Lenovo launches Legion 7 to replace the aging Legion Y740 series, encourages users to undervolt their laptops

(April 16, 2020 update: The high-end Legion 7 will be a 15.6-inch laptop with no 17.3-inch versions announced thus far. Meanwhile, the mid-range Legion 5 will come in 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch models. Lenovo will launch the Intel-powered Legion 7 as the "Legion 7i" to be in line with the Intel-powered Legion 5i. The new naming convention is explained here.)

Along with MSI, Razer, Asus, and Gigabyte, Lenovo will also be refreshing its Legion series of gaming laptops for the 2020 calendar year. Unlike most of the aforementioned OEMs, however, these Lenovo systems will be entirely new designs.

The upcoming 15.6-inch Legion 5 and 15.6-inch Legion 7 will replace last year's 15.6-inch Legion Y540-15 and 15.6-inch Legion Y740-15, respectively. Our comparison table below focuses on the main specification differences between the newer and older models. Notable updates are to the CPU, GPU, 240 Hz display, webcam shutter, larger battery, and smaller dimensions.

Beyond the spec sheet, the Legion 7 will also be integrating the Q Control 3.0 software for overclocking and undervolting, vapor chamber cooling, "soft-landing" TrueStrike keyboard keys with 1.3 mm travel, larger clickpad, and Nvidia Advanced Optimus as previously rumored. Our experience with undervolting has revealed that it can improve CPU performance on some laptops, but users will have to be careful of system stability.

The Legion 7 will become available this May starting at $1600 USD. Other big players like MSI and Asus have already begun shipping. The announcement comes alongside the reveal of the Legion 5, Legion 5i, and entry-level IdeaPad Gaming 3.