Lenovo Legion 2023 discussion

[KING19]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:37 AM, saturnotaku said:

 

That link is utterly worthless.

 

 

Yeah its the white version of the Legion 7 pro and Legion Slim 8

[jlp0209]

Just want to post an update regarding my SlimQ 330w charger. I started noticing in-game stutter that hadn't occurred before. Also the touchpad during normal non-gaming use became very unreliable with skipping and jumping and weird movements. At first I thought some virus / malware and then maybe something is shorting from back when I repasted. Nope, it was the charger. Unplugged it and touchpad went back to normal. Used stock charger and normal behavior in games as well. Plugged the SlimQ back in and touchpad started misfiring after about 10 minutes. Just FYI in case anyone here starts experiencing the same issues, check your chargers first (SlimQ or otherwise). 

 

At least I got several months use out of it. Will go into my drawer of random retired PC components and then likely taken to electronics disposal center. 

[Bullit]

Can't you return it?

[jlp0209]

3 hours ago, Bullit said:

Can't you return it?

Doubt it since I got it a long time ago.

[Bullit]

Ok.

[KING19]

The Lenovo Legion 9 is actually real!.

 

https://videocardz.com/newz/lenovo-legion-9i-announced-core-i9-13980hx-rtx-4090-and-worlds-thinnest-water-cooling-system

 

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Legion-9i-Specifications-and-design-of-high-end-gaming-laptop-revealed.742943.0.html

 

The design is pretty ugly imo but the built in water cooling looks pretty cool!.

[saturnotaku]

No mini-LED screen, no (apparent) biometric authentication, and nearly as ugly as an Asus Strix. The water cooling is a neat piece of kit, but otherwise, this isn't moving the needle for me at all. The Pro 7i is still going to be a better choice for the money.

[Bullit]

Still stuck in 16".

[KING19]

On 8/22/2023 at 4:36 PM, saturnotaku said:

No mini-LED screen, no (apparent) biometric authentication, and nearly as ugly as an Asus Strix. The water cooling is a neat piece of kit, but otherwise, this isn't moving the needle for me at all. The Pro 7i is still going to be a better choice for the money.

 

It says it uses a 2k Mini-LED screen, That, the water cooling, and the SD card slot are the only good things about it. Its a missed opportunity by Lenovo to make the Legion 9 as a 18 inch laptop with most of the features of last gen's Legion 7 especially the biometric authentication and the Pro 7i features with bigger speakers near the power button to make use of the empty area or add fan vents in the area to have better cooling. Still looking forward to the reviews

[jlp0209]

Hopefully they'll sell a SKU with a regular / non-blingy lid. Not a fan at all. The liquid cooling doesn't kick in until the system hits 84 degrees- is this for the CPU or GPU? I imagine the CPU. Can't believe there is no Windows Hello or biometric login. 

 

The A/C is having issues in our building so I'm doing work in a dim room to stay cool, laptop is at 25% brightness. Even when at my office I don't use higher than 70% brightness, so MiniLED may be a waste of money for me. 

 

I don't see the point in upgrading to this from my Pro 7i. I'm sure it'll have great performance. If they release a SKU with regular lid and thermals blow away the Pro 7i, I might be tempted. As of now I couldn't be happier with my system. Favorite laptop I've owned so far. 

[seanwee]

9 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

Hopefully they'll sell a SKU with a regular / non-blingy lid. Not a fan at all. The liquid cooling doesn't kick in until the system hits 84 degrees- is this for the CPU or GPU? I imagine the CPU. Can't believe there is no Windows Hello or biometric login. 

 

The A/C is having issues in our building so I'm doing work in a dim room to stay cool, laptop is at 25% brightness. Even when at my office I don't use higher than 70% brightness, so MiniLED may be a waste of money for me. 

 

I don't see the point in upgrading to this from my Pro 7i. I'm sure it'll have great performance. If they release a SKU with regular lid and thermals blow away the Pro 7i, I might be tempted. As of now I couldn't be happier with my system. Favorite laptop I've owned so far. 

From a technical standpoint the water cooling loop is just a gimmick. You will get better results, less weight and reliability spreading the heat with a full coverage vapor chamber like in the legion 7.

 

But making a vapor chamber + heatpipe design for the asymmetric tri fan design was too hard/expensive apparently.

 

 

[jlp0209]

15 hours ago, seanwee said:

From a technical standpoint the water cooling loop is just a gimmick. You will get better results, less weight and reliability spreading the heat with a full coverage vapor chamber like in the legion 7.

 

But making a vapor chamber + heatpipe design for the asymmetric tri fan design was too hard/expensive apparently.

 

 

We will find out soon enough. They could've implemented it like Eluktronics did, only reason I didn't consider them is warranty. Onsite next day service is very important to me. 

 

Very envious of your shunt modding skills, I read your posts about it earlier when you did it. That's some incredible performance. 

[seanwee]

7 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

We will find out soon enough. They could've implemented it like Eluktronics did, only reason I didn't consider them is warranty. Onsite next day service is very important to me. 

 

Very envious of your shunt modding skills, I read your posts about it earlier when you did it. That's some incredible performance. 

Shunt modding isn't all hard at all.

 

Making sure your vrms don't blow from overcurrent/overheating on the other hand...

 

There are really simple and reversible methods like just using copper tape cut into an X shape or conductive pens that work fine. Granted I still recommend shunt replacements to allow accurate power readings and protect from power spikes.

 

Then again, only the 4090 laptops will benefit from shunt modding. The rest are volt limited and I've still not made any breakthroughs to volt modding. Turns out nvidia has hard limits on voltage that reject extra voltage on die so EVC volt mods don't do anything but decrease efficiency.

 

The Eluktroniks LPP system isn't the best right now, at least stock. The loop only cools the gpu portion and not the cpu.

 

 

There's an aliexpress modder that provides an upgrade survice to cool both cpu and gpu though.

 

In any case, Eluktroniks have hinted at a completely revamped design next gen so we shall see how it goes.

 

 

[KING19]

More info

 

https://mspoweruser.com/lenovo-legion-9i-full-specs-and-price/

 

It'll be released in October 2023 with a very hefty price tag. According to the specs there's really no point of buying this over the Pro 7i. Missed opportunity by Lenovo.

[saturnotaku]

The Legion 9i is now available for pre-order. $3799 for a 4080, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD. The RTX 4090 is a $520 upgrade. According to one article I read, the laptop will come with both the standard 330W GaN charger as well as the 140W USB-C one so that's kind of nice, I guess.

 

Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8 (16″ Intel) | AI-enhanced gaming & software engineering powerhouse | Lenovo US

[win32asmguy]

8 hours ago, saturnotaku said:

The Legion 9i is now available for pre-order. $3799 for a 4080, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD. The RTX 4090 is a $520 upgrade. According to one article I read, the laptop will come with both the standard 330W GaN charger as well as the 140W USB-C one so that's kind of nice, I guess.

 

Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8 (16″ Intel) | AI-enhanced gaming & software engineering powerhouse | Lenovo US

 

Pretty expensive cost difference compared to the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8. I guess it would (likely) not have the keyboard flex area in the upper left side due to a more rigid build, but I worry about the palm rest temps being hot due to the flipped mobo design, or fans generating more noise at a given performance level as its thinner. It would be awesome if it randomly happened to have a USB-C wired to the iGPU. Of course they will not document such a thing in the PSREF so it has to be discovered by a user or eventual Jarrodtech review. I have already swapped the 2560x1600 panel on my Pro 7i for a superior (for me) 1920x1200 165hz panel. It would be a pain to have to do the same swap on the 9i...

[KING19]

On 9/8/2023 at 12:13 PM, saturnotaku said:

The Legion 9i is now available for pre-order. $3799 for a 4080, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD. The RTX 4090 is a $520 upgrade. According to one article I read, the laptop will come with both the standard 330W GaN charger as well as the 140W USB-C one so that's kind of nice, I guess.

 

Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 8 (16″ Intel) | AI-enhanced gaming & software engineering powerhouse | Lenovo US

 

There are a lot of videos of it on youtube now but reviewers cant run benchmarks nor check the temps of it in action yet. Its still not worth it over the 7i Pro.

[saturnotaku]

With a 4090-equipped Pro 7i available for as low as $2600 recently, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to consider the 9i. Even if the latter were to drop to $3300-$3500, it still wouldn't be worth it.

[KING19]

8 hours ago, saturnotaku said:

With a 4090-equipped Pro 7i available for as low as $2600 recently, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to consider the 9i. Even if the latter were to drop to $3300-$3500, it still wouldn't be worth it.

 

True, plus the motherboard is inverted so you have to remove the entire motherboard to access to the heatsink and if you want to upgrade the RAM......

 

 

[saturnotaku]

4 hours ago, KING19 said:

 

True, plus the motherboard is inverted so you have to remove the entire motherboard to access to the heatsink and if you want to upgrade the RAM......

 

Dang. 😬

[jlp0209]

FYI, for anyone looking to get the newer official 140w GaN charger I bought mine and received it about a week after ordering. Good seller. Arrived new and sealed in box, works perfectly. On my machine it handles 1920 x 1200 gaming perfectly which is great for when I am out of town and want to game occasionally and not bring the normal charger. For $39 can't go wrong! 

 

Lenovo Legion C140W GaN Adapter 140W Output Power Small Portable PD3.1 Type-C C To C Cable for Legion Phone Tablet Laptop - AliExpress

 

[jlp0209]

Just a quick update while using both the 135w and 140w GaN chargers side by side. Here in the U.S. it makes no sense to use the 140w adapter, in my opinion. Unless of course you happen to be using a 240v power outlet. The proprietary yellow power connector that comes with the 135w adapter does not work with the 140w adapter. The laptop immediately goes into "quiet" power profile every time the cable is connected. This behavior was confirmed on a Reddit thread I looked at. 

 

Gaming performance slightly suffers with the 140w adapter as well. Limiting my CPU to PL1/PL2 of 25w/35w, the GPU seems to be capped at 45-50w while using the 140w adapter over USB-C PD interface. With the 135w adapter connected by the yellow plug the GPU goes up to 50-55w, occasionally 60w. 

 

Both adapters are OK if you want to game at 1900x1200.

 

Moral of the post is, if you're in the US you'll be capped at about 100w of power using either adapter, at least I've been. This makes the 135w adapter the much better buy, as it works with the yellow power connector and frees up that back USB-C port for charging a phone or whatnot. 

[jlp0209]

Wow, I was the last commenter here 6 months ago. My Gen 8 likely needs to be repasted, as I am hitting 87c in games when capping PL1/PL2 to 45w/60w. I can't even do a single run of CB23 without hitting 100c on the CPU and severe throttle. I've had the system since last July, and it's the 2nd Pro 7i Gen 8 I've had that has needed to be repasted due to poor or shifting LM over time. Will either sell it or send to Lenovo to repaste and then sell it. 

 

Didn't see the need to create a new thread, but in the U.S. the 2024 Pro 7i w/ RTX 4090 randomly popped into stock at my local Microcenter for $2999. On Lenovo's site it ships in July as of today. Couldn't resist picking one up. It's the 2x 1TB SSD configuration but they are not in RAID, they are two separate drives which is nice. 

 

Liking the black-ish color more than the gray from last year, I always am partial toward black laptops. The screen is noticeably more vibrant than the 2023 and overall no complaints. No odd screen flicker at lowest brightness or other weirdness like when the Gen 8 launched. I have no pixel defects or severe bleed and the screen is uniform. The screen hinge is MUCH tighter than my Gen 8 which is great. There is zero movement even when bouncing the laptop on my legs while typing on the couch. It's probably the tightest hinge I've used on a laptop, I actually need to use some force to open and close it, yet it's still manageable with one hand and doesn't pull the laptop off of the table when opening the lid. Other than that, it's pretty much identical to Gen 8 aside from improved Thunderbolt. 

 

I have not installed my 4tb SSD or fired up any games yet. I did a single run CB23 in custom mode with max fans and all sliders maxed and didn't thermal throttle, which is a good start. Scored 31,000 multicore, no undervolt, just used custom profile in Vantage. 

 

Hopefully I won't need to repaste this Gen 9, maybe it was just due to Lenovo's first attempt at using LM with Gen 8? Time will tell. 

[serpro69]

14 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

the 2024 Pro 7i w/ RTX 4090 randomly popped into stock at my local Microcenter for $2999

Wow, I would get 3 for that price 

I've just been checking the same model and with the same specs (i9, 4049, 2x1TB SSD, 2x16 RAM) yesterday, and locally for me it amounts to around 4.2k EUR... that's with a 20% discount that they currently have for these laptops in the Lenovo store...

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, serpro69 said:

Wow, I would get 3 for that price 

I've just been checking the same model and with the same specs (i9, 4049, 2x1TB SSD, 2x16 RAM) yesterday, and locally for me it amounts to around 4.2k EUR... that's with a 20% discount that they currently have for these laptops in the Lenovo store...

That's $4500 U.S. if my conversion is up to date, that's horrible. Definitely not taking for granted the prices here. 

 

I've further set up the laptop to my liking, so far so good with temps. I'm not even using Toolkit yet, Vantage has been OK. I do miss the shortcuts and automatic actions of Toolkit, so will install soon I think.

 

Big update on the massive stuttering when gaming that I experienced on prior Legions including the Gen 8. I've finally discovered a solution that worked on the Gen 8 and works on the Gen 9. It is completely power related but not in a way I anticipated. Aside from adjusting the two power related settings in Registry which was recommended last year, you need to tinker with Vantage custom mode (or Toolkit custom mode). Go into custom mode and move every single slider to max. Save, then switch to performance mode. Should you want to run custom mode again just move the PL1 and PL2 sliders to your desired settings, do not move those other sliders that deal with total CPU crossload or AC power. Leave those maxed. Save and OK to get out of Vantage / Toolkit settings.

 

The factor that I did not expect is GPU undervolting. For some very strange reason, undervolting the GPU in tandem with the above eliminates all microstutter. On my 4090 I've set Afterburner to 850mv and locked core clock at 2300mhz. I don't know if the steady power and GPU core clock makes the difference, but performing these actions completely eliminated all microstutter that had been plaguing many of my games. The microstutter returns when I revert to stock, and goes away when I apply undervolt. I'd been tinkering with settings for months to no avail. Never would've expected the GPU settings to play a role, nor do I understand why, and stumbled into it by accident. 

 

If anyone also has stutter issues and wants to try this, please chime in with results.