I sleep with an obnoxious laptop , and the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 16 - in laptop computer is most certainly objectionable and gallant of it . From its dappled forged atomic number 6 character eyelid , to its overclockable Intel Core i9 HX processor and Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU , this is a laptop computer that is n’t afraid to give its weight around . And why should it be ? With spectacles that powerful , you may game , make subject matter , and cover through any work that might come down into your circuit . Hell , you might obtain Jimmy Hoffa with this thing ( OK , I ’m being tongue-in-cheek with that last one , but the Legion 9i is a serious ball of fire ) .
However , a pair of subpar speaker unit mutilate an otherwise great laptop computer . And we ca n’t forget the price , which will prevent all but the most deep - pocketed gamers from partaking in the awesomeness . But if you want an absolute military unit of one of thebest gaming laptopsavailable , the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9 ( 16 - column inch ) is a must - see .
Specs and configurations
Lenovo only offers one pre - built configuration of the Legion 9i Gen 9 on thecompany site , and the $ 4,560 toll will emphatically make more than a few wallets wince .
The configuration I reviewed has a 2.2 - GHz Intel Core i9 - 14900HX Meteor Lake Refresh processor with 32 GB of 5600Mhz DDR5 RAM , two 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration , incorporate Intel UHD Graphics , a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM , a 16 - inch , 3200 x 2000 miniskirt - LED , 16:10 aspect ratio presentation with a 165Hz refresh rate and 3 - millisecond response time and Windows 11 Home . However , you could keep yourself almost $ 1,000 if you purchase the organization fromB&Hwhich presently has the laptop computer on sale for $ 3,399 .
The base role model of the Gen 9 can be constitute in the configure menu on Lenovo ’s web site . It cost $ 3,840 and halve the storage and drop the GPU to a 4080 GPU with 12 GB of video remembering . If you need to max out the specs , devise to fork out $ 4,665 , which will add Windows 11 Pro and 64 GB of RAM to the mix .
A unique, elegant design
The Legion 9i does n’t look like any other gambling laptop computer on the market place . It does n’t even look like any laptop in its line of work . That ’s because Lenovo used forged carbon fiber for its lid that with the ship’s company ’s eight - layer boss method , the eyelid is 10 % light and strong than regular atomic number 13 . In full term of looks , the lid falls somewhere in between one of those old - school writing notebooks and some refined disguise . And while that mental process make for a lighter , tougher eyelid , the slightly textured panel is a one - of - one with each notebook sport a dissimilar pattern . As nice as the lid look , you ’ll want to have a microfiber cloth ready to hand as the lid is highly susceptible to fingerprint and smudges .
There ’s a small silver alloy Lenovo plate embedded into the lower - leave corner of the palpebra with a large RGB - backlit Legion allegory running vertically down the right . The camera and mic housing sits top center with its calendered metal covering protruding ever so slightly , The hinge connecting the lid and bottom of the laptop computer is large and extends into a rather large outlet that has several ports . A thin RGB visible radiation landing strip creates a line of word-painting between the hinge and release .
The notebook computer ’s upcountry and undercarriage are made primarily of recycle magnesium colored C Joseph Black . Compared to other gaming laptops , the palm rest is rather small , but there ’s still enough room to accommodate most radiocarpal joint and a small metal Lenovo tag end in the lower - ripe corner . The trackpad is foresightful or else of magniloquent and sits below the island - style keyboard as it glows temptingly . Above that is a large air vent with the king button sit front and core . The 16 - inch display is ensconced in matte black bezel with a small sassing at the top relieve oneself the lid easier to unfold .
The Legion 9i ’s undercarriage is almost all vent-hole with two raise caoutchouc feet to assist with air flow . The back metrical unit has a middle divot emboss with Legion , which is a nice skin senses . You have a pair of bottom - firing speakers toward the front and two large vents along the sides . The bottom instrument panel is held in position with six nookie in typesetter’s case you want to get at the laptop computer ’s interior .
The notebook computer has a solid raiment of ports and slots befitting a laptop of this sizing . You have a USB - A 3.2 Gen 1 port and a USB - C 3.2 Gen 1 larboard on the right wing with a physical camera disable switch . On the left sits an Coyote State card referee and a headset jack . You ’ll find the residue of the porthole in the posterior with another USB - A 3.2 Gen 1 , two Thunderbolt 4 ports , a HMDI 2.1 port , Ethernet embrasure , and a proprietary DC - in jack .
Compared to its competitors , the 5.51 - pound , 0.75 ~0.89 inch x 14.1 x 10.93 - inch Legion 9i is almost a whippersnapper . TheAsus ROG Strix Scar 18(0.91 x 11.57 x 15.71 inches ) is the big military man on campus here at 6.83 pounds , but keep in thinker that this is an 18 - column inch laptop . Next up , is theAlienware m16 R2(0.93 x 14.33 x 9.81 inches ) , which weighs 5.75 pounds . And finally , we have theAsus ROG Zephyrus G16(13.94 x 9.69 x 0.64 inches ) that slant the scales at 4.1 pounds , which is the lightest of the bunch .
Display and audio
In the battle between matte and glossy displays , Lenovo has choose matt for the Legion 9i . And while matte panels effectively hack down on public eye and reflection , they ’ve been known to deliver muted colour . I receive the 16 - inch , 3200 x 2000mini - LEDpanel delivered great colour and detail , which occupy some of the hurt from the many death I suffered while playingBlack Myth : Wukong . mouth of which , thanks to the inclusion body of Nvidia ’s G - Sync software program and the panel ’s 165Hz refresh pace and 3ms reaction rate , my attack , dodge , and parries were as smooth as butter , as were my myriad of dying .
The display achieved 100 % of the sRGB color gamut . However , on the Adobe sRGB and DCI - P3 gamuts , the screen get to 88 and 99 % , severally . Both results are light of the 100 % Lenovo claims . But in case the panel is n’t as vivid as you ’d like , the laptop has Dolby Vision software system to adapt the color temperature . My lightsome meter time the display ’s brightness at 692 nits , which is impressive for a matte panel .
I knew when I hold my initial tour around the laptop , I identified one of its few flaws : the bottom - mounted verbalizer . And sure enough , once I started pour tracks on Spotify , the pair of 2W Harmon speakers produced fair audio . The volume could n’t fulfil my medium - sized livelihood room . Even worse , the dispirited end is hollow more often than not with sapless bass and percussion no matter the genre . And this is despite have Nahmic ’s audio package preinstalled , which is one of the better apps out there .
But the audio quality deteriorates when using the laptop on your circuit . My thighs bury up the tiny speaker grilles , which in turn of events , dull the sound . You ’re definitely going to postulate a duo of headphones or a gaming headset if you have any expectation of unspoilt audio .
Keyboard and touchpad
Lenovo ’s grin - shaped keys bring a smiling to my face . While they ’re not as good as what you ’d find on the company ’s ThinkPad line of laptop , the Legion 9i ’s keyboard with its Chiclet - style name with their 1.5 millimetre key traveling are super comfy to type on with firm feedback and no bottoming out . The keycaps are enceinte with generous spatial arrangement . And while I seldom habituate the NumPad , I ’m always glad to see it included . I surpassed my usual 70 - words - per - minute of arc average on the MonkeyType typing psychometric test , polish off 85 wpm .
The keyboard features per - key backlighting , which allows you to create a usage visible light show with every cardinal glowing in a different shade via the Lenovo Vantage app . This is also where you’re able to gear up macro , supervise organization health , adjust camera and display preferences , and much more .
The Legion 9i ’s touchpad is modest than what I ’m used to nowadays , but it got the line of work done . Multitouch gesture such as pinch - soar , two - finger scroll and three - finger’s breadth tap performed seamlessly . The trackpad offers good palm rejection with strong feedback on the bottom turning point .
Webcam and connectivity
The Legion 9i has one of the best integrated webcam I ’ve see this class on a gaming laptop computer . The color on the 1080p hitman is not bad , capture the precise tint of bubblegum pinko of my wrapped locs . Details were so abrupt , you’re able to see almost every wrinkle in my sunflower yellow shirt . It ’ll definitely hold up in a video call or a springy watercourse .
And in some other webcam fun , the laptop has Tobii ’s eye - tracking software preinstalled in the form of Tobii Aware and Horizon . The former blind the screen when you ’re not looking at it while the latter get you control a game using head teacher - trailing .
As for connectivity , the Legion 9i has a Killer WiFi 6E * 802.11AX ( 2 x 2 ) connection add-in with Bluetooth 5.1 .
CPU performance
Who set up a ridiculous amount of mogul , because the Legion 9i has a threefold serve . The notebook sports a 24 - core Intel Core i9 - 14900HX processor , one of the most powerful fluid CPU on the grocery . The juggernaut came out sway on the Cinebench R24 multi - core trial , beating all competitors .
However , it should be note that Lenovo only abut out its precursor by a few breaker point . And as common , theMacBook Pro 16with its M3 Max chipset beat out all contender . The M4 Max would surely drive this comparison even further , though we ’ve only tested the M4 Pro model so far . The single - gist parcel of the Cinebench R24 had a exchangeable outcome with the Legion 9i leave the gaming laptops , and the MacBook being the overall winner . The Legion 9i managed to score a determinate victory over everyone during the GPU portion of Cinebench R24 , including the MacBook .
We got similar issue on both the multi- and single - screw thread run of Geekbench 6 run , with the Legion surpass its gaming laptop computer competitor . It ’s interesting to see how close last class ’s Legion 9i is to its descendant . But as potent as the new youngster on the pulley block is , it could n’t overwhelm the MacBook 16 with its extremely optimize chipset and operating system . Although the Legion is primarily a gaming laptop computer , it is more than capable of handling any video , photo , or audio editing project you have up your arm . Running the PugetBench tests for both Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro , the Lenovo maintained a slight lead over everything but the MacBook Pro .
Gaming
While it ’s nice that the Legion can treat all your productivity and cognitive content creation labor , you ’re here to secret plan . And with its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 , the Legion 9i is more than ready for those marathon gaming seance . That ’s not to say there was n’t some competition . While the Legion 9i achieve high marks on the 3DMark Time Spy psychometric test , it was n’t enough to topple the ROG Strix Scar 18 . The Legion however , is only a few points diffident from matching the Scar . The Legion 9i got the upper manus on the 3D FireStrike test .
1600p closure has become the odorous spot for many gamers , but at its 2000p native resolution , the Legion 9i frame pace never send away below 90 frames per secondly , even on title likeCyberpunk 2077 , Black Myth : Wukong , andForza Horizon 5,which are some of the most graphically taxing games on the marketplace .
Thanks to the GPU and its 16 GB of video retentivity , you could crank up all the mount to the max and that admit shaft of light trace . And if you desire to squeeze every frame out of the system , palpate free to enableNvidia ’s DLSS applied science . My only other gripe with the Legion 9i is the fans . The laptop computer ’s trine of fans are seriously loud with carrying out mood enabled . It ’s to be gestate with a laptop of this gauge as is the heat fumes blowing from the top of the keyboard deck of cards .
Battery life
play laptop computer this stack are a serial of checks and balances . Sure , you ’ll get ridiculous power , but man , is that battery life going to suck . However , the Legion 9i live longer than expected with a time of four hours , nine minute on the video playback test with the power scope on Best Performance at 100 nits of luminousness . That ’s a small longer than the Scar 18 , but it falls inadequate of the Alienware m16 R2 and the ROG Zephyrus G16 .
Still , that time is respectable for a gaming laptop computer , especially one with these heavy duty specs . Thanks to Nvidia ’s Advanced Optimus software , which is essentially a MUX replacement , the laptop can switch over to its incorporated Intel UHD Graphics chip , when handling less graphically taxing task . That direction , the laptop computer can last longer on a charge .
Is it worth it?
If you ’re on a quest for power , the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9 ( 16 - inch ) lies at the oddment of the journey . The desktop replacement is a certified beast , frolic a one - two slug of an Intel Core i9 central processor and an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU . Whether it ’s gaming , produce mental object , or productiveness , the Lenovo Legion 9i can deal it all with imperturbable aplomb . On top of that , it ’s get a lovely presentation , prosperous , customizable keyboard , a crispy webcam , and it ’s got an interesting design .
The only real flaw the notebook has is its weak utterer and of course , the exorbitant Leontyne Price , which is a pity as the Legion 9i is just a stone ’s throw from perfect . offer some more customization in term of configurations may have allowed a more affordable ledger entry decimal point too . Sure the fans can get trashy , but that ’s to be expected in a play laptop .
If you desire something with longer electric battery sprightliness , consider the Alienware m16 R2 or the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 . But for people that want magnate , unembellished and elementary . It ’s a scrap of a recess laptop at this price , but you ’d be firmly pressed to happen something well than the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9 ( 16 - inch ) .
