Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Review

It is time to look at the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i, the more compact, more portable, all-purpose laptop in Lenovo’s Legion lineup.

Here are some things I’ve noticed about this laptop since using it for the past few weeks: unlike the previous version, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i has a brand-new chassis, a 16-inch screen, better performance, a bigger battery, and an upgraded cooling system.

Lenovo backs this up with competitive prices, at least by today’s standards where everything has become more expensive.

Now, let’s dig deeper into our Lenovo Legion Slim 7i review.

Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Specs

• up to Windows 11Pro
• 16-inch IPS display, 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution
• 165Hz refresh rate
• 12th-Gen Intel Core i5-12500H/i7-12700H/i9-12900HK CPU
• 16GB RAM
• 1TB SSD storage
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 6GB GDDR6
• FHD webam
• 1x USB-C Thunderbolt 4 (DisplayPort 1.4, 135W PD)
• 1x USB-C Gen 2 (DisplayPort 1.4, 135W PD)
• 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
• HDMI 2.1
• Power input
• RGB backlit keyboard
• SD card reader
• Headphone/mic combo
• WiFi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.1
• Fingerprint power button
• 2x 2W Harman Speaker, Nahimic Audio
• FHD 1080p webcam, e-Shutter switch
• Dimensions: 357.7 x 260 x 16.9mm
• Weight: 2.175kg
• Colors: Onyx Grey
• 4-cell Li-Po 99.99Wh battery
• 230Q slim adapter

Design and Construction

For this generation, both the Legion 7 and Legion Slim 7i share the same looks and only differ from the hardware that’s inside them.

Like the standard Legion 7i, the Slim 7i also has darker grey color with machined metal edges. It comes in two variants: the one we have here is Onyx Grey, while a darker Storm Grey option is also available.

The build looks fairly robust because, after playing with it for the past few weeks, I haven’t seen scratches or dent marks on our unit, even on the edge area where my wrist lays. In fact, the whole build of the device felt solid and stable, and it was one of things I liked about this design.

The cover is sturdy, the hinge felt strong even when adjusting the tilt of the screen. Also, there were no creaks or rattles in the main chassis. The Legion Slim 7i felt about the same level as Apple’s MacBook, which is known for its build quality.

While it is slimmer and lighter compared to other Legion laptops, the Slim 7i is not as compact and lightweight as other laptops available in the market today. It weighs 2.2kg and has a hump behind the display with a thickness of 16.9mm. 

The Legion Slim 7i also has a comfortable and ergonomic design, aside from its sturdy build. Its screen is also firmly in place with no wobbling.

Again, we really love how Lenovo did a good job in dulling the edges and corners to avoid biting into the wrist, as well as using a display that tilts back flat to up to 180 degrees.

I really appreciate the grey color theme, which hides smudges and prints very nicely. We’ve been testing this for a couple of weeks and not once did we ever feel the need to clean it or wipe it down.

However, I do agree that the underside should be black instead of grey. Black metal surfaces are generally better at hiding smudges, and they’re also easier to clean.

With the lit up power button, I dislike having to look down to see if the computer is on or off. However, I think the new design makes it easier to tell the difference between the two modes.

You might see an array of circles flanked by the power switch in the upper right corner of the keyboard. These are for ventilation purposes, letting more air enter the thermal module. No, they are not the speakers, as the audio drivers are still located on the lower side, just like on every other Legion laptop.

If you flip the laptop upside down you’ll see the large and sticky rubber foot pads, as well as the venting holes above the thermal module.

In terms of I/O, Lenovo equipped it with tons of ports. It has a lot of useful ports including USB Type-A, HDMI, USB Type-C, an SDXC card reader, an optical drive, a built-in fingerprint reader, a webcam, and a microphone. There are no standard LAN or K-lock connectors, though.

The HDMI output connects to the display, and the two USB-C outputs can connect to external graphics cards. One of them supports Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort (via the Intel GPU), and the other supports video directly from the NVIDIA dGPU. Both ports are capable of USB-C charging, at up to 135W of power.

Display

The new Legion Slim 7i that we have here has a 16-inch WUXGA IPS display with a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, 100% sRGB, and 165Hz refresh rate. No touchscreen, though.

Colors aren’t as vibrant as we’d like them to be, especially when compared to a lot of the competition. However, you can crank up the brightness to make it looks a little better.

Sharpness could have been better. However, we can forgive the WUXGA resolution since we’re getting a fast 165Hz refresh rate out of it. Together with its powerful chip, the display looks incredibly fast, whether you’re gaming or just doing basic tasks.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard on the Slim 7i has not changed a lot from its predecessors. With its unique split layout, the successor remains one of the most comfortable laptops available today.

It has a full-size set of function buttons, the arrow keypad is also full-size and separated from the rest. The Numpad, on the other hand, has smaller and narrower function buttons.

The key caps are still plastic and match the grayish-black colors of the case. They aren’t as smooth as rubber keycaps, but they’re not too rough either. It’s just something you need to get used to.

The keyboard feedback on the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i is also shallower than what other brands include in their gaming notebooks, with actuation that calls for a softer stroke, and short key travel of 1.2mm. I personally use a MacBook often, which also has a shallow keyboard, so I had no problems getting along with what this machine has.

As for lighting, some variants only have a white backlight, but the one we have has RGB lighting, which you can control using the Legion Spectrum app. The illumination looks clean and bright, so much so that you can notice the light leaking from the gaps of each key at night.

Meanwhile, the trackpad on this laptop isn’t quite as large as the others, but it feels good when you tap on it, and provides a pleasant clicking sound.

Because the trackpad is placed underneath the spacebar and towards the left side, accidental palm swiping tends to occur quite often. Overall, while palm rejection is pretty good, those who have bigger hands should be cautious.

Hardware and Performance

The Lenovo Legion Slim 7i boasts a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-12700H CPU clocked at 2.3GHz, joined by a generous 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD, Intel Iris Xe discrete graphics, and a 6GB NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU.

Gaming performance is really good and satisfactory. Red Dead Redemption 2, under Ultra Optimized settings, averages at around 80fps. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at around 55-60fps. Slightly lighter titles like Battlefield V and Doom Eternal breach the 100fps mark. One of our esports favorites, Valorant, reaches more than 200fps.

If you plan on gaming hard, you can enable the Performance mode, which increases the fans’ speeds and provides a significant boost in performance. Well, as long as you don’t mind the noise and heat.

Being in the creative field, we also tried photo and video editing using Adobe apps such as Photoshop and Premier Pro. To keep it short, the hardware handled them well and rendering was relatively fast.

Although, after extensive gaming or doing a long heavy workload, the device does get hot, which results in a slight drop in performance.

Battery Life

Inside the Legion Slim 7i, there is a 99Wh battery, which is one of the largest available for laptops, despite the machine’s “slim” build.

That said, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i can last for up to 12 hours if you dial down the graphics to 60Hz and you’re just streaming videos, and about an hour to an hour and a half when gaming without the charger on and under balanced graphics settings.

Speaking of which, the device boasts a pretty hefty 230W power adapter. This allows you to use the machine to its full potential. But if you’re tired of carrying the gigantic charger, you can plug it in using USB-C with up to 135W of power.

Verdict

The Lenovo Legion Slim 7i is a good all-around laptop. We really liked our time with it as it allowed us to game extensively while also doing serious work at the same time.

With the Slim 7i, you’re getting a solid build quality, a bunch of ports, a large and fast screen, good performance in games and creative tasks, and decent battery life.

But it’s definitely not perfect. For one, it’s quite heavier than other “thin and light” laptops. Plus, the thermal management could be better. Still, as a complete package, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7i offers a really compelling value for the price.

Price and Availability

The Lenovo Slim 7i has a starting price of Php106,690 in the Philippines. It comes in Intel Core i5, i7, and i9 models. The unit that we just reviewed, which has an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage has a price of Php117,869.54 on Lenovo’s official website.

Pros

• Solid and clean build
• Good performance in games, work software
• Fast 165Hz display
• Tactile keyboard

Cons

• Thermal management could be better to prevent overheating
• Bigger than other compact gaming laptops