Over the past few years, Lenovo's Legion series has made a name for itself within the gaming arena both on desktop and laptop systems. With regard to the latter specifically, the Chinese manufacturer has carved out a place for itself in this competitive segment through a line of products that seek a balance between high performance, good finishes and a design far from the garish colors that are usually associated with this type of devices for video game enthusiasts.
The Legion range of laptops comes in a multitude of models that vary in both specifications and design. The objective is to cover the specific needs of each user, from those who want a robust and powerful laptop designed specifically for gaming (the Pro series), to those who need a more balanced team, capable of combining great performance when playing as its use for multimedia and work. We have had the opportunity to thoroughly test the Legion 5 15IAH7H model, which would fall into the latter category.
The first thing that stands out is its exterior design, and that is that this Legion 5 does not look like a gaming computer. Its dimensions are 358.8 mm wide, 262.35 mm deep and a thickness that does not reach 20 mm. Straight lines with rounded corners dominate in a device that allows detail to play with small indentations and reliefs that, together with the soft gray tone of its casing, give it a distinctive and elegant touch. The hinges (in sight) and the good feeling they transmit when opening and closing the screen also stand out.
The computer's chassis combines aluminum parts with plastic ones, but the sensation to the touch is that of being in front of a robust computer. Its 2.4 kg weight makes it heavy, but nothing that is not expected in a device with a 15.7-inch screen built for gaming. The screen, by the way, is an IPS panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, which is especially suitable for competitive video games.
The keyboard is another of the highlights of this model. Its firm build, coupled with the fact that the keys have some travel, makes typing comfortable. It also incorporates a number pad, although in this case its keys are smaller and not so comfortable. The opposite occurs with the directional keys, large and separated from the rest, something that again reveals the focus of this unit on video games. For its part, the touch surface is quite large and responds more than adequately.
The ports are another aspect in which this Legion 5 unit is more than well served. There are many and they are correctly distributed. Most are concentrated in the back, where there are six connections (Ethernet, multifunction UBS-C, HDMI, USB 3.2 first generation, USB 3.2 capable of charging external devices and power connector).
On the left side it has two USB-C ports (Thunderbolt and USB4), while on the right it has a classic USB 3.2 first generation port and a headphone jack. Also on the right side we find a button to activate or deactivate the webcam (1080p) and the always useful battery status indicator. It misses, yes, an SD card reader.
It's time to review the innards of this Legion 5 and here we also have good news. The team mounts an Intel i7-12700H CPU at 2.3GHz, 16 GB of DDR5 RAM at 4800 MHz, a 1GB SSD hard drive and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. It is a very balanced configuration, where the processor stands out especially –one of the fastest from Intel–, but where the rest of the components are also more than adequate. The most advanced models of this same computer have 32 GB of RAM and the RTX 3070 GPU and, in the most recent versions, with the current RTX 4000 series from Nvidia.
Although more advanced versions of this Legion 5 already exist at this time, the truth is that this model (15IAH7H) continues to offer very high performance when gaming. Before going into assessing our experience with various titles, it is important to note that the device includes a selector with three operating modes (performance, balanced and silent) that adapts power consumption, performance and cooling to the type of use it is intended for. want to give at all times. It is a functionality that we have found very useful and that really achieves its goal of optimizing the computer for each situation.
We have tested the computer with some of the most demanding games that can be found today. We start with Ratchet
Another original PlayStation title that we have been able to test on this computer in its PC version is Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which can also be played smoothly at its most demanding setting (Very High), and also with the layout of Rays activated, although on this occasion we have noticed that the fluidity of the image is somewhat resident.
Another game that we have tested is the popular driving simulator Forza Horizon 5. The test carried out by the game itself shows very positive results, with a frame rate of up to 82fps and with most of the visual settings high quality. or average. It is spectacular to see how fluid the game moves on the screen of this Legion 5, something to which the vibrant colors that the device screen is capable of displaying also contribute.
We finish our tests with Cyberpunk 2077, which also offers the option to calculate the performance of our computer in each graphic mode. Testing it in its most demanding configuration, in "Ultra" and with ray tracing activated, we obtain an average of 31 images per second, but with drops of up to 19fps. Not an optimal way to play it. On the other hand, if we adjust the performance values as suggested by the game itself, with the graphics at “High”, the average frames per second is 63fps. In this configuration, the game also looks spectacular, especially if we play it on the computer's own screen, so it's more than recommendable to sacrifice the level of detail to gain greater fluidity.
Obviously, when playing games, the fans located at the back of the device work at full power. At this time the laptop is really noisy, something that, together with the poor power of its speakers, makes it advisable to play with headphones. Battery consumption also suffers when playing these more demanding titles, something that makes it practically mandatory to play with the computer connected to the power supply, which, on the other hand, is a necessary condition to use the computer's own performance mode.
Beyond the limitations that we have found in some more advanced game modes, the truth is that this Legion 5 is a very powerful and fully solvent gaming laptop to play the most demanding titles of the moment. As we have detailed, the team stands out for a very balanced configuration between all its components. The result is a computer that is clearly focused on video games, but that is also very versatile for other tasks, and that thanks to its elegant professional design defies the clichés of gamer aesthetics.
