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If there’s one area where the Legion Y740 really shines, it’s performance. With an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and the almost top-of-the-line Nvidia RTX 2070, there’s nothing this laptop can’t handle.
Here’s how the Lenovo Legion Y740 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Sky Diver: 35,625; Fire Strike: 14,240; Time Spy: 6,491
Cinebench CPU: 1,220 points; Graphics: 112 fps
GeekBench: 4,265 (single-core); 23,129 (multi-core)
PCMark 8 (Home Test): 4,922 points
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Battery Life (techradar movie test): 2 hours and 28 minutes
Total War: Warhammer II (1080p, Ultra): 52 fps; (1080p; Low): 114 fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, Ultra): 80 fps; (1080p, Low): 116 fps
The Nvidia RTX 2070 is a particularly exciting addition with its 8GB of dedicated RAM and real-time ray tracing courtesy of its Turing architecture.
When running AAA games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dirt Rally 2.0 or Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, there’s no hint of screen tearing, lag, frame drops or any other performance issues.
They all load quickly and run smoothly, even on the highest settings, making gaming on the Lenovo Legion Y740 an immersive experience.
Taking a look at the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks as a demonstration of the laptop’s abilities, we averaged a more than respectable 79.5 fps on the highest settings.
Along with the display’s 144Hz refresh rate and Nvidia G-Sync, you shouldn’t miss a single frame.
Battery life
While it’s a universal truth that gaming laptops have poor battery life, the Y740 is particularly unimpressive. It may be due to the power consumption of the Nvidia RTX graphics card or the screen running a 144Hz refresh rate with up to 500 nits of brightness.
Still, the laptop only manages to last less than 2 hours on the PCMark 8 battery benchmark and dies after 2 hours and 28 minutes on our movie test, barely enough time to get through the movie once.
Granted, gaming laptops are not meant to be used on the go, like a Chromebook or Ultrabook, but it would have be nice to squeeze a little more battery life out of the computer.
Software and features
The Lenovo Y740’s features mostly revolve around a suite of applications meant to customize and optimize your gaming experience. The Killer Control Center gives you control over your network, so you can fine tune and prioritize certain programs on your network.
You can dial in your audio preferences with Dolby Atmos. The program gives a number of profiles for different audio applications such as Game, Dynamic, Movie, Music and Voice as well as a Personalize tab to set your own EQ. This software also lets you set a Surround Visualizer, Dialogue Enhancer and Volume Leveler slider in the gaming and personalize profiles.
Corsair iCue is the perfect companion software to the computer backlighting, allowing you to create new profiles, set the speed and direction of various preset effects as well as set the RGB lighting for the vents and the Y that glows on the back panel.
Lenovo Vantage is probably the most important software on offer here. It will keep track of CPU, GPU, RAM and hard drive usage. Turn on a number of useful settings such as Hybrid Mode for battery management, and Auto Close which closes all unnecessary processes when running a game.
Final verdict
Between the bright, detailed screen running at an insane 144Hz refresh rate, and internal muscle, powered by the Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia Turing graphics, and 16GB RAM, the Lenovo Legion Y740 is a gaming delight. This laptop offers a cable management solution, effective thermal cooling and a host of applications to fine tune your gaming experience.
And, with its iron gray aluminum enclosure and RGB lighting, the Lenovo Legion Y740 looks the part. This is for serious gamers only. Starting at $1,369, the price is hard to beat for such a package. It’s not a perfect machine, the keyboard position and battery life being our biggest complaints, but as long as you’re not trying to play Call of Duty on a road trip, the Y740 will more than suffice.
Image Credits: TechRadar
