Lenovo launches 16-inch gaming laptop globally with Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 12GB
Lenovo has updated another of its 16-inch gaming laptops with more SKUs. To recap, the company recently refreshed the Legion Pro 5 16AFR10 with the 12 GB version of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU. However, Lenovo did not afford its AMD-based gaming laptop any other upgrades, like a faster processor.
By contrast, the Legion Pro 5i 16IAX10 has quietly received two significant upgrades. On the one hand, the Legion Pro 5i 16IAX10 has joined its AMD counterpart in adopting the GeForce RTX 5070 12GB, albeit while retaining an 80 Wh battery and a 240 Hz OLED display. For reference, this new GPU should sit between the GeForce RTX 5070 8GB and GeForce RTX 5070 Ti versions (curr. $2,999 on Amazon) of the Legion Pro 5i that we reviewed in 2025.
Based on our analysis, an extra 4 GB of VRAM should help the Legion Pro 5i in some instances. The newer GeForce RTX 5070 still has significantly fewer CUDA cores and a lower memory bus width than the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti though, among other differences between the two laptop GPUs. Thus, the existing Legion Pro 5i 16IAX10H that we reviewed over a year ago will still be more performant than these new GeForce RTX 5070 12GB SKUs.
On the other hand, Lenovo has also added the Core Ultra 7 251HX and Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus from Intel's recent Arrow Lake HX refresh. According to our benchmarks, this processor should provide the Legion Pro 5i with about 7% higher CPU performance than Core Ultra 9 275HX models.
Lenovo's PSREF website clarifies that the Core Ultra 7 251HX and Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus will be available with GeForce RTX 5060 8GB and GeForce RTX 5070 12GB GPUs too. Meanwhile, the latter GPU will only be configurable with Arrow Lake HX refresh processors. Pricing and availability remain unknown for now. Lenovo's PSREF website confirms that a full global is on the horizon, though.
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