The Lenovo Legion Y700 2025 (Gen 4) is here, and it's a big step up from its predecessor. This new gaming tablet brings back beloved features like the TF card slot, packs the latest processor, and boasts a sharper screen and bigger battery. It's designed to fix the issues of the Gen 3, making it a strong contender for mobile gamers.
A Fresh Look and Feel
The Gen 4 doesn't stray too far from the design of earlier models, keeping that sleek, one-piece aluminum body. It feels good to hold and looks clean. You can get it in white or black, though the black version, like before, tends to show fingerprints. Lenovo also removed the camera bump to make it more of a gaming tablet, and the body is now thinner at 7 millimeters.
Connectivity and Storage
This tablet has two Type-C ports, one on the bottom and one on the right side. Both support 68-watt fast charging. The side port is pretty fast, with transfer rates up to 10 GBs, and it even has DP video output. We tested it, and it can connect to a 4K 144 Hz display. Just a heads up, it doesn't always recognize devices plugged into a USB hub that comes with a monitor.
One of the best things about the Gen 4 is the return of the TF card slot, which can handle micro SD cards up to 2 terabytes. While the speeds for an SD card might not be as fast as the built-in storage, it's still great to have that extra space.
Display and Sound
The screen is still an 8.8-inch LCD, not an OLED, but the resolution is better with a PPI of 408. This means the display is more detailed than even the iPad mini. As for the speakers, they're okay, but not a huge improvement. When we compared it to the iPad mini, the Y700 Gen 4 had fewer background details in sound, and music could sound a bit harsh.
Powerhouse Performance
Every part of the Gen 4 is powerful. It has a Snapdragon 88 processor, LPDD 5X RAM, and UFS 4.1 flash storage. This is basically the best hardware you can get right now, so it scores well in tests like 3D Mark and Geekbench.
Gaming Performance
For a gaming tablet, smooth gameplay is key. We ran 20 rounds of 3D Mark, and the Y700 was 77% stable at 2K resolution. At 4K, it dropped to 67%. In real-world gaming:
- Honkai Star Rail: At 25° Celsius with performance mode on, the frame rate was almost perfect. It did use a lot of battery, about 10% in 15 minutes.
- Wuthering Waves: This game was tougher. The tablet started at 16 watts, similar to the 3D Mark test. After about 6 minutes, it started to lag. The frame rate would sometimes hit 60 fps, but then drop again in complex scenes. The temperature peaked at 48 degrees, mostly in the center of the back, which wasn't too uncomfortable.
We also found that turning off Lenovo's gaming assistant and letting the system handle things can actually lead to a better gaming experience with less heat. The Gen 4 also fixed the touch latency issues that plagued the Gen 3, making it much more responsive.
Joystick Support
If you're using an emulator that needs a joystick, you can turn on peripheral mode and set up mapping. But if your game or emulator already supports joysticks (like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves), it's better to turn this off to avoid conflicts.
Battery Life and Charging
The battery is bigger now, at 29 watt-hours, up from 25.3. This might only add 20 to 30 minutes of playtime. It doesn't use the newer silicon carpet cells, which means it might not have the highest capacity for its size, but regular lithium batteries tend to last longer overall. Lenovo has kept some good settings to help optimize battery life.
One great feature is bypass charging. Unlike some other devices, the Y700 only needs a PD or PBS charger for this. Charging power is still around 68 watts. In our tests, it hit a maximum of 60 watts for about 2 minutes, reaching 80% in 40 minutes and 90% in 61 minutes. If you charge it in a cooler room (around 25°C), it can maintain maximum power for 10 minutes and reach 80% in 35 minutes, fully charging in 58 minutes. Using a third-party charger that only supports PD protocol will take longer, about 93 minutes for a full charge.
For battery life, we tested it with:
- 1 hour of Honkai Star Rail
- Half an hour of Wuthering Waves
- 2 hours of movie watching
After all that, it still had 22% battery left.
Wi-Fi 7 Support
The Y700 Gen 4 supports Wi-Fi 7. However, due to some limitations in China, it only supports up to 160 MHz of bandwidth under Wi-Fi 7. This means it can handshake up to 2882 Mbps, with actual rates reaching over 2000 Mbps.
Key Takeaways
Is the Y700 Gen 4 the Best Gaming Tablet?
- Improved Performance: The larger heat dissipation plate and new chip layout mean less overheating and throttling during gaming. Performance is basically flawless.
- Fixed Touch Issues: The new screen and touch ICs have solved the previous touch latency problems.
- TF Card Slot is Back: Great for expanding storage.
- Display Limitations: The LCD screen might feel a bit old compared to competitors like the iPad mini. It only goes up to 600 nits of brightness, and the contrast isn't great. This can also affect battery life.
Overall, the Lenovo Legion Y700 2025 (Gen 4) is a solid gaming tablet that addresses many of the issues from the previous generation. It's a strong choice for mobile gamers looking for powerful performance.
