Content

1. Contents of delivery
2. TECH SPECS
3. Positioning
4. Appearance, ergonomics
5. Screen, multimedia
6. Keyboard, touch pad
7. Performance, autonomy, cooling
8. Competitors, conclusions

Contents of delivery

• A laptop
• Power supply 170 W
• Documentation

Positioning

In 2020, Lenovo took a course to change the approach to laptop naming. The main goal of this step was search engine optimization and convenience for users looking for this or that model. Today we will look at the innovations and differences from the previous generation using the example of the Lenovo Legion 5 gaming laptop, which replaced the Legion Y540 model, you could read about it in one of the editorial materials.

The older line in relation to Legion 5 is Legion 5P, where P is Performance (performance), respectively, it will have more pumped up laptops, in the top you can see RTX graphics up to model 2060, 32 GB of RAM, a screen with a brightness of 500 nits and a frequency of 240 Hz, as well as other delights, for which about 140 rubles will be asked by the end of the summer. If we talk about the position of the Lenovo Legion 000 configuration that came to the review in the updated line, then the model received a flagship processor from AMD, a screen with an increased refresh rate and a gaming video card, which refers the model to mid-range solutions, in which it is quite possible to achieve good performance in games.

Appearance, ergonomics

As many of you already know, despite the fact that Legion is positioned as a purely gaming brand, the design of the notebooks of the line is mostly strict, solid, practically nothing at first glance does not give out its belonging. This trend is illustrated in the test model: dark gray matte plastic, classic shapes and the absence of any bright elements and backlighting on the case look as neutral and even minimalistic as possible. A closer look reveals a subdued play of light on the Legion logo and, to a lesser extent, on the screen hinge. At a certain viewing angle, these elements begin to softly sparkle in different colors, the effect is somewhat similar to rainbow spots from gasoline on the surface of the water.

The surface of the lid now has no ribbed texture like in the Legion Y540, it uses plastic reinforced with talcum powder. Its surface is quickly cleaned of dirt and fingerprints. Despite the relatively thin profile of the lid, it can be called strong and reliable, the squeeze from the outside is minimal, the twisting test is confident, as well as the one finger opening. This approach to the assembly and the materials used is reflected in the laptop as a whole; during testing, no creaks or backlashes were noticed.

The rear panel of Lenovo Legion 5 traditionally carries most of the connectors: power, HDMI, two USB Type-A 3.1, USB Type-C and a port for connecting a network cable. The solution is definitely convenient, few people like a bunch of wires to the left or right of the laptop, plus the cables extending from the back of the laptop more easily lend themselves to the timeless “cable-management”. Perfectionists, pay attention, you have not been forgotten. In ergonomics, the Lenovo Legion 5 gets a well-deserved top five both in terms of materials and dimensions, and in terms of port placement, it is quite worthy, although from a visual point of view, opinions differ. Well, purely subjectively, the model could be made a little lighter, for example, about 2 kg.

Screen, multimedia

The IPS-display installed in the laptop has a Full HD resolution with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. In terms of smoothness and clarity of the image in games, everything is pretty good, as well as with color reproduction: the shades are natural, natural, there is no feeling of poisonousness. The standard tools do not imply the presence of several calibration profiles, but you can use a little life hack: switching profiles is available in the Xrite Color Assistant utility, it will offer to download the profile settings from the manufacturer’s website. The glare test did not show any significant flaws, very commendable. The maximum brightness level is 300 nits, in practice it seemed to me a lot, the brightness did not rise above 80%, except for the first time, when the automatic adjustment mode of this parameter was working.

The bezels on the left and right have remained thin, the chin has grown slightly below, and the webcam has moved to the traditional place above the screen. A physical shutter is provided for it, in the Lenovo Vantage settings, the camera and microphone can be completely turned off, the importance of privacy can hardly be overestimated.

The hinge of the screen allows it to unfold 180 degrees, a feature that will be appreciated by those who like to work while lying down and put the laptop on bent knees. This has its own charm, albeit subjective. In this mode, the screen is fixed quite firmly, does not shake when typing, there is every chance to quickly get used to this way of working.

The sound system consists of two speakers and is certified by Harman / Kardon. Its feature is the resonance of sound inside the Lenovo Legion 5 case, that is, the position of the hands or working with the laptop on the lap will not affect the sound and volume. The volume margin I would rate as good, the audio in games confidently overlaps the operation of the cooling system even at maximum fan speeds.

Keyboard, touch pad

The keys in Lenovo Legion 5 are made in the corporate style: they are rounded at the bottom, the keyboard unit itself is slightly recessed into the case. From the point of view of keyboard convenience, Lenovo engineers managed to do some unknown magic: typing is very, very convenient, the stroke of the switches is of medium depth, the accentuated moment of actuation is felt, and the keys work quite quietly. The surface of the caps has an oleophobic coating, which only adds a pleasant tactile sensation when entering. And at the same time, “chips” of gaming keyboards are added, such as independent processing of clicks. You can press at least all the keys at the same time, the commands will be processed, the response is very fast. Combined with a three-level white backlighting, this keyboard can be easily used for working with text, which I did not fail to take advantage of when writing this review.

It is worth mentioning a separate computer on / off key, large “arrows” and a preserved digital block. Someone will say that the backlight of a gaming laptop should be multi-colored, but this is clearly not for everybody. However, RGB lighting will be available for 5P models. The touch panel is medium in size, for ease of typing it is shifted slightly to the left. The panel is one-piece, there are no keys that simulate mouse buttons. There were no questions about the trackpad, it squeezes until it clicks, all gestures work, both with one finger and multi-finger.

Performance, autonomy, cooling

With the processor installed in the Lenovo Legion 5, we are already familiar from one of the past laptop reviews – Asus TUF Gaming A17. I will quote:

“The AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor used in the laptop, like its“ little brother ”AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, belongs to mobile hybrid chips with Zen 2 microarchitecture, improved energy efficiency and 7nm process technology. It is quite capable of competing with eight-core solutions from Intel (i9-10980HK, i9-9980H, i9-9880H), while it is much cheaper, and the performance in multi-threaded tests is comparable. Of course, you need to remember that Intel, at a similar or higher initial clock frequency, is guilty of increased power consumption … “.

Responsible for the graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, albeit not a top-end, but generally capable video card. The video memory (4 GB) allows you to run AAA games at high settings, somewhere you can swing at something higher, but you have to sacrifice something. The performance in games is confident, but it is felt that the processor lacks a more powerful graphics adapter, then it would be fully developed. Nevertheless, the gameplay does not suffer from this, the visual part is provided by the high hertz of the screen, in games such as Wolfenstein: Youngblood, it is quite possible to get about 100 fps on average. Online shooters like CS: GO and Valorant will perform even better, with the instant responsiveness that is so important for these games.

Benchmarks:

• Cinebench R20: CPU 4444, single-core 475
• Geekbench 5: single-core 1148 / multi-core 7327
• PCMark 10: 5206 (9178 base operations / 7009 productivity / 5951 digital content creation).
• 3D Mark:
  • DirectX 12, Time Spy: 3766 (3430 graphics, 8858 processor)
  • 4K games in DirectX 12, Time Spy Extreme: 1747 (graphics, 1584, processor 4216)
  • DirectX 11, Fire Strike: 8791 (graphics 9391, physics 22, combined test 243);
  • 4K games in DirectX 11, Fire Strike Ultra: 1920 (graphics 1784, physics 22 515, combined test 1068);
  • General test for gaming devices, Sky Diver: 27 597 (graphics 30 229, physics 19 435, combined test 26 984).
• CrystalDIsk Mark: 3565 MB / s read / 833 MB / s write.

Testing in games (all Full HD):

• Shadow of Tomb Raider: 52 fps (high settings).
• Doom Eternal: 73 fps (Full HD, high quality graphics, Vulkan)
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood: 94 fps (high quality graphics).
• Battlefield V: 73 fps (DX 12 off, medium settings)

Autonomy in games is traditional: 2-2.5 hours from a single battery charge. But with office scenarios, you can get confused and by activating the quiet ventilation mode, lowering the brightness of the graphics and turning off the keyboard backlight, it is easy to achieve 8 hours of battery life, unless, of course, you use resource-intensive applications. Another plus for the model as a working tool.

Cooling in a laptop is worth a separate mention. In the Lenovo Legion 5, the vents on the rear are arranged vertically instead of horizontally as in the Legion Y540. The laptop also has a special sensor that monitors the temperature rise at five points on the case. In the presence of heating, it proactively gives a signal that starts the increase in heat dissipation. Thus, the case does not overheat and the fan noise is reduced. In addition, the series models provide three types of cooling systems: with aluminum radiators (like the hero of the review), with copper radiators with an increased number of fins (for Lenovo Legion 5 versions with GTX 1660Ti / RTX 2060 video cards), as well as an integrated thermal module that complements the previous variant and installed in the Legion 5P line model. Cooling mode is switched by the Fn + Q key combination, quiet, balanced and productive modes are available. Cooling works very well, in my memory this is one of the “coldest” and “quietest” gaming laptops I’ve reviewed.

Competitors, conclusions

Devices based on AMD Ryzen 7 4800H are gradually starting to appear on our market, and this is good news. Among the competitors, we can name the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15, one of its modifications has a 144 Hz screen, and a faster NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q video card, a more pronounced gaming design, and the cost is around 90, as the hero of the review. Of the models based on Intel, we can single out Dell G000, its cost in a comparable configuration starts at 5 rubles.

Lenovo Legion 5 turned out to be quite interesting in terms of its versatility. This can be seen both in design and in work scenarios. Of course, I would prefer a version with a more productive video card, the same benchmarks show that the processor is capable of more. A very comfortable keyboard and a cool case make such a laptop an excellent work machine with correct ergonomics, apart from my personal wishlist in terms of weight. The laptop showed a rather interesting vector for the development of the line. Let the design be a subjective thing, but the impressions of the model are mostly positive.

Back to content >>>

Related Links

Share: 

we are in social networks:

Anything to add ?! Write … eldar@mobile-review.com