This is my detailed review of the 2025 10th-generation of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i series, Lenovo’s most powerful 16-inch laptop meant for sustained workloads and gaming.
This series is sold as the Legion Pro 7 in some markets, including here in Europe, and as the Legion Pro 7i on the North American market. In the past, the two names were distinctive between the Intel (Pro 7i) and AMD (Pro 7) variants, but that’s not the case for this generation, since there’s no longer an AMD variant offered.
I’ve tested most, if not all, versions of the 7i Pro and Pro 7i lineups over the years, and have seen them change and evolve. I can document these changes for you in the article.
This 2025 variant is a new chassis, larger than the previous variant offered with the 2023/2024 models (here’s my latest review of the 2024 gen9 Legion Pro 7i ), with some questionable ergonomics and aesthetics changes. But the major novelties are on the inside, with latest-gen hardware from Intel and Nvidia, an updated cooling module, and a 16-inch glossy OLED display.
This tested configuration is a mid-range model with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, 32 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 graphics chip. RTX 5090 and RTX 5070Ti configurations are available as well, and we’ll refer to the performance of a 5090 chip in this sort of chassis, but the 5080 is the better-value choice, all things considered.
Specs sheet as reviewed – Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 10th-gen gaming laptop
2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16IAX10H, gen 10
Display 16-inch, 16:10, glossy, non-touch,OLED QHD+ 2560 x 1600 px , 240 Hz 1ms,
Processor Intel Arrow Lake HX,
Video Intel Graphics + Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop 16GB graphics (up to 175W with Dynamic Boost)
Memory 32 GB DDR5-6400 RAM (2x DIMMs)
Storage 1 TB SSD – 1x M.2 PCIe 5.0, 1x M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots
Connectivity WiFi 7 (Intel BE200) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.4, 2.5Gigabit LAN
Ports Left: DC-In, HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-C 3.2 with PD, 1x USB-A gen2
Battery 99.9Wh, 400 W power adapter, USB-C charging up to 140W
Size 364.4 mm or 14.34” (w) x 275.9 mm or 10.86 (d) x 21.9 – 26.65 mm or .86″ – 1.04” (h)
Weight 2.65 kg (5.85 lbs),
Extras clamshell 16-inch format with 150-degree screen angle,
Lenovo offers this laptop in a handful of other configurations, all built around the Intel Arrow Lake HX hardware and with various Nvidia RTX 5000 GPU options .
Design and construction This latest Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is an all-metal, all-black chassis, and feels sturdy, hefty, and premium with general use. It doesn’t squeak and creak or bend in any way, and is an overall improvement in build quality and feel over the previous Pro 7i chassis.
This new chassis is, however, larger than the previous variant, at 365 x 276 mm in footprint, compared to 364 x 262 mm before. But it doesn’t feel that large in use, due to how the screen is placed on the chassis, leaving a hump behind. At the same time, despite being all-metal and larger, the weight hasn’t changed much between generations, at still under 6 lbs (2.7 kg) – I was expecting it to be heavier.
I’m not a fan of the RGB elements in this design, though. The oversized RGB LEGION writing on the lid and the lightbar that goes around the exhaust on the back are just too much for my liking. And then there’s the always-on LEGION logo under the power button, awkwardly placed in the line of sight and way too bright and annoying when using the laptop at night.
More importantly, I couldn’t figure out how to control these lights from the new Spectrum app and how to switch them off. I don’t think there’s any control over the power button light, but the other elements should be allowed to be switched off while still keeping the keyboard’s RGB on. As far as I could figure out in the app, all these RGB elements are tied together around a common setting, but perhaps there’s something I’ve missed in there.
These aside, you might have noticed by now that there are no longer any ports on the back edge with this Legion generation; instead, the back is entirely reserved for some massive hot-air exhausts. The IO was moved to the sides, mostly on the left, and towards the middle of the chassis – rather inconvenient when connecting multiple peripherals.
There’s still no card-reader and no lock, but otherwise you’ll find the expected latest ports, including HDMI 2.1, 2.5G Lab, and USB-C with Thunderbolt 4.0 (no Thunderbolt 5.0, though).
As far as ergonomics go, this new chassis leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s sturdy and well built and spacious enough to offer a large armrest and full inputs. It also implements blunted edges around the main chassis, unlike many other modern designs, and offers excellent grip on a desk. And then the hinges are well-made, allowing for one-handed operation and keeping the display sturdily in place with daily use.
On the other hand, the display is reflective, and the hinges no longer allow for a 180-degree opening angle; instead, the screen only goes back to about 145 degrees. I guess that’s fine for a big laptop that will mostly be used on a desk. Still, the previous Legion Pro 7i offered 180 hinges.
I’ll also mention the matte black finishing across the entire chassis that tends to smudge easily and require quite some effort to clean off: you’ll have to wipe the surfaces with a damp cloth to deal with the smudges, and then follow up with a dry cloth to get rid of all the smears. And you’ll have to do it daily or at least once every couple of days if you care about keeping your device looking neat.
So all in all, this is a well-built laptop with decent functionality, but some questionable decisions around aesthetics and ergonomics. Especially with that light in the power button, under the display – why would you do that?
Keyboard and touchpad There’s a full-size keyboard with a NumPad section and full-size, properly spaced arrow keys here, as well as a spacious touchpad.
The keyboard is a solid typer with nicely finished keycaps and good feedback. It’s a standard layout and implementation for a higher-tier Legion laptop with a mid-depth stroke at 1.6 mm, and it’s not very loud, either.
You also get a set of replaceable white keycaps with a ceramic finish and a handful of replacement key brackets.
RGB control is offered, with per-key control and some of the brightest LEDs I’ve seen on modern laptops. You also get to choose between many brightness levels and different preset color themes.
The new Spectrum app isn’t that intuitive when it comes to customizations, though, and I just couldn’t figure out how to control the keyboard and the RGB lightbars and elements individually. I hope that’s an option, and I was just too stupid to find it. Maybe those of you who have owned the laptop for longer can comment on this matter.
The touchpad is plastic (Maylar, to be fancy about it), but it felt great to the touch and worked fine with everything I threw at it. No complaints.
As for biometrics, there’s no IR functionality for the camera and no finger sensor.
Screen – glossy OLED The display on this series is a 16-inch 16:10 format with an OLED panel. Glossy and non-touch, unlike the matte IPS offered with past Legion Pro models.
For media creation, multimedia content consumption, and gaming, an OLED panel is an excellent choice, with punchy colors, deep blacks, and rich contrast, as well as fast refresh rates and response times. There’s also GSync supported on the main display.
For general multitasking, though, you’d have to accept the reflections and glare that can bother you in brighter environments, as well as the known inconveniences of OLEDs in laptop implementations, such as flickering at low brightness levels and potential burn-in if not used properly. More about that in this article about OLED laptops . At least the PWM frequency on this implementation is a little higher than on other 16-inch OLED devices such as the Asus Zephyrus G16 or the Razer Blade 16.
I’ll also mention that because this is a non-touch OLED, you don’t have to deal with the graininess that bothers me on touch OLEDs, so the images are clean even on white backgrounds, when browsing and editing text documents.
Overall, this Legion Pro 7i, being primarily a work/gaming laptop with a full-size chassis, will most likely spend most of its life indoors, where reflections won’t bother you that much. For that reason, I’d say the OLED is a good choice here. But if you want a matte screen or something that can get brighter when needed, you’re probably better off with an alternative notebook sporting a modern mini LED panel instead .
Hardware and performance Our test model is a mid-specced configuration of the 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i gen10, code name 16IAX10H, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 dGPU, 32 GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and 1 TB of fast SSD storage.
Disclaimer: This is a retail unit provided by Lenovo for this review. It was tested on the software available as of early-May 2025, about a month after launch. Given this is fairly early software, some things might still change with later software updates.
Spec-wise, the 2025 Legion Pro 7i is built on the latest and most powerful Intel and Nvidia hardware available to date, with:
The Core Ultra 9 275HX is a high-performance mobile processor part of the Intel Arrow Lake HX lineup , with 24 Cores and 24 Threads. It’s still a hybrid with Performance and Efficiency Cores, but runs on updated cores that allow for significantly higher sustained performance compared to previous-gen Raptor Lake Core i9 HX hardware. Furthermore, the design and thermal module of this Legion allow the processor to run at ~170W of sustained power in demanding CPU loads, much higher than the 130W sustained power possible on the 2024 Legion Pro 7i.
For the GPU, the 2025 Legion Pro 7i series is available with full-power Nvidia Blackwell RTX 5000 graphics chips, either RTX 5070Ti 12GB (140W), RTX 5080 16GB (175W), or RTX 5090 24GB (175W). Our review unit is the 5080 configuration. All variants offer a MUX and either regular Optimus or Advanced Optimus.
For the RAM, the series offers two DDR5 SODIMM slots. Our unit is a 32 GB DDR5-6400 RAM (2x 16 GB) configuration.
For storage, there are two M.2 2280 SSD slots, one supporting PCIe gen5 speeds, and the other being PCIe gen4. Our sample comes preconfigured with a speedy Samsung gen5 1TB drive.
The RAM sticks, the SSDs, and the WiFi module are all upgradable here. For that, you’d need to remove the back panel, held in place by a handful of screws of different sizes. Make sure you put them back the right way. Once that’s out, you’ll need to remove the metal shield that covers all these components by removing a couple of extra Philips screws.
Lenovo decided to replace the Vantage control app used on past Legions with a new piece of software, and as far as I’m concerned, that was a mistake, as Vantage was arguably the cleanest and most intuitive such software on the market. I can’t say the same about the new one, but once you figure it out, it still offers similar power profiles as before: Quiet, Balance, Performance, and Custom, with the latter offering various settings for the CPU/GPU and fan control.
The default profiles aren’t as well polished as the Vantage profile tested in the previous Legion, and I’ll explain why further down. Performance is mostly fine, but Balance and Quiet could benefit from different settings imo.
Anyway, here are the power limits and targeted fan noise levels for each of the default profiles:
Quiet Balance Performance Custom
CPU only, PL1/PL2 TDP
55/65W
90/125W
150/175W
175/175W
GPU only, max TGP
65W, D-Notify
100W
175W
175W
Crossload power,
95W, 30 + 65 W
145W, 55 + 90 W
240W, 65 + 175 W
250W, 75 + 175 W
Noise at head-level, tested
<35 dBA
~38 dBA
~45 dBA
~50 dBA, max fans
Performance and Balance are designed to run quieter than on past Legions, and the power settings for Balance mode are restrictive on the GPU for a mid-level profile.
Before we jump to the performance section, here’s how this laptop handles everyday use and multitasking on the Quiet profiles, unplugged from the wall.
Performance and benchmarks – Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with a 1-2 second delay between each run.
The cooling module on this laptop chokes and causes the hardware to overheat with sustained loads when keeping the laptop flat on the desk. That’s why I’ve placed this on a stand for these tests, allowing for proper airflow into the fans and underneath the chassis, and eliminating any potential thermal constraints. If you’re testing your laptop flat on a desk, your findings will differ from mine.
So, in Performance mode, the Core Ultra 9 275HX runs at around 160- 170W sustained, with temperatures around 90 °C, and fan noise around 45-46 dBA. That’s higher power and lower noise than on the previous Legion Pro 7i generation.
With longer duration sustained loads, the CPU ends up stabilizing at around 150W with temperatures around 85 °C. That’s shown in the Blender and Cinebench R23 tests further down.
There’s also Custom mode that allows maxing out the fans. In this case, the CPU runs at 170W even in longer tests, with temperatures in the high 80s °C. The performance delta between the two modes is minimal, though.
On the Balance profile, the CPU stabilizes at ~90W sustained, with temperatures in the low 70s °C and fan noise of around 38 dBA. The performance takes a 20-25% dip with this sort of power limit.
The Quiet profile sets a 55W sustained limit for the CPU, with much quieter fans and temperatures in the low 60s. The scores drop to about 60-65% of what the laptop can do in Performance mode.
Finally, the CPU runs at ~45 W of power on battery, on the Balance profile. Details below.
Overall, these profiles are well designed for sustained CPU performance. Balance mode could benefit from slightly louder fans around 40-42 dBA and higher sustained power, but the others are fine. They’re all quieter than on other high-performance 16-inch laptops, and thermals are never a limitation in this scenario where the laptop is placed on a stand. But don’t forget that they are with the laptop flat on the desk, as you’ll see in the gaming section.
To put these findings in perspective, here’s how this Core Ultra 9 275X implementation fares against other powerful platforms in this test.
This same processor scores within 5-10% higher on the Asus Scar laptops, despite running at similar power. The Legion is a little quieter on Performance mode, though.
Compared to the previous generations of the Legion Pro 7i, the 2025 refresh is 25-30% faster in this test.
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, which resulted in similar findings to what we explained above: 170+ Sustained for Custom with max fans, 150W sustained on Performance, 90W sustained on Balance, and 55W sustained on Quiet.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Performance profile.
Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time. This unit passes the test while placed on a stand, but grossly fails it when flat on the desk, which means the performance is impacted in this scenario as the heat builds up and throttles the components. More on that in the gaming section down below.
Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks on the Performance profile with the GPU set on Hybrid mode and with the screen set at the native 2560 x 1600 px resolution.
Again, the laptop was placed on a stand for all these tests to prevent thermal limitations.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 16229, 16 – 13928, 8 – 9104, 4 – 4964, 2 – 2484, 1 – 1245;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike (DX11): 38614 (Graphics – 50902, Physics – 41980, Combined – 13176);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 14437;3DMark 13 – Time Spy (DX12): 21695 (Graphics – 22742, CPU – 12210);3DMark 13 – Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate): 5835;3DMark 13 – Steel Nomad (DX12 Ultimate): 5365;3DMark 13 – DLSS: 31.67 fps DLSS Off, 127.25 fps DLSS On;
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 12731;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 33456;
Aida64 Extreme, memory test – ;PCMark 10: 9378 (Essentials – 10945, Productivity – 10554, Digital Content Creation – 19376);GeekBench 6.2.2 64-bit: Multi-core: 18951, Single-Core: 2898;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 5836 cb, CPU Single Core 316 cb;CineBench R20 (best run): CPU 13730 cb, CPU Single Core 800 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 36208 cb (best single run), CPU 33723 cb (10 min run), CPU Single Core 2109 cb;CineBench 2024: GPU – pts, CPU 2131 pts (loop run), CPU Single Core 135 pts.
And here are some workstation benchmarks, on the same Performance profile:
Blender 3.6.5 – BMW scene – CPU Compute: 1m 01s;Blender 3.6.5 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 10.02s (CUDA), 5.39 (Optix);Blender 3.5.6 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 34s;Blender 3.6.5 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 18.54s (CUDA), 10.48s (Optix);Blender 4.3.2 – BMW scene – CPU Compute: 1m 03s;Blender 4.3.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 10.15s (CUDA), 5.49 (Optix);Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 47s;Blender 4.3.2 – Classroom scene – GPU Compute: 19.56s (CUDA), 11.33s (Optix);
Puget Benchmark – Adobe Photoshop (26.1) – tba;Puget Benchmark – Adobe Premiere (25.1.0) – tba;Puget Benchmark – Davinci Resolve (19.1) – 10369;
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 194.23;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 103.53;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo: 118.52;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 66.89;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 630.77;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical: 61.25;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 34.05;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 505.09V-Ray Benchmark: 25068- CPU, 3017- CUDA, 3954- RTX.
These are good results for a high-performance laptop of this generation.
On the CPU scores, the results are within 5-10% of the Scars tested recently. I haven’t tested other Ultra 9 275HX devices for comparison yet.
On the GPU side, this laptop outscored the 5080 in the Scar 16 by 2-5% in these tests.
Now, for comparison, the RTX 5090 configuration should score about 5-10% higher in the GPU tests. You’re also getting 24 GB of vRAM with that chip, which could be useful in some professional applications and loads. At the same time, the 5090 is significantly more expensive, so this 5080 is arguably the better value hardware on this sort of notebook.
There’s also an RTX 5070Ti version, for about $400 less, but the performance delta from the 5080 is 15-20%. That’s a lower power chip at 140W TGP, though, so the laptop will run cooler with that configuration, and might not even run into the same thermal limitations while used flat on a desk.
Compared to the 4080 in the previous-gen Legion Pro 7i, this 5080 configuration scores 10-20% higher between tests. On the CPU side, the Ultra 9 275HX is about 20% faster than the i9-14900HX in shorter tests and 25% faster in sustained loads, but that’s partially because the platform allows for higher sustained power on the 2025 model.
Custom Mode – max power, 50+ dBA noise Custom mode allows for a multitude of CPU/GPU power customizations and fan settings.
I maxed out the CPU 175W PL1 and PL2 limits, and overclocked the GPU at +100 MHz Core and +200 MHz Memory. I also set all three fans to their max RPMs and placed the laptop on a stand to improve airflow into the fans and underneath the chassis. At max, the fan noise reaches 50-51 dBA at head level, quieter than on the previous Legion Pro 7i.
Here’s what we got.
3DMark 13 –CPU profile: max – 17056, 16 – 14033, 8 – 9107, 4 – 4973, 2 – 2507, 1 – 1270;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 38210 (Graphics – 48727, Physics – 49078, Combined – 12949);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 14534;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 21099 (Graphics – 22251, CPU – 16314);3DMark 13 – Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate): 5856;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 12831;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 37837 cb, CPU Single Core 2240 cb;Blender 3.6.5 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 2m 24s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 203.74;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 107.67;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 600.89;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 37.20;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 473.76.
These results are within 1-3% of Performance mode, with some scores actually higher on Performance mode. That means there’s hardly any noticeable difference in performance with Custom mode.
What you can get with these Custom settings is lower temperatures, since the fans spin faster and much louder at 50+ dBA, compared to only ~45 dBA on Performance mode. More on that in the Gaming section.
Balance Mode – low power, 38 dBA noise Balance mode is the mid-level profile that keeps fan noise low at only ~38 dBA, with a notable impact on power levels and general performance.
Here’s what we got in this case:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 13520, 16 – 11844, 8 – 8096, 4 – 4847, 2 – 2485, 1 – 1244;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 31909 (Graphics – 40618, Physics – 40892, Combined – 10863);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 10744;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 16915 (Graphics – 16419, CPU – 15035);3DMark 13 – Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate): 3471;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 9151;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 27021 cb, CPU Single Core 2078 cb;Blender 3.6.5 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 3m 06s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 182.14;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 90.59;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 515.35;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 34.35;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 383.01.
On the CPU side, we’re looking at about 80% of what’s possible on Performance mode, while on the GPU side, the 5080 performs at about 70-75% of its capabilities in this mode, due to the 90W TGP limit.
On the other hand, thermals are generally excellent with these settings, despite the fans running quietly.
For me, more aggressive power limits and fan noise levels of around 40-42 dBA would make more sense for this sort of profile.
Quiet Mode – lower power, sub 35 dBA noise Silent mode limits the CPU/GPU power even more to keep noise levels at sub-35 dBA and temperatures in check.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 10702, 16 – 8921, 8 – 6965, 4 – 4211, 2 – 2057, 1 – 987;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 26814 (Graphics – 33631, Physics – 34589, Combined – 9384);3DMark 13 – Port Royal (RTX): 9067;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 13617 (Graphics – 13411, CPU – 14916);3DMark 13 – Speed Way (DX12 Ultimate): 1782;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 8158;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 20519 cb, CPU Single Core 1669 cb;Blender 3.6.5 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 00s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 155.89;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 78.58;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 426.23;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 27.83;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 325.34.
The CPU performs at about 60% of its max capacity, and the GPU at 60-65% of what it can do in Performance mode, which are fair results for this sort of profile. GPU performance in particular is significantly faster at this power level than on the Scar 16 tested recently, where the same 5080 only scored about 6000 points on Uniengine Extreme and 9500 points in 3DMark FireStrike graphics. Not sure why.
Performance Mode on PD power In theory, this laptop supports PD power up to 135W. However, this unit didn’t come anywhere close to that level, instead, it only drew up to about 80W from the wall in our tests.
This translates to up to 40W TDP on the CPU in sustained loads, 35W TGP on the GPU, and about 50-60W crossload power in workloads and games. Furthermore, there’s no power pass-through and the battery sometimes discharges with sustained loads, but most times it does not due to the low crossload power settings.
For my tests, I’ve used the 100W and 140W ROG USB-C PD chargers that I had around. I don’t have a Legion PD charger to test if that would change things in any way.
Here’s what we got in terms of benchmark results on Performance mode on USB-C PD power:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 9550, 16 – 8576, 8 – 6120, 4 – 3691, 2 – 1990, 1 – 1056;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 11380 (Graphics – 12974, Physics – 20869, Combined – 4372);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 4603 (Graphics – 4182, CPU – 10736);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3128;Blender 3.6.5 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 6m 26s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 27.09;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 25.48;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 106.02;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.59;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 72.60.
These are some poor and inconsistent results. The CPU runs at less than half of what it can do in Performance mode on the main charger, while the GPU runs at about a quarter of its capacity. There’s no way PD power can be used for any sustained loads with the current settings. The battery doesn’t discharge with daily multitasking, but does with some combined mixed loads.
And here’s a log for running games on PD power. The performance is greatly limited, as you’d expect with the very limited 35W GPU TGP. We’re looking at about 30 fps in Cyberpunk at QHD with Ultra settings and MFG 4x, about 20-25% of what the laptop does on Performance on the main charger.
Gaming performance – Ultra 9 + GeForce RTX 5080 With benchmarks out of the way, let’s see how this Lenovo Legion Pro 7i handles modern games.
We tested a couple of different games on the various available profiles at QHD+ and 4K resolution (via external monitor), with the GPU set on dGPU mode. For all profiles and tests, the laptop is placed on a stand, because flat ont he desk thermals would impact the results in some cases (explained further down after the table).
I’ve also disabled any automatic settings and optimizations in the Nvidia app. Custom mode includes a GPU overclock of +100 MHz Core and +200 MHz Memory and the fans set to max speeds.
Here are the results:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, RTX 5080 Laptop 150-175W 4K Performance, QHD+ Performance, QHD+ Custom, QHD+ Balance, QHD+ Quiet,
Black Myth: Wukong –
64 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Black Myth: Wukong 52 fps (22 fps – 1% low)
90 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
92 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
70 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
50 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 4x 94 fps (20 fps – 1% low)
160 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
–
124 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
98 fps (20 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 50 fps (36 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (60 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Cyberpunk 2077 –
28 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
–
–
–
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 2x , Ray Reconstruction On, 62 fps (28 fps – 1% low)
108 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
107 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
65 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 4x , Ray Reconstruction On, 112 fps (25 fps – 1% low)
164 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
–
135 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
110 fps (20 fps – 1% low)
Far Cry 6 92 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
121 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
120 fps (84 fps – 1% low)
99 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (60 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 57 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
85 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
86 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (44 fps – 1% low)
42 fps (33 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 106 fps (80 fps – 1% low)
162 fps (106 fps – 1% low)
166 fps (110 fps – 1% low)
118 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (68 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 86 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
130 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
129 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
106 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
88 fps (42 fps – 1% low)
Resident Evil 4 –
152 fps (114 fps – 1% low)
152 fps (120 fps – 1% low)
88 fps (64 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 105 fps (72 fps – 1% low)
157 fps (104 fps – 1% low)
–
128 fps (98 fps – 1% low)
100 fps (62 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (v4.04) 113 fps (82 fps – 1% low)
138 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
139 fps (65 fps – 1% low)
133 fps (60 fps – 1% low)
102 fps (56 fps – 1% low)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (v4.04) 86 fps (32 fps – 1% low)
104 fps (48 fps – 1% low)
106 fps (76 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
58 fps (40 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk, Horizon FW, Witcher 3, Resident Evil – recorded with MSI Afterburner fps counter in campaign mode;
Black Myth, Far Cry 6, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
These games run smoothly at 4K and QHD resolution with Ultra settings on all profiles, including on the Quiet profile at QHD. Activating DLSS greatly improves framerates, especially in the newer titles that support DLSS 4.0 with Multi Frame Generation set on 4x.
Quiet mode framerates are especially interesting, significantly higher than on the ROG Scar laptops tested recently, despite the GPU running at a similarly limited 55W TGP.
For comparison, a 5090 configuration at similar power would yield 5-10% higher framerates in general games, and perhaps 10-15% higher with titles that include Ray Tracing and DLSS 4.0.
At the same time, these results are about 5-15% better than on the RTX 4080 configuration of the 2024 Legion Pro 7i, for general rasterization, without accounting for DLSS 4.0 differences offered only with the RTX 5000 hardware. I was expecting a little better.
Let’s go over some performance and temperature logs.
We start with Performance mode with the laptop flat on the desk. Both the CPU and GPU overheat and throttle in this scenario. The GPU ends up averaging between 130 to 150W TGP due to being thermally constrained, while on the CPU side, the limitation is not as notable.
Bumping the laptop on a stand changes things dramatically.
The CPU still runs hot, with the average CPU package in the 90 °C, but that’s because the settings push a lot of power into the processor, around 70-75W.
On the GPU side, though, we’re looking at sustained average TGP of 160-170W, with frequencies 10-15% higher, and temperatures in the mid 70s °C. Major difference across the board.
And here are some logs for the same Performance mode with the laptop on a stand, but this time while outputting video onto an external monitor. Same findings, more or less.
And then there’s the Custom mode, where I’ve set the fans to their maximum rpms, pushing fan noise over 50 dBA, while maxing out the CPU and GPU.
This mode puts even more power into the CPU, and thus CPU temperatures are still in the low 90s °C, while the faster fans impact the GPU temperatures by a small degree, averaging 2-3 degrees lower in the lower 70s °C.
Using Custom mode at max in this way doesn’t make sense here, but you could use it more intelligently to create specific settings for your needs: maybe something that can ensure lower CPU temperatures with perhaps a 55 to 60W cap on CPU crossload power, or maybe a mid-level profile that can juggle noise and performance better than the default Balance mode, or maybe a Custom Silent mode that can ensure better performance with somewhat higher temperatures than the default Quiet mode. Plenty of options here.
The default Balance mode limits settings and no longer poses any problem for keeping the laptop flat on the desk. But framerates take a deep, at about 75% of what the laptop does on Performance mode.
So, flat on the desk, the CPU averages temperatures around 80 °C or so, while the GPU runs in the low to mid 70s °C. All these with fan levels around 38 dBA.
Put the laptop on a stand and these temperatures drop to low 70s °C on the CPU and mid 60s °C on the GPU. These settings are very conservative overall, and there’s plenty of space for better gaming performance on this sort of middling profile.
Quiet mode drops fan noise levels to 32-33 dBA or so, with even lower power limits and lower internal temperatures. In the 70s °C with the laptop flat on the desk.
And in the 60s °C with it on a stand. Again, plenty of room for performance tweaking.
I must add that framerates on this limited Quiet mode are still excellent, at about 60-70% of what the laptop returns in Performance mode. I can’t really explain these results, as they’re a lot different than those on other RTX 5000 devices tested at these power levels.
Finally, here’s how the laptop performs in Balance mode on battery power: about on par with Quiet mode plugged in. But don’t expect to game for longer than one hour, even with the 99Wh battery inside this device.
Overall, this Legion Pro 7i is an excellent gaming laptop as long as you don’t use it flat on a desk in the higher Performance modes. On a stand, we measured slightly higher framerates on this device than on the similarly specced ROG Scar 18 tested recently, probably due to the CPU running at higher power (but also at higher temperatures). Balance mode is perhaps too restrictive on the performance for a mid-level profile, but Quiet mode is surprisingly capable for what it is.
Heat, Noise, Connectivity, Speakers, Camera This 2025 Legion Pro 7i implements an advanced thermal module design, with a large vapor chamber, two massive heatsinks on the back edge, two high-capacity fans, and an extra smaller fan in the middle of the chassis. As far as I can tell, there’s also PTM on the CPU and GPU, but I’m not entirely sure.
For comparison, here’s the cooling design on the previous Legion Pro 7i chassis:
The vapor chamber is larger on the 2025 refresh, and supports overall higher cooling capacity, especially on the CPU side. At the same time, having the larger rear heatsinks didn’t leave any more room for ports back there, which is a downgrade in usability.
Furthermore, as shown in the previous section, this cooling module struggles when running sustained loads with the laptop flat on the desk at higher power settings. These fans just need unrestricted airflow, and that’s not possible unless you lift up the laptop off the desk by at least a few cm. The differences in thermal and performance between using the laptop flat on a desk and raised off the desk are massive, among the most significant I’ve ever tested in a modern laptop.
Place the laptop on a stand and you’re getting excellent temperatures and sustained performance, with quieter fan noise on the Performance profile than most other alternative notebooks in the same space on their top-performing profile.
As far as the fan noise levels go with demanding loads, we’re looking at ~50 dB at head-level in the Custom mode with max-fans, 45-46 dBA in Performance mode, 38 dBA in Balance mode, and sub 35 dB in Quiet mode. For what is worth, perceived noise is a little louder when having the laptop on a stand.
With daily use, you’ll hardly hear the fans at all, but they keep active all the time, even with light use on Quiet mode. Nonetheless, you’ll not hear them in a regular environment, and only notice them in a perfectly silent room. I haven’t noticed oscillating behavior with multitasking, or any coil whining or electronic noises on this unit.
I must add that the default noise floor for Balance and Performance is higher, still under 30 dBA for the most part, but enough to hear it most of the time. So for light use, I’d suggest opting for the Quiet profile.
Chassis temperatures stay low with casual use, generally in the low-30s °C, but with a weird hotspot closer to 40 °C in the middle of the chassis around the YGH keys.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Silent profile, fans <30 dB
With sustained loads and games, the chassis warms up.
Running games on Performance mode with the laptop flat on a desk leads to temperatures around 45-50 °C at the keyboard level, and mid-30s on the armrest, which are fine for a metal chassis with these specs. But a hotspot around 60 °C develops around the power button.
Using the laptop on a stand translates to lower temperatures across the board, by around 5 degrees at the keyboard level and with hotspots of around 45 °C in the middle of the keyboard and around the power button. Big difference.
*Gaming – Performance on desk – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~46 dB
These readings are quite similar when using the laptop in Balance mode, still on a stand, with keyboard temperatures in the mid-30s °C and a hotspot around 45 °C in the middle of the chassis. But the fans run much quieter in this mode.
*Gaming – Balance – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~38 dB
For connectivity, there’s latest-gen WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 through an Intel BE200 module on this device, which performed fine during all these weeks. 2.5 GB wired Internet is also available. The LAN port is on the right side of the chassis, towards the back.
Audio is handled by a set of four speakers, with two main bottom speakers and two tweeters that fire from under the display. Sound quality is alright, with decent volumes (~8o dBA) and good clarity, although the lows are rather weak. As far as I remember, this audio system is similar in overall capabilities to the one on the previous Legion Pro, maybe a little more refined and a little quieter at max volume.
The webcam on this laptop is 5MPx, and does not support IR with Windows Hello. Image quality is decent in good light, but nothing to brag about.
Battery life There’s a 99Wh battery inside the 2025 Legion Pro 7i, which is the largest possible in a laptop.
Here’s what we got in terms of battery life on our unit, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~60 brightness) and 60Hz refresh (the default setting when you unplug the laptop from the wall).
30 W (~3-4 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;35 W (~3 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;35 W (~3 h of use) – 4K Netflix with Dolby Vision, fullscreen in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;35 W (~3 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Balance Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON.
These are limited runtimes, shorter than on other Arrow Lake HX laptops tested so far, especially with Netflix and Youtube streaming. Not sure what’s going on, but I ran the tests a few times and got similar findings. I’d expect these runtimes to improve with updated software, and get around 5-6 hours of streaming on a charge.
For comparison, the 2024 Legion Pro 7i in the i9-14900HX + RTX 4080 configuration ran more efficiently:
20-25 W (~4-5 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Quiet Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;20 W (~5 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;20 W (~5 h of use) – 4K Netflix with Dolby Vision, fullscreen in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;25-30 W (~3-4 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Balance Mode, screen at 60%, Wi-Fi ON;
Lenovo pairs this configuration with a 400W charger, a dual-piece design with long cables and a chunky power brick, larger and heavier than the 330 GaN charger on the previous Legion generations. It weighs 1.2 kilos, while the previous charger weighed about 1 kilo. Most similar laptops of this generation get a 380W charger that’s a little smaller and lighter.
In theory, you can also charge the laptop via USB-C at up to 140W, in case you don’t want to bring along the main charger; in our tests, performance and power settings are limited on PD, and you can only use this mode for light tasks and general multitasking.
Price and availability- Lenovo Legion Pro 7i The 10th-gen Legion Pro 7i lineup is listed in stores around the world at the time of this article.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5090 configuration is available from $4300 in US stores, with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, while over here in Europe, you can get it from around 4500 EUR, but usually with 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB storage for the 5090 specs.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5080 configuration reviewed here goes for around $3400 in the US and from 3500-3700 EUR here across the pond, with the same amount of RAM and SSD.
There’s also an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX + RTX 5070Ti variant, starting at around $2900 in the US and 3000 EUR over here.
Lenovo offer aggressive sales on their website over time, and these prices will most likely drop in the second part of the year. As they are, these US prices are about on par with other notebooks in the same segment and with similar specs. EU prices are lower than the competition.
Follow this link for updated configurations and prices in your region at the time you’re reading this article.
Final thoughts- 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i gen10 review This updated Legion Pro 7i generation is an excellent performer in sustained loads and games, as long as you don’t use it flat on a desk, but place it on a stand or just have it lifted off the desk by a few cm so the cooling module isn’t choked and limited. At the same time, if you’re not OK with this aspect and want a device that performs properly on a desk, this Legion is not for you, as clearly explained in this article.
Performance aside, Lenovo refreshed the chassis and implemented better quality materials, while also adding a lot of RGB and gimping some of the ergonomics. The previous Legion was an excellent sleeper design, while this generation is much flashier and aggressive, something I expect might deter some of you interested in getting their laptop to school and work. Especially since the footprint of this generation is larger now, so this won’t fit as easily in a backpack.
At the same time, we route back to performance, where the larger chassis allowed better cooling and higher power settings, and thus improved overall capabilities in sustained loads.
Furthermore, you’d have to consider the other particularity of this new series that sets it apart from all previous Legion Pro generations: the OLED display with a glossy finish. It’s a really beautiful screen for multimedia content and gaming, but the reflection and limited brightness might ruin it for some.
All these considered, I’d expect pricing to play a significant role in your decision as well, and this Legion Pro seems to have an advantage over competing products in most markets, an advantage that I’d expect will grow larger over the next months once Lenovo’s known sales and discounts kick in.
So all in all, this refreshed chassis comes with some questionable decisions, but the pairing of the performance capabilities with the premium build quality, the beautiful display, and competitive pricing will probably put this laptop on many desks (or better yet, stands) this year.
This wraps up my time with this 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i series, and I’m looking for your thoughts and impressions down below in the comments section.
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Navigation: Ultrabookreview.com » Lenovo
Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
Cameron Bosch
May 15, 2025 at 12:20 am
"As for biometrics, there’s IR functionality baked into the camera, but no finger sensor."
Are you sure about the IR camera? I've seen other reviews say it doesn't even have that. That, the loss of the 180 degree hinge, the worse design, the bad battery life, worse cooling than other reviews have gushed about BeInG sO gOoD (probably sponsored reviews unlike this one) and the ports on the sides would all together be a dealbreaker if that's the case. For $3000+, that's unacceptable!
Andrei Girbea
May 16, 2025 at 10:33 am
That was a mistake on our end. There's still no IR with Hello
The cooling is rather intriguing imo, it's actually excellent if you keep the laptop raised off the desk. good temperatures and quieter than most other 16 inch laptops with similar specs. On desk, though, yeah, it's bad.
And pricing is lower than other options. Sure, 3K+ but that's the reality today
Victor Igor
May 27, 2025 at 7:23 am
So now you’re here nursing your pathetic vendetta against the Legion. Give it up Cameron! Everyone pay no notice to this troll.
Bucky
May 15, 2025 at 2:00 am
You make the greatest reviews 🙏 I'm thankful to be able to read these.
Could you do a comparison between this one and the Scar? Which one would you recommend?
Are there more reviews coming up from 50 series?
Keep up the great work 👍
Andrei Girbea
May 16, 2025 at 10:27 am
Yeah, I plan on a comparison with the Scar 16. Should have a few more ROG laptops in the near future, and then something from MSI and Acer.
will blake
May 15, 2025 at 2:49 am
Best view/review of this Legion on the internet. Would be better with some infographs instead of pure numbers.
Andrei Girbea
May 16, 2025 at 10:26 am
I know, but those take a lot of time to put together, and I simply don't have it at this moment.
Lynton Bell
May 16, 2025 at 10:50 am
Yeah the heat issues, fact it weighs 2.7 with such a huge power brick are reasons why I see it as not a true laptop, more desktop replacement and why I'm going Razer 16 with AMD for only a small performance impact but 2.14 kg and 280w power brick, no heat issues. Would love to see your review on that, thanks again
Andrei Girbea
May 16, 2025 at 11:14 am
I haven't tested the Blade 16, and probably won't. They don't sell Razer laptops over here, and Derek's quite busy these days, he did the Razer reviews in the past.
I'd look into Josh's review on Youtube on that series, from Just Josh. I would expect it to run hotter in that chassis. And I don't think most reviewers test on-desk vs raised-up performance and behavior in games and sustained loads as we do. Also, when watching reviews for that Blade, keep in mind the Blade 16 was a partner product for the 5090 launch, and that can influence zero-day reviews :)
Nonetheless, if you do get that, would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Lynton Bell
May 16, 2025 at 11:22 am
I trust Jarrod's reviews and under stress both CPU & GPU were high 70's (degrees) which is superb. I will drop comments when I do pick up the unit, going to time it when I've got time with work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvCwMskRZHc
Andrei Girbea
May 16, 2025 at 11:33 am
I agree, I trust Jarrod's take as well. Highs 70s for the CPU/GPU in games sounds good in that sort of case. I'd reckon the lower CPU/GPU power compared to a full-size chassis with Intel HX hardware compensate for the difference in chassis size. Plus the efficiency of the AMD AI 370 chip.
Andrei Girbea
May 21, 2025 at 5:16 pm
Looks I might be able to get my hands on a Blade 16 as well. Should have a review around mid June or so.
DM
May 17, 2025 at 8:42 am
Can you please test with the lid closed, like you did for the Asus? Is it possible to keep the Legion closed in a vertical position? Or will it get too hot and ruin the screen?
Andrei Girbea
May 20, 2025 at 1:25 pm
I didn't get the time to test that and no longer have this around, but should be fine with this design as long as you don't keep the laptop flat on a desk. It pulls most of the air from the bottom.
DM
May 17, 2025 at 9:23 pm
Are you sure it's using liquid metal for thermal interface? Didn't Lenovo switch to PTM?
Andrei Girbea
May 20, 2025 at 1:28 pm
Yes, you're most likely right. Unfortunately I don't have technical contacts with Lenovo and that can lead to some mistakes in my assumptions. Thank you for pointing it out!