By A popular 16-inch gaming laptop is the Lenovo Legion 5i. Lenovo mixes the GeForce RTX 4060, which is not the best GPU, with a top-tier Intel Core i9 CPU and an excellent cooling system in an unapologetically large chassis. The end product is a gaming laptop that, at a very affordable retail price of $1,399, offers surprisingly excellent performance considering the components.
Specification
There are several different versions of the 16-inch Lenovo Legion 5i (Gen 9) gaming laptop, but they all come with an Intel CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics. We evaluated the Lenovo Legion 5i, which retails for $1,399 at Costco but comes in numerous configurations.
A 14th-generation Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU with 24 cores, GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1 TB SSD are all included in the Costco model. It combines that with a 2560 x 1600 screen that has a refresh rate of 165 Hz and a brightness of 300 nits. Although it is not the most expensive GPU or display, it seems like a good gaming bundle for the money on paper.
This GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card can operate at a maximum TGP (total graphics power) of 140W. This is one of the reasons it performs better than other gaming laptops with RTX 4060 graphics, even if those laptops might be using less power.
- Number of models: 16IRX9
- CPU: Core i9-14900HX from Intel
- Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060; Memory: 32GB DDR5
- Display: 16-inch IPS display, 2560 x 1600, refresh rate: 165 Hz
- Storage: M.2 PCIe SSD, 1 TB
- 1080p webcam featuring an electrical shutter switch
- One combo audio jack, one microSD card reader, one RJ45 (Ethernet port), one HDMI 2.1, three USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1), two USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2), and one DC power in
- Networking: Ethernet port, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6E
- No biometrics
- Capacity of battery: 80 Watt-hours
- 14.16 x 10.33 x 0.99 inches in size
- 5.2 pounds in weight
- MSRP: $1,399 as tested
Speakers and Display
A 16-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels and a refresh rate of 165 Hz is part of the Lenovo Legion 5i. That seems like a decent idea on paper, and it looks excellent in games. The screen is nice. Playing everything from the new season of Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I was completely content with it.
However, the display is a little dim. I would like to see at least 400 nits of brightness instead of just 300. Higher refresh rates and significantly brighter screens are common features of more expensive displays. The IPS panel here lacks the vibrant colors found in a gaming laptop with a good OLED display, thus they might also employ OLED panels. Given the cost of this computer, these are not deal-breakers, but you should be mindful of what competing machines have to offer.
The speakers on this laptop work fine. They offer good clarity and are loud enough to drown out the laptop’s fans when playing games. However, as is typical with laptop speakers, the bass is simply insufficient. I am choosy because I virtually never like built-in laptop speakers as much as I do a decent set of headphones or external speakers. This place has mediocre speakers.
Performance
When it came to PC gaming and other desktop duties, the Lenovo Legion 5i did well. Given that we are discussing a computer with a powerful Intel Core i9 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, this is not surprising. It is important to remember that Lenovo’s RTX 4060 graphics are by no means the best, even with the top-tier CPU, ample RAM, and storage. A gaming laptop that marries an RTX 4070 with a less powerful CPU and less RAM can end up giving you greater gaming performance.
Benchmarks, however, will provide the narrative. As per customary, we evaluated the Lenovo Legion 5i’s performance using our common benchmarks. To get a sense of the overall performance of the system, we first run PCMark 10. Although it is intended to be a comprehensive benchmark, the CPU of the computer plays a significant role in this benchmark. Due in major part to its extraordinarily potent CPU, the Lenovo Legion 5i achieved an impressive score of 8,751.
Cinebench R20 is then used. This benchmark, which emphasizes total CPU performance, is substantially multithreaded. Since it is a fast test, cooling is not an issue for prolonged workloads. However, CPUs with more cores have a significant advantage because it is massively multithreaded.
Lenovo Legion 5i Gaming Laptop – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8G – 16” WQXGA Display – Intel Core i7-14650HX – 32GB RAM
Battery life
The Lenovo Legion 5i boasts a good-sized battery with an 80-watt-hour capacity. However, it weighs 5.2 pounds, and gaming laptops often do not have the longest battery life.
We repeatedly play a 4K version of Tears of Steel in the Movies & TV app on Windows 11 with airplane mode turned on until the laptop suspends itself to test the battery life. (For our battery benchmarks, we turn off the keyboard backlight and set the screen brightness to 250 nits.) Since local video playback is so effective and actual battery life in daily use will always be less than this, this is the best-case situation for any laptop.
The Lenovo Legion 5i lasted an average of 303 minutes before suspending itself in our normal battery life rundown test, which is a little over five hours. Because of the power-hungry CPU, it is a little low for a gaming laptop, but I have seen far worse gaming laptops. However, this laptop might not be for you if battery life is a concern.
Conclusion
The Lenovo Legion 5i is an excellent gaming laptop that is reasonably priced. Although it is not the most expensive device, this gaming laptop with discrete Nvidia graphics, a lightning-fast Intel Core i9 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB solid-state drive is incredibly affordable. This computer is configured to get a lot of gaming performance out of its hardware, even if the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics is by no means the quickest component.
Even if a laptop’s other specifications seem inferior, it will perform better in games if it has a GeForce RTX 4070 or higher graphics card. However, they also cost more: We compared it to the $1,849 Alienware m16 R2, which is powered by the RTX 4070. Compared to the Lenovo Legion 5i, it is $449 more. Naturally, parts for Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 50 series are coming soon. Soon, laptops like this one may be on sale for a reasonable price. However, even at its retail price, this machine is a good investment in the current market.
