Lenovo has announced its first 1440p or QHD gaming laptop in a 16-inch form factor, with key features including 165Hz refresh, punchy 500-nit brightness, G-Sync, and HDR support. Swell.

Like many new 2021 gaming portable PCs, the heart of the Lenovo Legion 7 is the AMD Ryzen 5000 CPU, an 8-beast CPU including the Ryzen 9 5900H, combined with Nvidia's new RTX 30 series graphics

This is the only one of its kind.

As if this were not enough, the Legion 7 features multi-zone RGB lighting with Corsair iCUE software support, plus per-keyboard lighting. In addition, a large, glass-sided trackpad can be added, as is the norm for premium portables these days.

The 80 WHr battery will last you that long even when powered off, and the wireless connectivity is up-to-date with Wi-Fi 6. As for cooling, Lenovo states that it is a mix of both vapor chamber and liquid metal thermal compound. This is a good thing, given that it appears to be a fairly slim portable device, which is always a challenge in gaming applications.

Returning to the 16" panel, the Legion 7 has very slim bezels on three sides, making it quite compact for a 16" rig. It also features IPS technology and offers VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification. This is the lowest level of HDR support and only indicates that the system can correctly render the colors of HDR content.

Nevertheless, 500 nits of brightness means that this is a very punchy panel. Likewise, the combination of 165Hz refresh and next-generation Nvidia GPUs should result in buttery smooth frames. Lest we forget, 1440p or QHD translates to 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.

This is certainly far short of 4K. However, it is a significant improvement over Full HD at 1,920 x 1,080, which is a significant pixel count for a 16-inch panel. Expect razor-sharp detail at a pace that mobile GPUs can keep up with.

Prices start at a surprisingly reasonable $1,669, and while it's not entirely clear what specs you'll be able to purchase, the release date is a little further out, in June. But that's in 2021. We'll just have to wait for the good stuff.