Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 18" Laptop Review: A True Desktop Replacement

[Squid Surprise]

Yep, I write this from a MSI Alpha 17 w/ 7945HX... I have the CPU undervolted and also I have the wattage capped at 65 (130W out of the box) so my all-core performance is much worse than originally so that I can keep the temps from continuously hitting 90C and the fans from running hard all the time.
I have a cooling pad with a sealing frame on top of that to force air through the laptop to keep the components cool.
As far as gaming; it actually gets better performance like this in most games I have tried.... since it isn't overheating.

I’m typing this from an Alienware 18… it’s got a 4090 and doesn’t get too hot or loud…

 

[human7]

Yep, I write this from a MSI Alpha 17 w/ 7945HX... I have the CPU undervolted and also I have the wattage capped at 65 (130W out of the box) so my all-core performance is much worse than originally so that I can keep the temps from continuously hitting 90C and the fans from running hard all the time.
I have a cooling pad with a sealing frame on top of that to force air through the laptop to keep the components cool.
As far as gaming; it actually gets better performance like this in most games I have tried.... since it isn't overheating.

Yep, without the underclocking I would get amazing frame rates, for like 10 seconds, and then it would throttle and jitter all over the place. In retrospect I would've bought a laptop with a lower tdp GPU. Or would've read the reviews more closely for cooling performance. Would've saved me some money too.
If the cooling doesn't match the components, the high end laptop simply isn't.

 

[human7]

I’m typing this from an Alienware 18… it’s got a 4090 and doesn’t get too hot or loud…

That's good that some laptops can handle it! Now if only all of them that had the high end components could...

 

[Stiqy]

Complete 100% JOKE of a review.

Search for "Temp" = Nothing
Search for "Sound" = 2 Results about speakers.

This is a marketing piece and nothing else. As I write this from an MSI Alpha 17; the problem with big "desktop replacement" laptops are temps and sound. You don't want the laptop to sound like a jet all the time and you want the temps to stay reasonable. Both are difficult and these laptops are generally both hot and loud which makes them often unpleasant to use for long periods of time (which is the opposite of a desktop) and as such they are the most important pieces of a review.

Anyone writing a review of a laptop without including that data is not being honest to say the least.

"The Legion is on the louder side, but I've used other RTX 5080 laptops that are more offensive to the ears in terms of both volume and pitch. It hit a maximum of 57.5 decibels when pushed to the absolute limit, so don't use it in a library."

Just read the review before calling it a 100% joke.
Your lazy search skills are 100% joke. Notice also:


"Keeping this much hardware under control requires a beefy cooling setup. Lenovo's Coldfront: Vapor system combines a massive vapor chamber, liquid-metal cooling, and four fans. Lenovo rates the laptop with a 300W thermal ceiling.

During a 10-minute Cinebench 2026 multicore run in Performance mode, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus peaked at 88°C while briefly drawing 174W. That left it 17°C below Intel's 105°C thermal ceiling, and HWiNFO recorded no thermal throttling, although the processor frequently encountered its configured power limit."

 

[Inthenstus]

I still use my old Acer predator once in a while, and although it was supposed to be a gaming laptop, it was the laptop that swore me off Acer for good. The screen was an 18" that had Freesync (VRR). Acer NEVER updated the AMD graphics...EVER. The first updates I tried broke sleep (resumed to a screen of static). Later on the AMD drivers started working fine, but had to use a monitor utility to get freesync working. Few more updates and that quit working. This was a constant complaint on the forums at Acer, with the only input being from some Acer fan telling us "you have to use the drivers Acer posts (OEM). To this day I bet the shipping drivers were the only ones ever available on a "Gaming" laptop.

Haven't even THOUGHT about buying an Acer since.

My barrel charging port broke around the one year mark and dealing with their customer support was a nightmare. Outside of that it was fine, but I’ll be avoiding them in the future. Switched to a Mac M5 Max and don’t see myself needing a new laptop for the foreseeable future.

 

[Joeg1484]

I prefer to see full desktop for this bucks and specs

I will never EVER buy another "Gaming" laptop. They are down spec'ed so they dont blow up or get too hot in your lap and NEVER run at the same speed as a desktop for the moeny.

On top of that, they only last MAYBE 12 - 18 months before newer tech is out and then you have to shell out more money to get a new laptop because you cant upgrade ANYTHING!

Laptops are good for general purpose computing that thats is. They will NEVER be a desktop replacement. Why....

1. I can upgrade my desktop CPU and GPU and keep the thing around for at least 6 - 7 years in most cases - cant do this with a laptop.
2. I can replace/upgrade my memory on my desktop - sure, some laptops allow you do to this, but more and more its soldered onto the motherboard and memory DOES go out.
3. Desktops can be overclocked and tweaked. Laptops mostly cannot and most refuse to run at 100% speed due to battery or heat issues.
4. it would suck to spend $4000 on a piece of hardware that can walk out of a coffee shop or get ruined in your car because you left it in there with your kids while going to a bar.

Sorry, but laptops are NOT desktop replacements... They are rich peoples playgrounds and if its your thing, thats cool! Glad you can throw a crap ton of money in the trash! Most "Normal" people cant - especially these days LOL.

 

[Win7user]

$4,500? Lmao....

 

[EdwardVilla]

It has to have a minimum of 128GB of RAM or better yet 192GB of RAM before I purchase this thing !

They way Windows 11 works - If you want all major communication social media apps and a very realistic I want open and accessable at my whim use of a laptop

you are GOING to NEED RAM and THE MOST IS THE BEST experience at least for now with Windows 11 25H2

I have a 32GB Lunar - Lake system soldered RAM Ultra 7 258v CPU Hp Hewlett Packard system and while I do love how speedy it really is I had a prior system with an Ultra 5 125 H series Intel laptop that had 64GB of RAM 5600 ECC ( it got fried out of it's existence btw by the way ) that seems it was faster at having open at once . My Whatsapp would be loaded into RAM with the prior system everything was opened at once I was so HAPPY with my Meteor- Lake 14th Gen H series Intel cpu

That is why I cannot wait to replace my emergency hold - over purchase the Omnibook X I am using right now . .. I was eyeing those Hewlett Packard Workstations with the oodles of RAM of 128GB upto 192GB of RAM thou I want an Intel HX series cpu with those extra 12 to 16E cores and with the ginormous amount of RAM I wonder how all the current software opened at once would perform like ?

Enjoy LIFE everyone ! Take care ... Compute HARD and spend the $$$$ dont be frugal and ENJOY spending upto 8000.00 thousand bucks on a new workstation class computer ... YOU DESERVE IT !

Woooooooo ! YES ! I WANT ONE !!!!! YEAHHHH BABY !!!!!!!

Wow !

Speechless

:O

smile

LOL

everyone ! ! ! ! ! ! Wooooowhooooooooooo !