Lenovo Legion Slim 7i (2023) Review - Thin & Powerful
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Lenovo’s Legion Slim 7 is a thinner and lighter version of the Legion Pro 7, but compromises often have to be made to go more portable. That may not be the case here, as the Slim actually outperforms many larger and heavier gaming laptops!
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Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8 (2023) Review Timestamps:
0:00 A Thin and Powerful Gaming Laptop?
0:16 Design & Build Quality vs Last Year
1:07 Size & Weight
1:26 Laptop Specs
1:43 Keyboard & RGB Lighting
2:20 Touchpad & Fingerprint Scanner
2:29 Ports
4:16 Getting Inside & Internals
4:57 SSD, SD Card & Wi-Fi Speed
5:15 Upgrade Options
5:47 Speakers & Latencymon
6:08 Battery Saving Features
6:43 Battery Life
7:03 Video Sponsor - Skillshare
8:09 Cooling Design & Thermal Modes
9:40 Temperatures / Clock Speed / TDP
11:10 Game Performance in Different Modes
11:26 Cinebench CPU Performance (On & Off Battery)
12:52 Keyboard Temperatures
13:22 Fan Noise
13:44 Screen - New Option in 2023
13:59 Screen Color, Brightness, Contrast & Bleed
14:41 Screen Response Time & Latency
15:48 Camera & Microphone Test
16:02 MUX Switch, Advanced Optimus & G-Sync
16:20 3 Game Comparison (1440p & 1080p)
18:03 3DMark & Content Creation
18:39 BIOS - LOTS of Customization!
18:56 Linux Support
19:15 Pricing, Availability & Laptop Deals
20:15 Changes Compared to Older 2022 Model
21:01 How it Beats Bigger Laptops
21:17 If You Need More Performance, This is For You!
Disclosure: Purchases made through store links above may provide some compensation to Jarrod'sTech.
Check Legion Slim 7i Prices: geni.us/MSLdtdE CORRECTIONS & UPDATES: 14:41 Lenovo have replicated the overdrive not working issue and will fix it in a software update. Update regarding BIOS at 18:39, apparently the mega unlock was because of the unit I was sent and is not normal, so expect far less customization. I have asked if there is a way for the user to unlock the advanced mode, but don't have a response yet.
Hey Jarrod! Hate to be a grammar nazi, but the 'l' in 'soldered' is silent. Love the content, and still rocking my 2021 5i Pro
Yoga Pro 9i 14" and 16" when?
I just bought my legion 5i pro 2021 model Is it worth my money?
Jarrod, are you planning to review the MSI stealth 16 studio ? Wanna decide b/w the MSI stealth 16 studio & the Lenovo slim 7i. Been reading that the MSI stealth 16 has great battery life.
@@bionicle2122 I pronounce it the way it's done in Australia. Sorry, I already make far too many concessions in the way I pronounce stuff for a primarily US focussed audience, but this is where I draw the line :)
Thank you for this!
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS Mine should be arriving next week 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
Was waiting for this one for my wife's new travel/work laptop photography/Photoshop and Graphic Design laptop. Nice to see the price come down a bit.
Thanks for this video jarrod.
The Windows 11 Battery Saver Mode can significantly increase battery life, in my tested cases 2-4 times, turning 1.5 hours to 4-5 hours. It can be enabled at 100%, so it will always be enabled when unplug the charger. I enabled it and it allows me to go to meetings without the charger, this is really a game charger for me, so it will be very helpful if the battery life is measured with power saver enabled.
Ordered this beast yesterday🔥
Jarod, we need the new g16 on this channel ASAP, anw love you man!
Has LENOVO added the Adaptive Refresh Rate to the 7i &5i Pro models yet like they did with this one? BTW good video Bro keep up the content very informative
Nice video! Love the Legion Slim 7i, right after the G14
Same. I have g14, but if I had to get new laptop, this looks great.
Hey Jarrod can you review the legion slim 5i varient for more budget friendly audiences? BTW great video 👍
My own slim 7i specced like yours arrived yesterday and it’s a gorgeous machine. The whole package just feels robust and well made; not to mention it’s thinner and lighter, yet more powerful than my older Legion Y540. It’s like two different companies made this and the Y540. If you’re looking to upgrade yourself from a lower priced laptop or an older model, this is well worth the money. I’m using this for design school and compared to most students Dell workstations and think pads, this machine might as well be a windows MacBook Air.
How is the battery?
Sounds great! Ordered mine on July 5th, they keep pushing around the shipment date, and every time I reach out they keep telling me a new date so hopefully it will ship out today as they promised, hah. The delay is mostly because I customized it, they said they had to ship it from over seas. Got it all maxed out with the 3200x2000 display for creativity/workflow.
I still have the y540 good laptop but the build quality is starting to give in.I can see a crack near the right hinge.
@@coc_champs so far so good! It’s lasting me long enough to use if for a multiple hour long lecture with plenty of battery to spare. Also used it for Adobe creative work for a couple hours on battery and never felt worried I was gonna run out.
@@collinsmakamu4544 this new aluminum case feels incredibly nice. I think it’s worth the upgrade for that alone. The screen is also gorgeous, bright, and colorful with very minor bezels.
Hey Jarrod, awesome video. I just got my unit and I think we have the same display. Mine is a 3.2K (3200x2000) IPS with 100% DCI-P3 at 165Hz. I want to do photo edits in Lightroom and view them as slide shows on TVs, what colour profile should I choose under X-Rite Color Assistant? Currently the laptop is preloaded with Display P3 along with some other ones, but I don't see DCI-P3 profile. There's also Default, Adobe RGB, sRGB. Thanks in advance!
I was checking the lenovo Australia website everyday since April to see if this one was finally avialable, along with the HP site for the omen trascend. I was so excited that it kept the premium features that the Legion 7pro got rid of. Then due to work circumstances I eventually had to built myself a desktop instead. But still happy to watch your review.
Fair enough haha, we have a review of that omen coming next week too!
You even showed linux support!!! Damn bro I am not gonna miss any of your video from now on. Thankssss
I mean this laptop's battery lasted less cuz of the i9 and 4070, while last year's model had an i7 and 3060
Great extensive review, i have been looking for a good gaming/professional laptop for a while and this ticks all the boxes. Any idea when this will become available in the EU? (Netherlands)
Hey Jarrod, thanks for this review! I've been waiting for this for a long time :). I also had a small question, when do you think the AMD version of the laptop will come out?. Lenovo's announcement said May 2023 but its almost been 2 months now and I really wanted the amd version for college.
The specification has come out but it says it only will max out at a Ryzen 7 7840hs. Hope they will make it with Ryzen 9 7940hs
@@floatyseagull9472How does that Ryzen 7 compare to the i7 13th gen that comes with this laptop? Thanks
I’ve been using this laptop with the same configuration for the last 4 weeks and I absolutely love it! What impressed me was how silent the fans were even at light 1080p gaming. They do get loud at higher resolutions and more demanding titles but the fact that such a thin and light laptop can properly keep up is very impressive. Highly recommend it
Does it get hot? And how is the battery on average moderate use
Please tell us about the thermal throttling did you have it ever with this laptop?
@@bobbyalice5530 It gets a little warm sometimes when I have it in balanced mode and doing productivity tasks, but the fans are also completely silent. You can always adjust the fan curves to change that. And I never noticed it getting very hot while gaming. But the majority of the time it's completely cool. The battery is also a solid 5-6 hours on high resolution and decently high brightness. I imaging it could easily go up to 7 or 8 if you needed it
@@manugo-dev I haven't noticed it at all. While gaming it does get hot, but I never notice a drop in performance between starting a game and playing for even a few hours. The fans can get quite loud as a downside, but it seems to have no real thermal issues
I have seen some hinge issues with legion 7 laptops. The hinge is glued into the aluminium body and it creates some issues in the future. I have bought a slim 7i recently and am a bit worried now.
I ordered the i7/4060 version of this laptop, can't wait for it to get delivered!
Hi jarrod what double sidded ssd did you get to fit? A lot of other reviewers are saying you cant fit them
Hi, Thank you for such detailed and professional review. I have purchased this laptop replacing my old pc this Black Friday and waiting or its arrival. But I have heard rumors saying that the Lenovo software, which directs different modes would accelerate battery drain. Do you have had any chance testing it out? Also, by working with Nvidia driver and Windows power mode setting, can the users also achieve same effect of these apps?
I am rocking this machine right now and I am loving it so far!
Great to hear!
@JarrodsTech would you recommend this over an equivalent(i9 & RTX4070) Zephyrus M16(2023)?
Hey Jarrod. Does gaming laptop have the same Windows latency issues as reported by Tech Yes City? I wonder if it's an issue with PC only or if laptops have had similar issues too.
Wile comparing the Cinabench R23 - can you also include old models, like Y740 with 9th gen CPU for reference? I am curious what is the improvement over the years.
I have no idea how Lenovo keeps doing this, but so far they still deserve their title as the biggest laptop maker in the world
By Using slave Uyghurs in Chinese factories
How do you have no idea lol. They are a chinese company while others such as Dell, HP are american, they have to have profits in US economy, while lenovo despite making less profit/product compared to these brands is still significant overpay for them.
I have a question, I cant charge with my macbook air brick the one with 30W, do I need to use above 65W to charge it? or something in particular?
Hi Jarrod, will you be reviewing or comparing this to the AMD version?
I wanna use th is for Linux. Is anybody using this with Linux.? Is there any way to sort out the sound/speaker issue.? Or is it already taken care by Lenovo.?
Very nice, any idea when the AMD version (7840/7940hs) will be available?
After doing extensive research for the last couple weeks. Pulled the trigger on this laptop today. They had it on display at Best buy. Got to play around on it for a bit in store dispite it being out of stock in my area. The build quality is impressive and screen is probably the best of any laptop they had in store besides the macbooks. Im excited to get this thing next week.
enjoy!
Whats your experience of it so far?
What panel did you buy? 3,2k 15hz or 2k 240hz
@@YomacWorld 2k 240hz
Zero complaints exactly what I wanted. Like it better than my old razer. Build quality is amazing, battery life is good for a slim gamming laptop. Very happy I went with machine.@@12Rosen
Hi Jarrod, what would you choose, Blade 14, G14 or Slim 7? 2023 models
I have watched a few other reviews and they said it wasn't possible to fit a double-sided drive in the spare NVME bay. My question is if this only applies to the sabrent Double sided 8TB drives or can I only use drives from WD?
Before buying a new laptop make sure that you watch the review of it in this channel.
Finally, a gaming laptop that will fit in my bag 😂
Hey jarrod should I take this or the regular pro 7i model with the 4070 both are the same price 😊
Were the display hinges well-built? I had to return one of these b/c the single-foot hinge would slightly come up when opening the laptop, as if it wasn't properly glued.
Hay jarrod. Would you have a look at the new Legion SLIM 5I and compare it to the Legion pro 5i!
Always the best, but i think maybe you should try the new cooling pad, i see the IETS GT500 can reduce 15-20*C. It will be a huge boost on performance, i guest
Does anyone know why when you switch to dgpu mode with this laptop the brightness adjustments become super unbalanced. Is that normal?
Will you also be doing a review on the slim5i?
How you can compare them with the I7 version with 4016. Are they working much warmer during playing?
Got this thing coming in the mail. That's very interesting about plugging it into an external monitor with thunderbolt. So if I understand correctly, it'll charge, but I won't get the benefits of the GPU?
Hi Jarrod, hope we will see Lenovo Slim 5 (R7000P in China) as soon as posible. I think this is will be best middle price laptop wiht 4060 for games
Would you prefer this or the LOQ 15/16, I've been thinking about buying one but I dont know which
Loved this review, it seems the lenovo legion slim 7i is a very good contender for one of the best laptops of the year. I would love to know how much the Lenovo Slim 5i is different than this since its like cheaper than some mid-range gaming laptops.
Hey, Jarrod! Im considering this Legion 7 2022 you compared, with 6850m XT 6800H 16GB RAM, is it worth it for 1500 usd (tax included) over Asus G15 (1100$ in your video) and Dell variant (1200$) you showed in your recent Asus video? There is an option to overpay for 6900hx 32GB RAM, for 1700$, but i dont think its worth it since its same CPU just unlocked. Your opinion would help out a lot.
To add clarify to the opening of the laptop at 4:26 - to pull off the bottom panel, simply pull up on the little narrow slots at the back of the laptop and it comes off really easy, no need to pry the cover off Great video, it's the reason I bought the Slim 7i. I moved over from the Legion Pro 7, and I like the Slim better due to 1) fingerprint scanner, 2) lighter weight, 3) smaller power brick while keeping all the same functionality of the Pro.... oh and no stupid cosair iCue
Are you planning to review the victus 16?
Hi Jarrods 🙂, i have a question for you that can save my day. I search for your reviews but i don't find a review about the Asus TUF f15 2023 with i7-12700H and RTX 4060, so i need an advise from you. Is better the Aorus 17X (2022) with i7-12700H and rtx 3070 Ti or the Asus TUF f15(2023) with i7-12700H and RTX 4060. They both have 16GB RAM and my doubt are not only about the performance in gaming, but also the temperature that they reach, their cooling system and the materials (because this will be my pc for a lot of years😅). I ask this because i buy right now the ASUS but the keyboard reach very high temperature, and seeing the Aorus at the same price i was wondering if it was worth returning the ASUS to get the AORUS at only 60$ more.
I have this laptop and I can say for sure, this is one of the best laptop I have ever own. The only thing I don't like is the trackpad. It feels finicky at times but I use a external mouse so I hardly notice it.
How’s your battery life
i haven't really had problems with the trackpad on my end, for me the keyboard feels a bit weird but i am still extremely happy with this device and it's minor enough for me not to care too much at all
Did I understand him correctly that one stick of RAM is soldered and there's an unsoldered open spot?
yes@@MtnNerd
14:27 this is how a screen should be calibrated. Lenovo is the only company that nails this. Love em
That''s terrible calibration.......460 nits max but only 57 nits at 50% brightness.......it should be 230 nits at 50% brightness.........Literally the worst brightness calibration I've ever seen. smh
@@kninezbanks thats exactly what bad calibration is. You see brightness logarithmically, not linearly.
@@theblitz1687 Your eyes need help. I've checked all my devices. They aren't perfectly linear.....but they aren't terrible either......187 nits out of 460.....at 80% is stupid
@@kninezbanksno, but 10 step adjustment of windows is a bit lackluster
cant make my mind up between this and the MSI Vector GP66 12UGSO-490UK Gaming Laptop what would you buy? before i press buy now
Sir I have two questions:- i have purchased this with rtx3050ti.if i have two ram both 8gb total 16gb. slot one is solded ram is rx16 and other is changeable (but its allso rx16). so if i remove other and put rx8 . of same dd5 4800mah. will it work? allso speed will incresse? is it a good idea? Allso wanted to know that is it 8bit display or 10bit. Because mine is 8bit...!!! Plz do reply
could you possibly include gameplay in your future reviews? i know, you cover it basically with the benchmark but as a consumer, I just would like to see a bit of gameplay. idk, just a thought.
Would you recommend this over the Legion 5i Pro Gen 8 with same specs? That’s the price range I’m looking for and from my research I really wanna go with Lenovo over their competitors
@JarrotsTech could you test laptops with amd RX7000 series. I´m thinking of going time red, but I would love ear your opinion.
Did you have to enable anything to see this more advanced BIOS? Sitting in front of my i7/4060 version and I do not have as many settings in BIOS as shown in the video
Thanks a lot for this review. I bought this model based on your recommendation. I want to know if I want to install Samsung NVMe 4TB SSD Drive with heat sink, will it fit inside. In the video you used normal one with no heat sink. Please advise 😊
Hey Jarrod out of the Alienware m16 QHD+ 13th i9 16gb 4080 and Gigabyte Aorus FHD i7 16gb 4080 which one do you think is better ?
Say you wanted to upgrade the RAM and storage, what would be compatible with this laptop?
Can you check the actual battery life through the tests?
I still couldn't understand if this computer has a maximum tdp of 140W or if it refers to the graphics. on other review pages I found several times that it only has 115 TDP..
I wonder how does this compare to the Legion 7i 2022 version, is this better or should I just get the Legion 7i 2022 3080ti version one? since the Pro 2023 is way too expensive and the price for 2022 had just decreased considerably in my region.
Hello, Jarrod. It'd be really great, if you make a review on MSI katana B12V lapton
What's the maximum RAM and SSD this can take ? I want to buy sticks for both areas but not sure if I'll pass the max capacity
I bought one of these a month ago on sale. Great machine. Mine doesn't have the problem with overheating VRAM, I wonder if that's a build issue. I wonder how much the screen size affects battery life and if that's what's making the difference between the two versions.
I'd be worried in a couple months, laptops degrade over time remember and with such a thin laptop it might be an issue later down the line.
I want to ask about msi pulse 17 b13v rtx4070 is there a version of it that has an i9 13900h because i have seen it multiple times in our local stores and msi website seem to not have it?
Jarrod where in Australia would you recommend looking for these type of deals? I see you must be in the US/Canada, im looking at going overseas and doing some creating.
gaminglaptopdeals.com.au
@@JarrodsTech Cheers mate 👍🏼
Hi, i just got my slim 7 but i notice that cpu max temp hit 100c only by installing software and hit 90c just by booting windows, in talking about max temp, not average, its that normal at all?
Looks really promising for someone who wants portability as well as good performance. Waiting for the 7840HS version of this laptop for better battery life.
And also undervolting.
Same. Looks like my next laptop. Hope the amd sku drops soon
How much do you think the battery life diff will be and performance numbers? Also considering.
@@toblobs I'll consider it a win if the runtime increases by 1-2 hours. Performance will virtually be the same, going by other zen 4 pcs. Cherry on top is that it'll be a bit cheaper, and amd models usually go on sale more often too. Overall a no brainer
@@assassino447 that would make it totally worth it! Hope it releases soon
Looking to buy a new laptop for 1500 or less, what would you recommend, or what specs should I pay attention to when researching for a new laptop?
Thank you for detailed reviews where I can check all details I really need! I'm going to buy in next few month a new working notebook, and I would like to have at the same time: - keyboard with pgup/ pgdown / home / end dedicated keys I need to work as a software engineer - 16'' matte screen, - enough good portability for 16'' form factor, - good performance, - enough good battery life. Only competitors I consider are: Lenovo Slim 7(i) and MSI Stealth 16. (I would like if you suggest some another candidate!) They both look very similar accordingly reviews I have seen (notebookcheck has reviewed both for example), the biggest differences are: - battery life which is severely better for Stealth 16, - 2 free memory slots available for Stealth 16 (1 soldered in Legion Slim 7), and that's why I'm leaning towards Stealth 16, but I am not sure about MSI build quality, probably Lenovo has better quality in Legion series. Now I would like to see your review for Stealth 16, it could help me to make final decision.
The MSI Stealth 16 is extremely hot (around 60°C) according to the same notebookcheck review... aside from being better built (and Notebookcheck's Legion Slim 7i battery levels being extremely and idle power draw being extremely suspicious of running on dgpu mode), I'd pick the legion hands down.
Hey Jarrod whats the best laptop to get for at 2309.50 USD?
Should I get this or the Legion 7i Pro 4080? How much "bulkier" is the Pro with a 4080, and is the bulk worth the performance boost? I just want to game at 1080p with around 120-144fps minimum if possible. I usually run low graphics settings for optimal performance. I want to play Rust, Dark and Dark, maybe New World. I wouldn't really carry the laptop in a backpack too much, I just want portability because I travel a lot. My concern is going for the Pro 4080 and not taking advantage of the additional power, making the bulk and additional cost pointless. Thanks.
Is the Acer Nitro 5 a solid laptop? Everyone kept telling me to not buy Acer cause they always cut corners. Either that or the ASUS Tuf Gaming 15
7:03 Jarrod really took the LTT course on sponsor segways lmao
Finally! Being waiting for this review.
According to Lenovo the legion slim 7 amd version will be available mid-end of august! (4nm amd 7840hs)
Hey I’m sorry I have to ask here but I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t fix it. I just got a Slim 7i and my download speeds are good but my ping is so high in every game I play. Did you have any problems with this or do you know any fixes?
Great video thank you please review the lenovo legion slim 5i 2023
Will there be a Zenbook Pro 14 OLED video?
FINALLY!!! BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO FOR 2 MONTHS!! I already bought the laptop as this is the only legion this year with full Aluminium chassis, and 4070 performing like a 3070ti generating much less heat I believe it's a match made in heaven for such a thin laptop. I'm enjoying gaming on my unit daily so far, thermals all within good range, added extra 1tb m2 SSD, and specced it up to total of 48gb ram. I also bought the proprietary 140w Legion USB C charger thanks to your advice in the previous year model video, sad part it doesn't charge my Pixel 7 Pro. I already love this laptop to bits! However I'm still gonna go back to watching your analysis and breakdown of this laptop Jarrod, see if I can learn anything new, and you do it better than anyone else on KZhead! Keep it up, always supporting you! 😃💪🏻
Broh I am looking for laptop too for so long I am waiting for his video in which categorise the besf laptop with different grades by d way from where you bought your Legion 7i
@@shahji8093I ordered through a shop called Technation, I'm from Malaysia though btw. I'm not sure where you're from.
@@jay11879 I am from India currently living in Melbourne brh ..I ll check out Jb hifi store soon..thnx for the reply by d way 😊
Which ram did you go with. I wanna upgrade mine to 48.
@@teet0n I bought Crucial DDR5 32GB.
Lenovo always know now to build great and stable laptops
just got the 4060 version, so far im happy with the purchase!
Jarrod wht about reviewing ryzen5 or corei5 4060 lptop. Want to know different with core7.
That Nvidia bug is super annoying in regard to Latencymon. Do you know if Nvidia drivers always use core 0/1? As a workaround, I tell my audio application to ignore core 0/1. But, if the Nvidia driver is defaulting to a P-core, that would be a dealbreaker for me. I would be OK losing an E-core. Thanks!
Would you recommend this over the Asus zephyrus m16 ?
I'm still happy with my 2022 slim 7i, but I'm wondering whether I should have waited for this year's model...
Hey Jarrod, can you link the correct Thunderbolt 4 charging cable with 140W charge 20 V / 7A? You mentioned one on Lenovo but it's unclear which one to use.
You will also need a charger capable of 20 V / 7A, the only one that lenovo makes requires a 240V input so if you live in North America you would be limited to 100w charging max.
Hey Jarrod, great video as always, please review Asus TUF F15, i9 13900H, RTX 4060, thank you 👏
I have the first gen slim 7i. Got an out of box deal at best buy for $700. Brand new condition. Amazing laptop the only issues I have are fan noise and heat. Easy fix with headset
I haven't found any gaming benchmark of the amd Ryzen 7 7840hs I just wanna know if it's better than the 12700h or the 13700h or not at all
Can someone confirm if it’s possible to have 144+ refreshrate active even without it beeping connected to the charger?
Thank you for the review. One question regarding the ram upgrade - can I add a 32GB myself and make it a 32+16 configuration? Any drawbacks? Thanks!
I have been using this configuration since getting the laptop, no issue at all. I ordered a 32gb 5200 DRR5 ram to match the specifications of the one soldered onto the motherboard.
@@jay11879 thanks!!
jarrod would you suggest acer predator over legion ??
Can this slim 7i gen 8 hold a single 2tb SSD on top of the already installed 1tb making it 3Tb total? Does anyone know?
I want this machine for music production, but I'm afraid of these LatencyMon indicators and how it will affect the real time audio processing in my DAW. Can anyone give me advice/feedback on this? Thanks in advance! : ]
Does anyone have a good custom mode preset for this laptop? I am someone who has overclocked actual PCs but am unsure how far I can push this safely