Lenovo’s new Legion 9i is a liquid-cooled, Mini LED, RGB monstrosity

Lenovo has introduced a brand new Legion 9i, and it would simply be the wildest factor I’ve ever seen from the Legion line. It’s coming in October, it begins at a whopping $4,399 (you recognize, a very regular value to pay for issues), and Lenovo is throwing in every kind of eccentric stuff.

The corporate is clearly most enthusiastic about the truth that the 9i is the primary 16-inch gaming laptop computer with a self-contained liquid-cooling system. That is precisely what it seems like. Most laptops use air cooling to switch warmth alongside warmth pipes to a radiator; a fluid-cooled machine as an alternative does that with water and a pump which, as you may think, can deal with rather more thermal mass. Such a system may theoretically enable the 9i to drag really large quantities of energy (as much as 230W, Lenovo claims) for a ridiculous gaming expertise.

To be clear, liquid cooling is a factor that’s been tried earlier than in laptops of this measurement. Nevertheless it’s usually accomplished externally — that’s, you plug a thingamajig into a bit of port within the again, and that thingamajig swooshes some water round inside. Lenovo’s declare seems to be that the Legion 9i can totally cool itself with this methodology, no thingamajig wanted.

Now, this may be very thrilling, however I can’t stress sufficient that we don’t know how effectively it’s going to work. Additionally, I really feel compelled to level out that Legion cooling is already, famously, superb. The final two Legion 5i generations that The Verge has reviewed have been remarkably cool, with out a lot noise, all through testing. I’m certain a liquid system will make some quantity of distinction, in fact, however how a lot stays to be seen.

So earlier than all of us throw our Legion 7i fashions out the window (and I do know a few of you might be tempted), we’ll must see how this performs when the models really hit cabinets.

One other attention-grabbing characteristic is the cast carbon cowl, which is able to give each unit a novel sample. The design has type of a cool vibe, and it may be neat to know that your unit seems to be totally different from the 1000’s of others on the shelf.

However what I’m happiest to see right here is the 165Hz 16:10 Mini LED show. This has a 94 p.c screen-to-body ratio, which is spectacular, not simply amongst gaming laptops however amongst laptops interval. Mini LEDs aren’t low cost, however if you spend a while gaming on one, it may well really feel downright painful to return to an everyday IPS panel. I nonetheless miss the Mini LED on the Razer Blade 16, and I reviewed that half a yr in the past.

After which we come to the insides. The Legion 9i can be powered by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, which is probably the most highly effective cell GPU in right this moment’s gaming market. As much as 64GB of reminiscence and 2TB of storage can be obtainable. Great things.

The processor I’ve extra blended emotions about; it’s a thirteenth Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX. That is probably the most highly effective cell processor Intel has ever made, and it’s nothing to sneeze at. Nonetheless, it’s a bit onerous to be too ecstatic about Intel machines proper now as a result of AMD’s 7945HX3D chip is hitting cabinets quickly, and that chip, in our testing, left the Core i9 within the mud. (The ROG Strix Scar X3D, the monstrous 17-incher that homes that X3D chip, can also be deal cheaper than this Legion mannequin.)

So I see this 9i machine, in the intervening time, primarily as a wacky thought that may showcase Lenovo’s cooling answer and the way a lot further efficiency it really brings. However you probably have the money to purchase one, please know that I’m very jealous of you and am cheering you on from afar.