2026 Legion 7a Review - Great Laptop, Disappointing Processor
February 10, 2026
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Legion 7a with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470
Summary
The Legion 7a comes packaged with AMD's newest Gorgon Point CPU which is a big downgrade from last year's Intel HX processor. The rest of the laptop? Fantastic.
Table of contents:
Laptops in this Article
16 Inches | 512 GB | 16 GB | Core Ultra 7 255HX | RTX 5060
On Sale
Summary
The Lenovo Legion 7a is an undeniably attractive machine. Especially in white. It keeps the premium design the Legion 7 line is known for while slimming things down into a lighter, more portable chassis. For a 16-inch gaming laptop, it’s impressively easy to carry, and still offers excellent build quality, a fantastic OLED display, and improved battery life compared to its predecessor. On the surface, it feels like a well-thought-out evolution of the Legion 7 formula.
CPU: AMD's Gorgon Point is a Disappointment
The problem lies at the heart of the laptop: AMD’s new Gorgon Point processor. While the Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 sounds like a meaningful update on paper, in practice it delivers little to no improvement over last year’s 370 chip—and in some cases, it performs worse. Worse still, it often draws more power and runs hotter than that chip, undermining the efficiency gains you’d expect in a new generation. Against Intel’s HX processors found in the Legion 7i and competing laptops, it consistently falls behind in both CPU benchmarks and CPU-limited gaming scenarios.
16 Inches | 512 GB | 16 GB | Core Ultra 7 255HX | RTX 5060
Pros
- Very comfortable keyboard
- Fast full size SD card reader (UHS-II)
- Stunning display
- Portable for a gaming laptop
- Glacier White version looks cool
- Upgradeable memory
Cons
- Maxes out at an RTX 5070
- Gets warm under load
On Sale
GPU: RTX 5060 is Underwhelming
Gaming performance is solid but unremarkable. With the Legion 7a capped at an RTX 5060, it trails laptops equipped with higher-wattage GPUs or stronger CPUs, including Lenovo’s own Legion 7i—which, at the time of review, can be found for slightly less while offering a faster Intel HX processor and an RTX 5070. Creator workloads like video editing are perfectly usable, but again, the weaker CPU holds the system back compared to similarly priced alternatives.
The Laptop as a Whole: Wonderful
Where the Legion 7a redeems itself is in everyday usability. Battery life is strong for a gaming laptop, the keyboard and display are excellent, and the reduced size and weight make it far more travel-friendly than previous Legion models. If portability is your top priority and you can find it at a meaningful discount, it might make sense.
14 Inches | 1 TB | 32 GB | Core Ultra 7 255H
Pros
- Two high resolution 14-inch screens, great for multitasking
- Solid battery life
- Keyboard and laptop all fit together conveniently, rare for this form factor
- Performs well
Cons
- Form factor isn't for everyone
- Keyboard is low travel due to its design
- A bit on the pricier end
Overall
As it stands, the Legion 7a feels like a great laptop let down by its new, somehow slightly worse, processor. Without a significant price cut, it’s hard to recommend over faster, better-value options, including Lenovo’s own 7i from last year.