Is the Lenovo Legion 5 (2021) Good for Gaming?

Lenovo has begun to make big strides in the PC gaming market, and their Legion series of laptops are quickly becoming fan favourites. This is because they have made aggressive moves in the market by selling their laptops at attractive prices and then spacing those laptops with above-average components all to get ahead of the competition and the Legion 5 (2021) is perhaps another supreme addition to their already growing line-up of quality laptops.

Today I will be answering the question,” is the Lenovo Legion 5 good for gaming”?

So, let me cut this short and answer this question outright. “It is” but it depends on how much you’re willing to spend and what configuration your money will get you.

Let me explain; the legion 5 is built with different specs and different price brackets in mind, thus allowing anyone to get something that suits them especially based on their needs and preferences. 

Some lower specced models are also good for gaming but are more for doing some light gaming; these are usually specced with NVIDIA GTX 1660 graphics cards or lower. Then there are the higher specced ones which are absolute beasts, and they come with the new 30 series of graphics cards although there are still a lot of other things that affect the price like the kind of display it has, the CPU inside and the amount of storage space on it.

However, we are talking about a gaming laptop here, so we are going to definitely talk about the higher specced model, although we will throw in a few of the other necessary specs.

What are the Specifications for the Lenovo Legion 5?

The Lenovo Legion 5 comes in different models; however, in this article, I will be discussing the Legion 5 Gen 6 15” AMD model.

• Processor; AMD RYZEN 7-5800 (8 Cores / 16 threads)
• GPU; NVIDIA RTX 3060 115-130W
• Memory; 16GB DDR4 3200 Dual Channel
• Screen; 15.6”, 165Hz, 1080p FHD.
• Storage; 512GB NVME M.2 SSD
• Battery; 4-Cell 80Wh

What are Some of the Positive & Negative Aspects of the Lenovo Legion 5?

The GPU

 This is one of the essential parts of any gaming laptop, and this is what separates the wheat from the chaff. There are different levels and designs of graphics cards, and each of them has a specific level of games they can handle.

The more recent RTX 30 series and AMD Radeon RX  6000-9000 series of graphics cards are the most powerful and most expensive cards on the market, and they are the cards that can handle everything. They are the cards that can handle “Ray tracing, particle effects, and implement DLSS on supported devices”.

This is exactly what the Legion 5 has, it comes outfitted with an NVIDIA GTX 3060, and this is one of the more powerful graphics cards out there, and it shows. When we put it through the gaming test, it was able to handle “The Shadow of the Tomb Raider at an average of 100fps on high settings. It could also get 68fps on cyberpunk and an impressive 74fps on Red Dead Redemption 2. So, all in all, it is actually a powerful GPU, and I expect anyone to enjoy gaming on it. While the lower specked model has an NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti or 2060 inside, these are all good graphics cards but are by no means close to the 3060.

The Display

Nowadays, most laptops have at least a 1080p screen. This is not bad, and on smaller screens, it is advisable to get the best view and best graphics that your GPU can produce.

However, with more and more games seeing full HD as the base point, it’s clear to see that some displays won’t cut it. We have PCs that can support 4K, LCD screens, and OLED screens, and all of them can easily have HDR functionality without sacrificing the frame rate.

Another key piece of any display is the refresh rate on the panel. A basic display should be able to support a simple 60hz refresh rate. The refresh rate on a screen is the amount of time it takes for input or action to be carried out. It’s the latent responsiveness that you can see after we click the mouse.

The Lenovo Legion 5 is a 15.6” FHD display, and on the surface, there isn’t much to look at with this model on show, but don’t let that 1080p screen fool you. It sports a 165hz refresh rate panel which is well above the average of 60Hz required to enjoy most single-player games, let alone multiplayer games. 

It has a latent response time on performance mode of less than 7ms, which is again above the average of 8.33ms seen on computers within the same price range. Couple that with its free sync capabilities, which allow it to freely move between 60-165hz when it’s not needed or to save battery life, and you have a very good screen on your hands. 

Clearly, Lenovo is doing some good work with their display. It also has an SRGB rating of 98.4%, and Adobe RGB rating of 69.3%, and a DCI-P3 rating of 73.4%. So, suppose you plan to do some video and picture editing. In that case, you’re in luck because while this doesn’t have the greatest colour correctness numbers, it’s still good enough for those who are starting out as photographers and video editors.

Memory and Storage

This model has the standard 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512 SSD; these are the minimum requirements for any PC that is expected to be used for gaming.

Although I would have loved to have seen a 1TB SSD on this just because a lot of games nowadays take up a lot of space, so 1TB is always advisable, but 512GB is still fine; just know you won’t play a lot of games on the system. Anyways an external hard drive should easily help you out. 

CPU

This model has an AMD’s RYZEN 7-5800 8 Core 16 thread processor. This is a good processor, and it should easily allow you to game smoothly and flow in-between apps quickly. It also transfers data much faster thereby allowing you to load assets from the SSD even quicker. The CPU is not the prime component for gaming; however, it still is very useful for the overall gaming experience and allows you to game without experiencing lag. 

How Does the Lenovo Legion 5 Compare to Other Gaming Laptops?

The Legion 5 is an impressive machine, and it definitely ranks at the top amongst its rivals within its price range. Its impressive GPU and display are all very good and are much better than the competition within the gaming market.

Does the Lenovo Legion 5 have an overheating issue?

The Lenovo Legion 5 does not have an overheating issue. In this model, Lenovo has installed their new “Cold Front 2.0” on this laptop, and it has helped reduce the temperature on the system, and it has helped limit thermal throttling on the laptop.

Is the Lenovo Legion 5 Expensive?

This is a purely subjective question and is based on your budget, but on a comparative basis, the Legion 5 is still cheaper than most laptops that have these types of specs like Dell’s Alienware MIS R2, which costs over $3000, while this model costs $1300 on most online retail stores.

Conclusion

I really like this Laptop, it has a lot of good things about it, and as such, it would be a laptop I could recommend. Given its quality screen, I could also recommend this to someone who is looking to begin their journey as a photographer or a cinematographer. It manages to strike a balance between versatility and an ideal gaming machine. 

Product Image Gallery – Is the Lenovo Legion 5 (2021) Good for Gaming?