The Legion line of laptops from Lenovo has been impressing gamers for several years now. Lenovo has taken the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” motto with the latest Legion 5i Pro for 2022.
The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro is best used on a table with the laptop firmly plugged into a power outlet. I say this because once you take it on the road or to a cafe, you will feel a little shortchanged thanks to the fact that the laptop is a little thicker and heavier than its rivals. It’s never recommended to game whilst on battery power, and in this case, the battery life is slightly underwhelming.
To its credit though, the Legion 5i Pro is a beast at gaming and can run heavy-duty applications with aplomb as well. It’s also built to last like a tank. Drop this a couple of times over your many years of usage (as it is built to last) and you’ll be just fine.
If you need a mainstream gaming laptop, then the Legion 5i should be at the top end of your shopping list. Let me tell you why.
What’s good with the Legion 5i Pro
The Legion 5i Pro comes with a metal body and a large 16-inch (16:10 aspect ratio) display. It’s tall, crisp and sharp. The 2560 x 1600 resolution delivers a great experience, especially when roaming the streets of Mexico during long hours of Forza Horizon 5 gameplay. With a 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, single-player gamers, and especially those who play eSports, will be truly pleased with this panel. The panel is non-touch though, but that is expected with respect to gaming laptops.
The laptop comes with a metal body and has a wedge shape design. The heat emits from the vents and relatively, the laptop stays cool unless you’re playing demanding games.
The backlit keyboard was a highlight of the laptop as it was very comfortable while playing casual racing games or even the latest version of FIFA. The key travel is good and even typing out this review felt good as the keys are silent and comfortable to type on.
The build quality of the Legion 5i Pro is absolutely fantastic. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 port and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 connection on the left-hand side of the laptop. The right-hand side houses the audio jack and a full-size USB port. Most of the ports though are at the rear of the laptop. There’s another USB-C port, two USB 32. Gen 1 ports and even an HDMI 2.1 port.
Where the laptop truly shines is in the performance department. Throw in an Intel i9 processor and couple that with an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU and you’ve got a gaming beast. For graphics-intensive games, this laptop performed admirably well. Of course, as I mentioned above, you’ll have to have it plugged in to get the best performance out of the laptop. Try playing games while on battery power and your frame rates, performance, and overall gameplay will drop significantly.
With the Legion 5i Pro, you get great gaming performance, a solid viewing experience, and good key travel.
Where the laptop falters
The Lenovo Legion 5i comes with an 80Wh unit, that lasts just about 4 hours of a normal workday usage of writing articles, listening to Spotify, scrolling through social media and media websites and a few YouTube videos.
That just doesn’t cut it when compared to other laptops on the market. If you try to game on battery power then you’ll barely last 90 minutes with this laptop.
The one upside is that thanks to the fast charging speeds, you can charge the Legion 5i Pro from 0-100 in less than 45 minutes.
The other downside is that the fans can get quite loud. Nothing too uncomfortable but they can pose an issue if you’re outside in a cafe.
The speakers are decent on the laptop but what I would have preferred is a 1080p webcam instead of the 720p one we get. It’s one of the biggest weaknesses of this laptop.
Is the Legion 5i Pro worth it?
If it fits your use case, then yes, the Legion 5i Pro is definitely worth the asking price of Rs 1,64,990. If you’re looking for a mainstream gaming laptop that’s also great for daily tasks, then the Legion 5i Pro is the laptop to go for.
It’s got an impressive display, a well-built body and Intel’s latest 12th-gen processor. It’s a great mid-range gaming laptop. If you do want something slim, lighter, and more portable, then look elsewhere.
