Review: Lenovo Legion Y740 15.6 Inch Gaming Laptop

Even with so many gaming laptops in the market, it’s hard to find a laptop that manages to deliver on all fronts. Some machines don’t have enough power, some dive too deep into the gamer aesthetic and end up looking cartoonish, while others don’t bother to focus on connectivity. The Lenovo Legion Y740 aims and mostly succeeds in becoming a powerful and elegant machine that fires on all cylinders. 

Its specifications are nothing to frown at – it has an Intel Core i7 Hexa Core processor, 16 GB RAM, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GDDR6 dedicated graphics card. There should be no doubting that this laptop can handle just about any game on the market. Lenovo didn’t hold back at all and ensured that all gaming aspects are at their peak with a sharp HD display, ingenious design choices such as putting all the ports in the back, and lots of apps to improve the overall gaming experience.

People don’t usually refer to gaming laptops as beautiful but the Lenovo Legion Y740 can be described as such with its sober iron-grey aluminium lid. There might be some design choices that people don’t agree with but at the end of the day, the Y740 is one of the best Lenovo gaming laptops in the market.

Now, without any further ado, let’s just get into the review.

Specs

Design

The design on the Y740 looks simple and minimalistic. But don’t let its unassuming look fool you, this laptop is powerful enough to handle any task with ease. Its chassis is made up of high-quality aluminium, making the machine durable and elegant.

Lenovo went to work on their thermal system, named “Legion Cold Front”. This system has a dual-channel with 4 vents, an exclusive heat sink for the keyboard and separate CPU and GPU cooling. The results in a slightly cooler running laptop than most other gaming machines, but the heat generation is still noticeable. Also, the fans will be at full speed once you start gaming.

The Legion Y470 has a great keyboard. The keys feel comfortable and have a nice grip. It has 1 ms response time, delivering quick and precise typing. Anti-ghosting is also available for those who like more accurate responses from their button mashing. Its RGB keyboard lighting is stunning and very customizable.

But this doesn’t mean that the keyboard is perfect. The keyboard gets shifted to the right because the column keys have been added to the left. Plus, the WASD keys are situated right next to the hottest part of the machine. 

Its touchpad is decent and easy to use. It even lets you use gestures, thanks to Windows Precision Drivers. The one interesting thing about its touchpad is the separate left and right click buttons, which is seldom seen in laptops these days. These buttons brought back memories and were great for computing needs outside gaming.

Display

A powerful gaming laptop is of no use without a display that’s on its level. If the screen that can’t keep up with what’s going then the horsepower is being wasted. Fortunately, the Lenovo Legion Y740 doesn’t suffer from this issue. Its full HD 1080 display is sharp, detailed and produces vivid colours. The brightness doesn’t lag behind, delivering up to 500 nits. It has a refresh rate of 144Hz, reproducing quick movements ideal for not only gaming but movies and sports as well.

Performance

The strongest point of the Legion Y740 is its performance. That shouldn’t really come as a surprise because of the Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, and Nvidia RTX 2060. This laptop will handle anything thrown at it. All AAA games will load and run smoothly, even the highest settings (Ultra) will become a walk in the park. 

We tested Total War: Warhammer II to test this laptop’s capabilities and got an average of more than 50fps on the highest settings. 

Connectivity

Lenovo gave a lot of attention to port management as all the ports, except for a USB 3.1 and USB-C flanking the right and left side respectively, are at the back for better cable management. The Y740 allows you to connect up to three external monitors simultaneously, thanks to the HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, and USB-C. 

Battery

Gaming laptops aren’t known for their long battery life and the Lenovo Y740 doesn’t go against the grain. Its Nvidia RTX Graphics card and display of 144Hz refresh rate with a maximum 500 nits of brightness consumes too much power. The laptop only managed to last 2 hours and 30 minutes on our movie test. However, since gaming laptops aren’t supposed to be used while on the go, the small battery life shouldn’t be an issue.

Verdict

It’s got a sharp and detailed display running at an astonishing 144Hz refresh rate and delivers powerful performance due to the Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia RTX 2060, and 16 GB RAM. Honestly, what more could a gamer want? Plus, the laptop’s cable management is a lot less messy, thermal cooling is effective and applications actually improve the overall gaming experience. All in all, a good option for any serious gamer out there.

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