Legion 5 (2020) – AMD vs INTEL

[ntab Configuration]

The Legion 5 is the direct successor of the Y540, Lenovo’s 2019 budget gaming laptop, and it is available in various configurations, with users being able to choose between AMD’s Ryzen 4 or Intel’s 10th gen processors, in combination with various dedicated graphics cards ranging from GTX 1650, all the way up to RTX 2060. We already did an in-depth review of the Intel variant, so if you want more general information about the laptop, please click this link for more info. Since both Intel and AMD versions have the same chassis, in this review we will focus more on the performance difference between the two.

[ntab Display]

Both displays are absolutely great, however, the AMD version is equipped with the BOE NV156FHM-NY4 IPS panel, which is brighter at 353 measured nits (versus 328 nits on the Intel version), has a higher refresh rate at 144 Hz (vs 60 Hz) and slightly better colour coverage of 99.1% sRGB, 70% Adobe RGB and 72.5% DCI P3. Also, we did not notice any backlight bleeding on any of the displays.

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.

sRGB profile and calibration

[ntab Benchmarks]

[ntab AMD vs INTEL Gaming benchmarks comparison]

[ntab Gaming benchmarks]

Click on the banner to go to our youtube channel

[ntab Temperatures]

Lenovo Legion 5 cooling system

Both Legion 5 variants share the same chassis design so they have the same cooling solution consisting 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 laptops were tested in both real-usage scenarios (like gaming) and synthetic benchmarks with their Thermal Profile set to Performance mode. After testing over 35 games from a wide variety of genres and on various graphical settings, it is clear that both laptops have excellent thermal management. We will focus more on AMD’s performance but we will also include Intel’s results for comparison reasons. If you want more details on how the Intel version behaved during the tests, please read the full review here .

Lenovo Legion 5 back vent

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

During the standard 30 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the Ryzen 7 4800H reached an average temperature of 95.2°C (203.4°F), with a maximum of 103°C (217.4°F). Even though the maximum temperature may seem alarming, please keep in mind that Ryzen processors have a higher temperature limit of 105°C (221°F). Also, the CPU stayed at that temperature only for a few seconds until the fans kicked in, but it was enough for our tracking software to record it. Despite these temperatures, the processor managed to keep an average clock speed of 4.06 GHz, with a minimum frequency of 3.84 GHz, which is very similar to Intel’s i7-10750H results.

Please keep in mind that this is a synthetic test that is meant to push the machines to their maximum limits, however, these limits will likely never be reached during normal use. This is also confirmed by the fact that during normal tasks like gaming, the laptops behaved differently, with the Ryzen 7 4800H temperatures hovering between 60-70° C (140-158° F) and constantly maintaining an all-core maximum boost of 4.30 GHz, while its Intel counterpart, the i7-10750H, ran hotter at 75-85° C (167-185° F) with its all-core maximum boost frequency being variable, sometimes dropping to 4.18 GHz.

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

[ntab Battery life]

Lenovo Legion 5 battery

Both laptops are rocking the same 80 Whr battery, and we tested them 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 on both machines according to visibility and usability, at 60%. The sound volume was also set to 50%.

Lenovo Legion 5 charger

The AMD version lasted 4 hours with the Hybrid Mode turned on. This is considerably lower than the Intel version which lasted 5 hours and 30 minutes but it is understandable since the AMD version has a higher refresh rate display which is drawing more power. The machines were tested using both Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of the browser.

Both laptops charged from 5% to 100% in 1 hour and 55 minutes with the 170W power adapter included in the box. The charging tests were done without activating the “Rapid charge” option, which fast charges 50% of the battery in 30 min.

[ntab Conclusion]

Pros:

• good performance for 1080p gaming;
• 144Hz refresh rate panel;
• great color coverage display;
• excellent RGB keyboard;
• great cooling solution
• competitive pricing;
• a wide selection of peripheral ports
• good upgradability.

Cons:

• lack of a card reader.

So, which one is better? Well, both AMD and Intel versions performed very similar, with the Ryzen 7 4800H being better in multi-core intensive tasks, while the i7-10750H being slightly better in tasks where the single-core maximum frequency is more important. So in the end, the price is the deciding factor. Just get which one is cheaper in your region since there is no real gap in performance between the two versions, and in the end, they are both formidable machines, outclassing most budget gaming laptops out there.