Lenovo Legion y740 Laptop Review

The Lenovo Legion Y740 returns to our offices, albeit with a little performance boost over the version we evaluated previously. The 15-inch gaming laptop performed admirably in our previous testing, so we're interested to see how the change from an 8th to a 9th generation Intel Core CPU affects performance. Continue reading to see if this has any effect or if it's just a cosmetic enhancement.

Lenovo only sold the Legion Y740-15ICHg with Intel Core processors from the 8th generation, however the Y740 has subsequently been updated to the Coffee Lake Refresh (CL-R) generation. Because CL-R processors have faster boost clocks than their predecessors, we thought it would be interesting to compare the advantages of the Core i7-9750H-powered Y740 versus the Core i7-8750H-powered Y740. Our new test gadget, by the way, has a considerably brighter display than the one that came with our initial testing unit from Lenovo.

Design:

The computer's spirit is encapsulated by the iron grey metal lid with Legion inscribed over the left border. It's simple, even basic, yet it's strong enough to handle whatever task you throw at it. The laptop's whole chassis is made of high-quality aluminum, giving it a long-lasting and attractive appearance. If you don't like the minimalist appearance, the Legion Y740 has RGB lighting that lights not only the keyboard but also the air vents and the Y sitting on the O of Legion on the lid.

The Lenovo Legion Y740's port management is well-thought-out. Except for a USB 3.1 and USB-C port on the right and left sides of the computer, all ports are located on the rear for simpler cable management. You may connect up to three external displays at once via the HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, and USB-C connections. Because the ports are on the rear, the laptop is a little longer.

Performance:

There's no denying that the Lenovo Y740 is a powerhouse, and you can feel it even while doing simple things like surfing or editing files. When I opened Microsoft Word, for example, I seldom saw the splash screen. It's speedy enough to skip Word's blue loading screen and get straight to the software. The same may be said for the majority of other Office applications and third-party software.

However, I am confident that no one will purchase this laptop in order to use Word and PowerPoint. So, let's have a look at how well this laptop performs in benchmark tests. We kept several programmes like Steam and Origin running in the background and used the laptop for a few minutes before commencing the benchmarks to mimic real-world settings. The tests were carried out at a temperature of 24°C in the room and 40°C in the CPU.

The laptop got 2037 points in Cinebench R20, with the CPU reaching a maximum temperature of 82°C and an average temperature of 65°C. The CPU clocked at a high of 4.2 GHz during the test, with an average of 3.0 GHz.

After that, we ran 3D Mark's TimeSpy benchmark to see how well DirectX 12 handled 1080p gameplay. The laptop received 5909 points and the CPU reached a maximum temperature of 89°C, with an average temperature of 70°C. The CPU clocked at a high of 4.2 GHz during the test, with an average of 3.5 GHz.

I/O:

Because the Lenovo Legion Y740 is a gaming laptop, it has plenty of ports. Lenovo has managed to include every connector you'll ever require. Lenovo has placed all of the key I/O on the back of the laptop, hiding the cords behind the screen and providing a tangle-free experience.

The charging port, USB 3.0 Gen 1 port, Ethernet port, USB 3.0 Gen 2 port, HDMI output, mini-display output, and tiny security-lock slot are all located on the rear, from left to right. The USB Type-C connector with Thunderbolt 3 and a 3.5mm headphone jack are on the left side. An Always-on USB-A 3.0 port and the Novo button for Lenovo one-key recovery are located on the right.

Battery:

Finally, we've arrived to the laptop's weak line. While gaming laptops aren't supposed to last more than 10 hours, the Lenovo Legion Y740 only lasted 3 hours on a single charge. Please keep in mind that we had the laptop set to 50% brightness and that all of the RGB lights were turned off. We also enabled Hybrid Mode, which disables G-Sync while extending battery life. The laptop lasted around 1 hour and 25 minutes with G-Sync switched on. The good news is that you can toggle G-Sync on and off via the Lenovo Vantage programmer, although it does need a restart.

Another factor to consider is the massive power brick included with the laptop from Lenovo. Although the power brick is rated for 230W, it is very large in comparison to other 230W power bricks. Lenovo's fast charging, on the other hand, should bring you back to 80 percent in no time. Overall, if you don't take the laptop around too much, it should be alright, but if you do, make sure you have the charger with you.

Conclusion:

So should you buy it? We would say yes. The laptop overall is great, and I personally loved the clean design. It was refreshing considering it didn’t scream gamer to me with all the red accents. The performance of the laptop is absolutely amazing. Although, you might need a couple of days to get adjusted to the keyboard( like gaming pc keyboard) layout but once you do, the keys feel really good and I loved the tactile experience while typing on the keyboard. The mouse comes with left and right click buttons which are always better.

The battery life could have been better when compared to other similar laptops. However, I am not complaining here. Although, I do hope Lenovo adds back the fan control because that’s an important feature personally for me while playing games and it is also preferable laptop to study for engineering students

That said, nothing is ever perfect and the same applies to Lenovo Y740. The laptop still is a great option and I recommend it to anyone in the market for a gaming laptop. The price of the laptop vary from region to region and also the specs you decide to go with. We recommend checking out Lenovo’s website for the updated pricing and other information. Lenovo also offers RTX 2070 Max-Q and RTX 2080 Max-Q so if you plan to take advantage of Ray Tracing then I would recommend going for one of those instead of the RTX 2060.