Review: Lenovo Legion 5i

Lenovo has just released a series of new laptops to its Legion series and we got our hands on one of them, the Lenovo Legion 5i. The new Lenovo 5i boasts a powerful RTX 2060 GPU for optimum gaming performance, a silky smooth 1920×1080 120hz display, and the 10th Generation Intel Core i7 processor all in a clean and portable package. The Legion 5i boasts enhancements in both its new TrueStrike Keyboard, as well as the Legion ColdFront 2.0 thermal system. All these features do sound impressive on paper, but is it truly “stylish outside, savage inside”? Let’s find out. 

Design and Build

The Legion 5i’s overall design is a lot more tame than most gaming laptops. It doesn’t have the eye-blinding RGB accents or the jagged and aggressive exteriors that gaming laptops usually have. The 5i comes in just one color—phantom black—but it has a sleek and simple design that will seem attractive to gamers looking for a cleaner form factor. The top panel has no backlighting whatsoever and that makes it look a lot more sophisticated, in my opinion. The build quality of the 5i is excellent. You can tell that Lenovo spared no expense in making the 5i feel like a premium gaming  machine.

Something I really, really loved was the I/O port placements. Majority of the ports were located at the back. This was really insane to me because usually ports would be located at the sides of the laptop but by putting them at the back, it just keeps everything so clean. No visible dongles popping up from the sides, no  LAN cable hindering your arm movement, majority of cables and dongles are tucked neatly into the back nowhere to be seen. The 5i has dimensions of 363.1mm x 259.6mm x 23.6~26.1mm and a weight of 2.3kg, which makes it reasonably mobile for a gaming  device. It isn’t the lightest amongst gaming laptops but it can still fit comfortable in any medium  or large backpack.

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Display

Now let’s talk display.  The 5i has a traditional 1920×1080  screen which is pretty standard for most PCs; what is not standard though is there is an option to go up to 240hz. To put this into perspective, a 240Hz  monitor is used by professional gamers, streamers, and video editors; it is the gold standard in display frame rates.  But do not fret, if the 240hz variant is too much for you then Lenovo has expanded its selection with  60Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz variant. In my opinion if you’re looking to game between high-graphic single–player games and competitive online multiplayer games then you’re better off with the 144Hz variant. If you want to save a bit of money though and plan to only play single–player games then I would recommend either the 60 or the 120Hz variant. 

Although I did enjoy the 120Hz variant, there were some areas of improvement I recognized. I would’ve enjoyed the experience more if the laptop had a brighter display. I tested the screen in a well–lit room and at full brightness, it looked pretty decent but the colors did not look as vibrant and as sharp as I expected. 

Keyboard, Trackpad, Camera, and Cooling

Lenovo used their new Truestrike Keyboard in this model and it’s fair to say that I am pretty surprised  with how comfortable typing is on this laptop. The sculpted keys aren’t clicky and they are extremely tactile, they’re soft and comfortable to press. It does not seem to have required high–actuation force and at the same time, I did not really have any issues with accidental clicking. It has 4 RGB lighting options which is the only RGB found in the entire laptop. (Is it truly a gaming machine with no RGB?)  For the layout, the keyboard may seem a bit cramped considering they opted to put a complete number pad on a gaming laptop, but it didn’t really affect the typing condition and experience so overall it was still a pleasurable typing experience.

The trackpad felt really smooth, it’s really sensitive and the mouse pointer mimics the movement on the trackpad really well. It lacked a physical separation indicator between the left click and the right click though but it’s not really a big deal. I am still quite impressed with the trackpad with regards to feel and sensitivity.The front facing camera, on the other hand, is disappointing. It has a resolution of 720p and looks really dim and grainy. Colors look really dull and it seems like they did not have the same standard for the front-facing camera as they did with the rest of the laptop. What I liked though is that it had a built in webcam shutter than physically blocks your webcam. This is a good way to heighten user security. 

As for the fans, Lenovo put in its new cooling technology into this laptop with the Legion Coldfront 2.0 thermal system. The fans do not get too loud but get noticeably louder the higher graphical demand the game has as per all gaming laptops. I noticed too that the base of the laptop does not get too hot and hot air does not blow through my hands, this is all credited to the well placed fans and the copper heat piping technology. 

Under the hood

The Legion 5i runs on the standard Windows 10 and is powered by the Intel core i7 processor or the core i5. It’s pretty standard for a 2020 mid-range gaming laptop. The intel core i7 allows you to do almost everything from gaming, work, and editing videos pretty efficiently. Unfortunately it does not have the option for the core i9 which I’m guessing is understandable for a mid-tier gaming laptop. 

Lenovo did equip this gaming machine with an RTX 2060 which allowed me to game in the highest setting without feeling any frame drops. An RTX 2060 is no joke, it can allow you to play tons of games usually on the highest graphical settings at 60fps. When I played Apex Legends at the highest settings the frames would cap at around 60-70 fps. I then decided to lower the settings to see how I can cap it at the maximum 120hz. Soon enough on all low-mid settings (which is normal on competitive shooters) I was able to play on a consistent 120hz. I did not observe any noticeable frame drops and to me that is the most important thing when playing competitive games. The RTX 2060 GPU is well optimized for the laptop.

What disappointed me though was the skimpy 500GB SSD attached to this particular variant and the 8GB of RAM. I think it’s safe to say that 500GB is not enough for a gaming laptop considering some games take as much as 175 GB. The 8GB of RAM is alright but I would recommend going for the 16GB variant, unless you want to turn off most if not all background apps while gaming. 

Verdict

Pros:

• Up to RTX 2060 GPU for optimum gaming performance
• Up to 240Hz display for online competitive multiplayer games
• IO port availability located at the rear and sides
• Incredibly responsive and tactile keyboard (with RGB)
• Comfortable and reasonably sized trackpad
• Clean, elegant, and simplistic design

Cons:

• Design may be a little too simplistic for some tastes
• Poor front-facing camera quality
• Dim Display 
• Low Memory on Cheaper Variants

The Lenovo Legion 5i is indeed stylish and it is indeed a savage. The specs are good for a mid-tier model but for the starting price of PHP 78,995 you’re surely paying a premium for mobility. Although there are some drawbacks, I can say with confidence that the Legion 5i is powerful and is quite a gaming machine. It delivers good gaming performance and a comfortable user experience all in one clean and sleek package. It is perfect for the on-the-go gamer who idealizes in their laptop a more mature and sophisticated look.