[Video Review] Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (16″, 2022) – If a perfect gaming laptop existed, this would be it
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro / 5i Pro (16" Intel, 2022) in-depth review
Who, in their right might, won't consider the Legion 5 Pro as their next gaming device? That's right, currently, no such person exists. And this is because Lenovo proved that its latest gaming notebook is not limited to playing games only. Instead, you can do content creation, Web development, and more.The main reason for that is the usage of a 16:10 display. Naturally, it offers more vertical space, which lets you see more of the page. This is why the display is also slightly bigger than the "ordinary" Legion 5 - 16 inches. By the way, we haven't yet introduced this bad boy. It is the Le[...]
Pros
- High TGP GPUs
- 2x M.2 PCIe x4 Gen 4 slots, 2x DDR5 RAM SODIMM slots in dual channel, Wi-Fi 6
- Covers 97% of the sRGB color gamut and has accurate color representation with our Gaming and Web design profile (MNG007JA1-4 (CSO1613))
- Snappy panel with quick response times (MNG007JA1-4 (CSO1613))
- G-Sync support + MUX switch
- Has a ton of ports
- Great input devices
- The keyboard remains relatively cool after long gaming sessions
- Good build quality
Cons
- No SD card
- Below average battery life
- HDD/SSD
- up to 4000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 2x 2280 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 64GB
- OS
- Windows 11 Home, Windows 11, Windows 10 Home, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Pro
- Battery
- 80Wh
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum, Magnesium alloy
- Dimensions
- 359.9 x 264.4 x 19.9 mm (14.17" x 10.41" x 0.78")
- Weight
- 2.49 kg (5.5 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 2x 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), DisplayPort
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- 1x USB Type-C
- 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort
- HDMI
- 2.1
- Card reader
- Ethernet LAN
- 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ax
- Bluetooth
- 5.2
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- HD
- Backlit keyboard
- optional
- Microphone
- Dual Array Microphone
- Speakers
- 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Nahimic Audio
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Lenovo Legion 5 Pro / 5i Pro (16″ Intel, 2022) configurations
Gaming laptops often have the hardware capacity to handle productivity and Creator work but are mostly held back by the display selection, which isn’t always optimal. For this reason, Lenovo offers the Legion 5i Pro, a beastly gaming machine that has everything else to function as a workstation as well, thanks to well-cooled and powerful components. This exact model features 12th Gen Alder Lake and RTX 30-series parts, which seems to be the combination to go for in order to get maximum performance in 2022.
[Intro]
The laptop retains the same aluminum body from last year, which we welcome with open arms. The thing is as sturdy as a tank, and the white finish is pristine. The light-up Y-logo on the back is swapped for a glossy Legion marking. The laptop is a bit thinner, slimming down to 19.9 mm while retaining the same weight of around 2.50 kg.
[Input devices]
The lid can be opened with one hand, revealing the same keyboard from last year. It’s also found on all other Legion devices and is one of the best keyboards out there, with long key travel and clicky feedback. No professional laptop of this size comes without a NumPad, so we’re happy to see one. The touchpad has a Mylar surface and spans a decent area. It’s smooth and accurate.
[Ports]
The I/O is housed on all three sides. The back has the most, with a LAN port, a Type-C 10Gb port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort support, an HDMI 2.1 port, and two full-sized USB 5Gb ports. The left side has one Thunderbolt 4 port and one more Type-C 10Gb port. Finally, the right side gets one more full-sized USB port, an audio jack, and a toggle for the privacy shutter.
[Display]
There is a new addition to the display selection, with an FHD+ IPS panel, which is now the base option, instead of the QHD+ IPS display of last year. Since we already know everything about last year’s QHD+ panel, we wanted to focus on the 1200p option. It still has the same 16:10 aspect ratio that made the original laptop what it is, as well as keeping the 165Hz refresh rate. The panel has a 369 nit peak brightness while covering 97% of the sRGB gamut. It also reaches excellent color accuracy with our Design and Gaming profile, with a dE value of 1.0. It’s very good for gaming as well, with a response time of 9ms.
[Battery]
The downside of Intel CPUs is often the battery life, as the 80Wh unit inside the Legion 5i Pro lasts for only 5 hours and 29 minutes of Web browsing, or 5 hours and 54 minutes of video playback.
[Performance]
This was with the hardware combination of the Core i5-12500H and the 140W RTX 3060. As you would assume, this is the base configuration, which performs amazingly. The Core i5 is already an impressive CPU with 12 cores and 16 threads, performing better than the Ryzen 7 6800H.
As for the 140W RTX 3060, we’ve already seen it inside other laptops. The 10W extra headroom can’t really be felt when compared to the 130W RTX 3060 from last year.
In games, it performs very well. We tested Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077, which we feel are some of the most demanding titles that 2022 has to offer. In both games, we get well over 60 FPS, with Elden Ring going as high as 70 FPS.
[Elden Ring]
[Cyberpunk 2077]
By the way, check out our new channel where we test all popular graphics cards on all popular games, and on all presets. It’s a lot of work and we’ll be happy if you subscribe to it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLJ-FnaQC5P7DAJnZz9YZFQ
[Cooling]
The setup is incredibly simple, with three bulky heat pipes, two fans, four heat sinks, and some heat spreaders. One heat pipe covers both the CPU and GPU, while they get one separate pipe as well.
It does a remarkable job of cooling the processor, maintaining high clock speeds and low temperatures throughout the whole test. It went way above the 45W power limit, with our test recording 84W after 15-minutes of a torturous workload. The GPU gets a bit hotter than the CPU, getting close to the 140W TGP and going above 1900MHz even after the 30-minute mark.
In terms of comfort, the middle of the keyboard reached 42°C, which is pretty great, compared to last year, which was 10°C hotter.
[Teardown and upgradeability]
The laptop comes with DDR5 memory, which works in dual-channel mode. It’s accessible through two SODIMM slots, which are covered by a metal shroud. In terms of storage, there are two M.2 PCIe x4 slots, which support Gen 4 SSDs. They are covered by metal shrouds as well.
We’ll leave our teardown video in the description below, which shows how to access the insides of the Legion 5i Pro.
[Verdict]
The Legion 5i Pro is a unique gaming laptop with an incredible display selection and performance up the wazoo. The base model is perfect for entry-level professionals or people who’ve had previous experience but want to upgrade to a proper machine, while the higher specced models can satisfy even the most seasoned of veterans.
For a deeper look at the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro, check out our written review over at our website, which inspects the laptop from head to toe.