Lenovo Legion 16" Pro 5i Onyx Grey 2024

The Legion Pro 5i packs a ridiculous i9-14900HX and 64GB of RAM, making it a creator's dream, but the RTX 4060 holds it back for pure gaming. The 165Hz screen is fine but not spectacular. At $3,089, it's a niche buy for people who need workstation power and casual gaming, not hardcore gamers.

The i9-14900HX is a 24-core beast that sits in the 92nd percentile in our database, and the 64GB of DDR5 is near the top of the charts at the 98th percentile. That's serious horsepower for rendering, compiling, or running a dozen Chrome tabs plus a game. The RTX 4060 with 8GB of VRAM is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, landing in the 85th percentile, but it's not going to max out Cyberpunk at 1600p with ray tracing. The 2TB NVMe SSD is fast and roomy, and the 80Wh battery with fast charging is a nice touch. But the screen is the weak link here. It's a 165Hz IPS panel, which is fine for gaming, but it sits at the 63rd percentile, meaning it's just average for this class. Don't expect OLED-level contrast or HDR brilliance.

Against the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Max, the Legion wins on raw CPU core count and RAM, but the MacBook destroys it on screen quality, battery life, and portability. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is lighter and more portable with a better screen, but it can't touch the Legion's CPU and RAM. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is a more balanced gaming machine with a better display, but again, less raw CPU power. The MSI Prestige and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition are thin-and-light productivity machines, not gaming laptops, so they're not really in the same fight. The Legion's biggest advantage is that CPU and RAM combo, which no competitor here matches at this price.

The price is listed at $3,089 USD, which is a lot of money for an RTX 4060 laptop. You're paying for the i9-14900HX and 64GB of RAM, not the GPU. If you're a gamer first, you can get a much better GPU for that money. But if you're a creator who games on the side, the CPU and RAM might justify the cost. It's a niche value proposition, and you need to know exactly why you need 64GB of RAM before dropping three grand.

The Legion Pro 5i is a weird mix. You get a monster i9-14900HX and 64GB of DDR5, which is workstation territory, but it's paired with an RTX 4060, which is a solid mid-range GPU. That CPU and RAM combo is overkill for most games, but if you're editing video or doing 3D work, this thing will chew through it. The 16-inch WQXGA display at 165Hz is nice, though it's not the brightest or most color-accurate panel out there. At 2.5kg, it's a chunky boy, so don't expect to toss it in a backpack and forget it's there.

Skip this if you're a pure gamer. The RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU, and at $3,089, you're paying a huge premium for CPU and RAM you won't fully use in games. Get a laptop with an RTX 4070 or 4080 and a more modest CPU instead. Also skip it if portability matters, because 2.5kg is not fun to lug around, and the screen won't impress anyone who's used to OLED or mini-LED panels.

Buy this if you're a video editor, 3D artist, or developer who needs 64GB of RAM and a 24-core CPU, and you also want to game at 1440p on the side. The RTX 4060 will handle most games at high settings, but it's not a 4K card. If you're primarily a gamer, look for something with an RTX 4070 or better and spend less on the CPU. This is a workstation that happens to have a gaming GPU, not the other way around.