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日本Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) Review – the Pro Spin on the 16-inch IdeaPad 5 Workstation
We already showed you what the Slim 5 versions of IdeaPad are capable of in our in-depth reviews of IdeaPad Slim 5 AMD (16AHP9) and IdeaPad Slim 5i Intel (16IMH9).
Now it’s time to put the Pro versions to the test. We start with the AMD variant – IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9). It’s equipped with a Ryzen 5 8645HS or Ryzen 7 8845HS while its Intel-powered sibling (16IMH9) comes with a Core Ultra processor – Core Ultra 5 125H, Ultra 7 155H, or Ultra 9 185H.
The option for the flagship Ultra 9 185H is the first main difference between the Pro 5 and Slim 5. Additionally, the Pro series can be ordered with a dedicated GPU – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 or RTX 4050. The latter is the one we chose, and a little surprise was the fact that Lenovo has rated it as 80W TGP on its official website, while it’s actually a 100W TGP variant. There are some more nice surprises, so let’s dive in!
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16APH9) series – Specs and Prices
Contents
Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16APH9) - Specs
- HDD/SSD
- up to 1000GB SSD
- RAM
- up to 32GB
- OS
- No OS, Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro
- Battery
- 84Wh
- Dimensions
- 356 x 251 x 17.5 mm (14.02" x 9.88" x 0.69")
- Weight
- 1.91 kg (4.2 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- 1x USB Type-C
- 4.0, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- HDMI
- 2.1 (4K@60Hz)
- Card reader
- SD (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
- Ethernet LAN
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6E
- Bluetooth
- 5.3
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- FHD IR with privacy shutter, fixed focus, with ToF sensor
- Backlit keyboard
- optional
- Microphone
- Dual Microphone Array
- Speakers
- 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Dolby Atmos
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16APH9) configurations
Drivers
You can find the official drivers for the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) here:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-pro-5-16ahp9/downloads/driver-list
What’s in the box?
The box contains just the laptop, the charger, and some manuals. If you buy a configuration with dedicated graphics, you get a 170W charger, like the one on the left below. If you choose an iGPU machine, you’ll find a smaller 100W Type-C charger.
Design and construction
It turns out that the Pro variant is just a hair thicker than its “Slim” sibling – Pro 5 is 0.69 inches (17.5 mm) thick while the Slim version stops the caliper at 0.67 inches (16.9 mm). However, the difference in their weight is a bit bigger – Slim 5 weighs 4.01 lbs (1.82 kg) while the IdeaPad Pro 5 weighs 4.21 lbs (1.91 kg) for configurations with an integrated GPU and 4.28 lbs (1.94 kg) if there’s a GeForce in the chassis.
Both variants are lighter than the average 16″ laptop, which, according to our Specs System database is 4.56 lbs (2.07 kg).
Arctic grey is the only color for the IdeaPad Pro 5 series, and looking at both Slim 5 and Pro 5 one next to another, the gray color looks more stylish, in our opinion.
The keyboard design is almost the same but IdeaPad Pro 5’s has more space around the arrow keys which makes it a bit more comfortable to us. Otherwise, the layout is identical, the keys have good feedback and enough travel.
The glass surface trackpad is bigger here, thus a bit more comfortable too, with a size of 3.15 x 5.31 inches (80 x 135 mm).
Just like its non-Pro sibling, the IdeaPad Pro 5’s chassis is made out of aluminum, and its surface is anodized with sandblasting. The result is great because the palm rest doesn’t attract smudges or fingertips at all! It stays clean and looks flawless.
The whole construction is pretty solid. The notebook has passed the MIL-STD-810H tests for sturdiness, which consists of more than 20 tests for endurance in unpleasant situations like high/low temperatures, humidity, or drops.
All the bezels around the OLED screen are very narrow, except for the little bump around the camera which also doubles as a lever for easier lid opening. The camera itself has a fixed focus FHD 1080p with an IR sensor for Windows Hello, and it features a privacy shutter.
Ports
As expected from a “Pro” laptop, the IdeaPad Pro 5 boasts much better ports compared to the Slim 5 models.
In addition to the two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, one of which is “Always On”, Pro 5’s USB-C ports are much faster than Slim 5’s. One of the USB-C ports here is 10Gbps with PD 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, and the other is a USB4 40Gbps, again with support for PD 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4. For comparison, Slim 5’s USB-Cs are just 5 Gbps regular 3.0.
The HDMI also has much higher bandwidth, compared to the one in Slim 5. This one here is version 2.1 (supports 4K@60Hz), while the one in Slim 5 is 1.4b (4K@30Hz).
Like Slim 5, Pro 5 is also equipped with 3.5mm audio jack, and a card reader. However, the card reader here is full-sized while the one on Slim 5 is microSD.
Display and Sound Quality, Get our Profiles
| Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 16″ (16AHP9) | LEN160 2K (LEN8ABC) |
| Diagonal | 16.0 inches (40.6 cm) |
| Panel Type | OLED |
| Resolution | 2048 x 1280 pixels |
| Max Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:10 |
| Pixel Density | 151 PPI |
| ‘Retina’ Distance | Greater than or equal to 58 cm |
Viewing Angles
Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16″, Gen 9) features comfortable viewing angles. We take photos from different angles to evaluate the quality.
Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.
Color Coverage
The whole “sail-shaped” map below (Fig. 1) consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.
Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of IdeaPad Pro 5 can show:
Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content
Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display.
In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
(Fig.1) IdeaPad Pro 5 covers 100% of the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts
Brightness and Contrast
The maximum measured brightness in HDR mode is 641 cd/m² at 8% white fill and 427 cd/m² on a full white screen.
The maximum measured brightness in SDR mode is 415 cd/m² in the center of the screen and 410 cd/m² averaged across the surface with a maximum deviation of 4%.
The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) on a white screen at maximum brightness is 6180K.
The contrast ratio of OLED panels is excellent because the pixels turn off completely when displaying black.
Uniformity: Luminance, Contrast, and Color Deviation
The figure below shows the results from our uniformity test across different sections of the screen. It’s measured at 180 nits — a brightness level we consider typical for standard working conditions.
DeltaE values below 4.0 are acceptable for regular users. For those working with colors, screens with DeltaE values no higher than 2.0 are recommended.
Color Accuracy
Let’s check the difference between real colors and those you’ll see on the IdeaPad Pro 5. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the higher the number, the more different they look.
Values below 4.0 are acceptable for regular users, while values below 2.0 are suitable for color-sensitive work. A value below 1.0 means the difference is indistinguishable to the naked eye.
For the next graph, we’ve selected 24 common colors, including dark/light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.
Below, you can compare the results of the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 in its factory condition (HDR off) and with our profile (Fig.3), compared to the Display P3 color space.
Before our calibration of the IdeaPad Pro 5, the Average color accuracy was 1.9 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Design and Gaming profile, it lowered to 1.5 dE (Fig. 3). The laptop is more ready for Creator work, and thanks to our profile, it’s accuracy is well below the 2.0 limit.
(Fig. 2) IdeaPad Pro 5 in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) IdeaPad Pro 5 with our display profile
Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).
Here’s an illustration of what the Design and Gaming profile aims to deliver:
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile
Visibility in dark scenes
Have you ever watched a movie with dark scenes where you could barely see anything? This often happens because many display panels struggle to differentiate the darkest nuances, making them appear the same.
The next figure illustrates how well the display reproduces these dark nuances. The left side of the image shows the display with stock settings, and the right side shows it with our Design and Gaming profile activated.
On the horizontal axis are the grayscale levels, and on the vertical axis – the corresponding display brightness.
You can also check how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display and the surrounding light conditions.
Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering)
Some use PWM to regulate their brightness, which means that instead of reducing the light intensity, they pulse or flicker. Our brain merges the image, so it appears darker, but this strains both it and our vision, especially when the frequency of the pulses is low. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
In the graph below, you see the intensity of light at different brightness levels—on the vertical axis is the brightness of the emitted light, and on the horizontal axis—time.
The luminance of the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 display is controlled with PWM only up to about 60 cd/m², above which we detect pulses with limited amplitude. This makes it relatively comfortable for prolonged work in terms of flicker.
Health Impact: Blue light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates harmful PWM when the laptop uses it to control brightness but also reduces harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate.
If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.
Health Impact: Screen Reflectance
Glossy-coated displays can cause eye fatigue in high ambient light conditions due to reflections. We measure the level of screen reflection with the display turned off, at a 60° angle.
The reflectance of the IdeaPad Pro 5’s screen is 135 GU.
High Gloss: >70 GU
Medium Gloss: 30 – 70 GU
Low Gloss: <30 GU
Get our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) configurations with LEN160 2K (LEN8ABC), 2048 х 1280, OLED panel.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Sound
The IdeaPad Pro 5’s speakers are of very good quality, with Dolby Atmos support. The low, mid, and high frequencies are clear.
Performance: CPU, GPU, Storage
Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) can be ordered with AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 5 8645HS CPU. We bought the better variant which has 8 cores at 5.1 GHz, compared to 6 cores at 5.0 GHz for 8645HS.
There are three pre-defined power modes, and you can easily switch between them with the Fn+Q key – Adaptive power mode, Battery Saver, and Performance.
| Adaptive Power mode | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics) | 7751 | 8575 (+11%) |
| Cinebench 2024 | 892 | 904 (+1%) |
Traditionally, we choose the most powerful preset for our benchmarks, so all performance tests below are conducted with the Performance mode activated.
CPU Performance
Here, we evaluate the CPU's performance using a real-world 3D rendering task, assessing its ability to handle complex computations and rendering workloads efficiently.
Results are from the Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core test (higher is better)
Single-core performance ensures smooth operation and responsiveness in operating systems, providing a better user experience.
Results are from the Geekbench 6 Single-Core test (higher is better)
Multi-core performance is essential for handling complex and demanding tasks, such as Video editing, CAD, and Scientific simulations.
Results are from the Geekbench 6 Multi-Core test (higher is better)
GPU Performance
You can choose between the integrated Radeon 780M, and two dedicated GeForce options – RTX 3050 (80W), and RTX 4050 (100W). We chose the latter which was advertised as 80W but it’s actually a 100W variant.
The results are from 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics). Higher is better.
The results are from 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited. Higher is better.
Gaming tests
IdeaPad Pro 5 is not a gaming notebook, obviously, but we tested the dedicated RTX 4050 (100W) with two games – Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Metro: Exodus.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs with 69 FPS on the Highest settings with SMAA4x, on the native resolution – 2048 x 1280. Those who prefer taking advantage of the fast 120Hz OLED display may lower the graphics to Medium/SMAA and get 115 FPS on average.
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 2048 x 1280, Medium, SMAA | 2048 x 1280, Highest, SMAA4x |
|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 115 fps | 69 fps |
Metro: Exodus is a heavier title, but it looks like we hit the sweet spot on the first try! High settings, native resolution – 2048 x 1280. The benchmark resulted in exactly 60 FPS.
| Metro Exodus | 2048 x 1280, High |
|---|---|
| Average FPS | 60 fps |
CPU/GPU Performance: Plugged-in vs Battery
Just like IdeaPad Slim 5, detaching the charger from Pro 5 doesn’t disable the Performance mode. However, Slim 5 was 24% faster when plugged in.
The situation here is more drastic as the Pro 5 is much less powerful on battery. The charger brings a 60% increase in CPU performance and a 17% graphics boost.
| Cinebench 2024 | 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics) | |
| Performance Mode (on battery) | 565 | 7311 |
| Performance Mode (plugged in) | 904 (+60%) | 8575 (+17%) |
AI Performance
The Ryzen 8000 series, part of which are both the Ryzen 5 8645HS and Ryzen 7 8845HS you can buy the IdeaPad Pro 5 with, have 16 TOPS NPUs. This isn’t enough for getting into Microsoft’s Copilot program but our configuration has a dedicated RTX 4050.
As you can see in our AI Hardware Performance Rankings, the RTX 4050 has a peak INT8 processing power of 97 TOPS, much higher than the integrated NPU.
Here’s how it compares to other dedicated GPUs in a real-life AI task – Image Generation:
| GPU | Laptop | Stable Diffusion 1.5 Image Generation |
| RTX 4080 (175W) | ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 (G634, 2024) | 2254 |
| RTX 4070 (140W) | Alienware m16 R2 | 1350 |
| RTX 4060 (140W) | ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX507 | 1082 |
| RTX 4050 (100W) | Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 AMD (16AHP9) | 875 |
| RTX 4050 (Laptop, 45W) | MSI Thin GF63 (12Vx) | 695 |
| RTX 3050 (Laptop, 65W, 6GB) | Acer Nitro V 15 | 504 |
The RTX 4050 in Pro 5 looks like a good price/performance choice. Note that it is much faster than the RTX 4050 in MSI GF63 which has heavily reduced TGP – just 45W.
Storage performance
The 1TB SSD drive in our Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) configuration is Micron SSD 1TB 3400 M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 Gen4 x4.
The sequential read speed is more than 5GB/s, while the sequential writing is 4.7GB/s.
[eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT Your Laptop
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🛠️ GPU Modifications: vBIOS, Overclocking, Undervolting
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💻 Hardware upgrade tips for best results
🖼 Display enhancing
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Battery Life
We’ve tested the battery life of IdeaPad Pro 5 in the Battery Saver mode, Panel Self Refresh: On, Display Power Savings: Off.
Well, Pro 5 isn’t a record-breaker but more than 11 hours on a single charge is still a great result.
Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better
Conclusion
Although they look and feel almost identical, the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 is much more work-oriented than its Slim 5 counterpart. It’s not just the Pro moniker; this device is truly geared for professional tasks with all necessary ports and a military-certified chassis.
The Pro 5’s AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU is quite powerful, trailing just 7% behind the new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. While the latter boasts a 50 TOPS NPU (currently underutilized), you can equip the IdeaPad Pro 5 with a GeForce RTX 4050, doubling HX 370’s INT8 peak AI performance. Surprisingly, this RTX 4050 variant operates at 100W TGP, despite official specs listing it at 80W.
The OLED display is another highlight, offering a 120 Hz refresh rate for smoother motion, high brightness, and accurate colors with our Design and Gaming profile. The only downside is its use of PWM, which, although mild, could be a concern for some users.
In summary, the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) stands out as an excellent choice for an affordable, high-performance work laptop.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16APH9) series – Specs and Prices
Pros
- Sleek aluminum body
- Thin (0.69″ / 17.5mm) and light (4.21 lbs / 1.91kg) chassis
- Solid build, passes the MIL-STD-810H military-grade tests
- 40Gbps USB 4.0 port + HDMI 2.1
- 120 Hz OLED display panel
- 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 color coverage
- Very color accurate with our display profile
Cons
- PWM usage
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Don’t worry, we just did some weekend reviews; we haven’t changed our style 🙂 But we’re glad to see you’re keeping a close eye on us, making sure we maintain our standards!