Lenovo Legion Slim 7 Laptop Specifications
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 offers more than enough power to run modern games. And while this isn't the most powerful gaming laptop on the market, it makes up for it with a slim design and a high-resolution display.
Key features
Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics processorThis laptop comes with an RTX 3060 GPU, which supports features such as ray tracing.
Twelfth Generation Intel Processor The Legion Slim 7 comes with a 12th generation Intel Core i7-12700H processor.
16-inch screen This laptop comes with a large 16-inch screen so you can immerse yourself in the latest games.
Introduction
Most gaming laptops on the market are designed like tanks, making them cumbersome to carry. With the Legion Slim 7, Lenovo is trying to deliver fast performance in a thin laptop design.
This laptop can be configured in several ways, choosing between a 12th generation Intel Core H i5, i7 or i9 processor, as well as an Nvidia RTX 3060 or RTX 3070 GPU . This model can also be equipped with an AMD processor and GPU, which is worth knowing if you have a personal preference between AMD and Nvidia.
At over £2,000/$1,700, the Legion Slim 7 won't be in the best news report for the best laptop, but is it impressive enough to make it among the best laptop gaming report?
Design and keyboard
2.05 kg Weight
Ports along the back and side of the device - no Ethernet port
Good travel and responsiveness on the keyboard
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 rises to its slim title, weighing 2.05 kg and only 16.9 mm thick. While it's very difficult to hold with one hand, it's not unreasonably heavy for gaming laptops, and as the name suggests, it's too slim and sleek.
Unfortunately, the charger that came with this laptop is heavy and makes carrying your laptop more difficult than I would have liked.
For this reason, I rarely left home with this laptop, and I cannot recommend it as a mobile device because of the weight of the laptop and the charger together.
Thanks to the heaviness, this laptop is very powerful; I did not experience any bending in the chassis during normal use, although there is some bend in the cover if sufficient pressure is applied. As long as the laptop is locked, I feel like I can easily throw the laptop on the bed and move it without worrying about it breaking. Unlike the glossy Legion brand on the lid, it is also incredibly smudge-resistant.
In terms of ports, all three USB 3.0 charging ports are located on the back of the device, along with charging and an HDMI port. Although ports are difficult to locate at first, I really like the position because it means that all my wired peripherals can go down to the bottom of my desk, rather than protrude from the sides of the device.
There are two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports on the side, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack, a DisplayPort port, and a shutter button that can turn the camera on and off. I think Lenovo missed the trick by leaving an Ethernet port, as that means anyone with a weaker internet connection may have a hard time playing online. You get at least Wi-Fi 6E support to compensate for that to some extent.
I liked the style of this laptop overall; it's much more reserved than other gaming laptops I've tested, with no RGB lighting in sight. It's a mature device and can be mistaken for being a high-yielding laptop, although I would have liked to see a few color options after the dark gray and black on display.
Turning to the keyboard, I thought it was a good travel and felt nice to use. I wanted it to be more clickable than it is, because it looks more like a productive keyboard than a gamepad, but I got used to it very quickly.
I'm not a big fan of the touchpad; it wasn't as responsive as I would have liked. As usual, you'll want to use an external mouse instead for gaming.
screen
Bright and vibrant display
Big enough to work and play
Refresh rate 165Hz
The Legion Slim 7 display is very exciting on paper, with WQXGA resolution (2560×1600) and a 165Hz refresh. This is a bright screen too, having achieved a 531 nits in our tests, with a contrast ratio of 1254:1.
The screen was bright and vibrant, but the laptop was plagued by darker scenes. When playing The Binding of Isaac, some parts of the game looked unnaturally dark which made the experience even more frustrating.
You will not encounter such problems when working in bright colors. This means that this laptop is great for productivity, as I was able to work comfortably on my balcony even on the brightest days.
Games like Slimerancher, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Hollow Knight looked vibrant with plenty of detail in every shot. Even Stardew Valley, featuring retro 16-bit aesthetics, looked incredibly detailed with gorgeous colors that helped raise the bar gameplay.
The 165Hz refresh rate has also become useful for more intense games like Zero Dawn or Borderlands 2, resulting in a smoother experience compared to a 60Hz display.
The video content looked bright and the white in the footage did not have an abnormal blue or red color. The menu at Disney Plus looked great. I was impressed by how deep the color was transferred. And although the fans were noisy during the gaming sessions, it was a pleasure to find that I had no problem with excessive noise while watching TV.
After further testing, I found that sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 scores came in at 97.5%, 71.2%, and 73.8%, respectively. Due to the results, I do not recommend this laptop for color-sensitive work, but it will still be valid for unofficial photo and video editing.
performance
Great performance during productivity tasks
Accidental stuttering while playing
Consistently great graphical quality
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 may now be a generation behind new laptop graphics chips, but it still delivers good performance.
The mid-range Intel Core i7-12700H is also part of the latest generation laptop CPUs, but I've found it more than capable of running my gaming sessions and any day-to-day work I wanted to engage in.
This specification is complemented by a 1TB SSD that offers impressive read and write speeds of 7060.29MB/s and 6468.59MB/s, respectively. That's twice as fast as most gaming laptops, ensuring that games load in the blink of an eye.
