Lenovo Legion 5i: A Gaming Laptop Powerhouse With a Pricing Predicament

The Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 delivers impressive performance and a stunning OLED display, but navigating its pricing can be a significant hurdle for consumers.

In the competitive landscape of gaming laptops, Lenovo’s Legion series has carved out a reputation for offering a compelling blend of performance and features. The Legion 5i 15IRX10, in particular, aims to strike a balance between affordability and high-end gaming capabilities. While it largely succeeds in delivering a potent gaming experience, bolstered by an exceptional OLED display and surprisingly quiet fans, its pricing structure presents a significant challenge for potential buyers. This review delves into the intricacies of the Legion 5i 15IRX10, examining its performance, design, and the crucial factor of its value proposition.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Context & Background

Lenovo’s Legion line is positioned as a premium gaming brand, offering a range of laptops that cater to various budgets and performance needs. The Legion 5i 15IRX10 represents an effort to bring powerful internals to a more accessible price point without significant compromises. This particular model is designed to be a workhorse for gamers who demand strong 1080p performance and appreciate visual fidelity, all while maintaining a relatively portable form factor.

The reviewed configuration, which served as the benchmark for this analysis, featured an Intel Core i7-14700HX processor, 32GB of DDR5 memory, an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU with a 40-watt TGP, and a 15.1-inch 1600p OLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision support. However, the source material highlights that Lenovo’s direct-to-consumer configurations can be complex and often don’t precisely match tested units, leading to potential confusion and varying price points. The retail landscape, particularly through vendors like Walmart, offers configurations that come close to the reviewed model, often at a more attractive price.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

In-Depth Analysis

Design and Build Quality

The Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 sports a predominantly black aesthetic, a common theme in gaming laptop design. While understated, the all-black finish is prone to showing finger oils quickly. The overall design is clean, featuring rounded corners and chamfered edges on the base for a more comfortable feel than sharp angles. The construction utilizes a combination of smooth polycarbonate on the upper base and a rougher ABS plastic on the bottom, contributing to a fairly sturdy feel with minimal flex.

A notable premium touch is the aluminum lid, which houses Lenovo’s Legion branding with an embossed, smoky mirror finish. The display bezels are modest, and the design cleverly incorporates an extended section at the top of the display to accommodate the webcam and provide a lip for easy lid opening. The rear of the laptop features a “thermal shelf” created by the hinge placement, which is dedicated to housing heatsinks and exhaust vents, ensuring that heat is efficiently expelled away from the user.

Underneath, the laptop is supported by three large rubber feet that provide good grip and lift the chassis sufficiently for airflow to the bottom-mounted fans. The ventilation grille is designed to allow ample air intake while minimizing dust ingress. Weighing in at 4.3 pounds and with a relatively thin profile for a gaming laptop, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 is reasonably portable, making it suitable for transport between gaming sessions or locations.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard on the Legion 5i 15IRX10 elicits mixed reactions. The keys themselves are well-stabilized and feature a subtle dish, aiding in tactile feedback. However, the key travel is described as “rubbery,” with a peculiar feeling of the keys pushing back against the fingers during reset. While this could potentially lead to faster subsequent presses, it may also disrupt the typing rhythm for some users. Despite this, a respectable typing speed of 114 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy was achieved during testing, indicating that it is functional for extended use.

A significant positive for gamers and productivity users alike is the inclusion of a full-size arrow key cluster, which enhances navigation. The right side of the keyboard features a full number pad, though the slim keys on this section can feel somewhat cramped.

The RGB lighting, spread across 24 zones, is described as potentially excessive for systems that don’t offer per-key customization. While it allows for smoother lighting effects and audio response, the vertical column arrangement of the zones and the blending of colors between them limit the precision and impact of customization. Backlighting brightness adjustments require Lenovo’s Legion Space software, as there is no dedicated key for this function. Nevertheless, the backlighting effectively illuminates the key legends.

The trackpad is functional but unremarkable. It is somewhat small for a laptop of this size, yet offers sufficient space for multi-finger gestures and general navigation. Its placement, significantly to the left side of the laptop, may be awkward for right-handed users. The mylar surface could also be smoother for an improved user experience.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Display and Audio

The display is undoubtedly a standout feature of the Legion 5i 15IRX10. The 2560×1600 OLED panel offers excellent sharpness for its size, coupled with the inherent contrast and ultra-fast pixel response times characteristic of OLED technology. The 165Hz refresh rate ensures fluid visuals, both in gaming and general use. Notably, the panel achieves a brightness of 523 nits, a commendable figure for an OLED display, and exhibits impressive color accuracy with an average dE1976 of 0.51.

This level of color accuracy makes the display suitable for both gaming and color-sensitive creative tasks, allowing users to experience games as intended by their developers. The inclusion of Dolby Vision further enhances the visual experience for compatible content.

The audio performance is less impressive but still adequate. The system relies on the Nahimic app to bolster sound quality, which it largely achieves by providing sufficient volume for games and movies. However, some spoken-word content was found to be surprisingly quiet in the default “Music” mode. The bottom-firing speakers, positioned at the outer edges of the laptop, offer limited stereo separation, which can detract from an immersive audio experience during gameplay.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Webcam, Microphone, and Biometrics

The 5MP webcam delivers a decent image quality, characterized by sharp details but a tendency to appear soft and grainy in less-than-ideal lighting conditions. Despite the presence of multiple lights in a small office environment, the footage still exhibited softness and graininess. However, the camera manages a natural exposure, which is a positive attribute.

The absence of infrared technology means the camera does not support Windows facial recognition. Furthermore, the laptop lacks a fingerprint scanner, leaving users without biometric authentication options. This is a notable omission in a laptop aiming for a premium feel.

The microphone array on the Legion 5i 15IRX10 is a point of weakness. In noisy environments, it struggles to capture the user’s voice clearly, even when attempting to eliminate background noise. This noise cancellation comes at the expense of voice clarity, often merging background sounds with the spoken audio, rendering it unintelligible. In quieter settings, the microphone still makes the voice sound distant, with noticeable room echo.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Connectivity

The port selection on the Legion 5i 15IRX10 is functional but not exceptional, with limited options for high-speed data transfer. On the left side, there are two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and an Ethernet port. The right side features two additional USB-A ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a camera kill switch. The charging port and an HDMI 2.1 port are located on the rear of the laptop.

The spacing of the side ports is noted as somewhat awkward, with the USB-A ports on the right side being separated by the entire height of the keyboard. In terms of speed, the USB-A ports are limited to 5Gbps, and the USB-C ports to 10Gbps, lacking the higher bandwidth options found on some competing devices.

However, the inclusion of DisplayPort 2.1 on one of the USB-C ports and DisplayPort 1.4 on the other, along with the HDMI 2.1 port, offers good external display connectivity. The wireless capabilities are handled by a MediaTek card supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which proved to be fast and reliable during testing. A minor drawback noted is a slight delay in reconnecting to known networks after waking the laptop from sleep, a common characteristic of some MediaTek wireless cards.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Performance

The Legion 5i 15IRX10 is engineered for high-performance gaming and general productivity. Its Intel Core i7-14700HX processor and RTX 4060 GPU provide ample power for everyday tasks and lighter creative workloads. In PCMark 10, which assesses overall system performance, the laptop performed admirably, demonstrating smooth and responsive operation.

However, when compared to some previous-generation or similarly priced competitors, its PCMark 10 scores were not exceptionally high. For instance, some machines with lower-tier CPUs and prior-generation RTX 4060 GPUs managed to outperform it in this specific benchmark. This suggests that while the system is competent, its overall system performance in synthetic benchmarks might not reach the highest tiers when directly contrasted with certain older or differently configured models.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Despite this, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 recovers significant ground in raw processing power, particularly in multi-core testing. Its CPU demonstrably outpaced many competitors in Cinebench’s multi-core tests, with only a higher-end CPU configuration from a previous Legion model surpassing it. This highlights the strength of the chosen CPU, the Intel Core i7-14700HX, which significantly outperforms newer, lower-tier Intel processors like the Core 7 240H, even in single-core performance. This choice of a more potent CPU, even if from a slightly older architecture, is a strategic decision that benefits overall gaming performance.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

The synergy between the robust CPU and the RTX 4060 GPU is evident in graphics performance. In 3DMark’s Port Royal test, the Legion 5i 15IRX10 significantly outperformed its predecessor and demonstrated that a strong CPU can prevent bottlenecks, as seen when it outpaced an Alienware 16 Aurora running the same GPU. This indicates that the RTX 4060 is allowed to operate at its full potential due to the capable processor.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

In actual gaming scenarios, this performance advantage translates effectively. In games like “Shadow of the Tomb Raider,” the Legion 5i 15IRX10 achieved an average of 153 frames per second. This further emphasizes how a balanced CPU and GPU configuration avoids the performance limitations seen in systems where the CPU acts as a bottleneck for the GPU. The RTX 4060 in the Legion 5i 15IRX10 showcases its generational performance uplift.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

The system’s strong CPU and GPU pairing also maintained its lead in “Metro Exodus,” outperforming other systems that were potentially held back by their GPUs or CPUs. However, this also points to the Legion 5i 15IRX10’s own limitations: in graphically demanding titles like “Metro Exodus,” it can struggle to consistently achieve 60 frames per second at higher settings. Nevertheless, it managed a respectable average of 82 fps in “Cyberpunk 2077” at 1080p Ultra settings.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Performance consistency was also a positive, with minimal variation in framerates across repeated benchmark runs. CPU and GPU temperatures stabilized quickly and remained within acceptable limits, supported by fans that were noted as not being excessively loud. This efficient thermal management contributes to sustained performance during extended gaming sessions.

Given the laptop’s native 2560×1600 resolution, playing games at this resolution is feasible for less demanding titles, as demonstrated by a 98 fps average in “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.” However, for more demanding games like “Cyberpunk 2077,” the frame rate dropped to 48 fps at native resolution, necessitating the use of upscaling technologies like DLSS and potentially frame generation to achieve smoother gameplay.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Battery Life

As is often the case with high-performance gaming laptops, the Legion 5i 15IRX10’s focus on power comes at the expense of battery longevity. In local video playback tests, the laptop fell short of four hours of runtime, a result that is considered poor even among gaming devices. This performance is particularly disappointing when compared to competitors like the Alienware 16 Aurora, which offers a significantly longer 10-hour runtime.

In typical daily use scenarios, such as streaming a movie or performing web browsing and writing tasks, the battery life did not offer substantial improvement. Streaming a two-hour movie with the display at 50% brightness resulted in only an hour of remaining battery. General usage scenarios barely extended past three hours. This short battery life necessitates carrying the charger for any extended use away from a power outlet.

(Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2875214/lenovo-legion-5i-15irx10-review.html)

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Respectable 1080p gaming performance
• Excellent OLED display with high refresh rate and color accuracy
• Fans operate at surprisingly low noise levels
• Reasonably portable at 4.3 pounds and with a thin profile
• Sturdy build quality with a premium aluminum lid
• Strong multi-core CPU performance
• Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support

Cons

• Lenovo’s pricing structure is inconsistent and confusing
• Short battery life
• Awkward trackpad placement for right-handed users
• Subpar microphone performance
• Webcam quality is soft in low light
• Limited high-bandwidth USB-C ports
• Keyboard feel is somewhat unusual

Key Takeaways

• The Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 offers a strong gaming experience, especially at 1080p, thanks to its powerful CPU and capable RTX 4060 GPU.
• The 1600p OLED display is a significant highlight, providing excellent visuals with fast response times and accurate colors.
• While the design is functional and reasonably portable, the keyboard offers a mixed experience, and the trackpad placement can be inconvenient.
• Battery life is a notable weakness, limiting its utility for on-the-go use without a charger.
• The primary deterrent for potential buyers is Lenovo’s complicated and often inconsistent pricing strategy, making it difficult to ascertain the best value.
• Purchasing a pre-configured model, such as the Walmart variant that closely matches the reviewed unit, is often the most cost-effective approach.

Future Outlook

Lenovo’s strategy with the Legion 5i 15IRX10 appears to be offering a compelling hardware package at a competitive price point, primarily through specific retail channels. The continued evolution of Intel’s processors and Nvidia’s GPUs will undoubtedly bring new iterations and performance improvements to the Legion line. However, the company’s success in the long term will depend on its ability to streamline its pricing and configuration options, making it easier for consumers to identify and purchase the best value for their needs.

The increasing adoption of OLED displays in gaming laptops suggests that this feature will become more commonplace, further raising the bar for visual quality in this segment. As battery technology advances, we may also see improvements in the longevity of gaming laptops like the Legion 5i, addressing one of its current shortcomings.

Call to Action

For consumers seeking a gaming laptop with a top-tier display and solid performance, the Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 is a strong contender, provided they can navigate the pricing labyrinth. Prospective buyers are strongly advised to research configurations carefully, particularly looking for deals on platforms like Walmart that offer a close match to the specifications of the reviewed unit, such as the $1,199 configuration with an RTX 4060 and a 1600p OLED display. Remember that the 16GB of RAM on such models is user-upgradeable, allowing for a cost-effective path to 32GB if desired.

While the pricing for higher-end configurations or custom builds can quickly escalate, the value proposition at the $1,199 price point is considerable. Always compare prices across different retailers and be mindful of the specific components included in any configuration before making a purchase. The Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10, when acquired at the right price, represents a potent and visually impressive gaming machine.