Lenovo Legion 9 16IRX9

The latest to join the Lenovo family is none other than the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8. In terms of its design, this model retains its signature bold, gamer-centric design, with a prominent rear protrusion that may deter content creators looking for a subtler device. The 16-inch 3.2K mini LED display is one of its standout features, offering Dolby Vision and G-Sync support for vibrant visuals and smoother gameplay. With a peak brightness of over 1,000 nits in HDR mode, the display meets the HDR 1000 standard. In regular SD mode, color accuracy improves, and the brightness remains impressive at around 664 nits. The mini-LED technology ensures deep blacks with no noticeable backlight bleeding, contributing to excellent contrast and overall picture quality. The screen’s response times are quick, though not quite at the level of OLED displays. PWM is present but operates at a high frequency, which shouldn’t be problematic for most users. On the other hand, powering this Legion 9i is Intel’s latest i9-14900HX processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh series, featuring 8 P-cores clocked up to 5.8 GHz and 16 E-cores with a base clock of 1.6 GHz. This chip is paired with the Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU and 64 GB of RAM, making it a formidable machine for gaming and demanding applications. The Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU in the Legion 9i is capable of handling the latest games at high resolutions and settings. During gaming, particularly in demanding titles like Witcher 3, the Legion 9i exhibited occasional frame rate drops, causing brief stutters, although it remained playable overall. The laptop was able to maintain over 60 fps in most games, including 4K titles, but in some of the most demanding games, such as Skull & Bones, frame rates occasionally dipped below 60 fps.

Battery performance in the Legion 9i is a mixed bag. With the power plug removed, the laptop’s multi-thread performance in benchmarks dropped significantly. The system’s high TDP under load also affects battery longevity, and the frame rate drops observed during gaming seem linked to power throttling. Overall, while the laptop performs well under sustained power, its battery life could be better, especially for gamers who need to unplug for extended sessions. The Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8 is a high-end gaming laptop equipped with top-tier hardware, including the i9-14900HX processor and RTX 4090 GPU. It excels in display quality and gaming performance but does show some signs of performance throttling under load, particularly in CPU-bound tasks and when not plugged in. Despite these occasional hiccups, it remains a powerful option for gamers, though users seeking consistent, top-tier performance across all areas might find better value in competing models.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam