The 2024 Lenovo Gaming Laptops Lineup: The Complete Guide!

If you’re already a Legion fan looking for his next purchase, or you’ve heard great things about these laptops and want to learn more, you couldn’t be in a better place than right here, right now. The 2024 Lenovo lineup of gaming laptops have devices from the highest echelon (think Legion 9, liquid metal, vapor chambers, and more), but goes down to laptops for the common man (Legion 5 and the LOQ series). There are also a lot of devices in between that like the 7-series, along with its Pro and Slim offshoots (the Legion 5 also has Pro and Slim models).

Today we’re giving you a whole tour of Lenovo’s 2024 gaming laptop offerings, from the biggest and most powerful models, down to the more budget variants that are suitable for any gamer (or even creator) who needs a good-performing laptop.

The 2024 Lenovo gaming laptops (both the LOQ and the Legion series) are utilizing the AI buzz to their advantage, marketing their LA2 AI chip heavily. In our experience, you can set up better performance profiles for yourself, with undervolting and further tweaks. We offer a whole eBook Guide and Tools for you to try yourself.

Lenovo Legion 9i (16″, Gen 9)

This is as good as a Lenovo gaming laptop gets. While we still haven’t had the pleasure to review it, we got pretty close with the Gen 8 model. It’s pretty much the same laptop, offering the same display, RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 graphics, and build quality.

The only difference between the Gen 8 and Gen 9 is that the 13th Gen Intel CPUs are replaced by the newer 14th Gen Intel chips, so you go from a Core i9-13980HX to a Core i9-14900HX.

The 3.2K 240Hz MiniLED panel stays the same, as well as the magnesium-aluminum chassis with the forged carbon finish on the lid. On the inside, there’s a rather impressive cooling system, consisting of both an air cooler and a closed-loop liquid cooler. The latter kicks into work only when needed.

If you want to get a clear picture of what the Legion 9i is all about, check out our review of the Gen 8 version.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16″, Gen 9)

The Legion Pro 7i is a gaming laptop with everything that the definition entails. Plenty of RGB, a vapor chamber that makes the laptop a 16-inch beast, and a display that both gamers and creators can appreciate. The panel has a high resolution, and a fast refresh rate, while also offering full sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage, so there’s nothing you can’t do with the Legion Pro 7i.

In terms of performance, the laptop comes with a Core i9-14900HX and no other CPU options, as well as either an RTX 4080 or an RTX 4090. The CPU in particular is pushed to lengths that we couldn’t even imagine, putting big 18-inch devices in its back pocket. You can find out more about what we’re talking about in the in-depth review below.

 

Lenovo Legion Pro 7 (16″ AMD, Gen 8)

Another Legion Pro 7, this time powered by an AMD CPU. In fact, it’s powered by THE AMD CPU, the Ryzen 9 7945HX. We’re saying this because the Ryzen 9 is still the most powerful CPU that we’ve tested, holding the first place in our Top Laptop CPU Ranking.

We haven’t tested the Legion ourselves, however, it comes with the same vapor chamber and GPU options, while having a more powerful CPU, so if anything you’re upgrading by switching to an AMD-based system, unless there are some Intel-exclusive features that you might want to keep like Thunderbolt 4 or the dedicated encoding support from their integrated graphics.

If you don’t care about them or plan on eventually using the GPU inside for encoding and rendering, then the AMD version of the Legion Pro 7 might even be better, thanks to the extra CPU performance.

Lenovo Legion Pro 5i (16″, Gen 9)

The Pro version of the Legion 5 provides plenty an upgrade that transforms the laptop from a gaming device to a full-fledged Creator machine. It’s all thanks to a screen that covers 100% of the sRGB and 99% DCI-P3 gamuts, as well as a cooling system that’s able to maintain 130W on the Core i9-14900HX even after 15 minutes of stress testing (with a peak of 179W in short bursts).

There are also the more powerful GPUs, as the Pro 5i gets 140W versions of the RTX 40-series. In the laptop that we bought, we had an RTX 4070, which maxed out at 130W, providing quite an increase in gaming performance. At the same time, the battery life is quite good considering the powerful components on the inside, You can find more details in our in-depth review.

 

Lenovo Legion Pro 5 (16″ AMD, 2023)

Similar to the Legion Pro 7 and Pro 7i, the Legion Pro 5 offers the same notebook with alternative AMD processors. You can pick between the Ryzen 7 7745HX and the Ryzen 9 7945HX. If you want to compete with the Core i9s of the world, you need the Ryzen 9, which as we’ve said, is the most powerful CPU we’ve ever tested. You still get a high-quality screen and the powerful graphics of the Intel version, as well as the Lenovo AI enhancements that might or might not actually improve performance.

Community feedback has so far been negative, as the AI model is either not trained enough, or just doesn’t work (you can read for yourself). Still, purely as a gaming and creator laptop, the Legion Pro 5 series, regardless if it’s AMD or Intel, is a great option for those who want to have something more than a regular gaming machine.

Lenovo Legion Slim 5 (16″, Gen 9)

The Legion Slim 5 is a way for the Legion to become a more office-worthy notebook, with a cleaner and simpler design. The irony is that it’s not really slimmer than the rest of the legions. It’s not lighter either, so how does it differ from the Pro or the regular Legion 5? Well, we’ve got a whole comparison between the Legion 5, the Slim 5, and the Pro 5, which answers all those questions.

Overall, the laptop doesn’t have as much power as the Pro, however, it still offers a great screen with wide color gamut coverage and high color accuracy.

In terms of specifications and performance, the laptop brings a more efficient Ryzen 7 8845HS processor, which won’t break any benchmark records, however, it’s still plenty powerful and efficient, so you can take the Slim 5 on the go and still handle intensive workloads. And after all, this is still a Legion so 140W GPUs are a given, with either an RTX 4060 or an RTX 4070.

 

Lenovo Legion 7i (16″, Gen 9)

The classic Legion 7i is actually thinner and lighter than the Legion Slim 5, with a profile of 17.6 mm at the front to 19.8 mm at the back. The overall design is more grown-up, with the only RGB that’s available being on the power button and the optional per-key RGB backlight (the other option is a clean white backlight).

The whole laptop seems to be targeting the thin & light gamers, with lower 115W TGPs on the RTX 40-series graphics, all the while sticking to the Core i7-14700HX and the Core i9-14900HX, with a 55W minimum power limit. It offers a fully aluminum chassis, with a fresh Glacier White color that just looks amazing. We remember it from the older Legion 5 Pro laptops and it’s a real stunner. Last year and in 2022, there was the Legion Slim 7, which is now discontinued. The regular Legion 7i is surely taking its place, while the Legion Pro 7 is the more heavy-duty machine.

Lenovo Legion 5i (16″, Gen 9)

A mainstay in the midrange gaming laptop segment, the Legion 5i is a purebred gaming machine that’s grown up rather nicely. It’s one of the more incognito gaming devices, with a simple design, no lighting or LEDs, except for the keyboard backlight. What’s even more interesting is that all Legion laptops now have 16:10 displays, moving to the 16-inch form factor. It’s not that different from the regular 15.6-inch, but the taller displays with their extra pixels on top is certainly more productivity-oriented.

However, if you want to get into serious Creator work with it, we’d recommend the Slim and Pro models, as they bring more colors, as well as more accurate colors.

 

Lenovo Legion 5 (15″ AMD, 2023)

Another AMD variant, this time the Legion 5 gets no other CPU but the Ryzen 7 7735HS. Believe it or not, this is just a Ryzen 7 6800HS CPU under a different name. We’re not a big fan of this CPU. It’s not because of the chip itself, it has good performance and is plenty efficient. The problem is the competition, which has gotten very good. The Intel 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen processors are miles ahead when it comes to performance, while also getting more efficient with every single generation.

When comparing the AMD model to the Intel model, we’d say that the Ryzen 7 7735HS is a decent option if found for a good price (you can check the best gaming laptop deals in our Top 100 Best Gaming Laptop Deals Ranking). Also, with gaming laptops the GPU is the main component to look at, so just pick a configuration that favors the graphics, while maintaining a healthy level of CPU power so that there’ll be no bottlenecks.

Lenovo LOQ 15i (15″, Gen 9)

Lastly, we have one of the best new budget gaming laptops to come out, the LOQ series. Previously known as the IdeaPad Gaming 3 lineup, Lenovo finally found a more appropriate name. Not being affiliated with the IdeaPad brand anymore, this budget gaming sub-brand is finally able to shine, experimenting more with the design.

Since it’s a more affordable product, it has 15.6-inch displays, which are still very good. We bought a configuration with a Core i5-13450HX, and an RTX 4050. The system was snappy and super responsive. What really surprised us is that even the base Full HD 144Hz display offers 96% sRGB coverage and very accurate colors.

 

Which Lenovo Gaming laptop do you like the most? Share with us down below! We here at the LM team think that the LOQ series has stepped up immensely and will get better and better in the future, giving budget gamers capable hardware for our favorite pastime.