CES 2024 – Lenovo updates its gamer laptop ranges… in force

While the tech world has its eyes on Las Vegas, Lenovo, PC giant, has just announced updates to its various ranges of gaming laptops. As expected, these machines will run under Windows 11, opt for the latest generations of available components – Core Raptor Lake, from Intel, for example, and continue to plow the furrow of artificial intelligence at the service of players and of their favorite titles.

Ranges, prices, availability

There are therefore no less than six portable references, all with 16-inch panels, that the Chinese giant has just updated. Machines which will not all be available immediately, the first will arrive this month, while certain models are planned for next month, so the latest configurations should take root in France from next March.

• THE Lenovo Legion 5i will be marketed from mid-January, starting at €1,399.
• THE Lenovo Legion 7i will arrive at the end of February, starting at €1,999.
• THE Lenovo Legion 9i will be available from next February for a price starting at €4,299.

• THE Lenovo Slim 5 will arrive at the end of March for a starting price of €1,499.

The PC giant is officially positioning the first two models, almost as gaming machines for everyone, or at least configurations capable of running everything for a rather affordable price. The Slim 5 is also part of this perspective.
On the other hand, the Legion 9i aims for the heights, both in terms of performance and price positioning.

These three machines will be entitled to embed a Core i9-14900HX, which will be able to count on a maximum of 64 GB on the Legion 9i and up to 32 GB on the other two models. The Slim 5 will be entitled to an AMD Ryzen 8040 Series processor and has a maximum of 32 GB of RAM. The Legion 9i will also be entitled to its GeForce RTX 4090 with 16 GB, and up to 150 W of TGP, while the Legion 7i, the 5i and the Slim 5 will offer their owner to play thanks to an RTX 4070 with 8 GB of GDDR6 (with 115 W of TGP).

Finally, it’s time to talk about the latest two models in the Legion line. They are intended for demanding players, who like to show off that they have the biggest configuration, and who like particularly neat displays.

• THE Lenovo Legion Pro 5i will flex its muscles from the end of February for a price starting at €1,599.
• THE Lenovo Legion Pro 7i will try to impress the gallery this January for a price of at least €3,099.

These two models will be powered by a Core i9-14900HX, supported by a maximum of 32 GB of RAM and up to 2 TB of PCIe SSD (Gen 4) storage. The Pro 5i will be able to claim at best an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (8 GB of GDDR6 – TGP of 140 W) while the Pro 7i will be able to get its hands on a GeForce RTX 4090 with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory (and a TGP of 175 W).

New developments on the cooling front

This riot of power and Watts is made possible by an innovation developed jointly by Lenovo and Intel. Coldfront: Hyper is the new heat dissipation solution present in the Legion 5i and 7i. Lenovo promises to have succeeded in completely rethinking the air flow in the chassis of its machines to allow more efficient cooling of integrated components. The hot air is thus channeled into a sort of hyperbaric chamber in the center of the laptop, the “cold” ambient air is sucked in by the two fans while the hot air is expelled at the back. Lenovo is pleased with the results obtained thanks to this new approach in its Legion, but we will obviously have to wait for our tests to know if the magic is there… On paper, the Legion 7i thus sees its maximum thermal envelope reach the 175 W in Extreme mode, mode in which the fans work most actively. While the Legion 5i displays a TDP of 190 W. The Legion Pro 7i can thanks to this system embed GeForce RTX 4090, from Nvidia, which will display a maximum TDP of 250 W… while the Pro 5i will make do with 215 W of TDP with the RTX 4070.
Enough to further stress the on-board architecture and offer a cooler keyboard for users.

Displays for different ranges and show off

On the display side, the Legion benefits from PureSight panels, given to be individually calibrated at the factory. But Lenovo seems to want to offer even more choice. Thus, the Legion 7i offers two screens. One more versatile for players and creatives, the other for demanding players for whom each frame counts and can make the difference between a successful shot or a lost ball.

• The first is a 16-inch IPS LCD screen, 3.2K (3,200 x 2,000 pixels), 16:10 ratio, given to cover 100% of the DI-P3 gamut, refreshed at 165 Hz and equipped with rather high brightness. high for a 450 cd/m2 gaming laptop
• The second is a 16-inch panel, still, WQXGA, also 16:10, refreshed at 240 Hz, and which covers 100% of the sRGB gamut. This screen is also available on the Lenovo Legion 5i and Legion Slim 5.

The Legion 9i, the flagship of the range, is entitled to a 3.2K panel (16:10), refreshed at 165 Hz and capable of offering a brightness of up to 1,200 cd/m2, according to Lenovo, thanks to miniLED backlight technology.

Lenovo also highlights its eSports Display software, which can vary the response time on the fly, for a more precise and clear image. It also includes an aiming aid tool in FPS games.

AI in charge

As on its previous generation models, Lenovo embeds a chip dedicated to the execution of artificial intelligence algorithms. Present on the Legion 9i, 7i, the Lenovo LA3-P and LA3 chips (or LA1 on the Pro 5i) will have the mission of detecting current usage and adjusting and balancing the power deployed at the CPU and GPU level. , thanks to the Lenovo AI Engine+. A performance monitoring and management tool that can be controlled from the Lenovo Vantage interface.
Artificial intelligence also supervises the Smart FPS function which ensures that the right power is supplied to the right components so that the number of frames per second is optimal.
More anecdotally, but just as visible, the Legion Aurora Sync software uses an intelligent algorithm to synchronize the RGB LEDs with the action on the screen.

Finally, for fans of digital duals, the Legion 5i and 7i will come with an AvatarMaster application, which allows the user’s profile to be transformed into a 3D digital avatar. It will be possible to personalize your face, your clothes and even some fashion accessories. This digital double can then be used during video conferences, online gaming sessions and on different platforms. Thanks to AI algorithms, the slightest movements of your eyebrows will be reproduced in real time, just like a nod or a wink. And for the more timid, it is possible to deactivate the camera and ensure that the avatar continues to be animated based only on the intonations of your voice.