[Review] An all-rounder gaming laptop - Lenovo Legion 5i 15IAH7H

Pros	Cons
+ Many ports available	- Poor battery life
+ 2K 165Hz IPS display	- Costly
+ E-camera shutter

Lenovo Legion 5i

RM 7389

I bet you have heard of the Lenovo gaming laptop product line, Lenovo Legion. You wanted to give it a try but just couldn’t trust the branding as most of the competitors (Acer Predator, ASUS TUF, ROG, and MSI) out there sound more professional and promising when it comes to the gaming side. But don’t worry, min min is here to review the Lenovo Legion 5i laptop (Intel i7-12700H) and find out whether the Legion 5i is a perfect laptop for gamers and creative creators who need powerful hardware to get their job done.

Design 💻

The Lenovo Legion 5i (15IAH7H) offers a professional look rather than the bulky body that most “gaming” laptops have as one of their characteristics. The Legion 5i on hand comes in Storm Grey colour. The Legion 5i weighs about 2.4kg which is standard for gaming laptops to have.

Besides, the Legion 5i provides plenty of ports at the back and on both sides. The available ports on Lenovo Legion 5i are listed below:

Back

Ethernet (RJ-45)
USB-C 3.2 Gen 2
HDMI
USB 3.2 Gen 1
USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Always On)
Power connector

Left

Thunderbolt 4
USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (data transfer / DP 1.4 only)

Right

Headphone/microphone combo jack (3.5mm)
USB 3.2 Gen1

The Legion 5i has a full-size keyboard with adjustable 4-Zone RGB via the Legion Spectrum RGB Lighting from preset RGB profiles in the Lenovo Vantage (built-in software).

The bottom of the Legion 5i is where the speakers and both cooling fans are located. Although the bottom of the laptop will not be seen most of the time. Lenovo nailed it by keeping the bottom of the Legion 5i looking minimal yet professional with the honeycomb ventilation panels.

Moreover, the Legion 5i has prepared four exhaust areas around the base to provide better cooling, delivering consistent fan curves and smooth framerates with zero throttling.

Display

In terms of the display, the Legion 5i comes with a 15.6-inch WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS 16:9 with a super-fast refresh rate of up to 165Hz refresh rate which means, you don't require to spend extra bucks for a second gaming monitor with a high refresh rate!

Pro-tip, the Lenovo Legion 5i performance mode can be adjusted according to the shortcut keys shown on the laptop, which is Fn + Q, switching between Quiet mode (power saving), Auto mode where AI will automatically tweak the performance based on the usage, and Performance mode (Max Power).

Aside from that, the Legion 5i display supports G-Sync technology which delivers the smoothest and fastest gaming experience by eliminating screen tearing and minimizing display stutter while gaming.

Before we move on to the other section, let me show you another cool trick you can pull off with the Legion 5i. Taa daa~ the display can be expanded for up to ~180° hinge, laying flat on the table which is quite efficient to showcase their work to others (also for more comfortable use).

Specifications ✨

Now, the interesting part of the Lenovo Legion 5i. The Legion 5i is equipped with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 12700H processor and an NVIDIA RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6 graphics card. Both of this hardware is enough to run most of the games (of course don’t expect to run it smoothly on max settings Triple-A games).

Other than that, it supports up to 32GB of DDR5 (2 x 16GB) 4800MHz frequency RAM and a storage capacity of 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. To be relevant, the Legion 5i uses Windows 11 Home as its operating system.

While unplugged, the Lenovo Legion 5i can last for nearly 2 hours of normal operation with balanced power settings which is normal for gaming laptops as it mainly focuses on performance.

However, if you insist on bringing out the Legion 5i outdoors for work or education purposes, you might need to turn on the thermal mode to lower power consumption. Also, the Legion 5i packs a 230W AC Adapter that supports Rapid Charge to juice up the laptop to 80% for a 30-minute charge as advertised.

Benchmark & Gaming Performance 🚨

Cinebench R15

Cinebench R15 is a rendering software to test your system processing power to render a 3D scene. As you can see the results of the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H in Cinebench R15 scores 2198.

Cinebench R20

Cinebench R20 uses all of your system’s CPU (full potential), mostly used to test if the PC/laptop is able to run on a high-CPU load. The result of the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H is 5659.

Time Spy

Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for gaming. Without Overclocking, the result of Legion5i landed on 8453 compared to Overclocked performance, 9756.

Port Royal

Port Royal is for ray tracing benchmark for graphics cards. For the RTX3060 6GB, it scores 4710 without OC, and 5407 with OC. (Excellent)

Fire Strike Extreme

Fire Strike Extreme is used for testing multi-GPU systems and future hardware generations. The score for RTX3060 6GB is 9474 without OC, and 10727 with OC.

CPU Profile

CPU Profile is used for benchmarking how the CPU performance with the number of cores and threads used. You may refer to the results below to see the difference between the threads used in the benchmark. For example, without OC, the 2 threads perform slightly better than the overclocked ones. (1880>1868)

PC Mark

PC Mark is a complete PC benchmark of the tasks performed in the modern workplace. The benchmark results have been divided into 3 sections, Essentials, Productivity, and Digital Content Creation.

Game Test - Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered 🎮

The Lenovo Legion 5i runs at an average of 54 FPS on Ultra settings with Ray-tracing on.

The Lenovo Legion 5i runs at an average of 74 FPS on Ultra settings with Ray-tracing disabled.

(RTX On 1 ~ RTX Off 2)

I don’t get the rain puddles so I’ll have to show it by the building’s reflection ;-; Basically, without Ray-tracing on, the reflections will be replaced by some sort of clipart instead of legit reflection. Nonetheless, you will still see some minor reflections on some buildings (which is kinda unnoticeable).

(RTX On (top) ~ RTX Off (bottom)

Lenovo Vantage

Lenovo Vantage serves a supportive role (as Lenovo’s PC manager) in your laptop, mainly providing quick settings including system tools, hardware/software status checks, WiFi Security, Legion Edge, and Legion Spectrum.

Users are able to check on their Hardware/Software Status of the Legion 5i in the Lenovo Vantage efficiently, to view the CPU, GPU, VRAM, and Storage (SSD) information just like the task manager but more user-friendly.

The System Tools section acts as a shortcut for users to navigate through system updates, keyboard macro key, power settings, Legion Arena, Media, Hardware Scan, and Nahimic audio without having to find the dive in the settings on the Windows.

Legion Edge

Legion Edge provides gaming-related features such as GPU Overclock, Network Boost, Auto Close, GPU Working Mode, Over Drive, and Touchpad Lock.

GPU Overclock basically overclocks your graphic cards (yeah), Network Boost helps to automatically prioritize network on games, but if you are using other software like Twitch or Discord, you may add them to the list so that they will be prioritized too.

Thermal Mode will be a more general function like Performance Mode, Balance Mode, and Quiet Mode to be adjusted according to the user usage.

Legion Spectrum

The Legion Spectrum is where you can customize the RGB backlight on the Legion 5i keyboard with various effects like wave, static, smooth, and breath. There will be 3 profiles available for keyboard RGB customization.

Accessories ➕➕

There is a set of “Legion” accessories available for the Lenovo Legion 5i like a mouse, laptop bag, headset, and more. For fresh gamers who wanna join the legion, these accessories might be suitable for you as its all “Legion-themed items”.

The first accessory will be the Lenovo Legion M600 Wireless Gaming Mouse (Ambidextrous design) that weighs 107g. The connectivity available on Legion M600 Wireless Gaming Mouse consists of 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 5.0, or wired connection. With 4 additional buttons on the side (2 left, 2 right), a stealth mode button, and a mouse DPI button.

The second will be the Lenovo Legion Control Gaming Mouse Pad L (Grey). It is a Micro-woven cloth mousepad with braided edges for durability and a water-repellent top coating. The size of the mousepad is 450mm x 400mm.

The third accessory is the Lenovo Legion H200 Gaming Headset. In the box, you can find a single 3.5mm to dual 3.5mm Y cable alongside the H200. The H200 is covered with a thick soft cushion that is comfortable to wear.

The fourth accessory is the Lenovo Legion 17” Armored Backpack II. The Armored Backpack II can fit up to 17 inches laptops while consisting of many compartments for your external devices such as the headset, mouse, keyboard, smartphone, and even water bottle. The Armored Backpack II is big enough for you to store most of your gadgets inside.

Moreover, the Lenovo Legion 17” Armored Backpack II protects your items with the EVA front shield, water-resistant fabric, and a separate cushioned laptop compartment.

Buy or no buy?

Long story short, the Lenovo Legion 5i does not disappoint me in terms of the utilities it offers. Especially the Lenovo Vantage, which helps me to customize and manage the laptop with ease. Not only that, the Legion 5i features an E-camera shutter that the competitors lack (the FBI can still track you, but at least they don’t know your face yet lmao).

Still, the Webcam (1080p FHD) is placed at some kind of awkward spot, whenever you pull out the display, your thumb will be pressing on the camera, leaving thumbprints on top of it.

Considering the price of the Lenovo Legion 5i (i7-12700H), if Lenovo could improve the battery life on the Legion 5i to last a little bit longer, it would definitely be a pick for content creators.