Lenovo Legion 5i Pro (2022)

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022: A Stylish Gaming Laptop

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022 is a powerful mid-range gaming laptop with a Core i7 12700H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 dedicated Graphic Card. But is it worth the gamer’s attention?

The word “Gaming Laptop” puts distinct images in our minds. We all envisage(predict) a big boxy device that is anything but aesthetic. We have all had to learn and live with the knowledge that gaming laptops cannot be stylish because of all the big and expensive hardware it carries forcing the companies to add a basic structure to the device. but Lenovo’s Legion series of gaming laptops have been innovating even the design elements of gaming laptops and the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro continues the tradition.

While we go on about the design, the laptop does not cut corners when it comes to performance either. With a Core i7 12700H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, the laptop is a powerhouse that can take it on most games, at least on paper. And after last year’s Lenovo Legion Pro, which received high praise in our review, the expectation from the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro was understandably high.

We have been using the device for more than two weeks playing various mainstream games from Red Dead Redemption 2, Gotham Knights, Spider-Man Remastered for PC, Cyberpunk 2077, and more. It should be noted that our review unit came with an Intel Core i9 12700H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti GPU. These do not come as part of the prebuilt laptops that you get from the retailers and you will have to pay extra to get a custom-built unit with these specifications. As far as price is concerned, this will cost you around Rs.2,23,600.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Specifications

Display	16-inch QHD+ IPS
Resolution	2560 x 1600 pixels
Refresh Rate	165 Hz
Processor	Core i7 12700H
GPU	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
OS	Windows 10
RAM	16 GB
Storage	1 TB PCle SSD
Battery	80Wh lasts about 3-5 hours

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Design

If you are used to the design of HP Omen or Asus ROG, then Lenovo Legion 5i Pro will pleasantly surprise you. It still retains hard edges and a boxy design but the body has a smooth texture that just feels more premium. The chassis design and the form factor are similar to the previous models but instead of the Legion Y Logo, you get the words written in metallic color, which I liked a lot. The white body( which we purchased), definitely catches your eye.

The form factor is also very sturdily built and the surface is smudge and fingerprint-resistant, which is great considering you get a smooth metallic body. the top lid gets an aluminum and magnesium alloy body and the deck is made up of plastic, similar to the previous models in the series. I also like that the hinges are very stable and there is no noticeable wobble on the display. There is also no flex on the life and the keyboard deck.

The laptop offers a healthy set of ports for all your input-output needs. On the right side, you get a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, a Headphone Jack, and a shutter for the webcam. On the left, you get a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 and Thunderbolt 4 port. Everything else is nearly tucked at the rear where you get 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports, 1 x HDMI port, 1 x Ethernet port, 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and the DC port.

Overall, the laptop looks professional and sleek and unlike most gaming laptops, it can easily be used in office or educational purpose settings as well.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Display

For gamers, a good display is very important and it is good to see that Lenovo has not cut any corners here. You get a 16-inch QHD+ IPS display with a 165 Hz refresh rate. It also comes with an anti-glare coating, HDR 400, and a brightness of 500 nits. The display has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:10.

The display is quite bright and showcases a vivid array of colors, which makes for a nice viewing experience whether you are watching a movie or playing an especially dark setting game like Batman: Arkham City. the colors feel sharp and are slightly leaning towards the saturated side when left to the default color profile. As a bonus, it also comes with Dolby Vision and G-Sync by Nvidia which particularly creates a great gaming experience. You also get to switch between color profiles quickly using the X-Rite Color Assistance.

We found the display to be very responsive although make it was clear that the only FPS game We played was Valorant, where the refresh rate was tested. Only have one little complaint about it, no shortcut to shift between different screen refresh rates. When you want to opt for the lower refresh rate to get a little extra out of the battery life, you have to do it manually from the settings.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Performance

With the reliable Intel Corei9 12700H processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti GPU, Lenovo Legion 5i Pro leaves no opportunity to impress. We played a variety of games on the device and the game did not flinch at anything thrown at it. We were able to run all the games at High Settings and High to Very High Resolution along with the HDR support. While games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Gotham Knights ran at high performance and the laptop was able to hold on to it for more than 4-5 hours of continuous gameplay, an older GTA V ran extremely smooth with almost console-like performance.

One small thing you should take note of is that as you set up the device, you will find an option in the BIOS setting to switch between the integrated low-performance Intel GPU and the Nvidia GPU. While the first will give you a longer lifespan, the latter will give you the performance. make sure to pick the right one from here.

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro comes with Windows 11 out of the box, and everything from productivity tasks to general usage is a smooth affair. Also, unless we were gaming or downloading a game in the background, the cooling fans never really turned on. Our work involves a lot of typing and so, extensively used the keyboard. To our delight, using them was an absolute delight. It is a full-sized keyboard with spaced-out keys, arrow keys, and even a NumberPad. There is enough key travel to give you the illusion of using a mechanical keyboard and make you feel some finger fatigue after typing for a couple of hours. While our unit came with a white back-lit keyboard, buyers will get zonal RGB lighting. A small downside is missing out on per-key lighting will reduce responsiveness but the left and right buttons are pretty hard and pressing them can be quite exhausting at times. We would recommend getting a separate mouse with the device.

Our only serious concern in the terms of the performance is the audio output. We found that neither the sound quality nor the loudness was satisfactory. For a gaming device especially, it was a struggle to even hear the cut scene dialogues clearly unless the room was completely silent. Finally, there is nothing to write home about the webcam. It is a standard 720p camera and the performance is barely average.

Asus ROG Flow X16 2022

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Battery Life

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro comes with an 80Wh battery which lasts about 3-5 hours during normal use. While gaming, however, this comes down to 1.5 hours. While our expectation with regards to battery life from a gaming device was more than 2 hours of gaming it. However, it is never recommended to play games without being plugged in, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

But if you do want better battery performance from your gaming laptop, you can look for HP Omen 16

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro: Verdict

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro breaks the notion that a gaming laptop cannot look good while doing its heavy lifting. The laptop is a performance beast and can do anything from usual office work to heavy gaming without breaking a sweat. Its professional and minimalist look also adds to its appeal.

We do think some improvements are needed in the speaker and battery life departments. But besides that, Lenovo does not let any flaws show. If you are a gamer who is looking for a laptop that can play more or less every mainstream game smoothly and looks good while doing it, you should consider it. But it does not cost Rs. 1,57,000 for all that and over Rs 2 Lakhs if you want the RTX 3070Ti and Intel Core i9 12700H upgrade. That is a big amount and we are not sure if the extra CPU power is worth the price. However, if your usage requires that extra bit of power, this device might be beneficial for you.

But if not, you can also look at HP Omen 16, Acer Nitro 5, and ROG Strix 17 which more or less offer similar specifications to the base model but different design aesthetics to choose from.

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