Lenovo Legion 5i (2020) review: the jack-of-all-trades and master of them all?

[ntab Configuration]

Last year, the Lenovo Legion Y540 gaming laptop enjoyed noticeable market success both in terms of sales and user feedback. Building upon that success, this year, Lenovo released the new Legion line of gaming laptops, with the Legion 5 being the direct successor of the Y540.

At first glance, it seems that the 2020 Legion 5 inherits all of the beloved traits of the Y540 – a compact gaming laptop with excellent thermals and performance. However, it appears that Lenovo did make some improvements which overall may make this laptop perfect for both gamers and non-gamers.

The machine can be fitted with both AMD’s Ryzen and Intel’s latest 10th gen processors, GTX or RTX Nvidia dedicated graphics cards and various display options, ranging from a modest 60 Hz refresh rate panel, all the way up to high-end, colour accurate, 240 Hz display. The base version of the Legion 5 starts at $999, but it often goes on sale for a lot less than that. A fully upgraded Lenovo Legion 5 can easily surpass $1600.

[ntab General overview]

Lenovo Legion 5i display lid

Since 2020, Lenovo decided to rebrand all of its gaming laptops to more “user-friendly” names and split them into three categories: Gaming 3, Gaming 5 and Gaming 7. Gaming 3 is for low budget gamers, Gaming 5 is sort-of middle tier, and Gaming 7 is high-end. Before this, Lenovo used to split its gaming laptops into Ideapad Gaming now Gaming 3, Legion Y5x0 and Legion Y7x0 series. The BIOS of the Legion 5 still bears the name Y550-IMH, indicating that initially, this laptop was supposed to be called Legion Y550, a direct successor to the Y540.

There are two versions: Legion 5 (for AMD variants) and Legion 5i (for Intel variants). This review is for the Legion 5i.

On the exterior, the Lenovo 5i looks nothing like a gaming laptop. In fact, with its Phantom Black paint, it has a very mature/clean look, which resembles a ThinkPad – Lenovo’s business-grade lineup. Instead of last year’s backlit logo, the display lid now features an iridescent “Legion” logo on its top-left part, and a subtle metal plate with “Lenovo” written on it, on the bottom right side. Although the chassis is made entirely out of ABS plastic, it feels very sturdy and gives a “premium vibe”. Both the keyboard deck and the back of the lid feature a soft rubberised touch surface, and while it does not make them fingerprint-proof, it does help to prevent the attachment of smudges and fingerprints to an extent. The display lid can be opened with one hand at a wide 180 degrees angle, but this operation needs to be done gently since at first, the display lid will lift the entire chassis, and then it slowly releases the bottom of the laptop.

Note:
The hinge problems reported on the more expensive Legion 7, are non-existent on the Legion 5. The Legion 7 hinge metal plate is glued to the body of the laptop, while on the Legion 5, the hinges are fixed using metal reinforcement riveted to the body.

Lenovo Legion 5i top view

From all the gaming laptops tested so far, the Legion 5i by far has the best keyboard. Without exaggeration, typing on the Legion 5 feels a lot like typing on a ThinkPad, and it is indeed an excellent typing experience. The advertised 1.5 mm travel time feels just right, the concave keycaps are very comfortable, have great feedback to them and the keys do not feel cramped at all. The keyboard features a full-sized Numpad, and while its keys are a little bit smaller than the rest of the keyboard, at least it offers a clean, classic layout instead of a merged/mashed arrow-Numpad layout such as it is the case with other gaming laptops. Speaking of the arrow keys, they seem a little bit bigger and separated from the rest of the keyboard, which is a smart design to avoid accidental key-presses while gaming.

The keyboard also supports n-key rollover, a feature usually reserved for much more expensive laptops. Rollover is the ability of a computer keyboard to handle several simultaneous keystrokes correctly.

Lenovo Legion 5i keyboard view

The keyboard is also white backlit with two intensity levels that can be switched between by pressing Fn + Space keys. There are also light indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Fn Lock. As a side note, it is worth mentioning that the laptop can be purchased with a four zones RGB keyboard for an extra ~$30 on Lenovo’s official store.

Lenovo Legion 5i Numpad

The touchpad uses Windows Precision drivers, and it has no dedicated left and right buttons. The surface area is average in size, and it is made out of plastic. The touchpad feels firm when clicking and seems to be accurate even in its corners. While the touchpad does not impress in any way, it is worth mentioning that it is not as bad as in other gaming laptops tested so far. Even though most gamers will invest in a mouse anyway, it is still a decent touchpad for those who will use the laptop in classrooms or at work.

Thankfully, Lenovo listened to its customers and moved the camera from the bottom of the display to a more normal position above the screen. That is right! No more double-chins. And as a bonus, Lenovo also added a Privacy shutter, which usually is reserved for its more expensive business lineups. As for the camera itself, it’s the usual HD camera found on most gaming laptops. It records in 720p at 30 frames per second, and it is OK overall, but the pictures tend to lose a lot of details in low light conditions. Fortunately, the user can somewhat alleviate that problem using the Lenovo Vantage app, where it can tinker with some of the camera settings, like brightness, contrast and exposure.

Lenovo Legion 5i webcam settings

The microphone array does a great job. All recordings sounded clear without picking any noticeable background noise.

[ntab Disassembly]

Lenovo Legion 5i bottom panel

There are eleven Philips head screws on the back of the laptop that need unscrewing. After that, starting from the front, carefully place a prying tool or a plastic card in the space between the plastic bottom cover and the main chassis, then move the prying tool or plastic card all along this separation space. As the prying tool/plastic card moves along this space, it will slowly un-clip the bottom cover from the main chassis. Finally, lift the bottom lid to reveal the laptop’s internal components. When lifting the cover, pay extra attention to the back of the laptop. Most of the peripheral ports are situated there and lifting the cover without being extra careful may damage the ports or the chassis.

WARNING: Disassembly is not as easy as with other laptops. The clips that hold the backplate need to be forced a little to unclip themselves. Also, it is not possible to move the prying tool/plastic card on the sides of the laptop to unclip it, which again means extra force needs to be applied from the front unclipped area for the backplate to come out.

To avoid applying extra force and potentially damaging the laptop, you need a second, thin prying tool/plastic card to unclip the sides of the laptop easily. One prying tool needs to be in the middle of separation space between the main chassis and the exhaust vent and another one right under the USB port, just like in the picture below. Using the two prying tools/cards together, gently push the main chassis away from the part with the exhaust vents. This manoeuvre should unclip the sides of the laptop without using a lot of force.

Lenovo Legion 5i internal components

Inside, there is:

• two M.2 SSD/PCIe slots;
• two RAM slots;
• a PCIe slot for the Wi-Fi card;
• (If the laptop has a 60 WHr battery, then one 1 X M.2 SSD slot is replaced by a 1 X 2.5-inch SATA slot.)

Lenovo Legion 5i Wifi and M.2 SSD slots

Please note that not all Legion 5 models come with an 80 WHr battery. Some of them come with a smaller 60 Whr battery. The ones with the smaller battery have room for an additional 2.5-inch drive, while those with the 80 WHr battery, like the Legion 5 15IMH05 reviewed here, trade the storage bay for the larger battery and only get two M.2 slots. Also, the 2.5-inch drive seems to block the second M.2 slot for some reason.

Lenovo Legion 5i RAM slots

[ntab Ports]

Lenovo Legion 5i back ports

There is a wide variety of ports on the Legion 5i, most of them located at the back of the laptop. From an ergonomic perspective, this is an excellent port arrangement. If only more laptop manufacturers would follow this trend. To be clear, having most ports at the back of the laptop, prevents cables and other connected peripherals from interfering with the laptop’s cooling and mouse usage. Still, Lenovo left one USB Type-A port on each side of the machine for quick access, alongside a 3.5 mm jack. Also, Lenovo decided to replace last year’s mini DisplayPort with a USB Type-A port, and this is an OK change since the USB Type-C port can also act as a mini DP port.

Overall, the laptop has :

• one Ethernet extension connector;
• four USB 3.0 Type-A ports;
• one USB 3.0 Type-C port (also known as USB-C 3.2 Gen 1);
• one HDMI 2.0 port;
• a standard 3.5mm jack combo for microphone and headphones or speakers;
• one Kensington lock
• a DC-in power connector.

Another thing worth mentioning is that one of the USB Type-A ports has its charging capabilities always-on (even if the laptop is powered off). This feature came in useful when, during the laptop’s testing, there was a day-long blackout, and the laptop acted like a huge power bank for all of our phones. This option can be turned off from the Lenovo Vantage app.

[ntab Display]

The display on this review unit is called BOE0900/NV156FHM-N6A, which is a Full HD, IPS panel. It has a 60 Hz refresh rate, great viewing angles and, with its measured 328 nits, it provides decent outdoor visibility, though it is still preferable to use it in the shade. It also did not suffer from any backlight bleeding.

The Legion 5i can be configured with three other display options with different refresh rates: 120 Hz, 144 Hz and respectively 240 Hz. The 120 Hz panel is the worst of them all, with washed-out colours and low brightness, ruining an otherwise excellent machine. If possible, get the 60 Hz panel instead since the GTX 1650 Ti cannot push more than 60 fps on High to Ultra settings in most modern games anyway. Also, the 60 Hz panel has better colour coverage at 94.7% sRGB, 68.8% Adobe RGB and 71.8% DCI P3, making it viable even for video/photo editing.

Here is a link to the calibrated display profile of the reviewed unit. Because each display is unique, this profile will not perfectly match other displays of the same model. Still, using this profile should give better overall colours.

Lenovo Legion 5i display viewing angles

sRGB profile and calibration

[ntab Benchmarks]

Night Raid

SCORE	32060
Graphics score	49059
Physics score	10819

Fire Strike

SCORE	8983
Graphics score	9673
Physics score	18509
Combined score	3895

Sky Diver

SCORE	27815
Graphics score	31822
Physics score	16594
Combined score	29915

Time Spy

SCORE	4011
Graphics score	3712
Physics score	7401

Orange Room

SCORE	5777
Average frame rate	125.93 fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Cyan room

SCORE	3670
Average frame rate	79.99 fps
Target frame rate	88.90 fps

Blue Room

SCORE	1133
Average frame rate	24.69 fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Nvidia DLSS Test

DLSS Off	00.00 fps
DLSS On	00.00 fps

Cinebench R20

Single Core	457 pts
Multi Core	3132 pts

Blender

CPU blend time	4m 50s
GPU blend time	2m 44s

Geekbench 4

Single-core score	Multi-core score
5570	24942

Geekbench 5

Single-core score	Multi-core score
1213	6237

PCMark 10 Web Score 9098 Apps Score 12212 Chat Score 7482 Photo Score 7380 Video Score 5161 Writing Score 7225 Spreadsheet Score 9951 Essentials 9402 Productivity 8479 Digital Content Creation 6862 SCORE 5863

Crystal Disk Mark

[ntab Gaming benchmarks]

Apex Legends

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset	80 FPS	58 FPS	105 FPS
Low preset	124 FPS	76 FPS	145 FPS

Borderlands 3

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Badass preset	35 FPS	28 FPS	46 FPS
Medium preset	67 FPS	54 FPS	98 FPS
Very Low preset	86 FPS	58 FPS	109 FPS

Call of Duty: Warzone

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset	74 FPS	53 FPS	101 FPS
Normal preset	89 FPS	64 FPS	117 FPS
Very Low preset	91 FPS	72 FPS	125 FPS

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset

199 FPS

120 FPS

311 FPS

Detroit Become Human

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset

54 FPS

33 FPS

93 FPS

Doom Eternal

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset	67 FPS	47 FPS	107 FPS
Low preset	96 FPS	72 FPS	137 FPS

Dota 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High Dx9 preset

112 FPS

79 FPS

121 FPS

Drake Hollow

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Epic preset

58 FPS

9 FPS

62 FPS

Fall Guys

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset

59 FPS

31 FPS

61 FPS

Fortnite

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Epic preset	57 FPS	39 FPS	79 FPS
Low preset	245 FPS	177 FPS	289 FPS

Forza Horizon 4

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset

58 FPS

48 FPS

60 FPS

Genshin Impact

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset

59 FPS

39 FPS

61 FPS

Grand Theft Auto V

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Very High preset	38 FPS	27 FPS	54 FPS
High preset	54 FPS	44 FPS	67 FPS
Low preset	105 FPS	84 FPS	151 FPS

Grounded

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Epic preset	40 FPS	9 FPS	64 FPS
Medium preset	55 FPS	13 FPS	85 FPS
Low preset	71 FPS	41 FPS	101 FPS

Guild Wars 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Best Appearance preset	27 FPS	12 FPS	61 FPS
Best Performance preset	113 FPS	60 FPS	248 FPS

Horizon Zero Dawn

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultimate Quality preset	36 FPS	26 FPS	44 FPS
Favor Quality preset	49 FPS	41 FPS	57 FPS
Original preset	60 FPS	48 FPS	71 FPS
Favor Performance preset	69 FPS	50 FPS	85 FPS

Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Maximum preset

95 FPS

51 FPS

271 FPS

League of Legends

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Very High preset

234 FPS

117 FPS

477 FPS

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Medium preset	37 FPS	19 FPS	48 FPS
Low-end preset	49 FPS	28 FPS	71 FPS

Minecraft

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Maximum settings

60 FPS

58 FPS

61 FPS

Need for Speed: Heat

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	42 FPS	35 FPS	50 FPS
Medium preset	56 FPS	46 FPS	68 FPS
Low preset	66 FPS	49 FPS	83 FPS

Overwatch

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Epic preset	85 FPS	61 FPS	126 FPS
High preset	143 FPS	101 FPS	189 FPS

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	59 FPS	37 FPS	77 FPS
Medium preset	102 FPS	79 FPS	123 FPS
Very Low preset	129 FPS	94 FPS	178 FPS

Project CARS 3

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset	62 FPS	45 FPS	82 FPS
Medium preset	80 FPS	56 FPS	108 FPS

Red Dead Redemption 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

1st lvl of Favor Quality	39 FPS	27 FPS	58 FPS
1st lvl of Balanced Quality	53 FPS	41 FPS	71 FPS
1st lvl of Favor Performance	67 FPS	53 FPS	88 FPS

Rogue Company

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset

134 FPS

59 FPS

151 FPS

Serious Sam 4

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Medium preset (Vulkan, 1080p)

56 FPS

33 FPS

82 FPS

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Highest preset	52 FPS	43 FPS	67 FPS
Medium preset	65 FPS	55 FPS	78 FPS

Smite

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Maximum settings + HD Texture pack

148 FPS

94 FPS

151 FPS

Spellbreak

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	80 FPS	55 FPS	107 FPS
Medium preset	149 FPS	56 FPS	204 FPS

The Crew 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	45 FPS	37 FPS	61 FPS
High preset	57 FPS	44 FPS	62 FPS

The Cycle

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Epic preset	54 FPS	35 FPS	80 FPS
Medium preset	107 FPS	75 FPS	150 FPS

The Witcher 3

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	47 FPS	38 FPS	60 FPS
High preset	60 FPS	50 FPS	73 FPS
Medium preset	80 FPS	64 FPS	100 FPS

Titanfall 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset

104 FPS

54 FPS

145 FPS

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset

156 FPS

130 FPS

199 FPS

Total War: Three Kingdoms

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	28 FPS	25 FPS	33 FPS
Medium preset	70 FPS	57 FPS	83 FPS
Low preset	122 FPS	100 FPS	148 FPS

Valorant

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High preset

249 FPS

130 FPS

314 FPS

War Thunder

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Movie preset	90 FPS	41 FPS	175 FPS
High preset	151 FPS	117 FPS	202 FPS

Warframe

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

High (Enhanced) preset	80 FPS	18 FPS	96 FPS
High (Classic) preset	104 FPS	82 FPS	160 FPS

Watch Dogs 2

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Ultra preset	34 FPS	17 FPS	67 FPS
Very High preset	45 FPS	36 FPS	62 FPS
Medium preset	78 FPS	63 FPS	92 FPS

World of Warships

Settings

FPS average

FPS min

FPS max

Maximum preset	75 FPS	60 FPS	77 FPS
Medium preset	75 FPS	69 FPS	77 FPS
Very Low preset	74 FPS	64 FPS	77 FPS

[ntab Temperatures]

Lenovo Legion 5i cooling system

The cooling solution of the Legion 5i consists of three heat pipes (one of which is shared between the CPU and GPU), four heatsinks, two cooling metal plates that cover the VRMs and VRAM, and two medium-sized fans. The fans pull fresh air from underneath the laptop and push it out throughout its sides and back. Even though the bottom of the chassis looks like it has many holes through which the air can come in, opening the back panel reveals that a thin plastic plate blocks these holes. Therefore, the air comes in only through two areas on the bottom of the laptop, which are the same size as the fans.

Because the laptop pulls its fresh air from underneath itself, a cooling pad will make a noticeable difference for the laptop’s internal temperatures. Even though the machine has no problem keeping the temperatures in check, a cooling pad would be especially useful for improving the laptop’s long-term reliability.

The laptop’s performance was tested in both real-usage scenarios (like gaming) and synthetic benchmarks with its Thermal Profile set to Performance mode. After testing over 40 games from a wide variety of genres and on various graphical settings, it is clear that this laptop has excellent thermal management. Even in the most graphically demanding games, the CPU’s temperatures hovered between 75-85° C (167-185° F). Furthermore, the average all-core boost remained at 4.28 GHz, which is almost Intel’s guaranteed all-core maximum boost of 4.30 GHz. Occasionally, some of the cores did drop for a split-second to as low as 0.79 Mhz. However, these drops did not seem to have any noticeable impact on the system’s overall performance.

The synthetic tests yielded similar results:

Lenovo Legion 5i back vent

All temperature measurements were performed at an ambient temperature of 26° C (78.8° F).

Temperatures on idle and heavy load

During the standard 30 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the processor reached an average temperature of 81 °C (177.8 °F), with a maximum of 94 °C (201.2 °F). At these temperatures, the processor managed to keep an average frequency of 3.95 GHz, with occasional dips to as low as 3.88 GHz on some of its cores. Given that the i7-10750H has a minimum guaranteed frequency of 2.60 GHz and a maximum all-core boost of 4.30 GHz, it is safe to conclude that the cooling solution of the Legion 5i is adequate for its processor.

CPU clock rates after AIDA64 CPU stress test

In the combined AIDA64 plus Unigine Superposition test (which had both the processor and the GTX 1650 Ti under heavy load for 30 minutes), the processor reached a maximum temperature of 91 °C (195.8 °F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 82 °C (179.6 °F). Despite its throttling, the processor still managed to keep an average clock speed of 3.71 GHz with occasional dips to as low as 3.58 GHz, which exceeds the minimum advertised clock speed of 2.60 GHz. The dedicated graphics card maintained an average clock speed of 1608 MHz with a maximum boost of 1905 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered between 64 and 66°C (147.2 – 150.8°F).

Unigine Superposition + Aida64 combined stress test -HWinfo

Unigine Superposition + Aida64 combined stress test

Finally, the laptop was tested with the AIDA64 stability test, which is another combined stress test for the video card and processor. The results were very similar to the previous stress tests. The processor reached a maximum temperature of 97°C (206.6°F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 80°C (176°F). Despite its throttling, the processor still managed to keep an average clock speed of 3.81 GHz with occasional dips to as low as 3.68 GHz. The dedicated graphics card maintained a clock speed of 1866 MHz with a maximum boost of 1890 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered between 64 and 66°C (147.2 – 150.8°F), which is excellent for a gaming laptop.

AIDA64 Stability test -HWinfo

After all the tests conducted by the Noteb review team, it is safe to conclude that Legion 5i’s cooling solution is more than adequate for its components. The laptop manages to keep its temperatures in check in any scenario, allowing the processor and video card to reach their full potential, while also prolonging the laptop’s life span.

[ntab Noise]
Even though the user cannot set a custom fan curve, Lenovo lets the user choose between three predefined Thermal profiles. Changing the fan profile is done by pressing the Fn + Q keys. The active thermal profile is visually represented by an LED indicator inside the power button, changing colours in blue for “Quiet Mode”, white for “Balanced Mode” and red for “Performance Mode. There is even an option to allow the laptop to automatically change to “Performance Mode” when it detects a game running. When idling, the fan noise is hardly noticeable, generally remaining at the room’s ambient level of around 24 dB. Even under intensive usage, with fans set to their maximum speed, the noise level reaches ~40 dB, which is quieter than most gaming laptops tested so far by the noteb.com team.

Lenovo Legion 5i noise test, Idle and Under heavy load

The LatencyMon test evaluates if a laptop is suitable for video/audio editing and recording. The laptop was tested while connected to the Internet with a network cable and while connected via WiFi. Throughout the test, the machine did not experience any high latency, which makes it ideal for sound recording. The test was run multiple times to eliminate any flukes, and it always returned with the same results.

LatencyMon test – WIFI	LatencyMon test – LAN

[ntab Sound quality]

Lenovo Legion 5i speaker

The laptop has two 2-watt speakers placed at a slightly inclined angle to avoid muffled audio, and while they are not as loud as other laptops, they are better sounding than most gaming laptops tested so far. The highs are clear, the mid-tones are great, and there is even a little bit of bass, even though there is no subwoofer. But even so, it is still recommended to use a pair of headphones for an improved listening experience.

[ntab Battery life]

Lenovo Legion 5i battery

Since most laptops are used on battery for mundane office activities and web browsing, the laptop was tested using a simulated continuous web browsing session over the WiFi. The browsing session involved checking emails/news, social media and accessing multimedia websites, similar to the behaviour of an average user. The level of brightness was set according to visibility and usability. At 60% brightness, the laptop provided an enjoyable viewing experience. The sound volume was also set to 50%.

Lenovo Legion 5i charger

With its 80 WHr battery, the laptop lasted 5 hours and 30 minutes. The machine was tested using both Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of the browser. Also, Nvidia Optimus was enabled for the entire duration of the tests, meaning that the laptop should have only used its Intel integrated video card.

Charging the laptop from 5% to 100% took almost 1 hour and 55 minutes with the 170W power adapter included in the box. The charging test was done without activating the “Rapid charge” option, which fast charges 50% of the battery in 30 min.

Also, it is worth mentioning that some versions of the Legion 5 come with a 60 Whr battery instead of the 80 Whrone found in this review unit. The versions with the smaller battery will undoubtedly have a shorter battery life, which can be estimated at around 4 hours.

[ntab Software]

Even though the laptop does not come with any pre-installed software, there are 2 apps that are worth downloading from Lenovo’s official website:

• Lenovo Migration Assistant which helps the user move all their data from an old laptop to a new one, without any cables;
• Lenovo Vantage app which provides useful system information, automatically downloads updates and drivers, scans the laptop for errors and lets the user change various settings.

Lenovo Legion 5i BIOS update

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Migration Assistant

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Central Panel

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Thermal Modes

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: System update

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Widget

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Toolbar settings

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Device status

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Power and battery settings

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Battery details

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Warranty

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Display and camera settings

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Input and accessories settings

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Audio settings

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Hardware scan

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Recover bad sectors

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Network boost

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Auto-close apps

Lenovo Legion 5i – Lenovo Vantage: Wifi security

[ntab Conclusion]

Pros:

• good performance for 1080p gaming;
• great color coverage display;
• excellent keyboard;
• outstanding cooling;
• competitive pricing;
• a wide selection of peripheral ports;
• good upgradability.
• above average battery life;

Cons:

• lack of a card reader;
• no Thunderbolt;

In conclusion, this laptop is a jack-of-all-trades and master of them all.

While there are cheaper gaming laptops out there, such as the Acer Nitro 5, these laptops offer great value for the money because they focus only on budget gaming and neglect other areas. For example, the Acer Nitro 5 has inadequate colour coverage, poor speakers and below-average battery life.

On the other hand, for the same money or slightly more, other gaming laptops might offer a better dedicated graphics card and higher framerates. But apart from gaming, the Legion does so many other things right, that it is worth every penny even though it may not seem at first as the most cost-effective gaming machine out there.

The Legion 5 is so versatile that it can excel in many different scenarios: it can be a budget gaming laptop offering excellent 1080p gaming performance, it has a display which can be used for photo/video editing, it has an excellent keyboard, and it is quiet enough to take to a classroom. Moreover, it has over 5 hours of battery life and a business look that enables it to pass as a work laptop easily. All of these traits are paired with an outstanding cooling solution and build quality, making the Lenovo Legion 5i one of the best gaming laptops of 2020.

[ntab Buy]

To support noteb.com search engine and its review team, please consider buying a future Lenovo Legion 5 laptop through one of the links included below. Thank you!

Lenovo’s Official Store

Legion 5i – Configurator – i5-10300H (up to i7-10750H), 8GB RAM (up to 16GB), 128GB SSD (up to 1TB) + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650 (up to RTX 2060), FHD 60 Hz display (up to 240 Hz), Win 10 Home (or Pro)

Legion 5 – Configurator – Ryzen 5 4600H (up to Ryzen 7 4800H), 8GB RAM (up to 16GB), 128GB SSD (up to 1TB) + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650 (up to GTX 1660 Ti), FHD 60 Hz display (up to 240 Hz), Win 10 Home (or Pro)

Amazon

Legion 5 – Configurator – Ryzen 7 4800H, 16GB RAM (up to 32GB), 512GB SSD (up to 2TB) + 1TB HDD, GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 144 Hz display, Win 10 Home (or Pro)

Legion 5i – Configurator – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM (up to 64GB), 128GB SSD (up to 2TB) + 1TB HDD (up to 2TB), GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 120 Hz display, Win 10 Home (or Pro)

Legion 5 – Ryzen 7 4800H, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1650, FHD 120 Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 120 Hz display, Win 10 Home

Newegg

Legion 5 – Configurator – Ryzen 7 4800H, 16GB RAM (up to 32GB), 256GB SSD (up to 2TB) + 1TB HDD (up to 2 TB), GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 144 Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, GTX 1650, FHD 60Hz display, WIn 10 Home

Walmart

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, RTX 2060, FHD 60Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1650, FHD 60Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5 – Ryzen 5 4600H, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650 Ti, FHD 120Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5 – Ryzen 5 4600H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650, FHD 120Hz display, Win 10 Home

Tigerdirect

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 1TB HDD, RTX 2060, FHD 60Hz display, Win 10 Pro

Compsource

Legion 5 – Ryzen 5 4600H, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650, FHD display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 60 Hz display, Win 10 Home

CDW

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 1TB HDD, RTX 2060, FHD 240 Hz display, Win 10 Pro

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 144 Hz display, Win 10 Pro

BH Photo

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX 1650, FHD 120 Hz display, Win 10 Home

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, RTX 2060, FHD 144 Hz display, Win 10 Home

Bestbuy

Legion 5i – i7-10750H, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1660 Ti, FHD 60 Hz display, Win 10 Home

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