The sleek, brick-like design was appealing to first-time gaming laptop users. However, Lenovo Legion Pro 5i is a design heavily influenced by its premium sibling, Legion Pro 7i. The design was impressive, but this laptop is heavy.
The Legion series is designed with gaming performance in mind, so the Pro 5i features a chassis that’s heavier and has an array of exhaust fan. The weight of the Pro 5i is minimal when compared with its gaming performance.
The minimalistic black chassis and RGB keyboard backlighting are refreshing. The deck and touchpad are made of plastic, even though the laptop is metallic. This was probably done to reduce the weight.
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Performance
The Legion Pro 5i gaming laptop is designed to deliver powerful performance. The Intel Core i9-14900HX is a high-end processor that enhances the gaming experience. This powerful chipset, coupled with NVIDIA GPU – GeForce RTX4070, creates immersive visuals for high-octane environments. This is a powerful machine designed to handle demanding games and other resource-intensive activities.
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i has a 16-inch QHD (2600 x 1600 pixels) IPS screen with a refresh rate of 165Hz, 100% DCI-P3 gamut and Dolby vision support. The display is easy to view and produces accurate colors with smooth visuals. The display was a pleasure to use for everyday tasks, but when it came to gaming the experience was immersive and thrilling.
The performance of the Legion Pro 5i is outstanding. A powerful processor and graphics cards allow the laptop to play some demanding games without any problems. According to my understanding, performance improvements from the previous generation are not as significant as you might expect. It is still an improvement. The laptop is not able to last long on battery despite its great performance. The laptop comes with a 80W battery that lasts for only 2.5 hours.
Experience the Gaming
After playing some cool games like ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’, ‘Forza 5’, and ‘Call of Duty’ on the Legion Pro 5i, I realized what I had been missing. The gaming experience was top-notch. The vast environments in ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ were stunning, with vibrant colours and excellent detail. The smooth frame rates also ensured that on-screen action was fluid even during intense gunfights.
The Legion Pro 5i handled the high-speed racing with ease. My experience with Call of Duty has made me believe that the Legion Pro 5i can handle fast-paced multiplayer games with an air of realism. It is the laptop that is able to keep up with high frame rates, and every shot counts.
Switching between screens is not easy, even when gaming. When paired with the ultra-smooth laptop processing, the TV’s 120Hz screen gave me an experience that was larger than life. Hardware tends to produce heat when performing heavy workloads or playing games.
Lenovo has made compromises in the selection of ports. The lack of Thunderbolt 4, even though it has all the standard ports, seems to be a major omission for a device that is marketed as Pro. Thunderbolt 4 ports allow gamers to easily connect high-performance products such as gaming monitors or high-speed SSDs. The absence of these ports may be disappointing for avid gamers.
The verdict
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i gaming laptop delivers solid performance with a great gaming experience. It is a great option for gamers, especially if you ignore the battery issues.
The laptop’s biggest advantage is its powerful NVIDIA GeForce GTX 4070 GPU. Lenovo’s Legion Pro 5i is a great value for money, thanks to its dynamic frame rates and superfluid performance.