Lenovo delivers plenty of Ryzen gaming power with the Legion 5 gaming notebook.
If you need further proof of AMD’s return to prominence in the PC processor world, just check out Lenovo’s latest update of its Legion gaming PC products, as it includes a slew of Ryzen-powered options including the Legion 5 15-inch gaming notebook, which offers Ryzen power at a very competitive price while enabling entry-level gamers to blast through resource-intensive games.
The Legion 5 is available at Lenovo’s online store at prices starts from S$1,299, with options including a choice of processors up to an 8-core 2.9Ghz Ryzen 7 4800H mobile processor with integrated Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics, up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GTX, and up to 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and 1TB HDD.
The Legion 5 has been designed to Lenovo’s latest Legion styling aesthetics of more muted colours and no exterior RGB, and though it is built entirely out of plastic, still weighs in at 2.3kg, probably due to its extensive ColdFront 2.0 cooling system with three heat-pipes, six thermal sensors and dual fans, with extensive vents on the sides, bottom and back of the device. Connectivity is mostly located on the rear of the notebook behind the screen hinges, and comprises of power, Ethernet jack, two USB 3.1 Type-A, a USB 3.1 Type-C (DisplayPort compatible) plus HDMI, while each side of the Legion 5 has single USB 3.1 Type-A ports as well. On the inside, there’s a large trackpad and a full Legion TrueStrike keyboard with NumPad, full arrow keys, all with RBG backlighting.
The Legion 5 unit we tested was configured with the Ryzen 7 4800H processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB RAM, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD with a speedy 144Hz 15.6-inch Full-HD display with 300 nits with Dolby Vision. This CPU/GPU pairing is interesting as the GTX 1650 is optimized for 1080P gaming and doesn’t have raytracing, but it has been benched by Notebookcheck.net as being able to handle Full-HD gaming at ultra graphics setting, benching Death Stranding at 57fps and F1 2020 at 63fps. 
The Ryzen 4800H, on the other hand, has been tested as more powerful than a 9th gen Intel Core i9-9980H processor.
Taken together on the Legion 5, this CPU/GPU pairing offers a powerful and affordable solution for mainstream gamers, with a PCMark10 of 5,144, which is excellent, especially when you consider that this configuration cost just S$1,729!
The fast 144Hz Full-HD screen handles complicated graphics easily and there’s no noticeable screen lag when you quickly pan around in an FPS game like Far Cry 5, while the ColdFront 2.0 cooling system does keep the keyboard relatively cool to the touch, sending hot air out the back of the notebook. About the only thing we’d markdown is the integrated Harmon Kardon Speakers, which don’t really sound loud, but we tend to game with surround sound headphones.
From S$1,299
www.lenovo.com/sg
Rating 4.5 / 5
We say
A powerful gaming notebook at a very competitive price for entry-level gamers, as well as consumers looking for a powerful and affordable desktop replacement solution
Technical Specifications (as tested)
Operating System Windows 10 Home
Display 15.6-inch Full-HD IPS, 300 nits, 144 Hz, 3ms response time, 100% sRGB, Dolby Vision
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
Memory 16GB
Storage 512GB PCIe SSD
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX1650 with 4GB GDDR6
Connectivity 4x USB 3.1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1x RJ45, 1x HDMI 2.0, headphone jack, Intel WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5
Battery 60Wh, 4 cells
Dimensions 363.1 x 259.6 x 23.6mm
Weight 2.3kg
First published in NXT Magazine September 2020. A digital edition can be purchased at https://www.magzter.com/SG/Kingsman-Media-Pte-Ltd/NXT-/Lifestyle/
