Intel Core i7 Gaming Desktops
Compete to win with an Intel Core i7 gaming laptop
For high-performance, on-the-go PC game play, it's hard to beat an Intel® CoreTM i7 gaming laptop. Multi-core, multi-thread Core i7 processors are widely recognized as some of Intel's best CPUs. You get fast clock speeds, big L3 caches and automatic CPU acceleration when possible. It all combines to make the Core i7 an ideal processor for today's best AAA games -- and a logical choice for anyone looking for a new mobile gaming rig.
Lenovo offers the Intel Core i7 CPU on a range of laptops, including multiple gaming-focused models in our popular Lenovo Legion and IdeaPad series. If you're looking for gaming-quality processors in one of our other Lenovo brands, you'll find Core i7 chips in many Yoga 2-in-1 and ThinkPad systems, too.
If you know you want a Core i7 gaming laptop but aren't sure which brand and style you prefer, you've come to the right place. This page is dedicated exclusively to Lenovo laptops with Core i7 processors. There's a Lenovo gaming system for just about everyone.
What makes the Core i7 a good choice for gaming?
Gaming laptops are among the industry’s most complicated portable systems. The choice of processor is critical – perhaps not as important as the graphics card, RAM volume, built-in cooling features, etc., but still vital for processing and coordinating the game action.
When searching for a gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7 processor, the top-level system specifications will typically describe four specific features of the chip. Let's look at each of these facets and how they affect the laptop’s suitability for playing advanced PC games:
CPU speed: Intel Core i7 CPUs offer fast cycle times, with many models running at 2.5 GHz or higher. Remember that it's the base speed of the processor -- more than the number of cores or threads -- that has the biggest single impact on feeding consistently high frame rates to the graphics card.
Turbo Boost: Intel's Turbo Boost feature can automatically lift a Core i7 processor's cycle times to 4.0 GHz or higher. It's a nice option for games that only use one or two cores, as it can speed up those cores while the system (with its other cores relatively inactive) stays cool enough to support the feature.
Core count: The Core i7 CPUs on Lenovo gaming laptops typically have six cores (essentially six processors on a single chip). Most games only utilize only one to three cores, but having extra cores helps the laptop perform other chores at the same time, such as recording/streaming your games or routine PC tasks such as virus scanning.
Cache allotment: Core i7 processors on Lenovo gaming laptops have huge L3 caches of 6 MB to 12 MB. The L3 cache stores frequently accessed data on the CPU itself. It's similar to the RAM that sits on the motherboard, but it’s closer to the processing cores and therefore much faster.
With specs like these, it's easy to see why Core i7 gaming laptops are so powerful. They deliver desktop PC-like gaming performance in easily portable systems you can take anywhere. If you like to play AAA games on-the-go, there may be no better rig than a Core i7 gaming laptop from Lenovo.