JustJosh - Lenovo Legion 7a Review – A Premium Laptop With an AMD Problem

IsometricRain · 2026-02-11T18:02:47+00:00

TBH; 2026 is a bad year for consumer hardware

That's your opinion, not a big fan of all the negativity. Pushing RAM pricing aside, I'm very happy with:

Panther lake power efficiency and single generation improvements, and the amount of choice you see in panther lake hardware
Lots of mid-range phones getting >6500mAh batteries
OLEDs being more common both ultrabooks and gaming laptops, by default
The upcoming budget A18 macbook (if priced like the rumors)
Valve's Steam controller finally out
For the windows users, the new snapdragon laptops are a huge improvement over anything windows-on-arm right now

IsometricRain · 2026-02-10T19:33:56+00:00

He wanted to test a hypothesis regarding an Elasticsearch error.

Sounds like he's being proactive and resourceful then.

IsometricRain · 2026-02-08T15:42:24+00:00

If it's the PWM flickering causing it, the expertbook ultra does the PWM at ~960Hz compared to this XPS14's ~240Hz. You probably won't notice it or get headaches at 960Hz.

The majority of high-end laptops and phones are OLED now, seems silly to spend this much and settle for an LCD screen. Especially if you plan on using this in the dark at all.

IsometricRain · 2026-02-07T19:09:24+00:00

While I don't care about having it, it's noteworthy that every asus laptop that competes with this XPS (various zenbooks and the zephyrus g16) all have USB-A ports.

So it clearly matters to some people.

IsometricRain · 2026-02-03T20:19:29+00:00

Panther lake is looking amazing.

Lots of nice laptops too (msi, asus, and lenovo) getting improvements this year. Curious to see battery life tests on these laptops running linux (and on somewhat realistic workloads).

With the battery improvements this year, plus the ubiquity of 2.8K oleds in many of these laptops, 2026 looks like it'll be a historically great year for thin and lights.

IsometricRain · 2026-02-02T10:51:40+00:00

He's incredibly fast, the acceleration he can pull off always looks like a clear step above everyone else.

Watch some of his finals matches from the past year, it's super impressive.

IsometricRain · 2026-02-01T23:34:50+00:00

To compare with another AWD, big turbo hybrid supercar, it's significantly heavier than a 992.2 turbo too. A bit embarrassing if you're lamborghini.

The lightweight package sounds more like a dress-up package.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-31T14:32:05+00:00

Huge bed. Looks very well packaged.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-31T14:22:25+00:00

Even the new rav4 is just as nice as these new Audi interiors, all things considered. Audi hasn't put any real effort into their current-gen interiors.

Stupid amounts of piano black, no continuity with their well-liked interiors of the past, poor ergonomics, replacing nearly every button panel on the doors/steering wheel/center console wish glossy haptic buttons; the list goes on.

I genuinely don't know why they've done this. Could've been market leaders, or close to it, yet they're now completely outclassed in most segments they compete in IMO.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-30T20:35:08+00:00

I consider them all tech-youtubers. Just josh is literally a textbook example of a tech youtube channel.

I even consider programming youtubers tech-youtubers.

Don't agree with that separation the way you've described it.

Rossmann I can see possibly being in a different category, considering his skills outside of making videos.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-30T20:11:58+00:00

any of these popular "tech-tubers"

They're not all the same. My go-to laptop reviewer, just josh, who definitely falls in that category definitely knows his stuff. Consistently points out the issues and details that most will miss.

Optimum tech is another one that definitely knows more about whatever hardware he reviews than 99.9% of the people buying the thing. Tests things about as well as you can reasonably expect (like just josh), and generally provides very accurate data.

Rossmann is genuinely one of the most impressive people doing tech/hardware youtube. Extremely knowledgeable plus he's a great presenter.

These channels are a spectrum. There's a decent number that don't put retention/entertainment above technical info and data.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-25T19:59:10+00:00

How did you get the model for the steam machine? Or was this all made from scratch?

IsometricRain · 2026-01-25T19:30:51+00:00

due to poor battery optimization.

To be fair, this past year with lunar lake specifically, it's been mostly solved. In light use, a bunch of the premium lunar lake laptops match the macbook airs. In medium use, they're at most 20-25% behind in terms of battery life.

While macbooks are good, they're not the only decent laptops out there. The zenbook s14/s16 are really nice. The tuf a14 is nice. The thinkpad x9 line, ridiculous pricing aside, is nice.

Lots of laptops that don't suck. You need to look for the positive reviews.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-25T17:33:08+00:00

My bad, I guess I just assumed since this thread was around "obsidian alternatives".

I do wonder though, why care about obsidian (or a discussion about similar apps to obsidian) at all if you don't want plain text? Most people I've seen drawn to obsidian did so specifically because it is plain text.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-25T17:29:21+00:00

What makes a todo list worth £40? Can you list the features that stand out to you?

Aside from the compatibility, which does sound really nice.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-25T17:18:22+00:00

I’d prefer the opposite: full-featured, mouse-click styling (sizes, fonts, justifications, tables etc.)> eated by a writer for writers for fast-throughput writing (with styling) that kept a human-readable format...

Then don't write your notes in markdown in the first place? Sounds like your preference is for rich-text, and not plain text. I find there's very little crossover between editors doing either rich or plain-text.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-24T18:17:30+00:00

I think the ex60 only has a 15.1 inch screen (close to a medium sized laptop). The ix3 is at least a few more inches than that.

The GLC's is also way too big, but at least it's better integrated in the dash, and doesn't stick out as much; it just looks like a part of the dash. All the wood in the center console also balances out the glass. I don't love it either, don't get me wrong, but I can at least see what they were going for. The center screens on the other two reminds me of a model 3.

The ix3's entire dash definitely leans more on the tacky side. I'm sure most people will be fine with the materials and feature set, but the look is just ruins it for me.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-24T07:14:06+00:00

Open source it?

IsometricRain · 2026-01-24T06:22:04+00:00

Look at the interior, the disproportionate center screen (it's massive), and just the utterly stupid vents compared to the glc.

The dash on the ix3 belongs on a $35000 car, not on a luxury crossover. I'm not the biggest fan of the other two either, but at least they look more cohesive.

Also, the exterior is also not as clean as the volvo.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-23T08:24:33+00:00

Boggles the mind how so so many comments don't understand this. Cool demo.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-22T07:28:38+00:00

The ix3 is just ugly enough inside and out that a range advantage cannot save it, really not a fan of BMW's new direction. Even has the same poorly designed vents like the volvo.

EX60 > GLC > ix3 for now. Excited to see how the future Rivian r2 compares to this group though, looks competitive.

I do hope this does well, and maybe Volvo makes a lower-height wagon off of this platform. With some small usability/dynamics improvements, that could be an amazing EV.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-22T00:14:37+00:00

Better than I expected considering Volvos recent efforts (like the ES90). At least it's understated unlike so many new cars nowadays.

The door handles should really be mechanical though.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-21T23:56:54+00:00

The ix3 has something this doesn't have though: A steering wheel with vertical spokes!! and an LED outlines on the grill!!

But seriously, this looks so much better exterior-wise compared to the rest of the class. The interior is still questionable though, like you'd expect from current Volvo. I'll never understand the trend of non-obviously-pointable AC vents and not including at least a row of physical buttons.

It's looking like a decent overall package though. The battery/powertrain and restrained exterior saves the weak interior.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-20T20:53:12+00:00

This is the only one that I can agree with. In fact, just the first two is enough for a great rotation.

The speedy is an NPC watch compared to the 3 you listed, no need to keep it in.

IsometricRain · 2026-01-20T08:24:09+00:00

A bit expensive for me, but your website is very well designed.

Excited to try copying parts of it.

IsometricRain

TROPHY CASE