Lenovo Legion 9 18 with RTX 5090 Review: The most powerful gaming laptop on the market

[Redaktion]

Lenovo has effortlessly conquered the 18-inch gaming laptop segment with the Legion 9 18. After recently testing the RTX 5080 version, we now take a look at the top model based on the RTX 5090. Will the competition have to warm up again?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Legion-9-18-with-RTX-5090-Review-The-most-powerful-gaming-laptop-on-the-market.1143679.0.html

[TinoG]

Hello,

Can you guys verify that the bottom two fans are spinning during the stress tests? The infrared images give the impression that they are totally inactive.

Thanks,
T

[winter heater built-in]

they are spinning, the INTEL CPU being a nice heater has been a based meme for years

The Arrow Lake-HX chips are based on the desktop Arrow Lake-S chips and are composed of several chiplets. The CPU part is manufactured at TSMC in the modern N3B (3nm) process, the GPU also comes from TSMC in the N5P process. The SoC and I/O tile are manufactured in the TSMC N6 process. The base tile is manufactured by Intel in the 22nm process and carries the individual chiplets thanks to Fovero's 3D packaging.

Guess not even TSMC' power efficient node can help INTEL (now news tho).

Server providers [where power consumption matters] be like: Yep, we switching to AMD's Epyc.

[TinoG]

I agree that the CPU's influence is strong, but I'd like to hear someone from Notebookcheck confirm; the images really make it seem that the bottom fans are either not running, or working at a fraction of the RPM the large fans are.

Maybe there are some really hot components underneath the small fans contributing to their perceived heat?

[winter heater built-in]

now news tho

Sorry, correction: not news tho (Hardware Unboxed tested (~a year old vid) an INTEL CPU built by TSMC and even TSMC' more power efficient node didn't help at all, which is kinda crazy. INTEL also needs to change the architecture of their CPUs))

(not saying that the bottom two fans weren't spinning during the stress tests, would like to know just for the kek)

It's not a secret that INTEL's node needs dire improvement (ask server providers, where power efficiency matters).

"The Intel Problem: CPU Efficiency & Power Consumption" (Gamers Nexus): youtube.com/watch?v=9WRF2bDl-u8
In the vid, the INTEL CPU is roughly 3 times less power efficient, actually it's 3.67 = 3.3 [FPS per Watt]/0.9 [FPS per Watt].
The comments under the vid are also funny:

@ItsHaldun
1 year ago
"Ah yes, let me limit this 550$ CPU that I bought to 40% of its operating power, so it can get half the efficiency of its rival instead of 1/3rd"
- Greg, 2023

While the vid is comparing an AMD V-Cache CPU vs a non-V-Cache CPU, and since then INTEL has made improvements, AFAIK, INTEL has not caught up (catching up a 267% (=3.67x) difference, is not like it's a 30% one), otherwise INTEL's stock would have gone up and their stock went only recently up, after they have announced a deal with NVIDIA, maybe to save their company and/or give them time to release a new node, before things would get even worse.

Everyone would profit if INTEL would improve their node, especially if they would catch up and I hope they do.

notebookcheck.net/Intel-server-CPU-share-shrinks-to-62-AMD-still-trails-but-gap-narrows.1046758.0.html

After decades of near-total dominance, Intel is rapidly losing its grip on the server CPU market. AMD's EPYC processors are capturing an increasing share of revenue and enterprise trust, [..]
This trend appears unlikely to reverse in the near future.

There is an image with a graph and if the graph continues like that, AMD will overtake INTEL in a few more years.

The new AI server market really doesn't like high power consumption and will prefer power efficiency..

That said, it looks like INTEL has made improvements in Core Ultra 200 series (300 series in the beginning of 2026, let's see if it's just a refresh):
notebookcheck.net/Intel-Lunar-Lake-CPU-analysis-The-Core-Ultra-7-258V-s-multi-core-performance-is-disappointing-but-its-everyday-efficiency-is-good.893405.0.html
notebookcheck.net/Intel-Lunar-Lake-iGPU-analysis-Arc-Graphics-140V-is-faster-and-more-efficient-than-Radeon-890M.894167.0.html