The ULTIMATE gaming laptop of 2024? Unboxing the Lenovo Legion 9i Gen 9. 

Appreciate you! Yessir we like to get fancy around here 🤓

Yep! To clarify, the resolution is 3200x2000 so it’s a bit under 4k but i’ve managed to play games like Alan Wake II at full resolution with max settings and max ray tracing settings all while still getting nearly 60fps. Turn on DLSS and you’ll easily get 80fps. looks great on this display especially with HDR 10.

​@@XXIVCONCEPT Did you notice if this thing is quieter than other laptops thanks to the liquid cooler?

@c4nchi The liquid cooler on the 9i doesn’t run all the time. It only runs when the system absolutely needs it. It doesn’t function like an AIO on a desktop. I have a video coming out to explain more soon.

Awesome! Let me know what you think of it!

@@XXIVCONCEPT Will do. DHL says delivery Friday. Very fast, basically within a week from order after talking to the Live chat rep who expedited it for me :)

@@kentrolla LFG!!!

@@kentrollawhat do you think of it

I haven't personally used the 7i so I'm not sure but from what I've seen, yes. I think the 7i is for most people. The 9i is more for overclocking and pure power enthusiasts. That 4090 Laptop GPU (err 4080 chip) can be overclocked a fair bit on the 9i and is completely stable under 75C. The liquid cooler isn't redundant as it does provide a 10C difference under full synthetic (if you have it on) load as well as a score improvement in benchmarks (if that's your thing). I have a whole vidoe on the liquid cooler. Again, the 9i is more about Lenovo flexing their engineering prowess and saying "yeah, we can" and not "yeah, we should". This is also reflected in the buying process. Some people CAN afford a 9i, but that doesn't mean they should buy one nor does it mean they need it to game at high quality. Also, the forged carbon is authentic, not faux. Every laptop has a unique lid. It also does make the lid stronger and lighter even if by a tiny amount. It's a track model laptop (if you're familiar with cars). If you're more of an average everyday gamer, then the 9i is just a more expensive 7i in my opinion. But if you're a power user who likes to push their machines further, that's where the 9i comes in. It's not for everyone.

Many thanks - I now have some decisions to make 😊

I fully agree. I wanna see a 9i or maybe a 10i??? That's 18" and with an optional OLED display. Do that and I think we might have the best desktop replacement on the market.

I agree!

🤑🤑🤑

No this is XXIV_CONCEPT

Battery is what you'd expect. I can get a couple hours using balanced power where the iGPU kicks on but don't expect it to be as good as the slim. Thermals are the best you're gonna find a laptop period. Never gets over 75C and when the liquid cooler comes on, it never gets over 68C even at full load. Doesn't hurt the display because above the keyboard are intake fans so no heat comes out of the top of the laptop, only the rear and the left side which is the secondary GPU fan. It's also reasonably quiet for the performance.

Probably not. View this as a refresh more than anything. To my understanding, the 14th gen i9 is a bit more powerful than the 13th but not by much.

ayo you’re right 👀

They go on sale often you can get one for £3.3k now

Both are solid I'm sure. I've not used the Strix 18 but the biggest difference will be size. An 18" laptop is huge. Hell, the 9i (despite it being 16" display) is more of a 17" laptop. So I'd consider that first. Secondly, you don't need a 9i or a Strix 18 to game. If you want something with battery life, I'd avoid both of these and look to something lower spec that's using Intel's new Core Ultra series chips as opposed to i-series chips.

What if I told you I figured out how to turn it on 👀

@@XXIVCONCEPT with custom mode?

Video soon. I talked to Lenovo and I have some thoughts about this. Stay tuned.

From my experience the pump always works only with a custom mode and max fans, but in custom mode or performance only if the Gpu Core achieves 87c which wont be achieved@@XXIVCONCEPT

It comes pre-installed with GeForce Experience and it is running the latest driver from Nvidia themselves.

Then it’s perhaps a pretty outdated one, especially the display driver from the Lenovo driver page. If it’s not something with 551.XX coming from NVIDIA directly? Nice video by the way, loved to watch it

@@tinybit780 not at all. my driver is 551.76 last updated 3/5. is this not the most up to date display driver?

The 9i Gen 9 has been available for weeks now by the way. I bought one as well.

@@XXIVCONCEPTGreat, then they fixed the problem finally. I’ll get a new unit now. Some other owners had the problem, too.

I’m starting to believe it may be a bit more ambitious than functional myself. However, an exciting thought to think we are getting close to laptops having AIOs built in. Maybe not this one, but soon?

@@XXIVCONCEPT Yes, soon. But definitely not this one. Legion Pro 7i is a much better bang for your buck.

The 9i is a complete ripoff get the 7

Look I get you’re excited someone sent u a laptop but this is fanboy reactive crap

w comment fr

@@XXIVCONCEPT ohh man, ur such a good soul

@@XXIVCONCEPT ohh man, ur such a good soul

Valid reason to wait. However, OLED is a choice some OEMs like Lenovo choose to stray away from due to OLEDs having burn-in issues. Something you’ll never have to worry about on a Mini-LED. Side by side OLED will likely be more appealing, but in sheer brightness and longevity, the Mini-LED always wins. Mini-LED is also cheaper than OLED for a number of reasons.

@@XXIVCONCEPT But Asus has already rolled out its OLED series though, i would gone for the G-16 if not for the Intel ultra series processor (benchmarks are not good at all in my opinion), however thanks for highlighting this laptop, i have a alternative for now, but yeah will wait a few months.

not that I noticed. I don’t have key marks on my screen.

I don’t have a specific number but it’s enough that you don’t notice it unless in extreme case where it’s just a cursor on a black screen. I noticed that in HDR, the effects are more pronounced but when HDR is off (which I recommend) you don’t see it almost at all. I’ll talk more about it in the full review.

It’s Magnesium Alloy! I thought so too. It is a bit of a fingerprint magnet but it is not rubber or plastic.

Ugh I wish. I've been in talks with ASUS about getting some of their stuff soon. Stay tuned.

haha It's a photo I took! I'm working on putting out a wallpaper pack soon if you guys would be interested!

Hard to say. If it's a laptop you use daily and it's your only machine, yes. Keep in mind, all Mini-LED displays will have ghosting/smearing due to the display itself. It's not horrible, but it is noticeable in certain conditions. That being said, the 9i doesn't have coil whine at all and I think Lenovo Vantage is a better/easier software to use than Armoury Crate. I don't think you'll be disappointed with a 9i!

It's a gaming laptop lol.

It’s actually my own photo! I don’t have a link for it but I do plan to offer wallpapers in the future.

Sadly I won't be doing a teardown. I did however upload a new video talking more about the liquid cooler.

Working on a wallpaper pack! That's my own image I took. Hoping to put together my best shots for you guys to download.

I took the photo myself! Unfortunately don’t have a link cause I haven’t uploaded my wallpapers yet* Apologies!

Most top-end high-performance laptops still use Mini-LED due to reliability. OLED is "better" than it was years ago, but is still unreliable, especially for power users who have more screen-on time than standard users. Not to mention, power users don't want their display automatically dimming, pixel shifting, or pixel cleaning every so often to hide the inevitable degradation of OLED over time.

I was able to spec this model out to 64GB of RAM on the Lenovo site in the build your PC option! Hard to say what the actual display output is without using a meter but at max brightness it definitely feels brighter than 600 to me. My Apple studio display is 600 nits and the 9i is brighter when I hold them side by side. It's especially noticeable when HDR is active (which might make sense). I can't verify it hits the 1200 peak, but it sure feels like it in supported content. Keep in mind, Mini-LED panels do some weird stuff to try and prevent ghosting, especially in HDR. The only time you'd really notice 1000 nits over 600 in my experience, is in a pure white side-by-side comparison. in HDR however, you definitely can see the difference but you have to deal with ghosting and other artifacts that come with Mini-LED. I turn windows HDR off as I don't ever need it to be that bright. But for gaming, I turn it on because that extra brightness does make a difference in gaming.

Well... Yes and no. haha

The 9i from Lenovo is designed to be a desktop replacement. While it is still a laptop, this is definitely a laptop for someone who wants all the power possible leaving battery second. I will say that I can still get a few hours on battery with no issue. Long enough to get work done, write a script, watch youtube, etc. It’s not gonna beat an ultra book, but it was never supposed to. It also charges faster than any other windows laptop i’ve used. Also the i9 chip is higher performing than the Core Ultra 9. Which is likely why it is featured in this model over the Core Ultra. If i’m buying a top of the line gaming laptop, I want power over battery. If I wanted the best battery life, i’d go with an ultra book or lower spec gaming laptop. Unfortunately at this level of performance you do have to make a sacrifice somewhere.

​@@XXIVCONCEPT i love what asus has done w the new zephyrus lineup, battery, performances and slim design on a machine that is supposed(and it is) to be portable, tbh i cant see laptops this thick and not power efficent as laptops(like this lenovo), they just are intel nucs with built in display and keyboard that can last few hours if there is a blackout

@@petarmiloradovic5374 I disagree but respect your opinion. I’ve used the new Zephyrus G14 and G16 from ASUS. The Zephyrus line is more along that ultra book line. The Strix line is a better comparison to the 9i. Lenovo does make a 7i and 5i and slim versions that are much more closely related to the Zephyrus line. The 9i is more comparable to ASUS’s Strix line or MSI’s Titan line. As a matter of fact, the 9i from lenovo is one of the thinnest and lightest laptops in its respective class. It wouldn’t technically be fair to compare this laptop to a Zephyrus because they’re not directly in competition with one another nor are the designed with the same use cases in mind other than “gaming” which is a broad and generalized term these days. Almost any laptop can be considered a “gaming” laptop.

@@petarmiloradovic5374 Notice how the ASUS Strix line uses the same i9 14900HX chip rather than the Core Ultra 9 like the Zephyrus despite them being marketed similarly. The Zephyrus is marketed to be an ultra book like a MacBook or other thin ultra books with high performance and good battery. The Zephyrus line isn’t meant to be the top end gaming laptop. However, from Lenovo’s side, the 9i series laptops ARE their top end models. At the end of the day, a laptop is a laptop. There’s many different ways to do it, but understanding the product line differences will help you understand why certain component choices are made and what their intended use case is. So- if you want a slim computer that has good battery life but enough power to play games, get an ultra book like a Zephyrus. If you want the BEST gaming performance above all else, get a Strix or a 9i.

​@@XXIVCONCEPT ye i know the lenovo legion slim lineup and also the strix and titan, i just dont like laptops that chunky, im a macbook air fanboy, zephyrus 2024 fan, legion slim 5 slim fan.. the thing that i really appreciate on this laptop is the water cooling, water cooling on desktop does not come with better performance that are worth the high price but they're worth for the silence, a fully watercooled slim laptop could be the best of all words but atm is impossible to make, we need to sacrifice somewhere, for me in a machine that works on battery i cant sacrifice what keeps on the machine without being on the desk, in fact i love the steam deck oled for the same reason, maybe not the best for framerate but the best for battery life compared to others... the windows word needs a apple silicon M(goat perf+goat battery life) but from intel or amd or who knows, maybe from qualcomm(actually the x elite can perform like the M series but with a tdp that is more than the double so.. not yet, the chip isnt ready)

It's not a scam. You just have to understand what it's actually doing. I have a video coming Saturday that explains more.

I got to see the newest version at CES this year! Looks insane. Would love to get my hands on one to compare.

@@XXIVCONCEPTO would love that as well. As your reviews and first impressions are top notch.. Thanks for your time and efforts...

Skill issue

Why is it a scam?

@@XXIVCONCEPT the liquid that is inside has no heatsink. it’s just a liquid that turns, has no use

I'd be interested to learn more about it. I can't imagine it was done for nothing. Though, I will agree it is a bit of a gimmick especially given it doesn't run hardly ever (I have yet to get it to come on). That being said, I plan to ask Lenovo for more information to see what they say. In the meantime, I may intentionally try to get it to kick on just to see if thermals balance out at 175W. @@diegopilloni727

@@XXIVCONCEPT It seems it was going to have external cooling but they didn't commit to it and so as other have said, it's jsut a waste of space

Make a ton of good tech related content and fly out to events on your own dime to meet the teams who make them. I met the Lenovo team at CES this year but sheer coincidence. They saw my content and decided I was worth sending one to. Keep in mind I don’t keep this one so I didn’t really get anything for free.

What's that mean? I'm new to pc gaming, im looking for a good gaming laptop.

Would like to know as well because I will not buy this if that's the case

To each their own.

It is in fact very small. But the intent is for you to use an external mouse almost 85% of the time however I got used to it for day-to-day stuff. Regardless, the trackpad is probably the weakest feature of the 9i but it makes sense given what it's intended use-case is.