Last year, we reviewed the Lenovo Legion Y740 with the 8th gen Intel i7-8750H paired with an RTX 2060 GPU. This time around, Lenovo gave us a chance to take the new Legion Y740 laptop with an i7-9750H and an RTX 2070 for a spin.
Design
Nothing changed much aesthetically. The Legion Y740 still builds on its strengths, especially the keyboard and I/O ports. Despite being a gaming laptop, the Y740 inherits the design DNA of Thinkpads back in their day. It weighs around 2.2 kg and measures 20mm at its thickest.
We see the familiar I/O ports at the back. I’m really a fan of this design as it’s easier to manage cables coming from the back instead of on the sides. The Y740 has a wide array of ports, giving users flexibility when it comes to accessories. On the backside, you have a mini DisplayPort, a full-sized HDMI port, 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A, ethernet port, AC adapter and a Kensington lock slot. On the right side, you’ll find a lone USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port and a NOVO hole, Lenovo’s proprietary recovery software. And on the other side, you have the 3.5mm combination audio/mic jack plus a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port.
For its slim form factor, the Y740 is one of the cooler and quieter systems in its segment. Lenovo calls it the Coldfront. It has 4 thermal vents for improved airflow, dedicated heatsinks for a more comfortable surface temperature and cools the CPU and GPU individually. But again, after playing for a few hours with it, the underside of the laptop still gets warm uncomfortably unless you use an active cooler for it.
Build Quality
The Y740 chassis is made up of aluminum, giving it durability while keeping the weight down. Nothing much changed in this area and pretty much the only difference with the previous generation is the insides of the machine.
The keyboard is just a joy to use. Banking on the trusted keyboard design of Thinkpads back then, you’ll find the Y740 keys very comfortable to type and game on. The keyboard is fully customizable using Corsair’s iCue software.
Panel
Lenovo didn’t cut corners and provided gamers with one of the best screens in the gaming laptop space. The 15.6” FHD IPS panel has thin bezels, although the fat chin is still there, but it’s less distracting than I expected in actual usage. It has a refresh rate of 144Hz and supports NVIDIA G-sync, providing gamers with a tear-free experience. The screen has brightness levels of up to 500 nits, and has Dolby Vision which gives vibrant and true-to-life colors.
Performance
Given where we are in the microprocessor space, don’t expect that much of a difference between generations. This Y740 performs a bit better than our last one because of it having an RTX 2070 vs just the RTX 2060 on the 8th gen one. Odd enough, when we ran the Cinebench R20 benchmark, the difference was negligible and was in fact lower than the 8th gen one.
Conclusion
The updated version doesn’t give much of an upgrade than the previous one. If you’re able to get the 8th gen one at a lower price, I’d suggest you go for that system. But if the price is negligible between them, go for the 9th generation one.