Lenovo Legion Y520 & Y720 hands on

When it comes to virtual reality and laptops, you know there’s a pricey cost to pay to get both. High-end gaming laptops don’t make it easy for the average Joe to even fathom the attempt to jump to virtual reality, but the folks over at Lenovo is going to make it easier – for everyone and anyone. Enter Lenovo’s new virtual-reality ready laptop series; the Legion.

We checked the tandem out during CES 2017, paving the way for almost anyone to quickly get into the VR space without the hefty investment. Specs-wise, they’re nearly similar to one another, but the Y720 is technically the slightly more amped gaming laptop between the two. The reason why that’s the case is because it’s packing NVIDIA’s GTX 1060, which we saw in action with the HTC Vive tethered to it. Given the Y720’s starting price of $1,399, we’re quite impressed that it handled the VR experience with favorable results.

Sure, it’s one beefy looking laptop against its sibling in the Y520, but it’s not as monstrous in size than other VR-capable laptops from the competition. The aggressive demeanor of the design is fitting, as it features some serious fan grills, red accented speakers, and a rainbow colored LED-lit keyboard. Another unique aspect about the Y720 is that it’s the first Windows-running laptop to be packing built-in Dolby Atmos speakers.

In contrast, the Y520 is slightly more subdued with its design, as it opts for a sleeker chassis and fewer visual flare. It’s still a good looking tablet, but in terms of its VR-running ability, it’s a short step behind because it leverages the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti GPU. That’s not too shabby for the traditional PC-gamer who demand performance, however, it’s not VR capable. On top of that, it only features a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display – whereas the Y720 has a 15.6-inch screen as well, but its resolution tops out at 3850 x 2160.

The Lenovo Legion Y520 will be the first out of the gate, arriving sometime in February with a starting price of $899.99. As for the Legion Y720, this VR-capable gaming laptop will be launching later in the April timeframe with a starting cost of $1399.99, which is pretty darn competitive given the immense cost normally attached to VR-ready laptops.

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