Lenovo Legion S7 Review

The latest 2022 Lenovo Legion S7 is engineered for gamers who demand mobility and performance. The Legion gaming laptop features the latest Intel Core i7-12700H Processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU in a portable 16.9mm chassis weighing 2.36 kg.

Our review unit is the Legion S7 16IAH7 variant. The display is a 16″ WUXGA (1920×1200), 165Hz, IPS-Level panel. The upgraded hardware offers good performance with the 14-core/20-thread Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, Nvidia RTX 3060 with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, 16GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM and a 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4 SSD.

Other features include keyboard back-lighting, a FHD webcam, and a 99-watt-hour battery. Wireless connectivity is powered by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

Specifications

Our review model is the Legion S7 16IAH7

Packaging, Design & Build Quality

The Lenovo Legion S7 comes in a standard cardboard box. Inside is another box in which the laptop and the accessories are protected. The box includes:

• The Lenovo Legion S7 laptop
• 230W power brick
• Power cable
• User guides and warranty

The Lenovo Legion S7 comes in a brushed metallic color (Onyx Grey) with the Lenovo logo on the lid. The lid and the base of the chassis is made of metal and the rest is made of plastic. The hinges hold the lid firmly and the lid can be opened with a single hand without any issues. The 16” matte display has thin bezels and houses a HD webcam and microphones.

The Legion S7 is equipped with a good set of ports on either sides and at the back. The rear body and either sides also feature large openings for cooling. The speakers are on the left and right side of the laptop and at the base are wide ventilation grills. The chassis is quite rigid and feels solid.

With dimensions of 357.7 x 260 x 16.9 mm and a weight of 2.36kg, the Legion S7 is quite portable and can be carried in laptop bags and backpacks.

Ports

Lenovo Legion S7 comes with plenty of ports on either sides and also at the back. On the left side are the ports for 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2, headphone/mic combo jack and a Webcam Lock Switch.

On left 1x Thunderbolt 4 (supports data transfer, Power Delivery 135W and DisplayPort 1.4) and 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (support data transfer, Power Delivery 135W and DisplayPort 1.4).

On the right are headphone / microphone combo jack (3.5mm) and a 4-in-1 card reader. There is also a switch here for the webcam privacy shutter.

At the back are ports for 1x HDMI, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Always On) and the power connector.

For wireless connectivity, the Legion S7 comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth v5.2 onboard.

Display

The WUXGA (1920×1200) 16″ screen uses an IPS panel with a refresh rate of 165Hz and 100% sRGB color coverage with support for Dolby Vision. The display features thin bezels and on the top bezel is a FHD webcam capable of recording at 30 FPS, which can also be used for signing in using Windows Hello. Although there is noise in poorly lit environments, the camera quality is generally good.

Colors are rich, vibrant and really pack a punch with no signs of stuttering or ghosting, and the viewing angles are glare-free and comfortable. However, the display is difficult in bright outdoor environments. At the top of the display is a HD webcam with support for Windows Hello facial recognition and features a privacy shutter.

Keyboard & Trackpad

The keyboard is backlit with three levels of brightness. The layout is standard with dedicated shortcut buttons and a numpad. At the top, the power button houses a fingerprint sensor that works really well.

The typing experience is good and the keys are soft, responsive and offer decent feedback. There’s a good amount of travel and it offers a very quiet typing experience when working in office spaces or cafes. The top row of function keys can be used for additional shortcuts with combinations of the Fn keys.

The trackpad is smaller than standard but comfortable to use although not too precise at times due to its awkward position.

Performance

In terms of performance, our test model is equipped with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 12700H processor with 14 cores and 20 threads and a maximum clock frequency of 4.70GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM and 16GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM which can be further upgraded to 24GB. For storage, there is 1TB of M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD onboard with an additional M.2 expansion slot.

CPU

The 12th gen Alder Lake chips features two sets of performance and efficiency cores, providing unprecedented boost in multitasking works and heavy games.

The Core i7-12700H comes with 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores for a total of 14 cores, 20 threads and 24 MB of cache. The P-cores are clocked at 2.3 GHz base and 4.7 GHz boost, while the E-cores get a 1.7GHz base and 3.5 GHz boost clock with a default TDP of 45W. These new chips also support memory types up to DDR5 4800 and up to LPDDR5 5200.

GPU

Graphics is powered by a dedicated NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU for laptops so far with improved raytracing and tensor cores. Built on the 8 nm process, the RTX 3060 offers 6 GB GDDR6 graphics memory with a 192 Bit memory bus and based on the GA106 core with 3840 shaders at a frequency ranging from 900 MHz to 1425 MHz (can overclock up to 1605MHz at 100W with boost).

With the new Ampere cards, there is no more Max-Q variant (the energy-efficient version specially designed for thin and portable laptops for longer battery time) but every OEM can choose to implement Max-Q technologies such as Dynamic Boost, Whisper mode etc. The same 3060 GPU can differ in performance on different laptops based on the thermal design offered.

RAM

The Lenovo Legion S7 is equipped with 8GB Soldered DDR5-4800 and one 8GB DDR5 in SO-DIMM slot, it is dual-channel capable.  RAM can be further upgraded to 24GB maximum.

STORAGE

Our review unit came with a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD. However, depending on the region, there may be different SSDs. The SSD offers excellent performance at read speeds of up to 6,950MB per second and write of up to 6,392MB/s.

BENCHMARKS

In Cinebench R20 tests, the Intel Core i7-12700H scored 693 in single core benchmark and 5,542 in multi-core benchmark. In PCMark 10 Benchmark, the Katana GF66 scored 5,976. These scores are very impressive and one of the best CPU scores we’ve benchmarked.

GAMING

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 in combination with Intel Core i7-12700H provides an excellent gaming experience on the default resolution at high to maximum quality settings in most games. It can run most modern games easily above 60fps on very high settings with zero stuttering or lagging.

Temperature & Noise

In terms of cooling, Legion S7 uses the most extensive version of the Legion Coldfront technology. A dual-fan system of 82 liquid-crystal polymer blades enhances performance while spinning soundlessly.

Quad-channel ventilation and improved copper fin thermals work together to create a more efficient heat sink, as the whisper-quiet Coldfront system runs in the background. Users can utilize the Q-control 3.0 app to cycle through three settings to either reduce noise or maximize performance.

In practice though, the laptop does get hot during extended gaming sessions. Fan noise is quiet on idle but audible on load.

Upgradability

In terms of upgradeability, the Lenovo Legion S7 can be upgraded up to 24GB of RAM (8GB soldered + 16GB SO-DIMM) and with an additional M.2 SSD.

Battery & Audio

The Lenovo Legion S7 comes with a 99Whr battery. On a full charge, based on the usage and screen brightness, the laptop lasts about four to six hours of general use.

In terms of audio, there are 2x 2W Harman certificated speakers onboard, with audio optimized with Nahimic. The sound is of good quality but as with most gaming laptops, we recommend using a headset.

Lenovo Legion S7 Verdict

The Lenovo Legion S7 is an impressive all-round gaming laptop that comes packed with features. In terms of raw power, it comes packed with a 165Hz screen, the latest i7-12700H CPU and RTX 3060 GPU. The Legion S7 also offers RAM and storage upgradeability. There are just a few minor drawbacks and are not a show-stopper.