Thick and bulky never looked so good

The first thing that struck me about the 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16-inch is the size of the box. I’ve looked at a lot of laptops here at Gizmodo, and Lenovo’s 16-inch laptop looked like an 18-inch laptop judging by the packaging. Through its weight, I felt it too. Then I opened it and knew what it was.

The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i itself isn’t very large, though you’ll have good luck fitting it into a laptop sleeve in a backpack. The overt weight is intensified by the 400W power unit used to give this beast of a laptop enough juice to power all your favorite games. I’m not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Brick and laptop are closely related, making the large and thick device larger and thicker.

The energy brick is the size of two fists combined. You can stick it to the wall and hang a structure that may soon collapse. They’re heavy enough that anyone who drops them on their feet runs the risk of flattening their toes, as if a Looney Tunes character dropped an anvil on their southern toes. I could go on and on about the hefty power brick because it kind of refers to the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i. This gaming laptop will stay home, as its loud fans have enough range to blow the back wall with warm air. In return, it offers a really great OLED display that helps set it apart from some other expensive laptops at around $3,600 (although you’ll find the device ranges between… $2700 and $3000 Depending on storage options) with these advanced specifications.

the I reviewed the recent Legion Pro 7i Returning in 2024 was one of my favorites of the year. It had everything I wanted, and I felt comfortable operating it. In 2025, Lenovo redesigned the chassis and added more RGB lighting facing the desk and on the rear thermal rack. The company also inexplicably replaced the “O” key with the Legion logo, and I’m not sure I need more branding to remind me that this is a Legion device instead of that beautiful screen. With the new Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile GPU Benchmarks prove that the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is a step up from the last iteration. This is essential, considering that the gaming laptop costs just over $300 more than its predecessor.

Is my laptop still everything? Yes, but only for a very specific use case. Transporting this beast to and from my office was a chore. The lid of the laptop became a mess with fingerprints when I was handling it roughly. The thought of carrying a 400-watt power unit with me is enough to make me wish I could live a hermetic lifestyle and never leave the house again.

See Legion Pro 7i (2025) on Amazon

See Legion Pro 7i (2025) at Lenovo

The Lenovo screen is beautiful… in the right conditions

Lenovo’s penchant for beautiful OLED displays on its gaming rigs charmed me enough with the hefty price tag Legion Go 2. Its presence here, once again, makes struggling through any little pain points in a big, thick laptop worth it. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology allows for deeper black levels – often described as “inkier” – and excellent contrast. Like $3300 HP Omen Max 16 OLED display, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i reaches a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and reaches a 240Hz refresh rate with Nvidia GSync support.

The Lenovo display is very glossy, which enhances the beautiful OLED features at the expense of reflections from a sunny room. The Legion Pro 7i isn’t really travel-friendly, and taking it outside won’t provide you with any outstanding experience when you’re having trouble seeing anything among the glare. In the right environment, such as my room with drop shades, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is bright enough to provide adequate daytime glow, although you need to be careful when placing the screen facing windows.

Dual 2W Speakers Enjoy clear and very balanced sound thanks to the dual amplifiers. There’s also a small hint of spatial audio, although you’ll need to turn up the volume to recognize the direction of the sound. It’s barely loud enough to mask the fan noise, which seems to work even if the gaming laptop is plugged in. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i could be your all-in-one kit for making your games look and sound good, as they should for this price.

Huge, huge, huge

Although the new 16-inch Legion Pro 7i looks very different from the 2024 version, it feels very similar once you start tapping its keys. This is not a bad thing. The laptop’s keys and 1.5mm travel have a gentle bounce that makes them easy to type on. Although the keyboard features a full number pad, there’s enough separation between the keys that I never sprained my fingers when flexing my WASD instincts.

The off-center trackpad is nothing to write home about, but since you’ll likely be keeping this laptop at home, you’ll end up using the mouse most of the time anyway. While I don’t hate the feel of the palm, I wish Lenovo paid more attention to the overall structure of the laptop. There’s a slight flex of the keyboard towards the middle of the device that you’ll feel if you start to lose weight during an intense game.

It’s not enough to make me worry about breaking the laptop, though, for the price I’d expect more. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i weighs 5.67 pounds, which is less than last year’s model but will still feel heavy if you hold it aloft with one hand. It’s thicker than other RTX 5080 GPU gaming laptops from 2025, such as Razer Blade 16but if you’re planning on making this laptop your main creative suite, you won’t be too disappointed given this beautiful, bright display. There are two USB-A ports and a headphone jack on the right side, as well as another on the left along with two USB-C ports and an HDMI port on the left. There is one additional electronic switch to turn the 5MP webcam on and off. The only thing missing is a dedicated SD card port to help creators avoid using a dongle.

The proprietary power cable port is also on the left, and with my home setup, that meant wrapping the power brick down and around the back of my desk. Both USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4, which means they can provide up to 100 watts of power to your PC. That’s not nearly enough to charge the PC when playing games, even if that’s overkill on what’s necessary on a mobile RTX 5080 GPU. A 400W power brick would be more necessary for the RTX 5090 GPU variant. There are some versions of the laptop with the RTX 5090 and 64GB of RAM that I’ve seen floating around on Amazon for the same MSRP.

Always expect some compromises

The real point of all this is how much stronger performance I got from the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i compared to other 16-inch laptops. My review unit came with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage to go along with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and RTX 5080 GPU. In several synthetic benchmark tests, the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i slightly outperformed other gaming laptops like HP Omen Max 16 and Alienware 16 Area-51. In Geekbench 6 CPU tests, the laptop managed to score a few hundred points more in multi-core tests than other laptops.

As for gaming, just remember that this laptop may not do everything you want it to do, even with its RTX 5080 GPU and power bank. In a game like cyberpunk 2077, When pushing tracking to Ultra settings, you’ll need DLSS on “Balanced” settings to achieve 60 FPS when playing at full 2560 x 1600 resolution. In games like Black Legend: WukongAs you’re expected to be using Nvidia’s AI upgrade, you’ll easily get over 76 FPS with all ray tracing options enabled.

alan wake 2, Which maintains performance once you start enabling the ray tracing options, running at around 40 to 45 fps on the highest settings with some path tracing. That was with DLSS on “Balanced Settings”. Other games that can harm performance, e.g Marvel Spider-Man 2I was able to break even at around 60fps when you held yourself back from maximizing path tracking. As much as you hope the RTX 5080 reaches peak performance, you’ll inevitably have to accept some trade-offs to get a consistent frame rate. Thanks to the excellent display, games look crisp and detailed in a way that few devices can match, but only in the right conditions.

This big baby needs a 400-watt sippy cup

Large gaming laptops It doesn’t have good battery life. It’s a fact of the necessary power used for the GPU, but when you start throwing in the RGB lights, bright OLED displays, and all the other combinations, you can’t expect anything more than three hours of battery life on a good day. The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i is no exception. When mainly doing daily chores, with multiple Chrome windows open as well as Slack, I can barely get through 2.5 hours before my computer throws a tantrum and I won’t be satisfied until I plug in the massive 400-watt drinking cup.

The 16-inch Legion Pro 7i isn’t the kind of laptop that can run around town, even if you intend to use a smaller 100W charger plugged into one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports. That might be enough for some light gaming, but then you’ll have to accept that you’re going to spoil your big, beautiful laptop with whatever junk is swimming around in your bag.

After enough time with the 16-inch Legion Pro 7i, I’ve begun to admire its qualities and ignore its flaws. The bright OLED display has enough to help smooth out lingering wrinkles. If I really wanted something more portable, I should look at devices like the Razer Blade (and spend the extra premium on Razer’s product, not to mention deal with their less-than-stellar support) or opt for a 14 inch gaming laptop. Size 18 inches like Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 It may be better as a true desktop replacement. However, I never felt like I was missing anything from Lenovo’s all-in-one laptop, except for the baby carrier to carry this laptop and its power brick with me.

See Legion Pro 7i (2025) on Amazon

See Legion Pro 7i (2025) at Lenovo