Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i (16IMH9) Review – The Best Affordable 16-inch Laptop for Work

    As we promised, we got all the 16-inch IdeaPad models, in search of the best affordable laptop for work by Lenovo. Today we’re reviewing the Intel variant of IdeaPad 5 Pro, called 16IMH9. This is the last one of the series but let us show you how we got to this point:

    Slim 5 Series 16″:
    IdeaPad Slim 5 AMD (16AHP9) – Ryzen 5 8645HS / 7 8845HS – Detailed Review
    IdeaPad Slim 5 Intel (16IMH9) – Core Ultra 5 125H / 7 155H – Detailed Review

    Pro 5 Series 16″:
    IdeaPad Pro 5 AMD (16AHP9) – Ryzen 5 8645HS / 7 8845HS – Detailed Review
    IdeaPad Pro 5i Intel (16IMH9) – Core Ultra 5 125H / 7 155H / 9 185H – This Review

    The Pro 5 series laptops look almost identical to the Slim 5 but have some important advantages for those needing a real workhorse, not just the essentials. Today we’ll clear all the mist surrounding these lineups and help you find the best model for your workflow.

    You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16IMH9) series – Specs and Prices

    Contents


    Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box

    Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16IMH9) - स्पेक्स

    • BOE NE160QDM-NY2 (BOE0AC1)
    • रंग सटीकता  2.1  0.9
    • HDD/SSD
    • तक 4000GB SSD
    • M.2 स्लॉट
    • 1x 2280 M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 + 1x 2242 M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 
    • RAM
    • up to 32GB
    • OS
    • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, No OS, Windows 11
    • बैटरी
    • 84Wh
    • बॉडी मटीरियल
    • Aluminum
    • आयाम
    • 356 x 251 x 17.5 mm (14.02" x 9.88" x 0.69")
    • वजन
    • 1.91 kg (4.2 lbs)
    • पोर्ट और कनेक्टिविटी
    • 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 2x2 (20 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
    • 1x USB Type-C
    • 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
    • HDMI
    • 2.1 (4K@60Hz)
    • कार्ड रीडर
    • SD (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
    • ईथरनेट लैन
    • वाई-फाई
    • 802.11ax
    • ब्लूटूथ
    • 5.3
    • ऑडियो जैक
    • 3.5mm Combo Jack
    • विशेषताएँ
    • फिंगरप्रिंट रीडर
    • वेब कैमरा
    • FHD IR with privacy shutter, fixed focus, with ToF sensor
    • बैकलिट कीबोर्ड
    • माइक्रोफोन
    • Dual Microphone Array
    • स्पीकर
    • 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Dolby Atmos
    • ऑप्टिकल ड्राइव
    • सुरक्षा लॉक स्लॉट

    Drivers

    You can find the official drivers for the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16IMH9) here:
    https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-pro-5-16imh9/downloads/driver-list

    What’s in the box?

    Depending on the configuration you’ve ordered, you’ll get a 170W charger (on the left image) for dedicated graphics cards, or a 100W power adapter (on the right) for iGPUs.



    Design and construction

    Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i (16IMH9) and IdeaPad Pro 5 (16AHP9) are different series but they look exactly the same. They both share the same size, weight, and Arctic Gray color. The differences are on the inside, and we’ll show them to you further in the review.

    Now, let’s compare the body with Slim 5.

    The Pro 5 (AMD) and Pro 5i (Intel) are both 0.69″ (17.5 mm) thick which is slightly more than the Slim 5 – 0.67 inches (16.9 mm). The Slim 5 is also lighter – it weighs 4.01 lbs (1.82 kg) while the Pro variants start from 4.21 lbs (1.91 kg) for configurations with integrated graphics and go up to 4.28 lbs (1.94 kg) if you opt for GeForce GPU. To get things into perspective, we’ll tell you that the average 16-inch laptop in our Specs System database weighs 4.56 lbs (2.07 kg).

    Pro 5 and Slim 5 look almost identical when closed but opening the lid reveals some slight differences. To distinguish them better, we ordered the Slim 5 in Blue. Pro 5 and 5i don’t have color options other than gray.

    IdeaPad Pro 5i and Pro 5 have some space around the arrow keys which makes them more comfortable to use compared to Slim 5. Also, the trackpad is bigger – 3.15″ x 5.31″ (80 x 135 mm), compared to the one in Slim 5 which is slightly smaller – 2.95″ x 4.72″ (75 x 120 mm).

    Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i
    Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5

    The Island Style keys of Pro 5i are very comfortable to use, with good feedback, and backlight. We don’t have any complaints regarding the trackpad too – its glass surface is smooth, and working with it is a breeze.

    Even when pressing the palm rest hard, the construction barely bends which is a good indication for the premium build. Of course, it has passed the MIL-STD-810H tests for endurance with torture tests including high and low temperature, humidity, and light drops, but we always prefer to give laptops a test with our own bare hands.

    As all other Series 5 models have the same OLED screen, this time we decided to get the IPS variant so we can do a comparison. Design-wise, there’s no change in the width of the bezels. Again, all of them are very narrow, except for the center of the top bezel where the FHD IR camera is. There’s also a privacy shutter.

    Ports

    As expected from a “Pro” laptop, the IdeaPad Pro 5i boasts much better ports compared to the Slim 5 models. Actually, better than the AMD variant of the Pro 5 as well.

    In addition to the two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, one of which is “Always On”, Pro 5i’s USB-C ports are much faster than Slim 5’s. One of the USB-C ports here is 20Gbps / USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 with PD 3.0 and DisplayPort 2.1, and the other is a Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 40Gbps, again with support for PD 3.0 and DisplayPort 2.1. 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 5i 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.

    Compared to the AMD variant (16AHP9), the IdeaPad Pro 5i (16IMH9) has faster USB-C ports. The left USB-C has double the bandwidth (20 Gbps vs 10 Gbps), and DP 2.1 vs DP 1.4 support. The right USB-C is a Thunderbolt 4 for Intel, and a 40 Gbps USB 4.0 for AMD.

    Lenovo IdeaPad 5i (Intel)
    Lenovo IdeaPad 5 (AMD)

    Display and Sound Quality, Get our Profiles

    Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16″LEN160 2K (LEN8ABC)BOE NE160QDM-NY2 (BOE0AC1)
    Diagonal16.0 inches (40.6 cm)16.0 inches (40.6 cm)
    Panel TypeOLEDIPS
    Resolution2048 x 1280 pixels2560 x 1600 pixels
    Max Refresh Rate120 Hz120 Hz
    Aspect Ratio16:1016:10
    Pixel Density151 PPI189 PPI
    ‘Retina’ DistanceGreater than or equal to 58 cmGreater than or equal to 46 cm

    As we’ve already tested the OLED panel in the AMD variant of IdeaPad Pro 5, we ordered the Pro 5i with the other option – 1600p IPS made by BOE, model number NE160QDM-NY2 (BOE0AC1).

    Viewing Angles

    The BOE NE160QDM-NY2 in IdeaPad Pro 5i has 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 Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 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 5i: 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 91% of the sRGB color gamut and 72% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

    (Fig.1) Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i covers 91% of the sRGB gamut

    Brightness and Contrast

    The maximum brightness is 399 cd/m² in the center of the screen and 402 cd/m² averaged across the surface with a maximum deviation of 7%.

    The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) on a white screen at maximum brightness is 6590K.

    The contrast ratio is good – 1270:1.

    HDR is not supported.

    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 (Windows slider = 68%) — 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 Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i. 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 5i in its factory condition (Fig. 2) and with our profile (Fig.3), compared to the sRGB color space.

    Before our calibration of the IdeaPad Pro 5i, the Average color accuracy was 2.1 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Design and Gaming profile, it lowered to 0.9 dE (Fig. 3). This is a great achievement – more than 2X better accuracy! With our Design & Gaming profile, the average distance to the real colors is indistinguishable to the naked eye!

    ACCURACY BEFORE

    (Fig. 2) Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i in its factory condition
    ACCURACY AFTER

    (Fig. 3) Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 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.

    Response time (Gaming capabilities)

    We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

    We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 7.8 ms. Short pixel response time is a prerequisite for a smooth picture in dynamic scenes. This is a very good result, even for gaming.

    After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.

    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 backlight on the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16IMH9) display does not use pulse-width modulation, ensuring a more comfortable viewing experience for your eyes.

    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 5i screen is 51 GU — another eye-relieving result.

    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 5i (16IMH9) configurations with BOE NE160QDM-NY2 (BOE0AC1), 2560 x 1600, IPS 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.

    कुशल और स्वास्थ्य के अनुकूल प्रोफाइल प्राप्त करने के अलावा, LaptopMedia के उत्पादों को खरीदकर आप हमारी प्रयोगशालाओं के विकास का भी समर्थन करते हैं, जहाँ हम सबसे वस्तुनिष्ठ समीक्षाएँ प्रस्तुत करने के लिए उपकरणों का परीक्षण करते हैं।

    Office Work

    Office Work का उपयोग ज्यादातर उन उपयोगकर्ताओं द्वारा किया जाना चाहिए जो अपना अधिकांश समय टेक्स्ट के टुकड़ों, तालिकाओं को देखने या सिर्फ सर्फिंग में बिताते हैं। इस प्रोफ़ाइल का उद्देश्य एक फ्लैट गामा वक्र (2.20), मूल रंग तापमान और अवधारणात्मक रूप से सटीक रंगों को रखकर बेहतर विशिष्टता और स्पष्टता प्रदान करना है।

    Design and Gaming

    यह प्रोफ़ाइल उन डिजाइनरों के लिए है जो पेशेवर रूप से रंगों के साथ काम करते हैं, और गेम और फिल्मों के लिए भी। Design and Gaming डिस्प्ले पैनल को उनकी सीमा तक ले जाता है, जिससे वे वेब और HDTV के लिए sRGB IEC61966-2-1 मानक में, व्हाइट पॉइंट D65 पर यथासंभव सटीक हो जाते हैं।

    Health-Guard

    Health-Guard हानिकारक पल्स-विड्थ मॉड्यूलेशन (PWM) को समाप्त करता है और नकारात्मक नीली रोशनी को कम करता है जो हमारी आँखों और शरीर को प्रभावित करती है। चूंकि यह प्रत्येक पैनल के लिए कस्टम अनुरूप है, यह रंगों को अवधारणात्मक रूप से सटीक रखने का प्रबंधन करता है। Health-Guard कागज का अनुकरण करता है जिससे आँखों पर दबाव बहुत कम हो जाता है।

    33% छूट के साथ सभी 3 प्रोफाइल प्राप्त करें

    Sound

    The speakers of Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i produce very high-quality sound. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear without any significant deviations.


    Performance: CPU, GPU, Storage

    You can order the Intel version of IdeaPad Pro 5 with Core Ultra 5 125H, Ultra 7 155H, or Ultra 9 185H. The Slim 5 series has configurations with the first two processors only, and we have it with the Ultra 7 155H so we ordered the Pro 5i with the same CPU, in order to compare them.

    In terms of graphics, you can choose between the integrated Intel Arc, RTX 3050, and RTX 4050. We already tested the 4050 in the AMD variant so we got the iGPU version now.

    As with all Lenovo Series 5 laptops, there are three pre-defined power modes in Lenovo Vantage, and you can easily switch between them with the Fn+Q key – Adaptive power mode, Battery Saver, and Performance.

    All performance tests below are conducted with the Performance mode activated.

    CPU Performance

    Here you can see why the IdeaPad Pro 5i is Pro and the Slim 5i is not Pro. Same processor, 23% advantage. Actually, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in Pro 5i wipes the floor with all the CPUs in this category.

    Single-core प्रदर्शन ऑपरेटिंग सिस्टम में सुचारू संचालन और प्रतिक्रिया सुनिश्चित करता है, जिससे एक बेहतर उपयोगकर्ता अनुभव मिलता है।

    परिणाम Geekbench 6 Single-Core टेस्ट से हैं (उच्चतर बेहतर है)

    Multi-core प्रदर्शन जटिल और मांग वाले कार्यों, जैसे वीडियो संपादन, CAD, और वैज्ञानिक सिमुलेशन को संभालने के लिए आवश्यक है।

    परिणाम Geekbench 6 Multi-Core टेस्ट से हैं (उच्चतर बेहतर है)

    यहां, हम एक वास्तविक-विश्व 3D रेंडरिंग कार्य का उपयोग करके CPU के प्रदर्शन का मूल्यांकन करते हैं, जटिल संगणनाओं और रेंडरिंग वर्कलोड को कुशलतापूर्वक संभालने की इसकी क्षमता का आकलन करते हैं।

    परिणाम Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core टेस्ट से हैं (उच्चतर बेहतर है)

    GPU Performance

    You have the choice between the integrated Intel Arc (8-core) and two dedicated GeForce options: RTX 3050 (80W) and RTX 4050 (100W). We opted for the Intel Arc, which pleasantly surprised us in our IdeaPad Slim 5i review.

    Gaming tests

    In the review of the Slim 5 version we tested the 8-core Intel Arc with Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the Lowest settings and we got 55 FPS on its native 2048 x 1280 resolution. Here the task is even harder because the resolution of the IPS screen is 2560 x 1600. It sounds similar but there are 56% more pixels to render!

    Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs with almost 50 FPS at the native resolution of the Pro 5i’s integrated screen, which is a pretty good result. However, if you’re one of those who are scared of FPS numbers below 60, lowering the resolution to 1920 x 1200 will not only achieve an average of 60 FPS but also add a bonus of 1 FPS.

    Shadow of the Tomb Raider2560 x 1600, Lowest1920 x 1200, Lowest
    Average FPS49 fps61 fps

    AI Performance

    All of the Core Ultra CPUs you can order the Pro 5i with, have the same AI Boost NPU with a peak INT8 processing power of 11 TOPS. This is far below the 40 TOPS requirement from Microsoft for the Copilot program, yet the Pro 5i still has the Copilot button on the keyboard.

    If you need more AI performance, get the RTX 4050, which has about 97 TOPS of peak INT8 performance.

    Surprising or not, the AI Boost NPU in Pro 5i performs 22% better compared to the same NPU in IdeaPad Slim 5:

    NPULaptopAI Computer Vision
    Intel AI Boost NPULenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i (16IMH9)208
    Intel AI Boost NPULenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i (16IMH9)253 (+22%)

    The test is conducted in OpenVINO 2024.2.0, with FP16 precision.

    Storage performance

    The 1TB SSD drive in our Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i configuration is Samsung PM9C1a MZAL81T0HDLB, PCIe 4.0 x4.

    The sequential read speed exceeds 6GB/s, while the sequential write speed nearly reaches 5GB/s. Maximum temperatures remain within acceptable limits, even during continuous benchmarking.


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    Battery Life

    We’ve tested the battery life of IdeaPad Pro 5i in Battery Saver mode, Panel Self Refresh: On, Display Power Savings: Off.

    13 hours on a single charge is a great result.


    Conclusion

    When we began searching for the best affordable 16-inch laptop for work, we ordered four models from Lenovo’s 5 Series because the differences weren’t clear initially. Now we found what we were looking for, with the last review of these four, the one for the Intel version of the Pro lineup, called 16IMH9.

    IdeaPad Pro 5i 16IMH9 looks just like Slim 5i 16IMH9 but it’s much more powerful in both CPU, GPU, and AI performance, even when comparing configurations with the same CPU and GPU. Moreover, Pro 5i is better equipped in terms of ports – again, they look the same, but here we have Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, and HDMI 2.1. Also, the screen is much more color-accurate, and you can order it with 2.5K IPS panel option as well.

    The AMD version of the Pro 5 is called 16AHP9 and covers many of the advantages of the Pro 5i but falls behind with slower ports (no Thunderbolt, slower USB-C). Also, the integrated Intel Arc is faster than the Radeon 780M, if you decide to save money from buying a dedicated GPU.

    In conclusion, the IdeaPad Pro 5i 16IMH9 isn’t just an exceptional laptop; it stands as the best in its category, earning a well-deserved Editor’s Choice medal from LaptopMedia.

    You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16IMH9) 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
    • The body doesn’t attract fingerprints
    • 13 hours of battery life
    • Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, HDMI 2.1
    • Almost perfect color accuracy with our Design & Gaming profile (IPS variant)
    • No PWM usage (IPS variant)


    Cons

    • No HDR support (IPS variant)

    सदस्यता लें
    की सूचना दें
    guest
    3 Comments
    इनलाइन फीडबैक
    सभी टिप्पणियाँ देखें
    Crys
    Crys
    1 साल पहले

    According to Lenovo specs RTX 4050 implementation is 80W not 100W like you say in the article. https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_Pro_5_16IMH9?tab=spec

    Crys
    Crys
    1 साल पहले

    When you compare OLED with IPS screen versions you are not saying anything about glare treatment. So oled screen is glare, and IPS si semi-glare according to the measurements

    Last edited 1 साल पहले by Crys
    anu
    anu
    5 महीने पहले

    is this intel evo certified?