The first thing that comes to mind when someone talks about a gaming laptop is performance, loud fans, RGB lighting, and a massive design. While most gaming laptops navigate these four aspects, the new Lenovo Legion Slim 7, as the name suggests, aims to get rid of the bulk.
The Legion Slim comes with a slim and portable profile while being lightweight and aims to pack in powerful enough specs to be a good gaming machine. Do you succeed? Read on to find out.
Lenovo Legion Slim 7 specifications: 15.6-inch FHD 16:9 display, 165Hz refresh rate | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H | RTX 3060 Max Q 60W | 16 GB RAM, 512 GB NVMe SSD |
Lenovo Legion Slim 7: What’s so good?
design
The Legion Slim 7 features a well-built aluminum chassis that is built like a tank. There’s a good balance between RGB and minimalism here, and it’s something you really need to experience in person to understand how versatile this theme can be in terms of fitting everything including a game room, office room, or coffee shop.
However, the cover can pick up a lot of fingerprints and smudges, so be prepared to clean it. The hinge is really smooth and has a really satisfying feel when you open the laptop, something you can do with one finger.
The Legion Slim 7 cover is a large fingerprint magnet. (Image source: The Indian Express / Chetan Nayak)
The lid also opens 180 degrees which is great for certain use cases. There is also this color change on some parts like the area above the hinge and Lenovo Legion branding which also adds a unique touch to the device. Two other things I liked were the webcam shield and the built-in microphones.
Above all is portability. At less than an inch thick and weighing less than 2 kg, the Legion Slim 7 is easy to pack in a bag and forget about when traveling, which is a huge plus for a gaming laptop.
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The 15.6 FHD screen panel has a wide enough color gamut and 165Hz refresh rate, which makes it a fast enough screen for competitive fps games. G-Sync support is also there for a tear-free gaming experience.
The 165Hz panel also supports G-sync. (Image source: The Indian Express / Chetan Nayak)
However, one thing that could have been better here is the viewing angles, which aren’t really the best.
Performance and battery life
The Ryzen 7 5800H is a powerful chip and the laptop really makes the most of it, which is great considering it’s one of the thinnest 15-inch laptops out there.
Although it doesn’t push the most fps in this segment, the performance of the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 is pretty much on par with the competitors. I managed to get around 120-140 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 150-160 fps in FIFA 22 and 120-150 fps on PUBG: Battlegrounds.
Performance on Lenovo Legion Slim 7 is good and the laptop can comfortably run all modern AAA games. (Image source: The Indian Express / Chetan Nayak)
You can use Lenovo Vantage software to adjust the performance of your laptop to your liking. You can also turn on or off mixed mode which switches between integrated and discrete GPU modes.
The 71Wh battery life isn’t the best in its class but it gets the job done. Given that you’ll be connected while enjoying AAA games, don’t expect much once your laptop isn’t plugged in. However, you can get about 7-8 hours of light use when you are not gaming.
Keyboard and trackpad
The laptop comes with a nice full size keyboard that somehow does not make the keys look small. This is paired with neat sections including one dedicated to the full-size arrow keys. The main travel isn’t the best but it’s not bad either.
The keyboard and trackpad are great, but the keys can get hot quickly in long gaming sessions. (Image source: The Indian Express / Chetan Nayak)
You now get per-key RGB lighting that’s easy to control with the built-in customization software, but there are also Lenovo Quick Shortcuts that let you switch between lighting modes, keyboard brightness, and a few other settings using the Fn key along with a few other keys. This is easy to use because when you press the Fn key, only the keys that support a hotkey light up.
There’s also a large trackpad here that gets the job done just fine. Although you may use mice and other accessories in most games.
Lenovo Legion Slim 7: what’s not so good?
ports
Some major ports are missing here, one of the downsides to making a thin laptop. This leaves you with two USB-3.2 Type-C Gen 2 ports on the right, two USB-3.2 Type-A ports on the back and an audio port and SD card reader on the left, which could make life easier if you’re using this content creation machine.
You don’t get additional USB-A ports, and most importantly, the HDMI and RJ45 port are missing, which may be important to some of the gamers out there. The port selection is not bad but it may not be suitable for some people. However, the distribution of available ports is good.
The laptop has decent ports but is missing a dedicated RJ45 and HDMI port. (Image source: The Indian Express / Chetan Nayak)
thermal
Lenovo Legion Slim 7 can get very hot especially around the middle of the keyboard while gaming. While gaming laptops have been known to get hot with AAA titles, pressing certain keys on the keyboard here was more than uncomfortable during a long session of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
While high temperatures do not appear to affect laptop performance, they may remain a concern for some users. Another aspect is the vents on the side of the laptop that push out the heat more than the vents on the back, which can be thrown straight toward the mouse if you’re using one.
Verdict: Should you get the Lenovo Legion Slim 7?
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 isn’t meant to be the most powerful gaming laptop, but it’s a capable device that you can carry around without feeling out of place. This comes thanks to its slim profile that offers compromises like average battery life, fewer ports, and some heating. If this extra portability isn’t an important factor for you, you may want to take a look at other options.
However, if portability sounds great, the Legion Slim 7 is great at what it does and when you plug it in for a full gaming experience, you won’t be disappointed too much. It also makes a good content creation machine thanks to its portable look, custom graphics, and SD card reader.
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