Lenovo Legion Y740 Gaming Laptop Deep Dive Review With Benchmarks

The previous-gen Lenovo Legion Y730 was a well-received machine with competitive pricing, but its mid-range GeForce GTX 1050 Ti meant it couldn't hang with some of the more powerful gaming notebooks on the market at the time. The updated Legion Y740, however, changes that. Though it's not particularly large or nearly as garish as many other gaming notebooks, the Lenovo Legion Y740 is a relatively beastly machine powered by an Intel Core i7-8750H 6-core / 12-thread processor, up to 32GB of memory, and one of two strong GPU options in the 15.6" model. This time around Lenovo gives consumers the ability to chose from either a GeForce RTX 2060 or RTX 2070 Max-Q, which are among the most advanced mobile GPUs currently available. The model we were sent was outfitted with the GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q, which put up some impressive numbers.

Along with the more powerful graphics options, the Y740 is offered in two different display form factors -- the 15.6-inch model we showed you here and a larger 17-inch model. There are no 4K display options, but the FullHD high-refresh rate display that is available is ideal for fast-paced gaming. The display was vibrant, offered good contrast, and the matte finish kept glare to a minimum. Movies and games looked great, so while we don't have any major complaints about the display itself, it just would have been nice to have a 4K option for those that may use the machine for content creation when they're not gaming. 

In our benchmarks, the Legion Y740 was typically one of the fastest machines we tested. It took the top spot in a handful of tests, including PCMark 10, and its gaming performance, though not class-leading, was very good. The GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q doesn't blow past the previous-generation GeForce GTX 1070 or 1080-class machines, but it does offer silky-smooth framerates in some demanding titles at the display's native FullHD resolution.

In terms of its design, the fact that most of the system's commonly used I/O ports are located on the back is also a nice feature, especially for anyone looking to replace a large desktop with a sleek laptop, that may not want to see an array of cables jutting out of the sides of their system. We like that Lenovo kept the same chassis design as the Y730 too. The body is made mostly of heavy duty aluminum and is very well constructed. It does attract some fingerprints, but the matte finish keep smudging to an acceptable level. The chassis also has plenty of ventilation for the CPU and GPU. With ample airflow the chips inside never got too hot during testing, but there were times the fans ramped up and became noticeably audible. We only experienced this during long gaming sessions, and while running our more taxing benchmarks though. The majority of time the fans were barley noticeable. Just keep in mind you might want to wear headphones while gaming, which is a bit of a shame because the speakers on the Y740 are some of the best we have heard on a laptop. For music and movies, we suspect most users will be happy with the audio output on the Y740. Battery life is a weak point, however. The small 57Wh battery doesn't last very long due to the powerful hardware in the machine. In our testing the battery is good for about two hours under normal load or about an hour while gaming. With results like these it's best to keep that charger handy.

Another feature we really liked was the RGB lighting. The keyboard back-lighting and lighted accents really add to the look of the laptop, giving it that little extra something that helps make it stand out. The RGB lighting is also controlled via Corsair's iCUE software, which is easy to use, but didn't include many preset options to choose from. Presets like color wave or pulse weren't initially available in the software. Instead, you simply get a rainbow spiral option that gets old kind of quick. Despite the lack of options in the software though, the lighting was on point, and looks great shining through the vents along the side and back of the system, and in the "Y" in the Legion logo as well.

The Lenovo Legion might not be the perfect gaming laptop, but it has a lot to offer in a sleek, attractive, competitively-priced package ($1,989 as tested). The Intel Core i7-8750H CPU and GeForce RTX graphics combo give the machine plenty of muscle and it also has an outstanding 144Hz FHD display that's ideal for a wide variety of content.