Lenovo Legion 5i Gaming Laptop Review
Table of Contents
Lenovo has long established itself in both consumer and commercial PC market, and its Legion series holding an iconic status among enthusiasts and gamers alike. Renowned for balancing powerful performance with accessible design, the Legion line consistently delivers compelling options for those seeking a no-compromise gaming experience.
Today, we delve into the latest refresh model from the Legion 5 series: the Lenovo Legion 5i. We’ll explore whether this iteration continues Legion’s legacy of offering exceptional price-to-performance value, especially with its enticing OLED display and upgraded internals.
Lenovo Legion 5i Overview
Build
The Lenovo Legion 5i laptop presents a sophisticated and understated design, beginning with its aerospace-grade aluminum lid, all finished in a sleek Eclipse Black color. This choice of material not only contributes to its premium feel but also enhances durability.
The overall aesthetic maintains the signature Legion look, appearing subtle and quiet on the surface, yet hinting at a significant reserve of power ready to fuel intense gaming sessions.
In terms of physical dimensions, the laptop measures between 19.95 and 21.54 millimeters in height, spans 344.9 millimeters in width, and has a depth of 255.35 millimeters.
Despite its robust build, it maintains a relatively portable profile with a starting weight of approximately 1.9 kilograms.
Display
The Lenovo Legion 5i offers a captivating visual experience with its primary display option: a 15.1-inch WQXGA OLED panel. This screen delivers a sharp resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and adheres to a modern 16:10 aspect ratio, providing more vertical screen real estate.
Gamers will appreciate the incredibly fast 165Hz refresh rate coupled with a response time of less than 1 millisecond, ensuring fluid motion and minimal ghosting.
For color accuracy, this OLED display boasts 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and can reach a brightness of 500 nits. Its capabilities for high dynamic range content are affirmed by its VESA True Black 600 Certification and support for Dolby Vision.
Further enhancing its visual fidelity, the display is TÜV Rheinland Certified for eye comfort and X-Rite Certified, guaranteeing professional-grade color accuracy right out of the box. This display leverages Lenovo PureSight OLED Gaming Display technology, specifically engineered to achieve reduced latency, precise color representation, and surprisingly, enhanced battery efficiency.
Benchmark
Our independent calibration tests confirm the display’s claims of 100% sRGB coverage. Furthermore, it remarkably achieved 93.3% Adobe RGB and 99.3% DCI P3 gamut coverage, demonstrating that this monitor is not only excellent for a immersive gaming experience but also serves as a powerful and color-accurate tool for content creators.
Audio
For its audio output, the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 incorporates a 2 x 2W speaker system. The overall sound experience is further refined by the inclusion of Nahimic Audio technology, which aims to provide a more immersive listening environment. These speakers, which are certify by Harman, are positioned at the lower front part of the laptop chassis.
However, consistent with many gaming laptops, the onboard audio, while functional, is not particularly impressive. It delivers a common laptop sound profile that is unlikely to stand out as extraordinary.
For users seeking a truly superior sound experience, investing in a quality pair of headphones or a dedicated standalone speaker system would be highly recommended.
Keyboard
The keyboard on the Lenovo Legion 5i OLED is designed for a comfortable and responsive typing experience. It features a key travel distance of 1.6 millimeters, providing satisfying tactile feedback with each press.
The keys also incorporate a subtle 0.3-millimeter key dish, which helps to cradle the fingertips for improved comfort during extended use.
Adding to the aesthetic and functional appeal, the 24-Zone RGB lighting is fully customizable through the intuitive Lenovo Spectrum RGB Software, allowing users to personalize the keyboard’s illumination to match their preferences or game profiles.
I/Os
The Lenovo Legion 5i offers a comprehensive and strategically placed selection of input/output ports to accommodate a wide array of peripherals and connectivity needs. On the left side of the chassis, users will find 2 versatile USB-C ports, 1 is an USB 10Gbps with Power Delivery 3.0 & DisplayPort 2.1 support, while the other one support Thunderbolt 4/ USB 40Gbps with DisplayPort 2.1 support.
Additionally, the left side includes a standard USB-A port with USB 5Gbps connectivity and an Ethernet (RJ45) port for reliable wired networking.
Moving to the right side, the laptop provides 1 more USB-A ports, each offering USB 5Gbps, alongside a convenient combined headphone and microphone jack, and an E-Shutter button for quickly disabling the webcam’s privacy.
For external display connectivity and power, the rear of the laptop houses a single HDMI 2.1 port and the main power-in port.
Lenovo Legion 5i Internal
CPU
The specific configuration of the Lenovo Legion 5i OLED under review is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX Processor. This CPU is built upon a hybrid architecture, incorporating 20 cores and 20 threads to handle a wide range of computational tasks efficiently.
This CPU also feature Intel Performance Hybrid Architecture, where it have not only feature 8 dedicated performance cores with an impressive 5.4 GHz to improves gaming, streaming and content creation experiences, but also additional 12 e-cores that max out at a modest 2.7 GHz for optimal battery life.
The processor maintains a base Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 55W, but it is capable of reaching a maximum turbo power (PL2) of up to 160W for peak performance. A significant inclusion in this model is the Intel AI Boost Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which delivers a performance rating of up to 13 TOPS. The NPU will further enhances its capabilities by providing better compatibility and accelerated performance for local AI-related tasks.
This makes the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX among the most capable mobile CPUs currently available, designed to effortlessly handle any task a user might throw at it, from intensive gaming to complex productivity applications. Experience maximum performance with Intel Core HX Processors, the only choice for full-throttle maximum FPS gaming.
GPU
The laptop is equipped with a powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, which is supplied with a generous 8GB of GDDR7 memory. This GPU leverages a 128-bit memory interface and operates within a power budget of 115W, with the added capability of a 15W boost, bringing its total performance power to 130W.
Built upon the advanced Blackwell architecture, this graphics card features fourth-generation Ray Tracing Cores for incredibly realistic lighting and reflections, alongside fifth-generation Tensor Cores that accelerate AI-driven graphics technologies. It fully supports NVIDIA’s suite of cutting-edge features, including DLSS 4 for enhanced frame rates and image quality, Reflex 2 for reduced system latency, and Broadcast for improved streaming and voice quality.
Benchmark
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU demonstrates formidable performance in synthetic benchmarks. In 3DMark Speed Way, it achieved a score of 3223, while in 3DMark Steel Nomad, it scored 2467.
For ray tracing capabilities, the GPU scored 6000 in 3DMark Port Royal. Furthermore, the NVIDIA DLSS feature test highlighted its impressive AI-powered upscaling, showing a frame rate of 16.94 frames per second (fps) with DLSS off, which dramatically increased to 71.80 fps when DLSS was enabled.
These benchmark results unequivocally showcase the laptop’s high level of power, indicating its strong capability to handle and provide an excellent experience with incoming AAA titles at high settings.
RAM
The model in question is outfitted with a substantial 32GB of RAM, configured as two 16GB SO-DIMM modules. This memory utilizes the latest DDR5 standard, operating at a high speed of 5600 MT/s, ensuring ample bandwidth and responsiveness for demanding applications and multitasking, particularly beneficial for modern gaming and content creation workflows.
Cooling
To manage the thermal output of its high-performance components, Lenovo has implemented its advanced Legion Coldfront: Hyper cooling system. This sophisticated cooling solution integrates two turbocharged fans working in conjunction with three 3D copper heat pipes.
Lenovo emphasizes that this system is meticulously vacuum-sealed to optimize airflow, effectively directing hot air out through the rear of the laptop chassis.
Benchmark
During our benchmark testing, the Legion Coldfront: Hyper system proved highly effective, consistently keeping the GPU temperature below 77 degrees Celsius. This indicates not only excellent thermal management during normal usage but also provides ample headroom for intense and prolonged gaming sessions without significant thermal throttling.
Battery
The laptop draws its power from a rechargeable Li-ion battery, with configuration options including either an 80Whr or a 60Whr capacity. A standout feature of its power management is the Super Rapid Charge capability, which allows the battery to charge from empty to 70% in less than 30 minutes, providing quick power top-ups.
Benchmark
In our testing conducted with the UL Benchmark PCMark battery test, yielded a battery life of 3 hours and 55 minutes. While this might seem modest compared to some work-oriented laptops, for a high-performance gaming laptop, this duration is rather generous and provides a respectable amount of untethered usage for light tasks or short gaming sessions.
Lenovo Legion 5i Software
The Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 comes preloaded with Lenovo Legion Space, a robust PC management suite designed to give users comprehensive control over the laptop’s performance scenarios. This software allows users to select from various performance modes, including quiet, balanced, performance, and custom settings, tailoring the laptop’s behavior to their specific needs. It also provides intuitive control over the customizable RGB lighting effects of the keyboard.
While Legion Space offers powerful control and customization, the front page can sometimes feel a bit heavy on “promotional” content.
Beyond this management suite, the laptop incorporates Lenovo Ai Now Ai chat that support Lenovo AI+ Engine Support, which may include either LA1 or a combination of LA1 and LA3 AI chips.
These AI chips are integrated to enhance overall system performance and optimize the user experience, particularly through features like Ai chats, Smart Shift, and AI Luminous Zone Technology, which intelligently adjust the system’s performance and display characteristics.
Lenovo Legion 5i User Experience
Our overall user experience with the Lenovo Legion 5i OLED, particularly for gaming, was relatively positive. When playing graphically demanding titles like Stellar Blade at its native WQXGA resolution with maximum settings and frame generation enabled, we consistently achieved around 60 frames per second, and 240 frames with frame gen.
Similarly, in Cyberpunk 2077, running at WQXGA resolution with maxed-out settings and frame generation active, the laptop managed an impressive approximately 70+ frames per second with 210+ fps with frame gen. This level of performance felt highly responsive and perfectly complemented by the laptop’s almost flawless display, leading to an exceptionally immersive gaming experience.
In more specific benchmarks, titles like Black Myth Wukong scored modestly, suggesting that players could still expect a decent and playable experience at WQXGA resolution with maximum settings.
However, for exceptionally demanding games such as Monster Hunter Wild, the laptop’s performance at WQXGA resolution with maxed settings was notably poor in benchmarks. For a truly playable experience in such titles, it became necessary to drop the resolution down to Full HD or adjust some graphical settings.
This limitation primarily stems from the GPU’s 8GB of VRAM, which, while sufficient for many games, can become a bottleneck in the most VRAM-intensive scenarios at higher resolutions.
Despite these occasional VRAM limitations in ultra-demanding titles, we cannot overstate our appreciation for the display. It is remarkably bright, delivers exceptional color accuracy, and maintains high refresh rates, collectively providing a superior gaming experience.
Furthermore, its qualities make it an excellent choice for content creators who require precise color representation, and it’s equally perfect for movie enthusiasts seeking a vibrant and immersive viewing platform.
Lenovo Legion 5i Conclusion
Priced at RM7,313.97, the Lenovo Legion 5i certainly enters a highly competitive segment of the gaming laptop market. However, it manages to stand out significantly. This laptop boasts the first perfectly calibrated monitor we’ve encountered in our lab, making its OLED display one of the best color-accurate screens we’ve found on a gaming laptop to date.
The graphic performance, while occasionally constrained by VRAM in the most demanding titles at native resolution, is more than suitable for mid-to-high-end gaming. We also appreciate the excellent choice and convenient placement of its I/O ports, along with the robust cooling performance delivered by the Legion Coldfront: Hyper system.
Considering its stellar display, solid gaming capabilities, and well-rounded feature set, we confidently recommend this laptop and are proud to award it our Gold Award.
If you think this is the laptop for you, check out Lenovo’s official website ->here. There’s seem to be some always on promotion going, so never know you gonna get a better deal on the Legion 5i.
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Lenovo: Official Website
Lenovo Legion 5i
The Lenovo Legion 5i OLED earns our Gold Award. Its stunning display, powerful performance, and thoughtful features make it a top gaming pick.
Positives
- Premium aerospace-grade aluminum lid with a subtle, quiet Legion design.
- First perfectly calibrated WQXGA OLED display with exceptional color accuracy (100% sRGB, 93.3% Adobe RGB, 99.3% DCI P3).
- Powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX CPU with NPU for demanding tasks and AI acceleration.
- Effective Legion Coldfront: Hyper cooling system keeps GPU temperatures well managed.
Negatives
- Onboard audio is not impressive.
- .8GB VRAM on the GPU can be a bottleneck in exceptionally demanding titles.
