Lenovo Legion 7 (Gen 6) review
Two-minute review
The Lenovo Legion 7 (Gen 6) is a fantastic laptop that delivered astounding performance across (almost) all of our tests. If you've saved up enough and want to upgrade your gaming setup to one of the best out there, this is a machine you'll seriously want to consider.
Fans of RGB lighting will have plenty of customization options across the whole outer shell of the laptop, allowing you to give your device its very own unique glow. The slick casing looks stylish even with the lighting turned off though, giving you a more professional look if you need a device for both work and play.
The RTX 3080 GPU and AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU powering the model we were sent allowed the Legion 7 laptop to achieve impressive scores in all of our performance benchmarks, beating out most devices on our best gaming laptops list.
It only performed poorly in one area, as these impressive components drain the battery life incredibly quickly. You'll only get around three hours of regular use out of this thing if it isn't plugged in, and we imagine it would be even less if you're gaming with settings turned to max.
You'll also find the fan noise to be quite loud (which is common of gaming laptops in general) as the fans have to work hard to keep the Legion 7 cool - though you will find it still gets very hot during intense gaming sessions.
If you can afford the $2,689 / £1,999 (around AU$3,700) price tag you won't be disappointed by what the Lenovo Legion 7 (Gen 6) can deliver.
Price and availability
Here is the Lenovo Legion 7 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 3.0 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 5800H (8-cores, 16MB cache, up to 4.4GHz)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6, 130W Max graphics power, 1,545MHz boost clock)
RAM: 16GB (DDR4 3200MHz)
Screen: 16-inch, 2560x1600, 165Hz refresh rate
Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Drive Ports: 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 3 x USB 3.2 Type-C, HDMI 2.1, 2 x DisplayPort 1.4 (through USB-C), 3.5 mm headphone jack, RJ-45 Ethernet
Connectivity: Killer Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1
Camera: 720p
Weight: 5.5 pounds / 2.5 kilograms
Size: 0.93 x 14.01 x 10.27 / 360 x 260 x 20 mm
The Lenovo Legion 7 is available to buy in the configuration we reviewed at $2,689 / £1,999 (around AU$3,700). This is far from cheap for a laptop, but for a machine that contains some of the best specs on the market, you’d struggle to spend much less.
If you’re wanting to shell out a little more, you can upgrade from our specs to versions of the Lenovo Legion 7 with up to 32GB of RAM, up to 2TB of SSD storage and an AMD Ryzen 9 5900H CPU.
For comparison, you can buy our best-reviewed gaming laptop - the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 - for around $1,799 (the version we received was exclusive to the US) however its specs and performance weren’t as good as the Lenovo Legion 7. If you're after a version of the G15 that better matched the Legion 7, you’d end up spending about the same amount on either laptop.
Because RTX 3080 GPUs are incredibly sought after, the Lenovo Legion 7 is frequently out of stock or in short supply. If you want to snag one of these machines for yourself, you’ll want to act quickly.
Design
The Lenovo Legion 7 oozes excellence with a sleek design and tasteful RGB lighting decking it out from head to toe. Not only can the keyboard shift through every color in the rainbow, but it syncs up with lighting strips that run around the front of the laptop as well as inside the side and back vents.
The crosshair in the Legion logo on the lid also glows with RGB lightning too, creating a cohesive glow that will be the envy of your PC gaming rivals.
You’ll also be able to marvel at this laptop’s 16-inch QHD (2560 x 1600) display with Dolby Vision and Nvidia G-Sync support. While it’s not quite 4K (this laptop’s resolution is normally referred to as 2.5K) it still looks great, and with a max refresh rate of 165Hz you’ll be able to enjoy the high framerates this machine can deliver.
If you like to use a bunch of peripherals, this laptop can more than accommodate your needs with its excellent number of ports. On the left side, you‘ll find a USB-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4) and an audio port for headphones.
On the right, there’s another USB-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 1) and on the back, you’ll find a final USB-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4, supports power delivery) as well as an ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1 (that will let you output 8K gaming to a supporting monitor) and three USB-3.2 ports.
The laptop weighs 5.5 pounds (2.5kg), and measures 23 x 356x 261.04mm (0.93 x 14.01 x 10.27-inches). This isn’t massively heavy and should fit in most bags, but if you’re after a super light, super slim notebook, this isn’t it.
Audio-wise the speakers are a tad disappointing, with the Legion 7 equipped with two 2W Harman speakers with Nahimic Audio. The performance isn’t terrible for videos, but you’ll probably need to use a headset when you’re gaming if you want to clearly hear what’s going on.
That’s because the fan on the Legion 7 puts in a lot of effort to keep it cool during intense gaming sessions - even if it is fighting a losing battle. While gaming this laptop can get very hot so we’d recommend you play with it on a table rather than on your lap.
Here’s how the Lenovo Legion 7 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 52,201; Fire Strike: 23,811 ; Time Spy: 10,709
Cinebench R20: 4,618 points
GeekBench 5: (single-core) 1,407 (multi-core) 7,336
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 7,262
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 3 hours 2 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 3 hours 8 minutes
Total War: Three Kingdoms (1080p, Ultra): 93 fps; (1080p, Low): 213 fps
Metro Exodus (1080p, Ultra): 87 fps; (1080p, Low): 152 fps
Performance
We’d expect nothing less than an astounding performance from the Lenovo Legion 7 laptop, and its AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 did not disappoint.
Across all of our performance tests, this laptop achieved scores that put it well above almost every entry in our best gaming laptops list. In our 3DMark tests, the Legion 7 scored 52,201 in Night Raid, 23,811 in Fire Strike and 10,709 in Time Spy whereas the Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (the device in our number one spot) only achieved 43,645, 21,211 and 9,333 in each test respectively.
The same is true of the CPU tests we performed, with the Legion 7’s 1,407 single core and 7,336 multi-core scores in Geekbench 5 being excellent too, and the trend continued in the Total War and Metro Exodus performance tests - with the Legion 7 outputting a buttery smooth framerate even at ultra settings.
This performance comes at a few costs though, and we aren’t just talking about the ones your wallet will feel.
Battery life
Thanks to its powerful components, the Lenovo Legion 7 will quickly shred through its battery even when at moderate use.
In our PC Mark 10 Battery test it was able to last for just three hours and three minutes, just five minutes shorter than it did in our HD Movie test (clocking in at three hours and eight minutes).
These scores aren’t awful compared to some gaming laptops, but we’ve seen times in the region of eight hours from other great devices, making the Legion 7’s three hour battery seem more than a little lacklustre.
As long as you have your power cable on you though, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.
Webcam and microphone
The Lenovo Legion 7 comes with a 720p webcam with an E-shutter to give you privacy if you want to turn it off.
While the webcam isn’t the most capable in the world - and noticeably struggles in darker environments - it can deliver a good-looking picture if you can provide some lighting.
The in-built microphone isn’t half-bad either, during test calls we were told we could be heard clearly - though with the fan noise during gaming you might be better off with a dedicated headset or microphone if you need to communicate with your squad.
Buy it if
You want unrivaled performance
The Lenovo Legion (Gen 6) delivers superb performance at the specs we received for review. If you want a laptop that can give you an awesome gaming experience look no further.
You love RGB lighting
This laptop offers a bunch of RGB lighting option across multiple different components to let you give your device its own distinctive glow.
You need lots of ports
With six USB ports (three regular and three USB-C) you'll almost certainly have room to plug in all the peripherals you could possibly need. The HDMI 2.1 port will also let you put a high-end external monitor to good use, letting you output 8K video at up to 60Hz.
Don’t buy it if
You need a laptop while away from a power source
The roughly three-hour-long battery life this device managed in our testing wasn't great especially compared to some other laptops out there. If you're looking to game on the go remember to take the power cable.
You want something small and lightweight
This isn't the biggest nor bulkiest gaming laptop we've reviewed, but if you prioritise needing your laptop to be lightweight you'll want something else.
You’re on a tight budget
This laptop is a decent price for the components you're getting, but its $2,689 / £1,999 price tag won't fit in most people's budget.
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