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Article updated on October 27, 2022 at 4:00 AM PDT

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro Review: Powerful Gaming in an Uninspired Design

While the Legion offers all the power you could want, the drab design doesn't inspire and it's missing a couple of quality-of-life extras.

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Written by 
James Bricknell
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James Bricknell Senior Editor
James has been writing about technology for years but has loved it since the early 90s. While his main areas of expertise are maker tools -- 3D printers, vinyl cutters, paper printers, and laser cutters -- he also loves to play board games and tabletop RPGs.
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Lenovo Legion 5i Pro

$1,759 at Lenovo

Pros

  • Great performance
  • Ports for days
  • Bright display with a high refresh rate

Cons

  • Only "zone" keyboard backlighting
  • Big and heavy
  • Short battery life

Objectively, the Legion 5i Pro from Lenovo is as powerful as you can want from a gaming laptop. It not only performed well in a lot of our testing, but it often led the pack. However, this is a premium gaming laptop, and I wanted something more in some quality-of-life areas, like the webcam and trackpad. 

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro laptop open, with a colorful image on the screen
Dan Ackerman/CNET

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro

Price as reviewed $2,469
Display size/resolution 15-inch 2,560x1,600 display
CPU 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-12700H
Memory 16GB
Graphics 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics
Storage 512GB PCIe4x4/NVMe,SSD
Networking 802.11AX (2 x 2) & Bluetooth 5.1
Operating system Microsoft Windows 11 Home
Ports USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, combo audio jack, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, USB-C Thunderbolt 4, 3x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1, RJ45

One thing to note; our model came with a 512GB SSD, but that configuration isn't available on the Lenovo website right now. Instead, a nearly identical build with a big 2TB M.2 solid-state drive is on sale for a pretty decent $1,759 (although it was listed at a $2,469 "official price.")

When it comes to performance, there is very little to quibble about with the Legion 5i Pro. In benchmarks, the Legion rates highly on just about every metric. The battery life is on the low end for video streaming, but the screen is bright and responsive, so I can stand the tradeoff of less battery for better quality. Especially as gaming laptops spend most of their time plugged in. 

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro laptop closed

Obviously, when playing games on battery power, you're going to get much lower battery life. Gaming got me around 1 hour, 20 minutes, versus about 4 hours for simple video streaming. In the latter case, you're only using the integrated graphics, not the more power-hungry discrete Nvidia GPU. 

The Legion's battery will quick-charge from zero to 80% in 30 minutes, Lenovo claims, and I found that to be pretty accurate. Over multiple charging attempts, it took an average of about 40 minutes to get to 80%. I would still keep it plugged in as much as possible, but having that quick charge is helpful in a pinch.

Unlike a lot of newer non-gaming laptops, the Legion has plenty of ports. There are enough outputs to make this laptop your main workhorse at your desk. I especially appreciate the three USB-C ports as well as the Ethernet port. It's also got Wi-Fi 6E. But you'll have to look elsewhere for an SD card slot if that's important to you. 

Ports on the side of the laptop

Plenty of ports. 

Dan Ackerman/CNET

Keyboard and touchpad

I tried the Legion as my work computer -- in fact, I'm writing this review on it -- and with a keyboard, mouse and monitor attached it is indistinguishable from my main desktop PC. It takes up far less room, too. I especially enjoyed my time with the Legion when connected to external peripherals. Looking at it as a pure laptop, though, I found some things that faltered a bit. 

The keyboard is clearly designed to imitate the feel of a mechanical keyboard, even as it's shallower than some other gaming laptop keyboards. Still, the travel time for registering each key press felt long, and I could feel the fatigue that comes with heavy typing. Pure gamers, however, may be looking for this kind of experience. The keyboard has four lighting zones you can define, but that's not the same as per-key lighting. 

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro laptop keyboard

The keyboard also includes a number pad. 

Dan Ackerman/CNET

The trackpad feels similar. It is responsive enough, but every click feels like a heavy mechanical effort. It works, but it doesn't have the grace and sophistication I expect in a premium product. Of course, as this is a gaming laptop you might not be doing as much writing and editing as I do. In those cases, the lackluster trackpad won't bother you, as you're probably gaming with a mouse or gamepad. 

Ready for gaming 

Outside of our standard benchmark testing games, my go-to games are Destiny 2 and Sea of Thieves. Both offer stunning vistas, and the 165Hz 16-inch screen on the Legion is visibly more crisp than my other monitors at home. I've never been one to worry too much about refresh rates; anything above 120Hz always felt unnecessary, but the Legion screen is a real champ. The screen resolution of 2,560x1,600 pixels is the sweet spot for 16-inch gaming laptops – better than typical FHD, but not the battery-draining overkill of 4K. 

The Lenovo Legion 5i Pro laptop open, with a colorful image on the screen
Dan Ackerman/CNET

While the Legion is equipped with Coldfront 4.0 – a proprietary system to reduce heat and minimize fan noise – it is still noisy when cranking up the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti card. The noise actually translates into better cooling, and unlike the Acer Predator I reviewed, the surface never felt like it was hot enough to burn me.

The Lenovo Vantage software package allows access to some thermal modes, basic software GPU overclocking and control of the keyboard backlighting zones. 

A bit basic 

If you're using it as your work computer, you're likely to want to use the webcam. As with many gaming laptops, the quality is only so-so and a little grainy. Yes, it's a 720p-resolution camera, like so many pre-pandemic laptops. Many PC makers moved to full-HD cameras, but gaming laptops seem to be behind on this trend. 

The built-in webcam also comes with a software shutter to disable the webcam, activated by a toggle switch on the side of the system. An actual physical shutter is my preferred way to ensure webcam privacy.

Damage to the edge of a a laptop screen

The corner is starting to show a little wear. 

James Bricknell / CNET

The all-aluminum body is also thick and heavy, even for a 16-inch gaming laptop, at just over one inch thick and 5.5 pounds. I've been traveling with it in my backpack, and constantly packing and unpacking it whenever I need to use it has already started to cause a tiny bit of wear on one of the corners. 

This is a beast of a machine, but I wish it had more of a premium look and feel, especially in the webcam and touchpad. That said, especially at the current discounted price, it represents an excellent value, and if you get one with upgraded internal storage, that will make it much easier to use as a full-time gaming machine. 

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How we test computers

The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computerlike devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both objective and subjective judgments. 

The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we're currently running on every compatible computer include Primate Labs Geekbench 6, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found on our How We Test Computers page. 

Geekbench 5 (multicore)

Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022) 13734Alienware x15 R2 13296Origin PC Evo17-S 13170Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 12862Razer Blade 15 (2022) 9861Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 8443
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Cinebench R23 CPU (multicore)

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 18033Origin PC Evo17-S 17733Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022) 17511Alienware x15 R2 17071Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 13583Razer Blade 15 (2022) 11224
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

PCMark 10 Pro Edition

Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 7869Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022) 7762Alienware x15 R2 7372Razer Blade 15 (2022) 7029Origin PC Evo17-S 7006Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 6950
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Streaming video playback battery drain test (minutes)

Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022) 344Origin PC Evo17-S 338Alienware x15 R2 312Razer Blade 15 (2022) 305Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 277Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 244
Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

System Configurations

Origin PC Evo17-S Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 32GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (2022) Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080Ti; 1TB SSD
Razer Blade 15 (2022) Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-12800H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MH; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti; 1TB SSD
Alienware x15 R2 Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 32GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD
Lenovo Legion 5i Pro Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 16GB DDR5 6,400MHz; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti; 512GB SSD
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-12500H; 16GB DDR4 3,200MHz; 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060; 512GB SSD