Ti. It’s also available in 15 or 17-inch displays, both carrying a low 1ms response time.
Cooling is covered with Lenovo’s Legion Coldfront, a dual-fan thermal layout technology. It features separate CPU and GPU cooling, four thermal vents for airflow, a dedicated heat sink designed to keep the keyboard cool, plus 70 fan blades per channel, which are said to help keep noise to a minimum.
Lenovo opted for Harman Kardon speakers (they also support Dolby Atmos) for this model and dropped the RGB.
Again, we see bottom webcam placement on the 15-inch model, but we haven’t yet seen images of the 17-inch model. Similarly, the 15-inch version weighs 5.1 pounds / 2.3kg, but Lenovo hasn’t revealed this spec for the 17-inch model.
Legion Y7000p
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With a different look than the Y740 and Y540, the Y7000p is also cheaper, starting at $1,1999.99 with a 1660 Ti (you can also choose an RTX 2060 or GTX 1650). There’s also no RGB on this model, but the keyboard has a white backlight. Lenovo is pegging the 15-incher as suitable for gamers on the go.
Legion Y7000
Lenovo also announced a brand new Legion model, the Legion Y7000. It’s supposed to offer a bit more power than the Y7000p with your choice for an RTX 2060, GTX 1660 Ti or GTX 1650 graphics.
The 15-inch display is FHD with up to a 144Hz refresh rate and 300 nits of brightness via an IPS panel with anti-glare. While there’s no RGB, the keyboard does have a red backlight.
Lenovo didn’t reveal pricing or a release date for the new machine, but we’ll update this post if we learn more.
Lenovo IdeaPad L340 Gaming
Finally, and at the bottom tier here, is a new gaming-focused IdeaPad, the L340 Gaming. The budget laptop is a tempting $869.99 for the 15-inch and $919.99 for the 17-inch. But you’re only offered Nvidia's new GTX 1650 graphics.
Other features include Intel Optane memory, Quick and Quiet gaming modes and Dolby Audio software. Again, you’re sacrificing RGB (if you consider that a sacrifice) but the keyboard does have a cool blue (think Tron) backlight.
Image credits: Lenovo
Scharon Harding has over a decade of experience reporting on technology with a special affinity for gaming peripherals (especially monitors), laptops, and virtual reality. Previously, she covered business technology, including hardware, software, cyber security, cloud, and other IT happenings, at Channelnomics, with bylines at CRN UK.