By Over the past few years, Lenovo’s Legion laptop family has been raising the standard for gaming laptops. The Legion Pro 7 series tends to strike a mix between class-leading performance, build quality, and value, even though the Legion 9 series might be the best in that family. This tradition is excellently carried on by the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10, which offers outstanding CPU and GPU performance in a sturdy chassis with a superb display.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10, which starts at $2,849 and goes up to $3,599, to test the system with an RTX 5080, is firmly in the high-end gaming laptop market. However, from our first benchmark to our last, it quickly establishes itself as one of the top gaming laptops available today.
Specs and features
- Number of model: 82WQ002SUS
- CPU: 275HX Intel Core Ultra 9
- 32GB DDR5X-6400 CSODIMM Memory; Nvidia RTX 5080 (175-watt TGP) graphics/GPU
- 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz OLED, anti-glare display
- Two 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSDs for storage
- 5MP webcam
- Connectivity: HDMI 2.1, 2.5GbE, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x USB-C 10Gbps (with DP 2.1 and 140W PD input), 1x USB-A 10Gbps, 2x USB-A 5Gbps
- Networking: Bluetooth 5.4, WiFi 7.
- Biometrics: not available
- The battery has a 99-watt-hour capacity.
- 14.35 x 10.9 x 1.05 inches in size
- 5.84 pounds in weight
- As-tested MSRP: $3,599 ($2,849 basic)
When writing, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is available in a few largely similar configurations. The one tested here costs $3,599 and is built around the RTX 5080. It is the only configuration listed on Lenovo’s website, but B&H also has configurations that swap in the RTX 5070 Ti for $2,849 or the RTX 5090 for $3,999. Lenovo often starts some of its laptop models with just a few configurations but expands on them later, so don’t be surprised if more options trickle in later. For now, all of these configurations include the same 32GB of DDR5 memory on two CSODIMM sticks, the same pair of 1TB PCIe 4.0×4 SSDs, the same OLED display, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX.
Design and build quality
Like its predecessors, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is a powerful device. Given its large capacity and goal of operating at high wattages, its weight and dimensions make sense. However, to support the more robust cooling needed for this type of application, Lenovo didn’t go too far. The screen has small bezels, and the back of the laptop protrudes barely an inch past the display hinge. The laptop is, predictably, more than an inch thick.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 has a matte black aluminum frame that covers the laptop’s underbelly, keyboard deck, and display lid. Although there is some slight bend to this metal construction, it feels very solid overall.
Even though the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is a gaming laptop, it has a modest appearance. The majority of the chassis is free of excessively aggressive embossing and angularity. The only true indication of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10’s gaming nature is the fighter-jet-like exhaust at the back of the system, which houses a massive radiator that spans the entire rear edge. Other features include a thin light bar at the front edge of the deck and per-key RGB keyboard lighting, both of which are easily turned off.
Three intake fans, two huge ones on each side and a smaller one somewhat off-center that appears to be for the memory modules, are hidden beneath the bottom grille. They draw air in from below and expel it through the radiator stated earlier.
Lenovo had to move all of its I/O to the side of the laptop due to its commitment to heat dissipation in the back, even though some of its previous gaming laptops had more ports along the back edge of the machine.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10: Keyboard, trackpad
A good keyboard is provided by the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10. Because of their small shape, the keys help me keep my fingertips in the middle of them. Additionally, they are extremely well-stabilized for a laptop keyboard, which helps to maintain an equal stroke and prevent it from sliding off the edge. They have 1.6mm of travel and aren’t mushy either. The keyboard’s lengthy deck can make typing somewhat difficult unless the desk/table’s ergonomics are perfect, even with these high-quality features. With 97 percent accuracy, I could type up to 116 words per minute in Monkeytype, although this was a bit slower and more prone to errors than I would have liked, and I had to take off my watch to control it.
The keyboard’s other components are also really good. The key legends are fully illuminated by the powerful backlighting. Lenovo’s full-size arrow keys are positioned slightly apart from the rest of the keyboard, making them comfortable to use and ideal for fast navigation. A sizable number pad is also included, and although the keys are a little smaller than the rest of the keyboard, touch typing is still possible.
