Lenovo Legion 5i evaluate: Nice efficiency, complicated pricing

Greatest Costs At this time: Lenovo Legion 5i

Lenovo has a brand new era of gaming laptops out, and Legion 5i 15IRX10 sits on the inexpensive finish of the stack with out reducing down an excessive amount of. It options highly effective processor choices and some RTX 50-series GPUs to energy your video games. Although Lenovo makes discovering a very good worth exhausting with a chaotic pricing system, this Walmart configuration comes closest to our take a look at unit and pegs the system at a strong cut price of $1,199. At that worth, issues look actual peachy for the potent Legion 5i 15IRX10.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Specs and options

• Mannequin quantity: 15IRX10
• CPU: Intel Core i7-14700HX
• Reminiscence: 32GB DDR5
• Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 (40-watt TGP)
• Show: 15.1-inch 1600p OLED,165Hz, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, VESA Trueblack 600
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 5MP
• Connectivity: 1x USB-C 10Gbps with Energy Supply and DisplayPort 2.1, 1x USB-C 10Gbps with DisplayPort 1.4, 3x USB-A 5Gbps, 1x RJ45, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio
• Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Home windows facial recognition
• Battery capability: 80 watt-hours
• Dimensions: 13.58 x 10.05 x 0.85 inches
• Weight: 4.3 kilos
• MSRP: Roughly $1,199 as-tested ($1,299 base)

Although our take a look at unit has the above configuration, Lenovo doesn’t seem to supply this actual setup to customers. There may be loads of customization obtainable although. The Legion 5i 15IRX10 can include thirteenth or 14th Gen Intel Core processors on this configurator, and even bump as much as 2nd Gen Intel Core Extremely processors in a separate configurator. On the low finish, you will get an Intel Core i7-13650HX with 16GB of reminiscence, 512GB of storage, and an RTX 5050 for an “Est Worth” of $1,634 (however an precise worth of $1,299 on the time of writing) utilizing the customized configuration software. Bumping as much as a Core i7-14700HX or Core i9-14900HX can also be potential, however entails a swap to the RTX 5070 as properly.

Arrow Lake configurations have the identical reminiscence and storage choices, however they begin out with an Intel Core Extremely 7 255HX and RTX 5060 for an “Est Worth” of $1,704 and precise pricing at $1,309. This may be upgraded to an Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX, which additionally comes with an RTX 5070 as an alternative, and brings the value to $1,559 (although the “Est Worth” reveals as $1,954). One notable distinction of the Core Extremely fashions is that they improve one of many USB-C ports to Thunderbolt 4. 

Utilizing Lenovo’s customized configurations, there’s not an enormous delta between the Raptor Lake and Arrow Lake choices, and the Core Extremely fashions are prone to have superior single-core efficiency and battery life. That stated, the configurator tends to have considerably larger costs than pre-configured fashions and subsequently doesn’t supply an excellent worth. 

For these searching for the most effective worth, Walmart presents the closest configuration to what we’re testing right here. It’s obtainable for $1,199 on the time of writing, and contains all the above specs besides solely 16GB of reminiscence. Fortunately, that DDR5 is user-upgradeable, so you may cheaply bump it as much as this technique’s 32GB if wanted.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Design and construct high quality

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Legion 5i 15IRX10 isn’t outstanding in its design, however it’s not disappointing both. The system is totally blacked out except for its Legion emblem energy button, the white keyboard legend and their RGB lighting, and just a little grey Lenovo branding on the rear thermal shelf. All that black seems high quality briefly, however it begins to point out finger oils shortly. 

The seems are largely clear with rounded corners and chamfered edges across the base that might not be tremendous ergonomic however are no less than extra comfy than sharp 90-degree angles. The bottom is all plastic with a clean polycarbonate higher and rougher ABS plastic backside. The bottom is pretty sturdy, not exhibiting a lot flex. The show is surrounded by modest plastic bezels. The again of the show will get the one premium side: an aluminum lid with Lenovo’s Legion branding embossed with a smoky mirror end.

The development is much like lots of Lenovo’s different Legion laptops. The highest of the show has an extra-large part to each home the digital camera and supply a lip for opening the lid simply. The show attaches to the bottom with two hinges barely shifted ahead from the again fringe of the laptop computer. This creates just a little butt (thermal shelf) on the again with further room for warmth sinks. That again edge is essentially occupied by exhaust vents. No exhaust goes out the edges. 

Beneath, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 sits on three giant rubber ft that maintain it firmly in place and raise it up a very good methods to supply airflow into the 2 backside followers. There’s a big grille beneath, although solely a small proportion of that is really grille — principally proper beneath the followers. On this case, this no less than permits adequate air consumption and doesn’t present any further alternative for mud to get in. 

All instructed, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 isn’t significantly impressed or thrilling, however it feels first rate and is a sturdily constructed laptop computer. The selection of a 15.1-inch show supplies first rate display screen area whereas protecting the laptop computer sufficiently small to suit into even some tight laptop computer sleeves. It’s not so heavy both at simply 4.3 kilos. And due to the very skinny show and modest base, the construct isn’t very thick for a gaming laptop computer. 

Lenovo Legion 5i: Keyboard, trackpad

IDG / Mark Knapp

My expertise with the Legion 5i 15IRX10’s keyboard has been considerably combined. On one hand, the keys are surprisingly properly stabilized, and so they have an honest dish to assist really feel out the middle and edges. However their journey is type of rubbery, giving them a considerably odd really feel, like additionally they push my fingers again when resetting. With some adjustment, I may see this really turning right into a optimistic, as a quick-resetting key is able to press that a lot sooner, however because it stands, it form of throws my fingers right into a funk. I used to be finally in a position to stand up to a typing velocity of 114 words-per-minute with an honest 97 % accuracy, however this nonetheless isn’t fairly distinctive. 

I nonetheless love that Lenovo accommodates a full-size set of arrow keys on lots of its gaming laptops. This makes navigation a lot simpler. There’s additionally a full quantity pad on the appropriate aspect of the keyboard, although this has slim keys that find yourself feeling just a little cramped. 

Lenovo packed in 24 RGB lighting zones, which finally type of seems like overkill for any system that’s not simply going to buckle down and provide you with per-key lighting. The 24 zones do permit for a barely smoother wave or lighting that responds to audio enjoying from the pc. However the zones are all vertical columns, not functionally helpful zones. Customization choices are moderately restricted. And the perimeters of zones mix collectively when displaying totally different colours, so that you received’t get an impactful and exact customization regardless of the way you shake it.

The keyboard will allow you to cycle by backlighting presets by urgent Fn+Area, however there’s no key for adjusting backlighting brightness. That have to be executed by Lenovo’s Legion Area software program. On the intense aspect, the lighting successfully illuminates the important thing legends. 

The trackpad is nothing particular. It’s pretty small for a laptop computer this measurement, however nonetheless spacious sufficient for four-finger gestures and normal navigation. It’s far over to the left aspect of the pc, although, which might make it awkward to make use of for right-handed customers. It’s mylar floor can also be not as clean because it may very well be.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Show, audio

IDG / Mark Knapp

The Legion 5i 15IRX10 presents a wonderful show. Nearly each side of it delivers high quality, and that’s nice to see from a gaming laptop computer that skews towards the funds aspect of issues. The 2560×1600 panel is loads sharp on the measurement. It has the proper distinction of OLED, to not point out the ultra-fast pixel response occasions. And with a 165Hz refresh charge, you’ll get clean visuals each out and in of video games.

OLEDs weren’t at all times very shiny, however this panel fortunately hits 523 nits. And to high it off, the panel is correct. I measured its coloration accuracy at a mean dE1976 of 0.51 with a max dE1976 of simply 1.33. If you happen to’ve obtained to do critical coloration work or simply need to see your video games the way in which they’re meant to look, this display screen is as much as the duty.

The audio isn’t fairly as spectacular, however it’s not unhealthy. The audio system depend on the Nahimic app to supply adequate sound, and it fortunately helps ship on that. Taking part in video games and watching films, it supplies loads of audio typically, although I did discover some spoken movies surprisingly quiet whereas listening with the app set to its default Music mode. There’s not a lot stereo separation from the little bottom-firing audio system despite the fact that they sit on the outer edges of the laptop computer, in order that they don’t make for probably the most engrossing recreation audio. 

Lenovo Legion 5i: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Mark Knapp

You’ll get an honest digital camera from the Legion 5i 15IRX10. Although it’s sharp, it’ll seem a bit smooth in modestly lit areas. Even with a number of lights on in my small workplace, footage appeared smooth and grainy. That stated, it managed a really pure publicity. Although the digital camera presents a excessive decision, it doesn’t have the infrared tech to allow facial recognition. The laptop computer additionally lacks a fingerprint scanner, so that you’re out of luck for biometrics.

The mic array on the Legion 5i 15IRX10 fails to impress. In a busy surroundings, it struggles completely to seize my voice clearly. It does efficiently remove background noise to a level, however absolutely on the expense of its potential to choose me up. As quickly as I speak in that loud surroundings, the background noise merges with my voice and makes something I say unintelligible. Even in a quiet surroundings, my voice sounds moderately distant with some room echo noticeable. 

Lenovo Legion 5i: Connectivity

IDG / Mark Knapp

There’s little to get enthusiastic about from the Legion 5i 15IRX10’s numerous connections. It’s not profiting from its measurement, providing simply two USB-C ports on the left aspect together with a USB-A port and Ethernet. The appropriate aspect contains two USB-A ports, a 3.5mm jack, and a digital camera kill swap. The laptop computer’s charging port is positioned on the rear together with an HDMI port. The ports on the edges are moderately awkwardly spaced with gaps of various sizes between them. As an illustration, the USB-A ports on the appropriate have the whole peak of the keyboard dividing them.

Not one of the ports are terribly quick both, with the USB-A ports topping out at 5Gbps and the USB-C ports hitting simply 10Gbps — no 20 or 40Gbps ports. At the very least the HDMI port is as much as the two.1 spec. Each USB-C ports may also deal with video output with one providing DisplayPort 2.1 and the opposite DisplayPort 1.4.

The wi-fi connections are managed by a MediaTek card that provides Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It’s been quick and dependable in my testing, although as with many MediaTek playing cards I’ve used over time, there’s usually a small delay when waking up the laptop computer from sleep earlier than it’ll reconnect to recognized networks. 

Lenovo Legion 5i: Efficiency

The Legion 5i 15IRX10 is constructed with high-performance in thoughts, even when it isn’t aiming for the very best ranges potential on fashionable {hardware}. This type of horsepower typically makes on a regular basis operation and even mild inventive workloads a breeze. We will see that fairly clearly in PCMark 10, which measures holistic efficiency of the system. The Legion 5i 15IRX10 performs splendidly.

It’s not distinctive on this class, although. Most gaming laptops have loads to supply on this space, and the Legion 5i 15IRX10 really finally ends up wanting much less spectacular subsequent to even older machines. The Dell G15 and Gigabyte G6X each ran on a lower-tier CPU and a prior-gen RTX 4060 GPU, and but they got here out forward on this take a look at. The earlier era Lenovo Legion 5i additionally got here out properly forward thanks partially to a stronger CPU and sooner storage.  

IDG / Mark Knapp

On the intense aspect, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 lagging behind these techniques in PCMark isn’t the most important deal, since all the techniques are providing clean and responsive operation. And in relation to uncooked horsepower, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 claws again some floor. Its processor provided considerably larger efficiency in Cinebench’s multi-core testing, dramatically outstripping all however the earlier Legion 5i’s Core i9-14900HX.

This additionally helps us see why Lenovo opted for an older CPU. The newer Intel Core 7 240H falls properly shy of the Core i7-14700HX’s efficiency, even failing to match its single-core speeds. It means little that the Core 7 240H is newer, although, because it’s really a Raptor Lake CPU in disguise and never one of many newer Lunar Lake or Arrow Lake architectures. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

The mix of a potent CPU and newer RTX 5060 GPU works within the Legion 5i 15IRX10’s favor in relation to graphics efficiency. The place it had fallen behind the prior-gen Legion in some instances, it turned the tides again into its favor in 3DMark’s Port Royal take a look at, the place it pulled properly forward of the Legion 5i. It additionally demonstrates how a powerful CPU can keep away from bottlenecks by completely outpacing the Alienware 16 Aurora regardless of this machine operating the identical GPU.

IDG / Mark Knapp

Its efficiency in artificial benchmarks translated properly to precise video games, too. It churned out a mean of 153 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Right here once more, it reveals the distinction a CPU could make, because the RTX 5060-powered Alienware fell behind all of the RTX 4060-powered machines as a result of its CPU was holding the GPU again. The Legion 5i 15IRX10 doesn’t have the identical subject, and that lets its RTX 5060 present the generational uptick in efficiency it’s able to. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

This efficiency checks out in Metro Exodus as properly, the place the Legion 5i 15IRX10 once more leads the pack by an honest margin. The stability of a powerful CPU and GPU assist it keep forward of those different techniques, which seem largely held again by the restrictions of the RTX 4060 (or Intel Core 7 240H in Alienware’s case). After all, this does additionally spotlight the restrictions of the Legion 5i 15IRX10. In very demanding video games, like Metro Exodus, it will possibly battle to fulfill the 60 fps threshold. That stated, the system may hit an 82 fps common in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p Extremely. 

IDG / Mark Knapp

Efficiency is constant, too. Working a string of Metal Nomad benchmarks, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 maintained almost the identical common framerate between runs. CPU and GPU temps additionally settled in and stopped growing after only a couple minutes. The followers aren’t even terribly loud to handle the thermals. 

Because the Legion 5i 15IRX10 has a 2560×1600 show, you could be tempted to play video games at this decision. In some lighter video games, that shall be readily doable. The Legion 5i 15IRX10 managed a 98 fps common in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at its native decision. However in Cyberpunk 2077, it solely hit 48 fps. For native decision gaming, you’ll doubtless need to faucet into DLSS and probably body era expertise. 

Lenovo Legion 5i: Battery life

As we see all too usually, efficiency benefits have a tendency to return on the peril of battery life. And positive sufficient, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 struggles to supply a lot longevity the place runtime is worried. In our native video playback take a look at, it fell just a little bit shy of 4 hours. That’s not solely a foul end result for a gaming PC, however it’s unhealthy amongst this group, particularly in comparison with the Alienware 16 Aurora’s surprisingly robust 10-hour runtime

IDG / Mark Knapp

In regular use, the battery life isn’t any higher. I used to be in a position to stream a two-hour film with the show at about 50 % brightness and nonetheless have an hour of battery left. Net looking, analysis, and writing consumed the battery at the same charge, with it simply scraping by at over three hours.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Conclusion

The Legion 5i 15IRX10 has loads going for it as an inexpensive gaming laptop computer, assuming you avoid Lenovo’s inscrutable pricing and simply go along with the Walmart mannequin closest to our take a look at configuration. For $1,199, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 is providing lots. It has a wonderful show for gaming and leisure, a sturdy construct, strong efficiency, and surprisingly quiet followers.

Although the design is decently moveable, the battery doesn’t final lengthy. So that you’ll need to carry the charger when you plan to do a lot on the go. A number of the worth right here hinges on the low worth although. With upgraded internals, the value of various configurations can actually soar, and the standard of this laptop computer doesn’t fairly really feel prefer it stacks up in opposition to $2,000 techniques. However as a low-cost possibility, it’s nice.