Lenovo’s high-end Legion Slim gaming laptops get new AI chips to ‘optimize cooling’

Lenovo has announced some of the top laptops that its Legion gaming arm will release in 2023. Among them are refreshes to the 16-inch Slim 7, Slim 7i, Slim 5, and Slim 5i as well as a new Slim 5 in a 14-inch size. These are, as the name implies, thinner and more portable devices than the beefiest gaming rigs on the market.

In addition to new processors from Intel and AMD, the devices include physical AI chips that power what Lenovo is calling its “AI Engine+.” This feature, Lenovo says, will dynamically adjust a system’s thermals to “optimize cooling on the fly and maintain maximum output with minimal noise.”

Whether this is a big deal will honestly depend on the impact it ends up having on performance. Were these laptops to deliver a large increase in frame rates over their predecessors at the same temperatures (or maintain the same frame rates at much lower temperatures — you all know how this works), that would be a significant benefit. Alas, Lenovo didn’t include concrete performance estimates in its press release. I do wonder exactly how much fancy AI can really improve on the general principle of “cool the chip when it’s too hot,” but I guess we’ll have to see.

Elsewhere, the Slim 7 models include a 16:10 display with WQXGA / 240Hz and 3.2K / 165Hz options. The keyboards (fancily dubbed the “Lenovo Legion TrueStrike keyboard”) have per-key RGB lighting, a full numpad, and a decent 1.5mm of travel. The more affordable Slim 5-ers are slightly pared down from that; you get up to a WXGA / 240Hz screen on the 16 inchers with an OLED screen on the 14, and the keyboard has four-zone RGB lighting.

Both Slim 7 models start at $1,769.99; the 16-inch Slim 5 and Slim 5i start at $1,199.99 and $1,349.99, respectively. The two Intel models launch in April, while the two AMD models are expected in May. The 14-inch Slim 5 is coming in October, with pricing still to be announced.