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Lenovo Legion 5 Pro Gaming Laptop Specifications
The model reviewed in this article features the following configuration:
- 16-inch anti-glare IPS display, 165Hz refresh rate, 100% sRGB, 500 nits brightness, 178-degree viewing angle
- Display resolution: WQXGA (2560 x 1600 pixels), aspect ratio 16:10
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800H (Cezanne), 8 cores 16 threads, turbo boost up to 4.4GHz
- RAM: 16GB DDR4-3200MHz, upgradable to 32GB
- Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (130W), 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Audio: 2 x 2W stereo speakers
- Battery: 80WHr Li-Po 4-cell
Review of Lenovo Legion 5 Pro Gaming Laptop
About the Design
Let's kick things off with the design. Similar to HP's Omen lineup, it can be said that Lenovo's Legion series is one of the most aesthetically pleasing laptop series on the market. Particularly with the Legion 'Y' branding on the lid, the white light remains stable when plugged in. But if that's too much, you can always turn it off with the 'Fn + L' shortcut.
Nevertheless, the Legion 5 Pro is quite well-built. It features anodized aluminum material on the lid and bottom frame—while the keyboard deck and touchpad are made of plastic. And thanks to its matte finish, this laptop also doesn't easily attract fingerprints or smudges.
But at 2.45kg, it's very heavy. While it's undeniable that Lenovo has managed to fit a 16-inch display into a 15.6-inch chassis, this weight combined with the charger makes it difficult to classify it as a truly portable machine.
The bezels around the screen are very thin to maximize screen real estate, and the 16:10 aspect ratio is very pleasing.
Connectivity Ports
Hinges and Connectivity
Moving on, the Legion 5 Pro features quite sturdy hinges. While it may not open to a 180-degree angle, the craftsmanship is top-notch, with no creaking or rattling noises, demonstrating its durability. And at 2.45 kg, it naturally comes with all the I/O ports you need.
There's a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 support on the left side. Similarly, on the opposite side, there's a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A and an E-kill camera shutter button. With Lenovo laptops, we often see dedicated camera shutter buttons in the webcam's position.
Display
Regarding the display, as mentioned earlier, the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro features a 16-inch screen. While the company offers many screen options for the cheaper Legion 5 or Slim 7, the 5 Pro has only one configuration. You'll get a 16-inch QHD screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 500 nits brightness, and 100% sRGB color space.
Lenovo also claims this is the world's first 16-inch QHD gaming laptop with a 165Hz refresh rate. But what's worthy of praise is that this screen meets VESA Display HDR standards and also supports Dolby Vision HDR for excellent color reproduction and high contrast.
Moreover, the matte coating on the screen surface prevents excessive glare, making it less daunting in brightly lit environments. Combined with the sharp QHD resolution, the Legion 5 Pro proudly stands as one of the most impressive laptop displays of 2021.
Furthermore, the 165Hz refresh rate also significantly contributes to the gaming experience, ensuring everything runs smoothly without any lag or stuttering.
Keyboard
The Legion 5 Pro offers various keyboard options. You can opt for a backlit keyboard in white, navy blue, or RGB, each at a different price point. The keyboard has a short travel distance, typing is relatively decent, but its soft feedback may be bothersome for those who frequently type long texts. And although the keys don't 'rattle' when typing, they are quite noisy.
There's nothing remarkable about the Legion 5 Pro's touchpad. It seems like the company acknowledges this is a gaming laptop, and buyers often use an external mouse, so it's designed quite ordinarily.
Audio
Legion 5 Pro features a standard dual-speaker setup with a total power of 4W. Fortunately, the speaker placement isn't at the bottom but rather positioned in the middle of the frame and the lower half of the laptop, allowing the sound to be less muffled. Moreover, the raised feet provide ample breathing room for this laptop.
In terms of actual quality, there isn't much to expect from the laptop speakers. Despite having 4 speakers, the bass is still very light, dispersed, and lacks vibrancy. The midrange is slightly clearer, sufficient for watching movies or listening to music, but it overpowers the highs. In conclusion, external speakers or headphones are still necessary.
Hardware Performance
Alright, now let's get to the most important part. Legion 5 Pro offers various configurations, with either the Ryzen 5 5600H or Ryzen 5800H CPU, while GPU options range from RTX to 3070. The model reviewed in this article features the Ryzen 7 5800H processor with an RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB DDR RAM, and 512GB SSD. This model is priced at around $1,755 (approximately 40 million VND).
For less demanding games like CS:GO and FIFA 220, there's no trouble for Legion 5 Pro to deliver the smoothest gaming experience for users. The average FPS when playing CS: GO is 170-190 fps and FIFA 22 is 190 fps.
Switching to some AAA titles like CyberPunk 2077, at the highest settings, it can achieve 23 – 26 fps, while at medium settings, it's 38 fps. For GTA V, this laptop can reach 115 fps at maximum settings.
Cooling System
Next up is cooling, with such high performance, can the cooling system of Legion 5 Pro handle it?
The answer is a resounding yes. Thanks to the new cooling system, Legion 5 Pro manages heat more efficiently compared to rivals like HP Omen 15 or MSI GP66 Leopard. Even when running at the highest performance mode, the fans don't ramp up to their maximum speed unless there's a significant computational load from both the CPU and GPU. Under normal usage, only a faint whisper of fan noise can be heard.
On the other hand, heat is evenly distributed across the keyboard area, with the Enter key region being noticeably warmer. Recorded temperatures when the machine is running at full power are 85 – 79 degrees Celsius for the CPU and GPU respectively.
Lastly, a neat feature of this laptop is that the power button indicates the current thermal mode: red for 'Performance', white for 'Balanced', and green for 'Quiet'.
Battery Life
Providing power to the Legion 5 Pro is a sizable 80 Watt-hour battery. Unfortunately, the actual battery life of this device isn't great. Even when not gaming and with settings dialed down to medium, this laptop only lasts around 3 – 4 hours for work. So make sure you never stray too far from the charger.
Conclusion
Let's wrap up this review of the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro. It boasts solid build quality, a stunning display, powerful performance, and an effective cooling solution.
Certainly, Lenovo hasn't delivered a perfect gaming laptop due to some shortcomings in battery and keyboard. But it's not necessarily a deal-breaker.
Compared to the standard Legion 5, the Pro variant is clearly worth the investment. And if you're looking for something a bit more flashy, then the Lenovo Legion 7 with even higher build quality and RGB lighting system will surely offer a different perspective.
