Ahead of E3, Lenovo has announced a complete relaunch of its gaming devices sold under the Legion brand. If you’re looking for the highest-powered computers you can buy, these won’t be them. In fact, Lenovo is focusing more on the hobby gamer — the person for whom gaming isn’t the primary identifier of them as a person.
In attempting to reach outside the traditional gaming audience, Lenovo has two new laptops, two new mini-PCs, and two tower desktops — all with updated components and a new design sensibility.
Laptops
Legion Y530
At the bottom of the range of prices is the Y530, which is an entry-level, 15.6-inch gaming laptop. Lenovo has trimmed down the bezels and the overall size of the laptop from previous models, now offering a much sleeker look to match what you might find on a Razer Blade laptop.
The Y530 is 5.1 pounds and 0.94 inches thick, which is significantly smaller than previous generations, though not quite as much as the 2018 Razer Blade. Across both new laptops, Lenovo has moved many of the larger ports to the rear, replacing them with extra vents on the side for improved cooling. You’ll still have two USB-A ports on either side for easy access, though theY530 doesn’t have a Thunderbolt 3 port.
While the Y530 is smaller, it’s still got some pretty impressive internal components under the hood. You have a choice between two powerful CPUs: The Intel Core i5-8300H and the Core i7-8750H. On the graphics side of things, the Y530 has either the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti. Memory goes up to 32GB of RAM, and storage up to 512GB of PCIe NVMe, plus an optional 2TB hard drive.
Lastly, the Y530 comes with your option of either a 60Hz or 144Hz display. Thankfully, Lenovo is not offering a 4K panel and is instead focusing on Full-HD 1080p screens. The Y530 has a 52.5 watt-hour battery, and Lenovo says you can expect around five hours of battery life.
The Legion Y530 starts at $930, while the 144Hz model is priced at $1,230. It’ll be available for purchase online in June 2018 and at Best Buy in July.
Legion Y730
A lot of the same new design features from the Y530 have also been brought to the spendier model, the Y730. Some of those features include ports being moved to the back, thinned-out bezels, and a smaller overall frame. Speaking of the frame, the Legion Y730 comes with an all-aluminum body,
Overall, the Y730 is the thinner and higher-end model compared to the Y530, though it comes in both 15-inch and 17-inch variants. The 15-inch Y730 is thinner and lighter than the Y530 at 4.8 pounds and 0.78 inches thick. The 17-inch, meanwhile, weighs in at 6.4 pounds and measures up to 0.86 inches thick at the front and 0.95 inches at the rear.
As for internals, the Legion Y730 offers the same Core i5-8300H and Core i7-870H options, though the GTX 1050 Ti is your only choice for the Y730. Both the 15- and 17-inch can be configured with memory from 8GB to 32GB of RAM, and storage from 128GB to 512GB of PCIe NVMe. The primary benefits you get with the Y730 is a Thunderbolt 3 port, thinner chassis, and fancy RGB lighting in the keyboard.
The Legion Y730 even has the same IPS display options — either a 60Hz or a 144Hz screen, with both being able to turn up to 300 nits and show 72 percent of the AdobeRGB color space. The 15-inch Legion Y730 starts at $1,180 and the 17-inch starts at $1,250. Both will be available for purchase online in June 2018 and at Best Buy in July.
Desktops
Cubes
Lenovo has also updated its two gaming desktop lines, starting with the 19-liter “Cube” form factor. The Cube has been completely redesigned, moving to a much simpler, cube shape. It’s still got a convenient handle on the top, with the assortment of ports located on the back. Interestingly, the new Cubes have gone up in weight from 16 pounds to just under 20 pounds.
There are two models: The C530 and C730. They’re identical in size and design, though they offer different CPU options and configurations. The C530 has three CPU options: The Core i3-8100, the Core i5-8400, and the Core i7-8700. Meanwhile, the C730 adds a high-powered option at the top: The Core i7-8700K.
For your graphics on the C530, you can choose between the GeForce GTX 1050, 1050 Ti, and 1060. In addition, you can choose the AMD route with either Radeon RX 560 or 570. The C730 only offers the RX 570 and GTX 1060. Both models offer standard configurations featuring up to 32GB of RAM and up to 512GB of M.2 PCIe SSD and two 2TB HDD.
The C530 starts at $830 and will be available in July 2018, while the C730 starts at $930 and will be available in August 2018.
Towers
Lenovo has also revamped its traditional desktop towers as well, again with a less audacious design. The two towers are the Legion T530 and T730, which have identical components on the inside. The towers have some new RGB lighting and boast tool-free maintenance so that gamers have quick access to swapping out important components.
The T530 and T730 will start at $830 and $930, respectively, matching the prices of the Cube form factor.
