Lenovo refreshes its gaming laptops and desktops to look less ‘juvenile’

Lenovo is going after gamers who abhor the "garish" designs that some product makers feel are necessary to attract an audience. As if the company was hit with an epiphany, Lenovo acknowledges that even dedicated gaming PCs are sometimes used for other things, even *gasp* work, and so it redesigned its laptops and desktops with a different aesthetic in mind.

"Catering to avid PC gamers who value substance as much as style, the latest from Lenovo Legion are redesigned from the ground up to offer a modern and polished aesthetic that does less to flaunt a flashy, juvenile look, and more to deliver high performance without the garish frills," Lenovo said.

Lenovo introduced six new Legion gaming PCs in all, including two laptops (Y730 and Y530), two desktop towers (T730 and T530), and two cube desktops (C730 and C530). Several of them feature RGB lighting, so Lenovo isn't completely leaving behind gaming tropes. These are all gaming PCs, however, so it makes sense that Lenovo isn't packing its new systems in strictly business attire.

The Legion Y730 (17.3-inch and 15.6-inch models) and Y530 (15.6-inch only) are both made from machined aluminum and feature Full HD 1080p IPS displays, with a 144Hz refresh rate option. They're thinner and lighter than Lenovo's previous gaming laptops.

Configurations are available with up to an Intel 8th generation Core i7 processor paired with up to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU. Considering the 144Hz display option, it would have been good to see a faster GPU upgrade available as well.

Lenovo describes the Y530 as its mainstream option, while the higher-end Y730 offers overclocking options, with up to 16GB of overclocked Corsair DDR4 memory. The larger of the two is also the first laptop to support Corsair's iCUE RGB scheme.

The Legion Y530 will be available this month starting at $930, followed by the Legion Y730 coming out in June starting at $1,180.

Moving on to the desktops, the Legion T730 and T530 both sport a 28-liter chassis with a built-in handle, in case you want to lug it around to LAN parties or wherever else.

Like the new laptops, the desktops configurations consist of up to an Intel Core i7 processor. However, users can opt for up to a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, alongside up to 32GB of overclocked DDR4 Corsair Vengeance memory. For storage, users can max things out with two 512GB PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 or a 2TB hard drive.

Liquid cooling by way of Asetek is available on the T730. Either way, Lenovo says both systems are easy to upgrade with tool-free amenities—just push a button and the graphics card pops out, for example.

The Legion T730 and T530 will be available in August starting at $930 and $830, respectively.

Finally, Lenovo is rolling out a couple of cube-shaped PCs, the Legion C730 and C530, both with a portable 19-liter chassis. Like the tower desktops, there is a handle built into the top.

While small in size, these systems offer many of the same options as the tower desktops, including up to an Intel Core i7 processor, GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, and 32GB of Corsair DDR4 memory. To keep all that hardware cool, the cubes rely on a dual-channel thermal ventilation system.

These will also be available in August, with prices starting at $930 for the Legion C730 and $830 for the C530.

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Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).