Lenovo Legion Y25-25
IPS and 240Hz for a price you can afford
BIG PANEL SIZE, huge pixel count, and epic refresh rate. Good luck getting all that in a single monitor for sensible money. On a realistic budget, something’s gotta give.
If you’re a gamer, that something is probably resolution. 4K is nice in theory; in practice, it’s a nightmare to drive all eight million pixels at remotely decent frame rates, let alone at truly high refresh rates well above 100Hz. You might also be willing to compromise on size, especially if a monitor delivers in other areas.
Enter the Lenovo Legion Y25-25—270 bucks’ worth of what purports to be prime gaming panel. It’s just 25 inches across, which is pretty puny by today’s standards. And there are only 1,920 by 1,080 pixels on offer. But the Legion’s refresh rate clocks in at 240Hz, and it’s based on IPS panel technology. Now you’re interested.
That combination of very high refresh rate with an IPS panel at well under $300 is certainly a head-turner. But it’s not all this screen has to offer. There’s also claimed 1ms pixel response, punchy maximum panel brightness of 400cd/m2, and compatibility with AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync adaptive refresh protocols. There’s also basic HDR support in the form of HDR400, but no local dimming.
The build quality is sweet, too, with a lush metal post supporting the screen, clipping neatly into the rear, and offering the full range of tilt, swivel, height, and rotate-into-portrait adjustments. The power supply is also built into the chassis rather than a separate untidy brick. Nice.
Regarding connectivity, there’s HDMI and DisplayPort, plus a USB hub, and a conveniently positioned headphone jack, offering excellent cable management if you wish to attach a headset and peripherals direct to the screen.
On paper, then, all very promising, but what’s the Legion like in practice? First impressions are a little disappointing. Despite the relatively high brightness rating, it’s not particularly punchy. Lenovo claims 8-bit color fidelity; subjectively, the Legion Y25-25 has the feel of a cheaper 6-bit IPS panel, with its slightly dull colors and indifferent contrast.
That said, it has far better viewing angles than the obvious alternative: a TN panel. Jump in game and it’s immediately obvious that the 250Hz refresh translates into very low latency. The modest 1080p resolution certainly helps. Firing up a shooter like Call of Duty: War zone proves that fewer pixels makes for more haste. It feels super-speedy, even if the visuals lack the detail and sharpness of a 1440p panel, much less a 4K monitor.
Pixel response as opposed to input latency isn’t so impressive. Lenovo has included three levels of user-configurable pixel overdrive in the OSD menu. The most extreme setting results in fairly obvious and nasty inverse ghosting. The middle option is the best compromise.
It’s not quite as blur-free as the best TN panels, however, and doesn’t deliver as sharp an experience as the 1ms claim implies. Of course, there’s no industry standard for measuring pixel response, so the spec only provides a rough guide to real-world performance. Long story short, the Legion Y25-25 has decent pixel response, especially for a IPS panel, but the fastest TN panels and even some more expensive IPS monitors are quicker.
Of course, the Legion Y25-25’s price is the context to those relative shortcomings. For the money, expectations need to be kept in check. This is not a $1,000 screen. For sure, a 144Hz or 160Hz monitor with a more vibrant panel will probably deliver a better overall experience for most gamers, but it’s welcome to have this as an option for esports and similar, where refresh rate really is king.