But if you want to experience the highest-grade graphics with smooth performance, this laptop is for you.
1.Pricing & specs2.Design & build3.Software & RGB4.Display5.Performance6.Battery life7.Keyboard & touchpad8.Camera, mic, & audio9.Competition10.Scorecard11.Should you buy it?
Disclaimer:This review was made possible thanks to a review unit provided by Lenovo.
RGB lighting runs around the bottom of the laptop and also shines through the logo on the back.
The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.
The specific configuration I reviewed costs $4,628.99 and features some of the most expensive options.
While configuring the laptop, it’s possible for you to choose from 32GB to 64GB RAM.
RGB lighting runs around the bottom of the laptop and also shines through the logo on the back.
Connection-wise, the Legion 9i offers plenty of ports to connect your various peripherals and accessories.
Four rubber pads on the bottom of the laptop do an excellent job of keeping it from sliding around.
Meanwhile, the intake and exhaust vents are well-spaced and in locations that allow them to work correctly.
However, these free months must be activated within the free Lenovo Arena app.
Second, there’s the Legion logo on the lid.
This software isn’t the smoothest thing out there, but it’s also easy enough to use.
There are several ports on the backside of the Legion 9i(Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)
Six preset lighting modes are easily toggleable by pressing Function and then Spacebar.
Opening the free Lenovo Vantage app allows me to customize these presets with 13 effects.
I can even determine the effects on specific keys, bottom sections of lighting, or the Legion logo.
Symbols on the top back of the laptop make it easier to tell which ports are where.(Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)
Going all the way down turns the RGB lighting off entirely.
However, it does look great in person, so I don’t have major complaints here.
The refresh rate is outstanding, allowing the display to reach 165Hz.
There is a physical camera shutter and a USB-C port on the Legion 9i’s right side.(Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)
So it was good to see that the Legion 9i keeps itself cooler than average.
Legion Coldfront: Liquid is designed to kick on once the GPU reaches 180F.
Legion intends to “push an additional 10W of graphics power for gaming and intense workflows.”
The left side of the Legion 9i is home to an SD card slot.(Image credit: Rebecca Spear / Windows Central)
With the assistance of three fans at critical locations, the laptop can keep itself decently cool.
An essential part of the Legion 9i experience is brought to us with the LA2 AI core’s assistance.
This likely helps account for how smoothly all my games ran while I played on the Legion 9i.
Speakers point down on either side of the laptop.
This way, I always know what mode it’s in.
Basically, all of these benchmarks prove just how powerful the Legion 9i is.
The fact that both adapters are included allows for a bit more flexibility.
The Legion 9i’s system performance and other tools can easily be accessed from within the free Lenovo Vantage app.
With any laptop, I prefer that there be a physical camera shutter to ensure my privacy.
It’s better than nothing, but I’d prefer a more physical way to block the lens.
Lenovo Legion 9i: Competition
There are plenty of options out there when choosing thebest gaming laptops.
The nice thing about Razer Blade is that they are available in a number of display sizes.
Another great option is theAlienware x14 R2.
There are a few different configurations to choose from, including the RTX-30 series GPUs and Intel i7 CPUs.
Each key and RGB lighting area can be customized within Lenovo Vantage.
It has a starting price of $1,499.
It sells for$2,499.99at Amazon or ASUS ROG Store.
Lenovo Legion 9i: Scorecard
Lenovo Legion 9i: Should you buy it?
The Lenovo Legion 9i (Gen 8) produced 98% of sRGB, 74% of AdobeRGB, and 74% of P3 in our colorimeter test.
It can even run Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction decently well, which are extremely demanding features.
However, there’s no denying that OLEDs offer better color range and tend to have faster response times.
There are plenty of other gaming options out there if you’re willing to go with some lower-tier hardware.
The Legion 9i can keep itself decently cool at around 125 degrees when running demanding programs.
While not necessary, the fun RGB lighting brings a fun vibe to any room.
What’s more, the customizable RGB provides a fun vibe but can also be turned off when needed.
With Cyberpunk 2077’s graphics settings on Ultra, the Legion 9i managed an impressive average of 67 FPS.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Even with Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction on in Cyberpunk 2077, the Legion 9i managed an average of 39 FPS.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The Legion 9i (Gen 8 ) did very well in PCMark 10 with a score of 8,439.(Image credit: Windows Central)
In Geekbench 5, the Legion 9i earned a terrific score of 21,111.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The Legion 9i earned an amazing score of 17,931 in Geekbench 6.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Legion 9i proved to have incredibly fast read and write speeds in CrystalDiskMark.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Legion 9i earned a very good score of 20,646 in 3DMark Time Spy testing.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Within Cinebench, the Legion 9i scored an impressive 25,563 multi-core score and a good 1,847 single-core score.(Image credit: Windows Central)
In the CrossMark benchmark, Legion 9i scored 1,923.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Legion 9i comes with both a 330W charging adapter and a 140W charging adapter.
The best that we ever got the laptop to run for was three hours and 11 minutes.
The touchpad is relatively small, but there is a number pad for easy numeric entry.
The Legion 9i features a FHD (1080p) webcam with an electrical shutter.
Razer Blade 16 (2023) is very similar to the Legion 9i (Gen 8).
Fun RGB lighting backlights the keyboard and also runs around the bottom of the laptop.
