Lenovo Legion Y7000: A smart, sophisticated gaming laptop you can actually afford

First Lenovo learned to make cheap gaming laptops. Now it’s learned to make cheap gaming laptops that also look good. I spent a few weeks with the Lenovo Legion Y7000, a stopgap release that sticks with Nvidia’s GTX 10-series graphics cards as Lenovo’s flagship Y500 and Y700 models start to transition to higher-end (and higher-priced) RTX 20-series GPUs.

Is it a performance monster? The type of laptop you buy to impress your friends? Absolutely not. But it’s a smart, sophisticated option that will perform admirably for at least a few years—and at a competitive price point.

VARIANTS

Lenovo’s never one to shy away from options, and the Legion line seems to get more and more convoluted every generation. Case in point: The Y7000 and the Y530 are essentially the same laptop, but in a different skin. Last year we took a look at the . This year, the opposite as we delve into the most expensive Legion Y7000—though “most expensive” sounds scarier than it should. Even fully tricked out, the Y7000 we reviewed retails for about $1,100 (though the price varies