Lenovo’s Legion Pro 7i’s Cooling Is So Good, its Core i9 Works Faster Than in 18-inch Laptops
Usually, bigger laptops do perform better, thanks to better airflow and more space for a beefier cooling setup. The current trend is 18-inch chonkers with heat pipes, vapor chambers, and enough fans to fill an arena for a Taylor Swift concert. So we get devices like the Acer Predator Helios 18, the Helios Neo 18, and the Alienware m18, among others.
However, there’s one laptop that sees all of these and decides to carve its own path, putting all 18-inch laptops in their place. Of course, said laptop would be a Legion, the Legion Pro 7i to be specific. It’s got some pretty aggressive performance settings, which make the Core i9 inside a complete beast, running at higher speeds and having more power available to it, while not introducing any major overheating.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16″, Gen 9): Full Specs / In-depth Review
Stress tests
Just look at the results below. While the Helios 18 and Helios Neo 18 show respectable TDPs and clock speeds, the Legion Pro 7i puts both in its back pocket, with 20W+ increase in short loads, 18W increase in medium loads, and as much as 45W increase in long loads (The “Turbo” preset does put the Helios 18 very close to the Legion though).
| Intel Core i9-14900HX (55W Base Power) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16″, Gen 9) | 3.70 GHz @ 3.02 GHz @ 74°C @ 178W | 3.70 GHz @ 3.04 GHz @ 81°C @ 175W | 3.35 GHz @ 2.72 GHz @ 84°C @ 140W |
| Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) “Turbo” preset | 3.55 GHz @ 2.91 GHz @ 68°C @ 156W | 3.51 GHz @ 2.91 GHz @ 80°C @ 157W | 3.09 GHz @ 2.56 GHz @ 87°C @ 115W |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 (PH18-72) “Turbo” preset | 3.56 GHz @ 3.07 GHz @ 80°C @ 157W | 3.55 GHz @ 3.00 GHz @ 90°C @ 157W | 3.32 GHz @ 2.81 GHz @ 86°C @ 136W |
| Acer Predator Helios 18 (PH18-72) “Performance” preset | 3.22 GHz @ 3.04 GHz @ 76°C @ 157W | 3.17 GHz @ 3.02 GHz @ 88°C @ 157W | 2.59 GHz @ 2.47 GHz @ 81°C @ 95W |
Still, the fact that the Legion Pro 7i is more compact while providing more power is incredible to see. Let’s now check one of the reasons why this is possible.
The vapor chamber provides a larger surface area for heat to dissipate, as well as eliminate any hotspots, as the entire chamber gets evenly warm. This allows the whole motherboard to be cooler, increasing the overall stability of the VRM and allowing for more power to safely be routed towards the CPU and GPU.
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i
Acer Predator Helios 18
Acer Predator Helios Neo 18Performance
The result of all this is a 6% higher performance for the Legion Pro 7i in Cinebench R23, as well as a lead of more than a second in Photoshop when compared against the Helios Neo 18.
Here, we evaluate the CPU's performance using a real-world 3D rendering task, assessing its ability to handle complex computations and rendering workloads efficiently.
Results are from the Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core test (higher is better)
You can check prices for all three laptops down here:
All Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16, Gen 9) configurations:
All Acer Predator Helios 18 (PH18-72) configurations:
All Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) configurations:
Author: Severin Kolakov
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Acer’s TDP is Limited in the BIOS , use IMON to see higher wattage. Although I agree Legion’s cooling is superior and does 74C @ 175W which is way better than 80C @ 157W.