Lenovo Legion Slim 5i Gen 8 (16″ Intel, 2023) review – compact gaming device with powerful hardware
Thin gaming laptop, is that possible? Well, in recent years we’ve seen many notebooks with a slim design and powerful hardware. Today, we have another iteration in front of us and it’s the Lenovo Legion Slim 5i Gen 8 (16″ Intel, 2023). This one is called “slim”, and yes, it’s slim for a gaming-oriented device. Still, there are even thinner competitors but it looks like Lenovo is trying to find the sweet spot between optimal performance and portability.
There are a bunch of CPU and GPU options, which is great – if you don’t need a very powerful laptop, you can get a machine with an Alder Lake-H Core i5 and the 95W version of the RTX 3050 6GB which is actually still decent for gaming in the middle of 2023. Oh, and the not-so-powerful configurations are thinner, so that’s definitely a benefit.
On the other hand, power users will like the presence of a Core i7 Raptor Lake-H CPU and a high TGP version of the RTX 4070. DDR5 memory is on board as well which will boost the overall performance. The laptop is trying to impress future buyers with a 16″ display with a modern 16:10 aspect ratio. You got three options here which is always appreciated – two 1600p models and one 1200p variant. Not bad Lenovo, not bad.
The notebook seems more or less like a typical gaming device from the Legion family and we like it because the look of the machine is kind of stealthy-ish. Alright, you can fine-tune the machine’s hardware before buying it, there are plenty of panel variants and the notebook looks good and modern. So, let’s make a deep dive into this review because we want to see how the combinations of powerful internals and thin profile works in real life.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-legion-slim-5i-s5-16-intel-2023/
Contents
- Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
- Design and construction
- Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound
- Buy our profiles
- Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests
- [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop
- Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life
- Storage performance
- Lenovo Vantage
- Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance
- Verdict
Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
- HDD/SSD
- up to 1000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 2x 2280 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 32GB
- OS
- Windows 11 Home, No OS, Windows 11 Pro
- Battery
- 80Wh, 60Wh
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
- Dimensions
- 359.7 x 260.3 x 19.9 - 25.2 mm (14.16" x 10.25" x 0.78")
- Weight
- 2.40 kg (5.3 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 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
- HDMI
- 2.1 (8K@60Hz / 4K@120Hz)
- Card reader
- SD (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
- Ethernet LAN
- 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ax
- Bluetooth
- 5.1
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- HD / FHD
- Backlit keyboard
- Microphone
- Dual Microphone Array
- Speakers
- 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Nahimic Audio
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Lenovo Legion Slim 5i / S5 (16″ Intel, 2023) configurations
Drivers
All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/legion-series/legion-slim-5-16irh8/?linkTrack=Caps%3ABody_BrowseProduct
What’s in the box?
The package is standard – inside the box, you’ll find the laptop itself, some manuals, and a power adapter. The latter comes in two versions – 170W and 230W brick for the more powerful configurations. As you can see, our machine is bundled with the bigger power adapter.
hi, may i know the thermal pad thickness and size, my laptop was only have 1 thermal pad on the left side , while the main ssd is losing it’s thermal pad 😀
I’m curious about the 60W GPU limit on this model. There are any possibility of Nvidia change this in a future update? Or this is something that Lenovo controls? Or they probably won’t change that? Seems insane you advertise the laptop with a up 140W and limit it to run at less than half of that.
Read the review, in particular the section on the Vantage software.