Lenovo's Legion line of desktop towers manage to be impressive without being too costly, making the line-up a great investment for the budget-wary gamer. From its overall design to its performance in gaming, a Lenovo Legion desktop really packs it all in.
The set up is simple and straightforward, with no real superfluous programs taking up time, and the tower itself feels lighter than it looks. There's a carry handle built into the back of the tower that makes unboxing, setting up, and moving around a breeze, and it fits in naturally with the variety of ports in the back. The front has a nice phantom black design, with the Lenovo Legion logo lit up in LED lights, and the side of the tower is made with tempered-glass, allowing users to see all the machinations and tech of the gaming PC.
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Notably, the LED light on the inside comes pre-set to highlight the fan, making a nice rainbow effect on the back wall. Combined with the black design of the box, this ensures that the console isn't visually demanding but is quite pleasing when in view as well. This overall design also works well when it comes to ports, as while there's plenty on the back, there's a couple of quick and easy to reach ports on top of the machine, ideal for any wireless USB dongle devices like a PC gaming headset or wireless mouse. Of course, while aesthetics and design are important factors when choosing a gaming PC, performance is arguably the most important factor.
The cost for a Legion tower roughly ranges from $849.99 to $1399.99, with the higher costing towers including more bang for the buck. Game Rant was provided a Lenovo Legion T5-28ICB05 desktop, model number 90NUZ58AUS, which includes a Intel Core i5-9400F Processor, 8 GBs of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660, 1 TB HDD, and a 256 GB SSD. This overall setup falls in the lower end of pool for the line-up, retailing for around $849.99.
- Storage Type: SSD, HDD
- Total Storage Capacity: 1256 GBs
- Solid State Drive Capacity: 256 GBs
- Hard Drive Capacity: 1000 GBs
- System Memory (RAM): 8 GBs
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
- Processor Speed (Base): 2.9 gigahertz
- Processor Model: Intel 9th Generation Core i5
- Processor Model Number: i5-9400F
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
- USB Ports: 4 SuperSpeed 5Gbs USB 3.1 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports
- Bluetooth 4.0 interface
- Software Included: Microsoft 365 (30-day trial), McAfee LieSafe (30-day trial), and Lenovo Vantage
At first glance, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 may seem like a compromise, especially compared to some of 2020's best gaming hardware such as the 30-series graphic cards, but it doesn't feel that way in a game. Indeed, benchmarks for the RTX 3070 beat out the GTX 1660 by up to 200% in some cases, but games like Apex Legends, Wasteland 3, and Hades all play and feel incredibly well on this PC. While there is a little less polish to the graphics overall, it doesn't prevent gamers from feeling like they got a steal in the graphics department. Given that this tower can likely be built on, a Legion tower is a wise investment for those looking for long-term use.
In our time with this gaming desktop, there was no indication whatsoever that this wouldn't be a future-proofed investment. Everything ran smoothly, booted quickly, and snapped from game to game almost as if it were making use of the Xbox Series X's quick resume feature. On top of everything, the desktop felt cool to the touch, regardless of how long it was left on or how long a gaming session ran on. Combine this optimum heat control with it running in complete silence, this gaming desktop seems to be built with performance and longevity in mind.
While a gaming tower is often the most involved investment, requirements for a PC gamer like a monitor with a high refresh rate do come separately. Perhaps the only real disappointment with this particular box set-up is how it does come with a keyboard and mouse, but both are flimsy and are not really designed with gaming in mind. At purchase, it would be best to pair it with one of 2020's best gaming mice and keyboards and save onto the included set for a rainy, non-gaming day. As a work computer, the legion desktop goes above and beyond, so using it for both is easily achievable. Aside from the included accessories, everything else feels great from the top down.
All things considered, for those looking for a PC with a ton of promise, longevity, and even versatility, a Lenovo Legion desktop is an easy recommendation. It may not be a pricey, high-end $3000 dollar desktop, but at first glance, consumers wouldn't know it.
Game Rant was provided a Lenovo Legion gaming desktop for the purposes of this review.
