Lenovo Legion 9i Review - Into the Third Dimension
Remember when the first Avatar movie came out? It created a huge movement in entertainment that flashed through Hollywood, into our homes, and just as abruptly disappeared. That movement was 3D. For a brief, tantalising moment, we all had the belief that this was the future of all screen-based entertainment. Even games like Batman: Arkham City supported it if you had a 3D TV. But for better or worse, that trend disappeared like so many before it, leaving nothing behind but some warm memories and the occasional headache. Enter the Lenovo Legion 9i, a laptop that hopes to bring 3D back into the spotlight, but in a way that is both more practical and more entertaining than some tall blue people shooting arrows out of the screen at you.
Let’s start with the PC bits before we get to the 3D, shall we? This beast of a laptop is 18′, quite heavy and has a power brick that is at least as big as any I have seen. This is not really a laptop in the traditional sense of the word, more of a portable desktop. You certainly wouldn’t want to lug the 9i from meeting to meeting as you go about your day. It has significant weight, and the size obviously makes slipping it into a backpack almost impossible. That said, despite its size, it looks sleek. I quite like the camo print on the back, and there are no overly obnoxious elements to the design that would make it stand out in an office. I would say that it sports a “professionally cool” aesthetic that will keep 90% of people more than happy.
The insides of the laptop match the size. This thing is rocking a Core Ultra 9 processor, a 5090 video card and 32 gig of RAM. The only disappointment for me on the hardware side is the 1 TB SSD. This is a premium PC, so I would have thought 2 TB would be a more appropriate inclusion. All that said, these hardware specs mean that this will absolutely destroy any game you throw at it. There isn’t a title out there that will even make this thing come close to stuttering. All the power you will ever need and then some.
That hardware means one thing: the battery isn’t going to last too long. There is just no escaping it; when you are packing that much grunt, it takes some power to keep going. I got about 4 -5 hours out of a light use scenario, but throw a game on, and that drops to about an hour. As I said before, this is a system that is designed to be used as a portable desktop and not to be run on a battery all day.
Now onto the star of the show, the 3D. Using some sort of black magic, the 9i can turn normal old games into a 3D experience. It differs slightly from how we experienced 3D previously. There is no need to wear glasses, and the 3D image sinks into the screen; it doesn’t “pop out.” Think a super advanced version of what the 3DS used to do, and you will have a good idea of how it works. At this stage, there is a limited number of games that it works on, but the list includes some fairly recent titles and some absolute classics. I tried it myself on a few titles. First Person RPG Cyberpunk 2077, space shooter Chorus, God-bashing simulator God of War Ragnarok, Zombie Parkour FPS Dying Light 2 and weird third person brawler Nier: Automata and in each case, the 3D effect really added to the experience in ways I wasn’t expecting.
Adding a third dimension to these games undoubtedly increases immersion. Cyberpunk, Chorus and Dying Light 2 were exceptional, really adding a sense of being “in-the-game” as a result. Running over the rooftops in Dying Light gave me some serious vertigo at times, and looking down at the awaiting zombie hordes as I flew through the air is something truly special. There are, however, some things that suffer in 3D. I found the text hard to read at times, with the 3D effect distorting the words. This means it is probably not the ideal way to play a text-heavy RPG. It is hard not to be impressed by just how well the 3D element has been implemented; it is certainly a showstopper in terms of impressive tech, and it is great to see a company like Lenovo invest in something new like this, even if they know it is probably going to have a limited appeal to consumers.
The real trick of the 3D, at least in my mind, is not for games, but for designers and modellers. Thanks to Lenovo’s software, 3D models can now be seen as they are built, letting designers truly get a grasp on how things are looking. As a result of this, I can see game developers, architects, interior designers and similar trades looking at investing in at least one 9i for their offices to give their employees the chance to see their creations in 3D before committing more resources to whatever it is they are creating. This could be a real game-changer in this space if people are willing to give the new technology a go.
All of this power and technology comes at a cost, and it is a cost that is likely to make most of the population go pale. The RRP for the 9i is just shy of $10k. That is a big investment for anyone, let alone the average Joe in this financial environment. That said, it is the equivalent of any beasty desktop you can buy, plus it comes with that awesome, 18′ 3D screen that is unique in its own right, so you can see where the money goes. It is undoubtedly expensive, but not unjustifiably so. The truth is, there is nothing out there that is the same as the 9i. It is a unique experience that will absolutely find its place in the development community, but it may be a dollar too far for regular gamers. That said, it offers an exciting glimpse of a potential future in 3D, one that I hope gets explored in greater detail soon.
