Lenovo completely redesigned my favorite gaming laptop from last year

CES 2025

Read and watch our complete CES coverage here

Updated less than 0 just now ago

Hands down, if you ask me what the best gaming laptop is, I’ll point you toward the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. It’s speedy, reasonably priced, and it has a fantastic keyboard — just read our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review. So, you can imagine my surprise when Lenovo told me that it was completely throwing out its winning formula to fully redesign the laptop for CES 2025.

It looks like the redesign could pay off, though.

Recommended Videos

With the laptop open, not much has changed. You’re still getting Lenovo’s excellent TrueStrike, as well as a slim number pad and trackpad that’s offset to the left of the key deck. This updated model features an OLED display, however. Previous Legion laptops have had serviceable gaming displays, but Lenovo is pushing into a premium tier of gaming laptops alongside the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 with the OLED panel.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

ReSpec

Subscribe

Check your inbox!

Privacy Policy

It’s quite the panel, too. It’s a 16:10 panel with a WQXGA display — or 2,560 x 1,600. It also comes with a 240Hz refresh rate, and according to Lenovo, a sub-0.5ms response time. Lenovo also says the laptop claims up to 500 nits of peak brightness, which is fairly typical for OLED panels in laptops.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Alongside the new display, Lenovo redesigned the external chassis. One of the biggest changes is the back of the laptop, which no longer features any ports. On laptops like the Legion Pro 7i and Legion Pro 5, Lenovo previously placed the charging port, alongside large connectors like the HDMI port, on the back of the laptop. They’ve been moved to the sides now to provide better ventilation, Lenovo tells me. In their place, Lenovo now has a strip of RGB lighting that provides some back glow to the laptop.

Related

  • Lenovo’s new Z2 handheld is the Steam Deck we’ve all been waiting for

  • Lenovo is removing the iconic Trackpoint with its new ThinkPad X9

  • Check your expectations — Nvidia’s RTX 50-series benchmarks don’t tell the full story

Although the ports have moved, Lenovo is still giving users a lot of connectivity options. You get two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and an Ethernet connection, along with Wi-Fi 7.

Under the hood, Lenovo says you’ll be able to pack in up to an Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop GPU, along with either a Core Ultra 9 275HX or Ryzen 9 9955HX. Similar to previous Legion laptops, Lenovo is offering the Legion Pro 7 and Legion Pro 5, the latter of which is less expensive with fewer options. Ther are both AMD and Intel options. Lenovo hasn’t revealed the specs of the Legion Pro 5 range yet, however.

To power this hardware, the Legion Pro 7i has a total of 250 watts that it shares between the CPU and GPU, while the Legion Pro 5 has access to 200W.

Lenovo is rolling out its new Legion range slowly. It starts with the Legion Pro 7i in March, which has an expected starting price of $2,399. The Legion Pro 5i arrives in May, starting at $1,499, while the Legion Pro 5 comes in June at $1,399.

Editors’ Recommendations

  • Lenovo has done the impossible: a webcam built into the laptop screen

  • Lenovo’s rollable laptop is way more fun than it should be

  • I sat in Razer’s new gaming chair, which can heat and cool itself

  • This ingenious ROG gaming laptop is user-upgradeable — no screws required

  • Asus’ new Zephyrus G14 is getting an RTX 5080 upgrade




Related posts

Latest posts

M4 Ultra: Everything we know about Apple’s mysterious Hidra chip

Apple’s Hidra chip -- or M4 Ultra -- will land this year. What could we see in terms of performance, price, features, and more? Here’s all you need to know.

I love Google Gemini, but I’ll take Apple Intelligence any day of the week

I've been using Google Gemini and Apple Intelligence on my phone for months. Here's which one is better.

Android 16’s first beta could be coming to your phone as early as this week

New findings reveal Google's possible Android 16 betas release schedule.

Google’s Pixel 10a gets spotted early amid an alleged Pixel 11 codename leak

A recent Google leak suggested crucial information regarding several upcoming devices.

The ASUS ROG Phone 9 ‘FE’ is rumored to have a launch on the horizon

The ROG Phone 9 "FE" was reportedly spotted gaining overseas certification, which could point toward launch.

New leak indicates Galaxy S25 Slim may not come to the US

Samsung’s long-rumored Galaxy S25 Slim handset region availability surfaced ahead of the Unpacked event.

Samsung rumored to have a year packed with foldables and S Pen changes

Rumors alleged several details about Samsung's upcoming series of foldables.

X goes after TikTok users, introduces new tab for vertical videos

X (formerly Twitter) has introduced a new tab on its explore page, giving users a verticle video tab, similar to

I’ve experienced the next era of AI, and I’m never going back

A new era of AI agents in emerging, and Google's Deep Research showed me the power of them first-hand.

This audio upgrade cable costs $799, and it is incredible

Effect Audio's Code 24 is aimed squarely at enthusiasts.