Saturday, October 2, 2021

Lenovo Legion 5 (Ryzen 7 5800H, RTX 3060) Review

Last month, we reviewed the ROG Zephyrus G15 in Moonlight White. If that made you want white gaming laptops, then Lenovo also has one in the form of the new Legion 5 (2021) in Stingray White. The color is not the only thing worth noticing, though, as it has a 15.6-inch 165Hz display, a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, and an RTX 3060 GPU. Find out how it performs in our review.

Design and Construction

Lenovo didn’t implement much change when it comes to the design of the new Legion 5 laptop and looks similar to the older Legion models, like the Legion 7i we reviewed last year. Maybe it’s an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of thing but we don’t mind as the Legion 5 looks attractive and clean, especially in Stingray White.

The body has this wedge shape with flat sides. It’s mostly made of polycarbonate and ABS plastics, but of high quality and feels premium. The pain job has a matte finish that hides fingerprints and smudges well. Although we’re yet to discover how it will handle dirt and smudges accumulated over time given its color.

Looking at the ports, on the left, we have the 3.5mm audio/mic jack and USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (data transfer and DisplayPort 1.4), and vent.

On the right, we have the webcam switch, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and another vent.

At the back, we have the power port, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (1x with Always On), HDMI 2.1, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (data transfer, Power Delivery, and DisplayPort 1.4), RJ-45, and a couple more vents. We like this kind of setup for the ports as it makes it easy to hide the cables for a cleaner setup.

Underneath is a large vent for the intake, rubber feet, and stereo speakers.

Lift the lid and you will find the 15.6-inch FHD display and the 720p webcam. Below it is the backlit power button, the keyboard, and the trackpad.

Quality-wise, the lid produces minimal flex, while the hinge is firm and smooth. It also allows you to angle the screen up to 180-degrees. The keyboard keys are well-spaced and quiet when typed on. It’s backlit with 4-zone RGB with two levels of brightness. The trackpad, although small, is smooth, very responsive, and doesn’t flex much when you click left or right.

Given that this is a gaming laptop, it’s chunky and heavy. It weighs 2.4kg in addition to the 300W power brick.

Display and Multimedia

The Legion 5 features a 15.6-inch screen with an IPS, anti-glare panel with a refresh rate of 165Hz, Free-Sync, G-Sync, and 100% sRGB color accuracy. Basically, it’s a high-class screen that is good not just for gaming but for creative needs as well like photo and video editing. If you’re after the resolution, sadly, this model is maxed at Full HD.

When it comes to audio quality, the speakers can provide a stereo experience, but it’s not as loud as we want it to be. It’s crisp, which is okay for online meetings but has weak bass. When playing games, we recommend connecting a good pair of speakers or headphones for a more immersive audio experience.

Software and Features

The Legion 5 runs on Windows 10 Home with pre-installed McAfee LifeSafe. The software you will use most is Lenovo Vantage, which is basically a dashboard of your laptop’s stats and a one-stop shop for tools.

From here you’ll be able to update your drivers, do a hardware scan, select Thermal/Performance Modes, boost your network, adjust power settings, adjust audio using the Nahimic software, and activate Rapid Charge.

You can also access warranty and support from here, which is worth noting, considering that Lenovo is offering 3 years of premium care.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the Legion 5 is an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU 6GB GDDR6, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. This is a beefy configuration for gaming as well as heavy productivity tasks like video editing and heavy Chrome browsing. To quickly put the laptop in Performance mode, just press Fn+Q. You will see the power button light turn to red. Check out the benchmark scores below.

• PC Mark 10 Extended – 8,436
• 3D Mark – 8,804 (Time Spy), 4,261 (Time Spy Extreme), 19,613 (Fire Strike), 10,186 (Fire Strike Extreme), 5,479 (Fire Strike Ultra)
• Geekbench 5 – 1,426 (Single-Core), 7,366 (Multi-Core), 100,948 (OpenCL), 19,234 (Vulkan), 109,257 (CUDA)
• Cinebench R20 – 5,041 (CPU-Multi), 534 (CPU-Single), 9.44x (MP Ratio)
• Cinebench R23 – 12,921 (CPU-Multi), 1,372 (CPU-Single), 9.42x (MP Ratio)
• CrystalDiskMark 8 (2GB) – 3,569.70 MB/s (Read), 3,011.41 MB/s (Write)

The Legion 5 produced pretty good numbers. It scored lower than the Zephyrus G15 with Ryzen 9 5900HS processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM (2x 16GB), RTX 3080 GPU, and 1TB PCIe G3 SSD, especially in 3D Mark, but not so much in other benchmarks. Now let’s see how it performs on game benchmarks.

In Ghost Recon: Wildlands, the Legion 5 got an average of 53,86 FPS in Ultra settings. We were able to get 78.79 FPS when we toned down the graphics preset to Very High.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we got 97 FPS in Highest, and 103 FPS in High.

In Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, we got 98 FPS in Ultra and 109 FPS in Very High.

In World War Z, we got 166 FPS in High.

For Final Fantasy XV Benchmarks, we got a score of 8,537 in High Quality and 11,581 in Standard Quality.

Based on the numbers above, the Legion 5 can easily push the frame rate past 60FPS in most games in their highest settings. If you want to boost the performance, you might want to tweak the graphics presets and take it a notch lower.

As for thermals, the Legion 5 was able to dissipate heat well that we didn’t feel any warming on the palm rest and WASD keys. Most of the heat is felt on the number row and above, so it doesn’t affect the gaming experience. The fans can get loud, though, but not noticeable when you’re already playing with the volume turned up.

Connectivity and Battery

When it comes to wireless connectivity it has WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 dual-band. Powering it is an 80Wh battery that got us over 6 hours of video playback in better battery mode. For charging, the Legion 5 comes with a 300W charging brick with support for Rapid Charge Pro.

Conclusion

The new Legion 5 is a combination of good looks and performance. It will appeal to those who want the processing power of a gaming laptop but in a body that looks simple and clean. When it’s time to play, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and 16GB RAM are more than capable to run those graphics-intensive titles. The display resolution is limited to Full HD, but it has a 165Hz refresh for some smooth gameplay. The speakers are underwhelming, though, so better use headphones or powerful desk speakers to augment it. Lastly, it’s priced at PHP 89,995, so, if you have a tight budget and are okay with FHD gaming, this laptop is worth considering.

Lenovo Legion 5 (82JU0033PH) specs:
15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS 300nits Anti-glare, 165Hz
100% sRGB, Dolby Vision, Free-Sync, G-Sync, DC dimmer
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 GPU
2x 8GB SO-DIMM DDR4-3200
1TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe
WiFi 802.11 ax
Bluetooth 5.1
2 x USB Type-C
1 x Audio Jack
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1
1 x System LED
1 x E-Shutter Button
3 x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x RJ45 Ethernet
1 x DC-In
2 x 2W Harman Speaker with Nahimic Audio
720p HD webcam with E-Shutter
Windows 10 Home
Integrated 80Wh battery
300W Slim Tip (3-pin) power adapter
362.56 x 260.61 x 22.5-25.75mm
2.4kg
Stingray White