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Lenovo Legion R45w-30 Review – Curved eye candy

Gamers naturally go for the highest immersion. Thousands of euros are quickly spent on a new PC to be able to play in 4K or higher resolution without sacrificing the number of images per second. This naturally requires an equally impressive display and Lenovo now offers the Legion R45w, a curved super-ultrawide display.

Lenovo is making good progress with both laptops and peripherals. Now Lenovo has launched two new monitors, the Legion Y34wz-30 and the Legion R45w-30. We tested the Legion R45w-30, an impressive curved monitor with an image diameter of no less than 44.5 inches.

The Lenovo Legion monitor comes with a sturdy base that easily clicks into place on the monitor. The base is solid and that’s a good thing, but the monitor weighs almost 9 kilos and is certainly not light. In addition to the monitor and base, the R45w comes with a brief manual and three cables. The extensive manual must be collected digitally.

The three cables consist of an HDMI, DisplayPort and USB cable. The monitor is quite flexibly adjustable, it can tilt, swivel and be adjusted in height. The display itself is a matte backlight WLED. Unfortunately, this is not an OLED screen, but we should not expect that for the recommended retail price of just under 1000 euros. Before we go into the possibilities of the monitor, let’s first take a look at its technical features.

Characteristics

Dimensions Height 528.4 mm (20.80 in)
Width 108.99 mm (42.91 in)
Depth 341.1 mm (13.43 in)
Image size 44.5 inches
Aspect ratio 32:9 (super ultra wide)
Maximum resolution 5120 x1440 pixels (DQHD)
HDR DisplayHDR 400
Maximum frequency 165Hz
Response time 1ms
To adjust Tilt: -5 – 22 degrees
Rotate: -30 – 30 degrees
Height adjustment: 135 mm
Power consumption <165 watts (max)
<34W (typical)
Connections 1 x Power supply
2xHDMI 2.1
1 x DisplayPort 1.4 in
1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 (upstream)
1 x USB-B 3.2 Gen 1 (upstream)
1 x RJ-45 (10M/100M/1G/2.5G)
3 x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 (downstream)
1 x Audio Output

Lots of frames, huge resolution

The more frames a monitor is able to produce, the more stable the image looks. The R45w-30 delivers frequencies up to 165 Hz (and even 170 Hz in ) which produces a beautiful, stable image. Whether you play games or want to use the monitor for work, a stable image provides peace of mind for your eyes. With a resolution of up to 5120 x1440 pixels and HDR 400 support, the image is also razor sharp.

Anyone who wants to use the R45w-30 in a work situation can use the super ultrawide screen to display multiple applications side by side. The disadvantage of such a wide screen is that the standard commands for window sizes are sometimes not useful. Lenovo has come up with a solution for this, called True Split. The screen can be divided into two ‘virtual’ screens, giving the connected PC the impression of having two separate screens. Particularly useful, a maximized window is ‘only’ half of the super ultrawide screen.

In addition, the monitor has a wide range of access ports and options, including picture-in-picture (where one image is shown in the corner), picture-by-picture (side by side) and the aforementioned True Split and KVM, where the monitor can switch between two connected systems. In the various modes you can also set the ratio between the two screens.

For example, if you want to watch a movie on one part, it is useful to be able to watch that part on 2/3 of the total screen, leaving the rest for something else. All options are accessible via four buttons: a four-way button for access to the menu and buttons for direct access to frequently used functions.

Sound and Vision

The R45w is equipped with a backlit WLED display that achieves a contrast ratio of 3000:1 with a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2. That is just slightly more than the requirements of the DisplayHDR 400 certification that the monitor has. Even though the screen is not OLED, we are certainly not disappointed with the image that is delivered. The colors are lifelike, feel natural and comes with a low response time.

The R45w is somewhat sensitive to the viewing angle. Due to the curve, the viewing angle quickly becomes quite high if you are not sitting directly in front of the screen. If we view the image from a different position, we see that the matte screen remains visible for a long time in incident (sun)light. However, the screen does become a bit dull at higher viewing angles.

Like many monitors, the R45w has a number of special game modes for FPS, racing, RTS and two custom game modes that you can set yourself. The response time can also be increased in steps and the refresh rate can be displayed. We prefer to keep the display at the Standard settings, but those who want to experiment with this have extensive options.

The monitor has built-in 3-watt speakers. That’s not too much, but sufficient for basic gaming, without immediately resulting in squeaks and crackles. Even at higher volumes, the monitor itself does not vibrate. The sound quality is sufficient, but if you are serious about your (game) sound, we recommend an external sound source.

Game on!

The ultra-wide image of the Legion obviously offers opportunities for those who want a lot of immersion gaming. All racing games benefit greatly from the extra wide and curved image. The ultra-wide view gives you a much greater sense of speed and a much better overview of what’s happening around your car, especially if you set the camera from behind the wheel. The curved screen gives you the immediate feeling that you can actually see to the left and right of you, which provides serious added value.

The wider screen is also an asset for non-racing games. Modern games such as Lies or P make optimal use of the wide screen and thus enrich the gaming experience. You simply see more of your surroundings, which only benefits you.

That extra width does come with a number of significant caveats. For example, consoles cannot handle (super) ultra-wide images, so you play with large black bars. PCs do not have this limitation, but the extra number of pixels (two 4K screens next to each other!) must be able to be controlled.

With the currently available hardware, this almost always means a trade-off: either play at the highest resolution but compromise on image quality, or reduce the resolution somewhat. By the way, we managed to conjure up a considerable number of FPS at high resolution on the screen with a laptop PC with RTX 4070. Also, not all games are able to support the extra image resolution, so sometimes even the most modern games (Starfield!) cannot always make use of it.

However, a warning is in order: anyone who really wants to use such a monitor properly will also need a modern(er) PC.

Lenovo Legion R45w-30: Ideal for the dedicated PC gamer

The Legion R45w-30 is an excellent monitor with excellent specifications. With a refresh rate of 165 Hz and a response time of 1 ms, it is not the fastest monitor we have tested, but the price reflects that: this monitor has a recommended retail price of just under 1000 euros.

For this you get a monitor with many connection options and a beautiful image and of course a particularly beautiful gaming monitor. You must have at least an equivalent gaming PC, use with a console is actually a no-go.

8

The plus and minus points

  • Beautiful WLED screen with an extremely wide image
  • Many connection options
  • High image quality, excellent for gaming
  • Console experience
  • No OLED

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Lenovo Legion Tower 5i – Review

The cabinet chosen for this line is the Color Panthom Black which has sober but decisive lines: a 28 liter midtower with dimensions of 457x184x455 cm for approximately 12 kg of weight. It is made of a mixture of rigid plastic and black brushed aluminum, two different surfaces but the combination of which is aesthetically very pleasant. On the rigid plastic front, an inward sloping air intake stands out at the bottom, while in the upper part, the LED-lit Legion symbol is placed in a texture with oblique lines. On the left side, the aluminum panel is fitted with a plexiglass window with the word Legion on one side which allows you to see the components mounted inside. On the right side, the panel is completely made of aluminum while at the rear are the inputs for the power supply, the video card, the USB and Ethernet ports as well as the audio jacks. On the upper part, in rough plastic, detaches the carrying handle, incorporated in a spoiler inclined at 45 °.

The machine supplied by Lenovo for this test equips a Maxun B460M motherboard with an Intel i7-10700 processor at a speed of 2.90 GHz, two banks of 8 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2933 Mhz for a total of 16 GB, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU with 6GB of video memory and a 1TB SSD, all powered by a 400W ES Gold power supply. As for the connectivity on the top next to the on / off button, it There is a single combo audio jack for headphone and microphone and two USB 3.2 ports while on the rear a USB 3.2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 1 Ethernet port and three audio jacks.

It is certainly a mid-range configuration but it should be noted that the choice of components offered by Lenovo is very varied and guarantees solutions adapted to all desires. For example, the fleet of GPUs you can choose from ranges from the GeForce RTX 2060 6GB to the RTX2080 Super 8GB, or from the AMD Radeon RX 5500 4GB to the 5700XT 8GB. Processor models go up to the tenth generation Intel® Core i9-10900, RAM starts from a minimum of 8 GB up to a maximum of 64 GB as well as the SSD storage cuts start from a base of 256 GB to get up to to 2 TB of allocation space. The possibility to choose the power model is also varied and includes three models of 350W, 400W and 650W respectively.

Cooling is guaranteed by the Legion Coldfront 2.0 system which includes two large fans installed respectively at the front for suction and at the rear for expelling air, with improved thermal fins and a CPU cooler. The different components work in synergy to ensure efficient air circulation inside the case and optimal cooling of the components. Via the software, you can choose between three different ventilation modes: silent, balanced or rated for performance with a gradual increase in noise depending on this choice. It is logically assumed that the selection of the latter occurs following the use of games which require a great deal of computing power and therefore the need for a greater cooling capacity of the components which will inevitably tend to heat up.

All components are manageable and configurable via the Lenovo Vantage, a pre-installed software belonging to the Hong Kong multinational that incorporates various features, some very interesting. On the home screen there is a monitoring section that allows you to view the main hardware components and know in real time the clock speed at which the processor is moving, the amount of RAM and video memory used and the percentage of space allocated to storage. A System Tools section allows you to update the operating system, dynamically adjust the thermal performance of the power supply, improve the visual experience and configure the properties of the screen and finally an extremely detailed analysis hardware with the ability to choose from dozens of performance and efficiency tests.

In other dedicated sections you can select ventilation mode, network optimization, automatic shutdown, use of Dolby Surround and WiFi connection security. Finally, there is a section in which to select and customize RGB lighting profiles and a section dedicated to the Legion Game Store.

Tests carried out with the help of various reference programs give the idea of ​​the excellent usability in the workplace of this PC. In those made for the CPU using Cinebench R20, the 2.90 GHz Intel Core i7-10700 scored 2994 points while with PCMark 10, software that simulates the use of various applications dedicated to productivity, it scored 6637 In graphics tests, the GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GPU with Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 scored 2893 with the preset set to Extreme while with the 3DmarkTime Spy it scored 7161. Regarding the test of storage speed, performance of 1TB SSD recorded on CristalDiskMark it made about 3528MB / s read and about 2967MB / s write. The values ​​obtained are excellent and perfectly in line with those expected from a computer of this range.

To test the game performance of this Legion Tower 5i we have chosen to try a few games selected according to the complexity and the beauty of the graphics such as in the case of Control, a third person action game in which you can enjoy the wonders offered by Ray Tracing technology which calculates in real time the path and interaction of light rays with surfaces, making the environments and shadows of games incredibly realistic.

The game Remedy has a game engine that allows for extraordinary interaction with the game world, excellent physics handling, and has one of the most compelling ray tracing available today. It was tested in Full HD mode with video resolution set to 2560 × 1080 and despite RTX set to ON, the graphics card and processor managed to ensure a constant frame rate which allowed you to enjoy the effects of incredible lighting in peace. shadows.

Then tested without the help of this amazing technology, the game gains a bit more FPS but loses much of the charm and beauty of gaming environments which are less realistic, showing once again how much this feature has. an impact on the future of the industry. video game. Updating or renewing your PC regardless of this is a mistake to be avoided.


So we decided to give Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins a try, which offers a huge open world to explore and a complex graphics engine capable of overloading any material. With the details set to maximum and the video resolution set to 2560 × 1080 during an internal in-game benchamark, the FPS average settled on the value of 61, decreasing only on rare occasions, and during very short moments, below 60. Despite the great distances offered by the view of the game and the massive presence of characters and objects simultaneously on the screen, the game experience was extremely pleasant and the stunts performed by protagonist Bayek unfolded without slowing down or uncertainties.

Finally, we passed the test of The Division 2, Massive Entertainment’s third-person shooter co-ops, which allowed us to explore the streets of a Washington devastated by an epidemic that has collapsed all forms of government and of justice. The benchmark performed with the graphics quality set to Ultra at the resolution of 2560 × 1080 returned an average result of 55 FPS with GPU usage at 94% and CPU usage at 38%. During the gaming session the graphics engine was handled carefree during the most excited phases in the presence of explosions and particle effects, while the response to commands was brilliant and responsive.

The Legion Tower 5i with the hardware configuration that Lenovo gave us is in all respects considered a mid-range PC. By setting the resolution to Full HD with all details at maximum and RTX ON if possible, it performed very well and it was possible to play all the chosen titles without uncertainties and with sporadic slowdowns and without impact on usability overall. The low weight and the handle incorporated into the case make it easy to carry while the Lenovo Vantage software turned out to be a pleasant surprise and a welcome bonus for geeks who like to control and customize every aspect of their computer. The cooling of the 28 liter volume of the case is very efficient thanks to the Legion Coldfront system and the internal layout of the improved fans and fins.

It is a very quiet case and this feature also makes it suitable for production use. Additionally, the noise intensity can be configured via software with the ability to automatically set the maximum mode if a game is started. In this case, the configuration will revert to the original configuration as soon as the game is closed. The variety of light effects is a bit sparse, if on one side the rear fan is multi-colored and with various programmable effects, the internal cabinet lighting is monochrome. The CPU cooling consists of a fan installed obliquely on the radiator and being visible, thanks to the transparent panel, it is not aesthetically the best while the connectivity is sufficient and will guarantee the strict minimum.

In short, everything is perfect then? Unfortunately no: the price at which this version is offered is quite high compared to the hardware it offers and 1800 euros including tax for our build are far too demanding, especially given the GeForce 2060 GPU of 6 GB and a power supply of 400 watts. Ok the convenience of pre-assembly and warranty, but in this price range we expect at least an 8 GB 2070 and a power supply of at least 600 watts. We advise you to keep an eye on the Lenovo site for offers which may make you opt for the higher class versions or for a price reduction which makes this version more attractive.

Site that will put this solution on sale in Italy from August: if you are looking for a pre-assembled PC that alleviates the burden of scrupulous search for compatible hardware and tedious assembly, also by virtue of the extreme configurability that lets you choose from multiple configurations, this Lenovo solution may be right for you, but be prepared for a hefty expense.

Tech Specs :

Processor Up to 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10900K
Operating System Windows 10 Pro
Graphics
  • Up to NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 Super 8GB
  • Up to NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2070 8GB
  • Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Super 6GB
  • Up to AMD Radeon™ RX 5700XT 8GB
Memory Up to 64GB DDR4
Storage
  • Up to 2TB PCIe SSD
  • Up to 2TB or 2 x 2TB HDD
Power Supply Unit (PSU)
  • 650W: ES gold
  • 400W: ES gold
  • 350W: ES bronze
Audio Dolby Atmos® Gaming Effect
Motherboard CML B460 MATX MB
Volume 28L
Dimension (W X L X H) 457mm x 184.5mm x 455.8mm / 17.99″ x 7.26″ x 17.94″
Weight Starting at 12.5kg / 27.6lb
Color Phantom Black
WLAN
  • Intel® WiFi 6 (802.11 ax)
  • Intel® WiFi 5 (802.11 ax)
Bluetooth Bluetooth® 5.0
Front Ports
  • 2 x USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1)
  • Headphone / mic combo
Rear Ports
  • USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1)
  • 2 x USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1)
  • 2 x USB 2.0
  • RJ45 Ethernet

Actual I/O configuration is determined by graphic card selection.

Preloaded Software
  • Legion Vantage for Gaming
  • McAfee LiveSafe™
  • Microsoft 365 30-day trial
  • Microsoft LinkedIn
  • PowerDVD / Power2Go