Lenovo Legion Y9000K 2021 Exploration Edition is an upcoming Legion 7i refresh with liquid metal and 1,250-nit mini-LED display

The Lenovo Legion 7 series has traditionally featured high-end internals. Earlier this year, Lenovo introduced the Legion 7i with Tiger Lake-H and RTX 30 series options. There's also an AMD variant, the Legion 7, which we had reviewed recently, with up to a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and an RTX 3080 Laptop GPU. 

Though the Legion 7i is quite a recent offering, Lenovo could be planning a mid-cycle refresh already. Chinese listings point to a new variant of the Legion 7i called the Legion Y9000K 2021 Exploration Edition. The Legion Y900K will not be featuring Alder Lake-Mobile (that's still some time away) but will continue to offer Tiger Lake-H CPU options.

The Legion 7i currently offers Max-P RTX 30 series GPUs including the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (130 W), RTX 3070 Laptop GPU (140 W), and the RTX 3080 Laptop GPU (165 W). These Max-P cards also offer Max-Q features such as Advanced Optimus, Resizable BAR, and Dynamic Boost 2.0. The Legion Y9000K 2021 Exploration Edition will also offer the same internals. 

The improvements to this refresh come in the form of using liquid metal as the thermal compound and the availability of a mini-LED display option. The Legion 7i already offers a 2,560 x 1,600 16:10 500-nit panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate. The Legion Y9000K Exploration Edition, on the other hand, will look to offer a more advanced panel option.

Lenovo is likely to equip the Legion Y9000K Exploration Edition with a mini-LED panel featuring 1,152 local dimming zones. The display will also be DisplayHDR1000-cerified with up to 1,250 nits brightness. If true, the upcoming Legion Y9000K could be a highly coveted device for both gamers and content creators alike. 

There is no confirmation of the Legion Y9000K's launch from Lenovo, and we also do not know if this model will be available outside the Chinese market. We also do not know if there's an AMD version being planned as well. Hopefully, Lenovo brings the Legion Y9000K 2021 Exploration Edition to a global audience soon enough.

Buy the Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 7 5800H and RTX 3050 Ti on Amazon