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Lenovo just made my favorite gaming laptop even better

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The lid of the Lenovo Legion 9i.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
CES 2024
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I’ve only given one gaming laptop a perfect score — the Lenovo Legion 9i. And at CES 2024, Lenovo is making that laptop even better.

There are a few big upgrades here. First, Lenovo is switching the processor to Intel’s new Core i9-14900HX and, in the process, introducing the Raptor Lake refresh chip to mobile. I suspect it won’t offer a huge performance improvement over the previous version — read our review of the desktop Core i9-14900K to learn why — but it’s still the latest and greatest.

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The more impressive upgrades are elsewhere. The most significant change is the introduction of Lenovo’s LA3-P AI processor. This chip, according to Lenovo, enables features like Scenario Detection that dynamically adjusts CPU and GPU power depending on what you’re doing, Smart Control to optimize the fan curve, and Smart FPS, which looks at your frame rate in games and adjusts power allocation to improve it.

Cyberpunk 2077 on the Lenovo Legion Pro 5.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Lenovo is carrying over many of the aspects that made the previous iteration so impressive. You can still pack in up to an RTX 4090 mobile graphics card, 64GB of DDR5 memory, and 2TB of storage. In addition, the laptop comes with a 3.2K, 16:10 mini-LED display that tops out at 165Hz. It’s a monster laptop, but unfortunately, it comes with a monster price — Lenovo is asking at least $4,400 for the machine now.

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Thankfully, nearly all of Lenovo’s Legion laptops are getting an upgrade this year. Both the Legion Pro 7i and Legion Pro 5i are getting upgrades to Raptor Lake refresh, with up to a Core i9-14900HX and a 240Hz, 2560 x 1600 display. The Pro 5i goes up to an RTX 4070, while the Pro 7i can pack up to an RTX 4090. These laptops don’t pack the new AI chip, though they still support dynamic power allocation through Lenovo Vantage.

Lenovo is also giving its Legion 7i and 5i (non-Pro models) a Raptor Lake refresh with the Core i9-14900HX, as well as offering the machines with Ryzen 8040 CPUs. These, too, feature up to an RTX 4070 GPU, and on the Legion 7i, you get access to Wi-Fi 7 and the new Windows Copilot specialty key.

The Pro models are coming first. Prices start at $1,500 for the 5i beginning in January and $2,700 for the 7i starting in March. The non-Pro models will arrive later. The base 5i starts at $1,400 and is launching in April, while the base 7i will arrive in March for $2,100.

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Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
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