Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 review

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But, those minor grievances aside, the build quality on this thing is beyond anything I've seen to date. The paint finish on the metal chassis is silky smooth; it's almost too nice to touch. The keyboard is solid, with decent actuation and tactile response, the trackpad large, commanding, and responsive, bezels thin, and port selection dominant. Combine that with that stunningly crystal clear IPS HDR display with its 3840 x 2400 resolution and enough pixel density to satisfy even the geekiest of screen nerds, and it's just on another level.

There's RGB lighting here too, illuminating the front of the chassis, and buried in the Legion logo encased in the pack of the panel, but it's not too ostentatious (although you can definitely tell it's a gaming laptop). Then there's the lid itself, and it's coated in this semi-reflective graphite camo design, which might be a bit of a subjective deal breaker for some, but honestly, really suits the Legion 9i. It is unashamedly built for gaming, and it's proud of it, which honestly is no bad thing. I still miss the rear-vent lighting found on the Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 though, that is hot.

The only problem with this epic build quality and use of metals and design wizardry is that it's remarkably challenging to get into. Remove all of the 11 screws situated underneath, crack out the pry tools, and it's still an absolute challenge to get into the internals. You can do it, but you need to be careful, take your time, and don't get frustrated as you try and update that shoddy SSD.

The Legion 9i is a complicated thing. Beautifully built, outstandingly powerful, and brilliantly frustrating, and yet, if you're looking for one of the best RTX 5080 laptops out there right now, this is it. It's not perfect, not by a long shot, that LegionSpace default mode is absolutely wild, the SSD is dull, and battery-life and fan noise do leave a lot to be desired, especially in that Performance mode, but they're small prices to pay in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, when you consider the CPU and GPU performance you're getting here. So Lenovo, here we are once again. I'm maddeningly annoyed with you, and maddeningly in love.

Best gaming laptop 2025

1. Best overall:
Razer Blade 16 (2025)

2. Best budget:
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10

3. Best 14-inch:
Razer Blade 14 (2025)

4. Best mid-range:
MSI Vector 16 HX AI

5. Best high-performance:
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10

6. Best 18-inch:
Alienware 18 Area-51

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