COMPUTER manufacturer Lenovo has launched its latest range of laptops and PCs – with a focus on dual work/gaming use.
The highlights of the range are improved cooling – Lenovo are calling it “Coldfront 2.0 Thermal Management” – along with enhanced keyboards (“Lenovo Legion TrueStrike”) and longer battery life, including the ability to disable the dedicated GPU to save power.
Lenovo are particularly keen to highlight the TrueStrike keyboards, describing them as “precision-crafted to deliver 100 percent anti-ghosting, sub-millisecond response times, and ‘soft-landing’ switches resulting in hair-trigger accuracy” as well as providing “a more tactile gaming experience due to its superior key travel via its second transition curve design”.
The keypads are apparently designed to withstand heavy long-term use and also feature an anti-oil coating for abrasion resistance – useful features for workers and gamers alike.
Lenovo also say the keyboard layout is “ideal for gaming with full-sized keys and number pad, larger one-piece trackpad, arrow keys plus dedicated media keys that will illuminate in over 16 million colors with Corsair iCUE support on the Lenovo Legion 7i, and optional 4-zone RGB lighting on the other new Lenovo Legion laptop models”,
The range is being headed up by the Lenovo Legion 7i, billed as “the premium 15in gaming laptop that delivers unbridled performance for the most demanding users”.
Weighing 2.2kg The unit will have an all metal exterior and RGB lighting access along the base and through the cooling vents.
The display will be a 15inch IPS 1080p Full HD display featuring either 240hz refresh and a sub-1ms response when combined with OverDrive support, or a 144hz 1080p Full HD with Nvidia G-Sync compatibility. G-Sync compatibility naturally suggests an Nvidia graphics card, and Lenovo say the 7i will have a range of them up available to the GeForce RTX 2080 Super.
The CPU is an overclocked 10th generation Intel i9 with an SSD (up to 2TB) providing the storage and up to 32GB of RAM backing it all up.
An 80Whr battery powers the unit for up to eight hours (as always, depending on what you’re doing) and the laptop’s price is expected to start from AUD$3,999.
The mainstay of the Legion range is the 5 and 5i, featuring 10th Generation Intel processors (5i) or AMD Ryzen 7 (5) CPUs, and Nvidia graphics cards
Lenovo say all models in the Legion 5/5i range feature the ColdFront 2.0 thermal management, TruStrike keyboards, and improved battery life, along with Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.
The 15in model has a 15.6” IPS 1080p display with up to 240Hz refresh rate and VESA-certified high dynamic range.
The Intel-based 15-inch Lenovo Legion 5i will start at $2,199AUD, while the AMD based 15-inch Legion 5 is expected to start from AUD$1,999.
Also announced were the Lenovo Legion Y740Si and accompanying BoostStation external GPU, with Lenovo confirming the price Y740S’s Australian will RRP will be AUD$2,899
Also featured in the new laptop range is the IdeaPad Gaming 3i, which Lenovo say has been designed to eliminate screen stuttering and slow game loads.
Featuring 10th Generation Intel i7 processor and a 1080p Full HD screen (up to 15in), the systems also have a Nvidia GTX 1650Ti graphics card and 120hz screen refresh.
Clearly designed to bridge the work-gaming environment, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 is available in a blue or black colour, has a backlit keyboard with full-size numpad and arrow keys, and weighs 2.2kg
Lenovo have said an AMD Ryzen CPU version will be available as an option later this year, but in the meantime the Intel-based 15-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i laptop will start at AUD $1,849.
