The Lenovo Legion Y740S will be the company’s thinnest and lightest gaming laptop ever, but that’s because it doesn’t have a discrete GPU inside. The laptop, which will start at $1,099.99 in May, will release alongside Lenovo’s first external GPU (eGPU), the $249.99 Legion BattleStation, should you want better graphics performance.
That could, I suppose, make it a stretch to call it a gaming laptop at all. It’s more in line with Razer’s Blade Stealth, which is just a gaming-branded productivity machine. Plenty of laptops (almost anything with a Thunderbolt 3 port) can use an eGPU.
Lenovo Legion Y740S Specs
| CPU | Up to 10th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series CPU |
|---|---|
| Graphics | Intel integrated |
| RAM | Up to 32GB DDR4 |
| Storage | Up to 1TB PCIe SSD |
| Display | 15.6-inch, FHD or 4K Dolby Vision, 60 Hz |
| Battery | 60Wh |
| Ports | 2x Thunderbolt 3, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2, SD card reader, headphone jack |
| Connectivity | W-iFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Dimensions | 14 x 9.9 x 0.6 inches |
| Weight | 4.2 pounds |
| Starting Price | $1,099.99 |
That’s not to say Lenovo isn’t promising some special sauce. The Y740S uses the company’s Q-Control feature to switch to performance mode, balance mode or quiet mode by pressing Fn and Q. There’s also a new vapor chamber and quad-fan cooling setup dubbed Legion Coldfront 2.0.
Additionally, the keyboard has been redesigned (Lenovo calls it Legion TrueStrike) with longer-lasting keys, thanks to an “enhanced coating.” The IPS display will go up to 4K resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate with Dolby Vision and up to 600 nits of brightness.
The processors in the Legion are set up to be powerful, with up to an 10th Gen Intel Core i9 paired with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.
Legion BootStation eGPU
The $249.99 eGPU works with both Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon GPUs. It’s aluminum with a clear side panel and needs no tools to open. There are also storage slots for an additional HDD or SATA SSD. The ATX power supply goes up to 500W and it delivers up to 100W to laptops over USB Type-C.
The eGPU will also be sold bundled with Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT GPUs, though pricing for those were not unveiled.
