Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro demonstrates what a great year 2022 has been for gaming laptops. Beastly rigs have pushed the limits this year with pure, unadulterated power, while others have completely changed the market with intriguing new form factors.

The third category consists of excellent gaming laptops that have undergone years of iterative improvement. The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro fits into that category thanks to its excellent thermal performance, easy-to-use keyboard and touchpad, and sophisticated visual design.

Because it’s likely that a small price increase will be introduced to the RTX 40 Series, I explained why you should just buy a gaming laptop right away and disregard it. Doe the Legion 5i Pro validate my assertions? That score indicates that the response is a resounding “yes,” as you can see.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Design

These days, manufacturers of gaming laptops are encouraged to adopt a slightly more subdued design aesthetic. Even though the Legion 5i Pro is still clearly a gaming laptop, its gray and black color schemes don’t stand out very much. The Legion logo is in a mirror shine on the dark gray lid, and there are two angular lines for some attitude.

The gaming look might not be immediately apparent until you raise the lid and the four-zone RGB cheap keyboard lights up. The keyboard deck feels solid and strengthened even if it isn’t constructed of metal.

Small bezels on either side of the 16-inch display allow for a larger, 16:10 aspect ratio. The housing for the webcam has a little protrusion that serves as a simple opening mechanism for the notebook with a single thumb. You can buy this gaming laptop from its official website

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Keyboard and touch pad

The Legion 5i Pro and 5 Pro from the seventh generation resemble models from the preceding. The Storm Grey lid, keyboard area, the black bottom panel, and the black rear port hub are all features of my evaluation units. Instead of having built-in RGB, the Legion logo on the lid now spells out the company name and is reflecting. The surface is pleasant to the touch and doesn’t attract many fingerprints. I suggest looking at the Glacier White colorway if you want to completely avoid smudges.

Just a few millimeters of thickness were saved by the Lenovo laptop in this case, but if you’re upgrading from an older (but more recent) model, you probably won’t even feel the difference. Although it isn’t the lightest cheap gaming laptop available, it isn’t overly heavy either. There is almost little flex in the body, and the lid isn’t far behind either because the body is mostly comprised of metal for a sturdy feel.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Display

A big 16-inch (16:10) display and a metal body are included with the Legion 5i Pro. It is tall, clean, and angular. When playing Forza Horizon 5 for extended periods, the 2560 x 1600 resolution offers a fantastic experience, especially when exploring the cities of Mexico. Single-player gamers, and especially those who play eSports, will be extremely happy with this panel because to its 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms reaction time.

Although the panel is non-touch, this is to be anticipated for gaming laptops. The metal body of the laptop sports a wedge-shaped design. Generally speaking, the laptop stays cool unless you’re playing a game that generates a lot of heat from the vents. The laptop’s backlit keyboard was one of its best features because it was quite pleasant to use while playing FIFA 19 or even casual racing games.

Even writing this review on the nice keys felt good because they are quiet and comfortable to use. The Legion 5i Pro is made with really superb craftsmanship. On the left side of the laptop, there is a Thunderbolt 4 port and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 connection. The audio jack and a full-size USB port are located on the right side.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Audio

Large exhaust vents flank the ports along the back, and the laptop also has two more exhaust vents on the sides. If you’re using an external mouse in a confined space, you’ll feel some air on your hand. The right side of the Intel laptop features one USB-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and the camera’s E-shutter toggle button, while the left side contains Thunderbolt 4 and regular USB-C. One of the top Thunderbolt 4 docks is always an option if you need to increase communication with more Thunderbolt ports.

Thunderbolt 4 is absent from the AMD variant, and its place is taken by a third USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) port. It would have been wonderful to see USB4 here, giving users more connecting options. The AMD system uses a proprietary charger for the 300W AC adapter, same as the Intel model.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Graphics

Lenovo equipped our evaluation machine with an Intel Core i7-12700H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, resulting in excellent gaming performance at both 1080p and the Legion’s native 2560 x 1440 resolution (1440p). Now that the most recent patches for Cyberpunk 2077 are available, I’m finally playing it. I used the Ray Tracing: Ultra preset while downgrading the graphics to 1080p to use the fancy lighting effects.

The Legion played at 110 frames per second at 1080p and 69 frames per second at 2560 x 1600 on the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest settings). As I made my way off the street and into a gang’s warehouse, the game frequently ran between 62 and 65 frames per second, but occasionally as low as 52 fps in detailed scenes with lots of.

At a 3070 Ti of its own, the Razer Blade 14 lagged behind with 61 fps at native 1440p and 90 fps at 1080p. The Gigabyte Aero 16, which when we evaluated it was using a lower power version of the same GPU, was the worst of the bunch, while the Aorus 17 XE4 (also using an RTX 3070 Ti) hit 89 frames per second at native 1080p.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Performance

Performance is an area where the laptop really excels. You can create a gaming monster by adding an Intel i9 processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU. This laptop performed admirably well for graphics-intensive games.

Of course, to get the maximum performance out of the laptop, as I just indicated, you’ll need to have it plugged in. Your frame rates, performance, and overall gameplay will suffer if you try playing games on battery power. You get excellent gaming performance, a nice viewing experience, and good key travel with the Legion 5i Pro.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Battery life and heat

Excellent performance, but how about battery life? I started by using the cheap laptops with the Balanced Q Control and Performance Windows 11 configurations to run PCMark 10’s Gaming battery rundown test. In this test, the Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) only lasted 1 hour, 7 minutes.

The 5 Pro powered by AMD achieved 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then, with the laptop set to Balanced Q Control and Balanced Windows 11 settings, I ran PCMark 10’s Modern Office rundown test (which runs spreadsheets, video conferencing, etc.). In this test, the AMD machine outlasted the Intel laptop by 4 hours and 48 minutes to 3 hours and 17 minutes.

Then, using the same PCMark test but this time with the Quiet Q Control and Power Saver Windows 11 profiles, I evaluated battery life once more. In this test, the AMD laptop lasted 5 hours and 5 minutes compared to the Intel laptop’s 3 hours and 43 minutes. High-end specifications consume a lot of power, thus neither an AMD nor an Intel laptop can truly offer all-day battery life without making significant compromises. Since this is a gaming laptop, you should be prepared to travel with the AC adapter. The battery charges rapidly, which is a plus. You can refuel to roughly 50% capacity by plugging it in for 10 minutes.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Configuration options

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro is among the greatest gaming laptops available today. 2022 has been a fantastic year for gaming laptops overall. You get a powerful machine in a stylish chassis with good battery life, superb thermal efficiency, and a ton of ports for all your gaming needs for the price.

Although we’ve grown to expect that from gaming laptops, the webcam is quite subpar, there are no biometric security options, and the SSD is a little slower than its rivals. However, while competitors introduced intriguing novelties, such as the convertible design of the Asus ROG Flow X16, Lenovo kept to its principles and simply provided us with a fantastic gaming laptop.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (Gen 7) review: Conclusion

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro is one of the best laptops for gaming that you can buy right now. In general, 2022 was a great year for gaming laptops. For the price, you get a powerful machine in a stylish case with a long battery life, great heat management, and a tonne of ports for all your gaming needs.

Even though we’ve come to expect that from gaming laptops, the webcam isn’t very good, there are no biometric security options, and the SSD is a little slower than its competitors. But while competitors added interesting new features like the Asus ROG Flow X16’s convertible design, Lenovo stuck to its principles and just gave us a great gaming laptop.