Lenovo Legion 5 (2021) - Nuclear Review
Originally published in 2021. Text review adapted from YouTube video script. Original video currently only available at patreon.com/NuclearNotebook.
Today we’re taking a look at Lenovo’s 2021 Legion 5. This is Lenovo’s mid-range 15” gaming laptop, slotting in just above the entry-level IdeaPad Gaming 3 (which has itself since between replaced by the LOQ lineup).
Specifications & Features
The unit I have here is equipped with a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, GeForce RTX 3060 6GB graphics at up to 130-watts with Dynamic Boost 2.0, 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM in dual-channel, a disappointingly small 512GB NVMe SSD and a 165Hz, 15” 1080p display.
Other noteworthy features are as follows:
Resizable BAR: Yes
Nvidia Dynamic Boost 2.0: Yes
Nvidia Whisper Mode 2.0: No
MUX switch: Yes (with Advanced Optimus)
Adaptive Sync/G-Sync: Yes
HDMI 2.1: Yes (4k120Hz output supported)
Intel AX200 WiFi
Realtek Gigabit Ethernet
SK Hynix 512GB NVMe SSD
4-zone RGB keyboard
GPU power is max. 130W in Performance mode
In the Box
Inside the box you’ll find the machine itself, a massive 300-watt power supply (more on that later), basic usage guide, a pamphlet asking you to give Lenovo more money, safety information and two Legion stickers for your brother to stick on his Chromebook.
This unit is finished in Phantom Blue. All external casing is plastic. Notably absent on this new generation is the nice soft-touch finish from the 2020 models.
Underneath are four large rubber feet and a good amount of ventilation
External Interface Extravaganza
Connectivity is surprisingly comprehensive on this machine.
On the right-hand side, you’ll find an electrical cutoff switch for the integrated webcam, a power status LED, and a USB 3.2 type-A port.
At the rear, there’s a gigabit Ethernet jack, USB-C supporting power delivery, three USB 3.2 Type-A ports one of which supports PowerShare, HDMI 2.1, and the DC-in jack.
Lastly, on the left-hand side is a USB-C port & combo headphone/microphone jack.
Open Up
The lid swings open easily but with a noticeable amount of flexing in both the base unit and the lid assembly, accompanied various unsettling creaking noises.
Hinges themselves are strong and hold the display in place well but the surrounding plastic structure is clearly too weak.
In typical Lenovo form, the lid does swing back almost a full 180 degrees. The display assembly on my unit becomes quite badly warped down the middle when opened all the way.
Input Devices
Beneath the creaky and bendy lid is a decently sized touchpad and a full keyboard with a slightly undersized number pad but full-sized arrow keys.
The keyboard deck is the same Phantom Blue as the outer lid. All other plastics are plain black.
The Windows Precision trackpad works reasonably well most of the time with minimal input lag, but it occasionally suffers from annoying issue where the mouse pointer jumps an inch or so in a random direction, which can make life difficult. This may be a bug or minor fault unique to this unit.
This machine is equipped with the standard 4-zone RGB-backlit keyboard. The layout is excellent and the key mechanisms themselves are nice and solid which is very typical of Lenovo products, but the entire keyboard deck feels loose and bounces noticeably during use.
Display
The 165Hz 300-nit AU Optronics panel fitted to this unit is a bit of a mixed bag. Response times are good with no visible ghosting, but the display suffers from very bad IPS glow and backlight bleed, and the flexible lid assembly means the location and intensity of this glow varies wildly over time.
Sound
Speakers are loud enough and don’t sound too bad. There is however not much bass and there is some audible distortion at higher volume level.
Unfortunately, due to the placement of the speakers underneath the base of the unit, the sound changes dramatically depending on the surface the laptop is placed on and can be completely muffled when it’s sitting on your lap.
Speaker drivers themselves are very basic small oval units housed in reasonably-sized cabinets.
Battery Life
The 80 watt-hour battery provides acceptable but unimpressive run times.
While idle on the Windows desktop with the display at 70% brightness the Legion 5 clocked 8 hours and 11 minutes from a full charge, and only 3 hours and 34 minutes during heavy internet use with YouTube videos constantly playing and the display at maximum brightness.
Cooling System
The dual fans in this machine are quite loud. In Performance mode, which is required to hit 130-watts on the GPU, you’ll be putting up with a lot of noise, even if you raise the machine up on a cooling pad.
DPC Latency (Windows)
DPC latency as measured by LatencyMon is pretty bad on this machine. You’ll actually hear the audio skipping and cutting out occasionally when the system is under load. This may be improved with software updates but don’t buy this machine if you’re planning to work with live audio.
Benchmarks - Synthetic
All benchmarks are run with the laptops in their “Performance” thermal profile, while raised off the desk on a passive (fanless) cooling pad. Ambient temperature is 21 degrees Celcius. Your results will vary.
Geekbench 5’s CPU benchmark shows a fairly typical score for an 8-core chip, sitting squarely between the two Core i7-10870H machines.
Moving to Geekbench 5’s OpenCL Compute test which measures GPU performance, the 130-watt 3060 matches the result for the 90-watt unit in the Dell G15. While the extra wattage doesn’t help it out here this is still a great score.
Cinebench R23 has been run on a 10-minute loop to get past the initial power throttling on all machines. As expected the Ryzen 7 5800H in the Legion takes the top spot here.
In 3DMark Fire Strike, which is an older DirectX 11 benchmark, the Legion comes in about where you’d expect, a little ahead of the Dell G15 but behind the two 3070 machines.
In Time Spy, which uses DirectX 12, the Legion does a little better, outgunning the TUF A15 in the overall score.
Port Royal is 3DMark’s DirectX raytracing benchmark. You should be able to expect higher performance than a 115-watt RTX 2070. It’s almost on par with a 95-watt 3070.
In my worst-case-scenario stress test which involves running MSI Kombustor and Prime95 for 30 minutes, we get a good look at how the power delivery in these machines holds up with maximum CPU and GPU load at the same time.
In this test, the Legion continuously delivers 45-watts to the CPU, capping the GPU at around 112 watts. Temperatures aren’t too bad overall but the CPU is definitely getting hot at 90 degrees.
Benchmarks - Gaming
Starting off with my Cyberpunk 2077 driving benchmark using the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, I won’t mince my words, this is crap performance. I ran this test at least ten times, with Hybrid display mode both on and off, and every single run netted the same result. I’ve also gone back and re-run this benchmark on every other laptop to confirm that an update to the game or newer GeForce drivers haven’t gimped the performance. So there it is, the worst Cyberpunk score yet.
Things don’t improve too much in Watch Dogs Legion. At least this time the performance is kept to a good playable level, but this is still embarrassing given the hardware in this machine. Both this game and Cyberpunk are extremely heavy on the CPU, so be aware that the Legion 5 appears to go a bit limp in this sort of resource-heavy game.
In Ubisoft’s The Division 2, we finally get some good frame rates out of this thing, moving all the way up into second place.
In Borderlands 3, the Legion comes in second place again…
And again in Gears 5…
And once again in Red Dead Redemption 2, where the minimum framerate is actually the best here.
In the newly released Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition with everything set to Ultra, the Legion moves down slightly to third place, but this is still a very good effort.
Moving on to the final chart where we average all game performance results, the Legion comes in second place despite the dismal performance in Cyberpunk and Watch Dogs Legion.
Teardown
Right, time to take this thing apart and check it out from the inside.
Taking the bottom cover off is fairly easy. Unfortunately my video footage of this step was corrupted so I can’t show it here. Just remove all screws from the base then carefully pry off the plastic housing using a guitar pick or spudger.
Once inside, we get a clear view of the cooling solution and fans, but the SSD and RAM slots are covered by EMI shielding.
Towards the front of the machine are the easily removable 80 watt-hour battery with the two small stereo speakers mounted either side.
Moving across the center from left to right with the shields out of the way, we have an empty NVME SSD slot, two RAM slots occupied by a pair of 8GB Samsung SODIMMS, and the Intel AX200 WiFi card above the SK Hynix SSD.
At the rear we get a good look at the decently sized fan outlets and a glimpse at the structure of the hinges.
Of course we’re not stopping here.
While it’s impossible to remove the Legion 5’s fans for proper cleaning without taking out the entire heatsink, doing so is at least fairly straightforward.
Remove the ten remaining screws and disconnect the two fan cables, then lift the heatsink and fan assembly up and out.
The heat spreader itself is a decent size, with copper used for CPU and GPU cold plates, heatpipes and radiators, and two large aluminium cold plates contacting VRM components and the video memory.
Thermal pad contact looks to be reasonably firm and even in most areas.
Thermal paste application on the dies is even and covers the entire surface, however it was completely dried out on this brand new machine and came off in solid flaky chunks during removal.
Contact patches on the coldplates are covered in a large amount of minor surface scratches and some pitting. This shouldn’t cause any issues though since thermal compound is designed to fill these imperfections anyway.
I’m not completely confident in the durability of this setup over time, but it’s a lot better than the purely plastic construction of the Asus TUF A15.
Ultimately, the structural design and build quality of this machine doesn’t quite match up to the high standard set by Dell’s new G15. I never thought I’d be saying that, but here we are.
Conclusion
Summing up the new Legion 5, I’m disappointed to say this isn’t really the outright budget champion we were all expecting.
There’s much more to a laptop than on-paper specifications or cherry-picked performance data, and this one leaves me feeling a bit cold.
Performance can be highly variable, battery life is fairly low, and the display is marred by bad IPS glow. I’m also not happy with the generally unstable and creaky construction of the casing, especially with regard to the loose keyboard deck.
On the plus side, this configuration does offer decent value for money, and performance can be excellent under certain workloads. The plain, ThinkPad-like styling of the Legion series will also appeal to some people who don’t want a flashy gaming laptop.
Hopefully Lenovo can sort out the battery life & occasional poor performance with some software updates.
At the time of writing, this machine sold for AU$2500 which is simply too much for a laptop with these specifications and built to this standard.
I’m rating this one a solid “meh” - usable, but not amazing.
Taking a close look at the structure of this laptop, while it’s good to see a metal backplate surrounding the hinge area, it’s made of very thin stamped steel and doesn’t really add a whole lot of rigidity.
The pivot points for the hinges are mostly backed by soft plastic. This accounts for the clearly visible flex while moving the screen.
