Lenovo’s new Legion gaming laptops go all in on AMD’s latest Ryzen chips

Lenovo has a wave of new Legion gaming laptops at CES 2021, with overhauls across its entire lineup that all have three things in common: AMD’s latest next-gen Ryzen 5000 processors, Nvidia’s next-gen RTX GPUs, and intriguing starting price points.

The flagship of the new 2021 lineup is the Lenovo Legion 7, which upgrades to a taller 16-inch display and a 16:10 aspect ratio for an overall 11 percent increase in screen space compared to the old model. The specs on that panel are no slouch, either: it’s a 2560 x 1600 IPS display with a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 500 nits of brightness, HDR 400 certification with Dolby Vision support, and Nvidia G-Sync — enough to make it a contender for both gaming and creative work.

But it’s the rest of the specs that work in some of CES 2021’s biggest announcements: the Legion 7 will offer next-gen AMD Ryzen 5000 processors (up to a Ryzen 9, although Lenovo has yet to offer exact details just yet) as well as Nvidia’s next-gen RTX laptop GPUs (presumably, the rumored RTX 3000 for mobile devices expected to be announced at this year’s show). It also offers up to 32GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and up to 2TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD storage to round out the spec sheet. The Legion 7 laptop will start at $1,669.99, with an estimated June 2021 release date.

Image: Lenovo

For users who prefer a bit of a lighter gaming machine, there’s the Legion Slim 7, which is even thinner and lighter than the previous model at 4.2 pounds. Lenovo says that it’s actually the thinnest and lightest Legion gaming laptop it’s ever made. Like its beefier cousin, it’ll also offer next-gen AMD and Nvidia parts (although there are no specifics yet on exact specs here). Displays on the Legion Slim 7 offer a choice between a 15.6-inch 4K (3840 x 2160) IPS display with 60Hz refresh rate or a 1920 x 1080 panel with a 165Hz refresh rate. It’ll be out in May, although there’s no price yet.

Next is the Legion 5 series, which has three new laptops: the Legion 5 Pro and both 15-inch and 17-inch versions of the regular Legion 5. All three models will ship in March, making them the first wave of Lenovo’s new lineup to hit stores.

Image: Lenovo

The Legion 5 Pro will start at $999.99, but it offers a similar display (16-inch, 165Hz refresh rate, 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio) as the Legion 7. And while it still has AMD and Nvidia’s latest parts, it offers slightly worse maximum specs than its pricier cousin, topping out at a Ryzen 7 CPU and just 16GB of RAM.

Lastly, there’s the Legion 5, which will start at $769.99. Both will top out at a next-gen Ryzen 7 as well, although they offer up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD. Both will feature Nvidia’s new RTX GPUs also, but — like the other Legion laptops — there are no details just yet. The 15-inch model offers three screen choices, all 15.6-inch FHD panels at 165Hz, 120Hz, and 60Hz refresh rates, while the 17-inch model has 144Hz and 60Hz options. Exact configuration pricing will be available soon, but depending on what parts Lenovo is offering for that $769.99 price, the Legion 5 could make an interesting entry-level gaming laptop.