Lenovo Legion 9i Review: Flagship Features, Thermals, and Real‑World Gaming Tests

Delivering blistering frame rates and responsive gameplay through careful thermal engineering and high-performance components in a premium chassis

Hardware by Katmin on Jul 15, 2025

The Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 is the flagship model in the company's gaming lineup, with exceptional specs, high-end materials, and a visually arresting design. The Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, an NVIDIA RTX 5080 GPU, and an 18-inch display are all included in this $3,299 laptop.

We explored its performance, features, and design in a number of targeted sections.

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Design and Build

The Legion 9i's lid has a darker carbon-fiber finish than its predecessor, and the Legion logo is now centered for a balanced appearance. The underbelly has an elevated rear foot for enhanced ventilation, large intake vents, and speaker grilles.

With only approximately 3.5kg for the laptop and an additional 400W PSU weighing roughly 1kg, you're carrying around 4.5kg in total—a considerable but justified heft for an 18‑inch workstation‑class machine.

Ports and Connectivity

On the left side, you'll find a USB-A port, a flip-down RJ45 Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, and a headset jack. The right side houses another USB‑C, a full‑size SD card slot, two more USB‑A ports, and a webcam kill switch.

The rear is dominated by exhaust vents, framed by an HDMI 2.1 port on one side and the power jack on the other. The thoughtful rear exhaust helps keep hot air away from your hands during intense gaming sessions.

RGB Lighting and Software

The front strip, keyboard, power button, and rear logo all feature customizable RGB lighting. The front lighting now appears more muted thanks to a matte finish, reducing glare.

Lenovo's new Lenovo Vantage Space software controls lighting profiles, performance modes, and updates, though its interface currently feels cluttered with store promotions and buried settings.

We prefer the simplicity of the previous Vantage app, which allowed immediate access to performance profiles via function‑key shortcuts.

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Display and Refresh‑Rate Switching

Equipped with a dual-mode 4K + 240Hz glossy IPS panel, the Legion 9i excels in visual fidelity and fluidity. For esports titles, you can switch to a 1200p 440Hz mode, but currently, this change requires a reboot into BIOS rather than a simple software toggle.

We hope Lenovo adds an on‑the‑fly switch in future updates to eliminate the need for BIOS access when changing resolutions and refresh rates.

Input Devices

The keyboard offers per‑key RGB, satisfying travel, and a comfortable actuation force, making it a pleasure for both typing and gaming.

The large glass trackpad tracks accurately and feels smooth under your fingertips. Function‑key combinations allow you to adjust brightness, refresh rate, and performance profiles without opening any menus.

Speakers and Webcam

The stereo speaker system delivers clear, room-filling audio at up to 100% volume, outperforming many gaming laptops and approaching MacBook Pro 16 levels of tuning.

The 1080p webcam and dual microphones deliver sharp video and clear sound capture, with the added benefit of a physical kill switch for privacy.

Windows Hello face recognition unlocks laptops upon opening, improving security and user experience.

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Build Quality and Portability

Despite its size, the Legion 9i feels solid, with a robust hinge that allows a full 180° lay‑flat position. The chassis flex is minimal, and the aluminum palm rest remains cool under load.

While the weight is significant, it remains lighter than competing 18‑inch systems, striking a reasonable balance between portability and performance.

Performance and Gaming

Our base model came with 64GB of DDR5 RAM, initially clocked at 4,800 MT/s before we enabled 5,200 MT/s in BIOS. Storage consists of a 1TB Gen 5 SSD with 11,200 MB/s read and 13,000 MB/s write speeds.

Geekbench 6 scores were 28.95 (single‑core) and 19,682 (multi‑core), while 3DMark Time Spy returned an overall score of 2,179, with a GPU score of 22,813.

In gaming tests at native 3840×2400 with quality DLSS, the RTX 5080 draws around 170W and maintains mid‑70s °C, while the CPU peaks at 100 °C under heavy loads.

When running God of War Ragnarok, it can achieve very high frame rates, often exceeding 100 fps. It can handle demanding games like Black Myth: Wukong, with an average of 60 fps or more on ultra settings at 2560 x 1600 resolution.

Fan noise remains acceptable at 52 dB under CPU stress, and surface temperatures stay below 39 °C on the palm rest and keyboard deck, ensuring comfortable gaming sessions.

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Final Thoughts

With its powerful Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, RTX 5080 graphics, premium carbon-fiber finish, and feature-rich IO, the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 10 delivers flagship performance in a large-format chassis.

While software refinements—such as easier refresh-rate switching—would enhance the experience, the laptop's core strengths in build quality, connectivity, display, and performance make it a compelling option for users seeking an 18-inch gaming-workstation hybrid.

Experiment with profiles in Lenovo Vantage Space or BIOS to tailor the system to your preferences, and immerse yourself in the possibilities that this beast of a laptop brings to the table.

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