I’ve been a long-time ThinkPad user, previously owning an X1 Extreme Gen 2 with high-end specs. It was a fantastic machine when I bought it in 2025, but over time the thin design caused serious overheating issues, especially with heavy workloads like virtualization labs and video rendering. I needed something more powerful and better cooled, so I decided to switch to the Lenovo Legion—and overall, it’s been a strong upgrade with a few trade-offs.
The Legion immediately impressed me with its performance. The CPU is extremely powerful, and everything feels fast and responsive. Rendering tasks that used to take a long time now complete much quicker. The GPU is more than enough for my needs—I’m not a hardcore gamer, but for casual gaming and professional workloads, it performs very well. The OLED display looks fantastic—bright, vibrant, and sharp. While my old ThinkPad had a 4K panel, this one is brighter and still looks amazing.
I also appreciate how lightweight it feels for a performance laptop—very similar to my old ThinkPad. The cooling system does a great job; it stays quiet during normal use, but under heavy load the fans get loud. Personally, I don’t mind the noise since it means the laptop is handling the performance properly. Small details like being able to open the lid with one hand, improved webcam quality, performance mode switching with Fn+Q, and rear-positioned HDMI and charging ports are nice touches. The physical webcam privacy switch is also a great addition.
However, there are a few downsides. For the price, 16GB of RAM feels a bit limited. There’s no fingerprint reader or Windows Hello facial recognition, which I was used to on the ThinkPad. The keyboard is good, but ThinkPad keyboards are still better in terms of typing feel and key travel. The inclusion of a numpad shifts the keyboard slightly to the left, which takes time to adjust to. The black finish attracts fingerprints easily. Battery life is average—not amazing, but acceptable, especially since I mostly use it plugged in. I also wish it had an SD card reader and more ports.
One more issue was with delivery—Amazon listed the product under a more generic Legion name instead of the exact model number, which caused some confusion with customs. It would be better to clearly mention the correct full model name since there are multiple Legion versions available.
Overall, despite a few compromises, the Legion delivers excellent performance and cooling, making it a solid upgrade for demanding workloads.