How to hide a gaming laptop in the office: Lenovo Legion 5 review

While most manufacturers of gaming laptops use RGB backlighting and experiment with design, Lenovo takes a simpler approach with some of its models. For example, the Legion 5 has a completely standard design, with only a couple of accents to “reveal” its gaming core. And it has much more to offer than it might seem from the outside. So in today’s review, we’ll tell you about all the interesting features of the new Lenovo Legion 5 16IRX9.

Lenovo Legion 5 specifications

Package contents

From model to model, laptop bundles don’t often contain many extras. The standard contents of the box are a laptop and a power supply. In the case of Lenovo Legion 5, the manufacturer added a small bonus in the form of a removable decorative panel. Such an element can refresh the owner’s experience at the initial stage of use.

In the branded accessories store, you can also find stylized offers, from mouse pads to backpacks. And any of them do not have to be from Lenovo. With manipulators and headsets, everything is clear, and a third-party backpack can easily fit, even one designed for a slightly smaller diagonal.

Design and usability

Lenovo laptops are often not associated with gaming models, because something from the ThinkPad line immediately comes to mind. But the company has been offering gaming options for a long time. However, the design of many of them does not strongly indicate this. The next iteration of the Lenovo Legion 5 did not get a more gaming look. And if you install the white keyboard backlight, the laptop looks as much like a regular office version as possible.

And in some cases, this is a really good move. If the user needs a universal design of the device so that, for example, they don’t look like a “white crow” in a “serious” office, or simply want a computer with a neutral appearance, Lenovo offers this option. In a global sense, only the dimensions can make the Legion 5 stand out, because it is significantly larger than the office and media versions: 359.7 × 262.3 × 25.2 mm, weight – 2.3 kg. The body consists of aluminum on top and practical matte plastic. In our case, we have a gray model called Luna Grey.

Among the elements that do not differ from the design of most gaming competitors, there is only RGB backlighting of the keyboard and a multi-colored indication of the current performance mode on the power button. There are also several standard Lenovo logos, as well as the usual LEGION mirror inscription on the top lid. In principle, all this looks quite balanced and does not bother at all. On the other hand, this option is unlikely to suit those buyers who are picky about the appearance of laptops and want something “brighter”.

The replaceable panel I mentioned in the previous section won’t make a big difference. The replacement procedure will require a screwdriver, an old credit card, and a couple of minutes of time. However, you will often get tired of doing it quickly, and the color change of the bezel on the cooling slots is almost invisible (moreover, how often does the user even see the rear ventilation holes?). Therefore, despite the fact that the element is quite original, it does not imply any significant changes in the design. Unless the user has experience in 3D printing and can make their own version.

The bottom part, apart from the neat cooling and speaker slots, has only three large rubber “feet”. They are tall enough to provide some air space and are also quite effective in fixing the topcase in place during gameplay.

So, yes, obviously, this is not the design of a gaming laptop that the vast majority of competitive manufacturers have taught us to see. However, is this option bad? It’s unlikely to get boring, unlike RGB-colored cases, and it will definitely be much more unified if the user has different usage patterns (office with a dress code, many work meetings, home, etc.). Personally, I wouldn’t say that I’m a fan of this particular solution, but it does have its advantages. At the same time, Lenovo couldn’t make a bad case, so in this case, it’s just a matter of personal preferences and requirements for appearance.

Ports

There are some inconveniences with the layout of the interfaces for connecting external devices, but the set is quite decent. On the left side of the topcase there is one USB-A 3.2 Gen1, two USB-C 3.2 Gen2 ports and a combined 3.5 mm jack. On the opposite side there are two more USB-A 3.2 Gen1, a MicroSD card slot and Ethernet. And on the rear end there is a proprietary power port and HDMI.

Of course, it’s subjective, but the pair of USB-A ports on the right side could be more conveniently located. They are in a position where wires or the radio of wireless accessories can get in the way during games. Of course, you can adapt to this, but moving at least one of them to the left side of the case would greatly simplify such moments.

Display

In line with the best recent trends, the new Legion 5 will offer a 16-inch display with a corresponding 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. For such configurations, these are already quite common parameters that are gradually replacing 15-inch Full HD variants. In addition, manufacturers are trying to reduce the bezels, which makes laptops visually much neater and the overall dimensions smaller. At the same time, the Legion 5 also has a much wider opening angle than is usually the case with similar models.

The screen also has a response time of 4 ms and a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz. Interestingly, between the 60 and 165 options, there is also 82.5 Hz. That is, to save battery power, you can still lower the frequency, but leave a more comfortable option than the standard 60 Hz. Not every gaming laptop has such options.

And the image did not disappoint either. The IPS matrix has almost complete coverage of the sRGB color space, almost a reference gamut, and a minimally shifted color temperature. With such a display, it is quite possible to process photos and videos, work with graphics, etc. And for games, movies, and other tasks, it should be just fine. However, for those users who are used to having several profiles for different work scenarios, the manufacturer did not offer this here. Therefore, you will only have to be satisfied with the standard calibration.

The matrix is protected by a matte finish, as it should be in a gaming model. The backlight brightness can be adjusted in the range from 3.7 to 378 cd/m². These figures are definitely enough for typical gaming laptop operating conditions, but HDR support in this case is rather conditional. Nevertheless, you can find variations of displays with higher brightness values in the lineup.

Manipulators and multimedia

Lenovo keyboards are easily recognizable by the shape of the keys, which have a slight rounding at the bottom. In fact, the manufacturer’s gaming models also continue the corporate style. Almost the entire width of the topcase is occupied by a full keyboard with a somewhat compact NUM pad. It is convenient that the large navigation block is slightly moved away from all other keys.

As I mentioned earlier, almost the only thing that gives away the gaming origin of the Legion 5 is the RGB backlighting of the keys (which in some other configurations can be only white; in this case, the laptop does not exactly resemble a gaming laptop). It has several modes of operation and can be divided into four zones specified by the manufacturer. There is also enough brightness. The mechanisms also did not disappoint, they are not too loud and respond well during games. They are also great for normal work.

And since the keyboard is full, the manufacturer had to move the trackpad slightly to the left of the center of the topcase. Thus, it is better to turn it off during games (which will help with the Fn+F10 combination) to prevent accidental clicks. The size of the touch surface is not very large by modern standards – 120×75 mm. Nevertheless, it is enough for a comfortable mouse replacement. The quality of work, gesture recognition, and accuracy do not cause any problems. A proprietary addition is the gestures that allow you to control the display brightness and speaker volume with the scroll on the left or right, respectively (the test model cannot do this for some unknown reason).

The speaker system is represented by two traditional loudspeakers located in the lower part of the case. They are not too loud and sound relatively well. The quality is enough for watching movies and TV series, but they typically lack bass for music. And because of the cooling system, it will be much more comfortable to play with headphones in any case.

The 2-megapixel webcam is good enough for good image transmission during video calls (except that in difficult lighting conditions the picture may be a bit “grainy”). The proprietary utility additionally has settings for brightness, contrast and exposure. The gaming laptop does not have a private “curtain”, but on the right side of the case you can find a physical switch that disables the camera. If you start it up, the system will warn you that the camera is off and, accordingly, will not produce an image until the user switches the toggle to the desired position.

The microphones located next to the camera additionally have proprietary “smart” noise reduction and really try to leave only the owner’s voice in the conversation (there is also a mode for wider voice capture). Under certain conditions, such microphones may be enough, but a headset or a separate external microphone will still provide much better communication (and it is unlikely that the owner of such a laptop will not have a gaming headset with a good microphone).

Performance and software

The Legion 5 line has a lot of configuration options. There are offers with AMD and Intel processors, and discrete video adapters are different versions from NVIDIA. At the same time, of course, along with memory options, the cost of models can differ by almost two times. Therefore, those who want to buy Lenovo Legion will still have a choice of options to suit different budgets. Moreover, the Legion 5 has additional variants with Pro and Slim indices.

In our case, we are talking about the regular Legion 5, which contains a 16-core Intel Core i7-14650HX (8 powerful cores up to 5.2 GHz, 8 energy-saving cores up to 3.7 GHz, 24 threads, 30 MB cache) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX4070 (8 GB GDDR6, up to 2175 MHz). Additionally, the model is equipped with 32 GB of DDR5-5600 (two 16 GB slots) and a one terabyte NVMe drive. The user can add permanent and RAM memory manually, and in each case there are two slots for this.

A Wi-Fi 6E receiver and a gigabit Ethernet port provide connectivity. Wireless accessories can be connected via Bluetooth 5.2. Independent upgrades of the wireless connection are also possible.

Additionally, the laptop has an LA1 AI chip. With it, Lenovo’s Legion AI Engine+ artificial intelligence system optimizes performance depending on current tasks. And its work can be heard, so to speak. Usually, when the user sets the maximum performance mode, the laptop’s cooling system immediately starts to gain momentum, and all processes are adjusted to the limit of their own capabilities. Legion 5 will do all this slowly, when it is really necessary. That is, even with Extreme Mode enabled, the CO will not overclock to the maximum during normal Internet browsing.

However, this does not mean that the user is left without options. Lenovo Vantage offers a choice of Performance, Balance, Quiet, and Custom modes. In the latter, you can set certain parameters yourself, or activate Extreme Mode in one click. This is exactly what we tested in synthetic tests, which showed typical results of this configuration.

Interestingly, without power and in power-saving mode, the system does not reduce its capabilities as much as we can see from competitors. Yes, this will certainly affect the battery life, but it will also take much less time to complete certain tasks. And since such laptops are not generally record-breaking in terms of battery life, typical users are unlikely to expect to work for long periods of time without a power source.

Most importantly, gaming is also in perfect order. Taking into account the high graphics settings at the native display resolution, you can get enough FPS for comfortable entertainment. For a mid-range system, the performance is in a league of its own. And yes, using the example of our configuration, we could see that it makes sense to pay extra for the RTX4070, because a laptop is not often bought for a short time, and you can only replace the video with everything else.

I also liked the stability of the system. You can play for hours without burning your hands. There are still warm spots on the working surface, but they do not affect the comfort of use. Although the cooling system will work loudly. However, we should also pay tribute to Lenovo engineers here. The Legion Coldfront Hyper cooling system is designed in such a way that warm air is only exhausted from the rear, so it will not warm your hands or, for example, a smartphone lying next to the laptop.

The stress test showed almost no trotting and an average temperature of no higher than 86°C. So, theoretically, the extra side cooling vents could have been useful. However, in practice, there was no negative effect, and the comfort of work remained at a decent level. And taking into account the good performance of tests and games, there are basically no questions to the system.

All the necessary settings are collected in the proprietary Lenovo Vantage utility. In addition to selecting performance modes, you can also configure microphones, macros, software updates, and, most importantly, the battery. The latter has the ability to work with resource conservation when working primarily from the power supply. That is, its charge level will not exceed 80%, which will allow it to feel better in the future over a long distance. The utility itself is simple and takes no more than a few minutes to learn. You can also find a few add-ons for gamers, such as an FPS counter and an additional sight, but it’s doubtful that you’ll need them.

Battery life

We’ve seen larger batteries in similar cases, but the Legion 5 has one with a capacity of 80 Wh. However, the battery life of this model is quite good (for a gaming laptop). Thus, the “office” test was completed in almost 6 hours. But the gaming test did not last even 50 minutes, which is quite predictable given the remaining performance when working without a power source. At the same time, watching a two-hour movie with comfortable brightness and sound settings took 40% of the charge.

The bundled 300W power supply is expectedly far from compact and will most likely have to travel with the laptop. But there is a nice thing here, too – support for the Rapid Charge function. With this function, it takes about an hour to fully restore the battery charge, which is still faster than the standard time of one and a half or even two and a half hours, depending on the manufacturer and battery.

It is worth noting that the first batch of laptops that arrived in Ukraine mistakenly received 230 W power supplies. As a result, the battery will not be able to charge or at least maintain the level of charge at maximum load, but will lose it quite quickly. Therefore, when buying such a model, you should pay attention to the power supply, which the manufacturer will replace with the required 300-watt power supply when you contact the service center.