Lenovo is doing refinement on their Legion gaming laptop line since few years already now. This week we are going to make a look at the mid-range powerhouse, the Legion 5, and see that how the Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Pro is stacking up. Does the Legion Pro is having enough of improvements for edging out the Legion 5? There is only the one way for knowing.
Please continue the reading for finding out!
Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Pro Design Differences
On the first glance, the Lenovo Legion 5 and Legion Pro 5 are sharing the same unmistakable Legion design language. If it was not for the slight size difference and also the display panel technology, it would be rather much hard for telling a difference between these two ones. The Legion 5 is coming at 15.3 inches with the weight of 2.1 kg, meanwhile the Legion Pro 5 is stepping up towards a 16-inch form factor. Both of the laptops are carrying that Eclipse Black aesthetic which Lenovo has became known for it in their gaming lineup, maintaining one clean and understated look that is not screaming “gaming laptop” from the across of the room.
How the Legion 5 & Pro Perform
Both the Lenovo Legion 5 and Legion Pro 5 are utilizing the advanced 250W Vapor Chamber cooling system together with the integrated Hyper Chamber technology.
The Legion 5 and Pro both are featuring this robust thermal solution what is designed for pushing the sustained performance during of intensive gaming sessions. While this cooling architecture was used throughout all the Legion lineup, Lenovo did made notable upgrades onto the Pro variant, pairing it with the more powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. The Pro’s 24-core chip (8P + 16E) with a max turbo of 5.4GHz is sitting one tier above than the Legion 5’s 14-core i7-13650HX, which is topping out only at 4.9GHz.
Display Panels
Although both of the laptops are maintaining the same 165Hz refresh rate, the Legion 5 and Pro are having vastly different display technologies. The main difference between the Legion 5 and Pro display it is the panel type and also the resolution.
The Pro is featuring a stunning WQXGA (2560×1600) OLED panel, what is leading to a far more richer visual experience on the overall. The Legion 5’s WUXGA (1920×1200) IPS panel is getting powered by the 300 nits of brightness with 100% sRGB coverage and also the Dolby Vision support. Once it is paired together with a game or content that is taking the advantage from these specs, the display is performing admirably. If you are deciding for choosing the Pro instead, please keep on mind that the OLED panel is delivering 500 nits of brightness, 100% DCI-P3 colour coverage, and the DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certification. Its design is helping for delivering the deeper blacks and also more vibrant colours, while at the same time being much better at the rendering of HDR content with true-to-life accuracy.
AI-Powered Performance
Once more, the both Legion 5 and Pro is getting benefit from the Lenovo AI Engine+ technology. This kind of AI-driven design philosophy is same which Lenovo put inside into all of their newest Legion gaming laptops.
The Lenovo LA Core LA1 chip is making possible the real-time Scenario Detection, which push the FPS higher and doing optimization of system resources for reaching the peak performance. The Smart FPS is dynamically doing fine-tune of the settings so it can make sure the gameplay stay smooth and stable, even in those high-pressure moments. Beside this, the AI-driven efficiency is extending the battery life up to 10% more, so you can keep the focus on your game and not on the power socket.
Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Pro Gaming Tests
The following gaming laptop benchmarks is designed for showing how the Lenovo Legion 5 and the Legion Pro 5 are performing across the different workloads, while running the variety of game and also productivity scenarios.
We are looking into three key performance areas, which include the raw GPU power, the CPU multi-threaded performance, and the display quality also.
| Lenovo Legion 5 Overall |
|---|
| 88% |
| Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Overall |
|---|
| 94% |
Lenovo Legion 5 Performance Scores
- GPU Power: 85%
- CPU Performance: 88%
- Display Quality: 82%
Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Performance Scores
- GPU Power: 92%
- CPU Performance: 96%
- Display Quality: 98%
GPU Performance
The performance between the Legion 5 and the Pro through all our GPU benchmarks was similar for the most of mainstream gaming titles. The Pro is pulling ahead in the ray-tracing heavy titles and the higher resolution workloads more than the Legion 5, but these was the only big differences between the two laptops on this side.
When we was completing the ray-tracing benchmarks, the RTX 5060 of Legion 5 could hold the respectable frame rates on 1080p, but on the other side the RTX 5070 of Pro was having the tendency for keeping the performance more smoother, even on its native 1600p resolution. Because of the Pro is having more higher GPU headroom, it was able for delivering around 15–20% more high frame rates if we compare with the Legion 5 in those demanding AAA titles.
Beside this, the VRAM bandwidth was one notable factor inside our testing. Since it is a higher-tier GPU if we compare to the RTX 5060, I was expecting the RTX 5070 to perform in better way throughout the memory-intensive tests, and this was truly the case indeed.
The RTX 5070, with its more higher boost clock of 2497MHz and the 798 AI TOPS, was pushing it ahead inside the AI-upscaling workloads like the DLSS 4. From the other side, the RTX 5060 with its 572 AI TOPS was still giving one solid experience for the very big majority of games on 1080p.
There was some definite gaps coming along the way during our GPU benchmarks. Saying that, each laptop was tested on its own respective native resolution, so it can reflect one real-world usage scenario.
We did not do the testing with the external displays for none of these two laptops, which in our believing could make the playing field more level for the Legion 5 on the lower resolutions.
CPU Multi-Threaded Performance
When we are moving into the CPU multi-threaded benchmarks, the Pro is taking a big leap ahead from the Legion 5. Even the single-threaded tasks were handling at almost the same level, but the multi-core workload it was becoming a real game changer.
The Legion 5 with its i7-13650HX still is performing very admirably in the productivity tasks, finishing the rendering tests in respectable timings and also earning strong marks for the everyday multitasking usage.
Saying that, the Pro’s Core Ultra 9 275HX it was able to dominate fully in the multi-threaded scenarios, thanks to its 24 cores and 24 threads, which is giving a major uplift compared to the Legion 5’s 14-core and 20-thread configuration.
The single-threaded gaming loads, the video playback and also the general browsing, these were no match for both of these Legion laptops when we talk about the daily-life usability.
Display Quality
And lastly, we are coming to the display quality testing. Here also, one more time, the Pro is claiming the victory over the Legion 5 in the HDR portion and the colour accuracy portion, however the brightness uniformity across the whole panel it was staying almost the same.
The Legion 5 it did show one slight dropping in the visual impact when the dark scene rendering was coming, moving down from good to only average in the contrast ratio performance. This difference was not so dramatic on the IPS panel, but still it is creating a noticeable gap between the Legion 5 and the Pro’s OLED with those true black levels.
Both of these two laptops are performing quite nicely in the colour accuracy at the sRGB level, but the Pro it is having one significantly stronger outing once we are shifting into the wider DCI-P3 colour gamut.
Using the Lenovo Legion 5 & Legion Pro 5
Unboxing of each these laptops is a simple task, but it can give satisfying feeling because Lenovo is packaging every unit with care and one premium presentation.
Setup
After you removing the laptop and the charger from packaging, the setup also is quite simple. Just plug in the power adapter, power on the machine, follow the Windows 11 first-time setup, and then you are good to go.
Daily Use
When the matter comes to using the Legion 5 and the Pro, both of them are utilising the same design concept, same like the rest of Lenovo Legion series laptops also.
The performance tuning is getting controlled through the Lenovo Vantage software and the dedicated performance mode toggle. The AI Engine+ profiles are only activating themselves when the workload is demanding it, and therefore it saves the battery because the system scales down as soon the demand becomes reduced.
Connectivity
Both the Lenovo Legion 5 and the Pro are coming loaded with one comprehensive set of ports. The transition in between desktop and mobile use is quick and painless one. For using each one like a desktop replacement, you connect through the HDMI 2.1 port or the USB Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4, and then attach your external peripherals.
On the contrary side, you unplug and take the laptop on the go, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 which is keeping you connected wherever place you are.
If you are already having a capable desktop setup and only need one portable gaming solution, then check out the base Lenovo Legion 5 for getting a well-rounded mobile experience.
Audio Experience
The Legion 5 and the Pro, they do share a similar audio setup, with both of them featuring 2 × 2W stereo speakers which are optimised by Nahimic by SteelSeries.
The Pro is little more refined in its audio delivering. The combination of Sound Tracker 2.0 and the AI Smart Profiles is giving to the Pro a slight edge in the positional audio awareness during the competitive gaming sessions.
Unlike the Legion 5’s standard audio processing, the Pro’s tuning is actually adjusting dynamically based on the content type also, which helps for avoiding a flat or tinny sound profile during the music and the movie playback.
Is the Lenovo Legion 5 or Pro a Better Value?
Lenovo Legion 5 Value
The Lenovo Legion 5 is being the cheaper one from these two laptops, but still the value what it gives is very much good. This lower price around ₹1.84 Lakh comes together with the strong gaming performance and also the solid build quality, and because of this it can be compared with some of the top-tier gaming laptops that are available in the same RTX 5060 segment.
My opinion, the Lenovo Legion 5 shows stronger value proposition especially for the 1080p gaming, and on top of that it also provides the similar kind of daily usability and build quality when we put it against the Pro. Due to this reason, I believe that it stands as a slightly better value than the Pro, mostly for those gamers who are having budget in their mind.
- Warranty – 1 year onsite
- Returns – Varies by retailer, other retailers may also differ
Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Value
When we are seeing everything altogether, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is also offering a good value, but at the price of ₹2,36,490, this jump of nearly ₹52,000 is demanding a very careful thinking before buying. The OLED display along with the Core Ultra 9 processor are justifying this premium price, as per my opinion, however this is only true if you are planning to use them fully and take the complete advantage.
The one and only major benefit which is coming with owning the Pro instead of the Legion 5 is nothing but the display and also the processing power. The WQXGA OLED panel, the 32GB of more faster DDR5-5600 RAM, and also the RTX 5070, all these things together could be enough for changing your opinion.
Since several configurations are being available, the price of the Pro is keep on fluctuating time to time, but the Legion 5 will most probably continue staying cheaper than the Pro by a good big margin.
- Warranty – 2 years onsite + Accidental Damage Protection
- Returns – Varies by retailer, other retailers may also differ
Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Pro Specifications
| Specs | Lenovo Legion 5 | Lenovo Legion Pro 5 |
| Type | Gaming Laptop | Gaming Laptop |
| Manufacturer | Lenovo | Lenovo |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-13650HX | Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX |
| Cores / Threads | 14C (6P + 8E) / 20T | 24C (8P + 16E) / 24T |
| Max Turbo | 4.9 GHz | 5.4 GHz |
| Cache | 24 MB Intel Smart Cache | 36 MB Intel Smart Cache |
| GPU | NVIDIA RTX 5060 8GB GDDR7 | NVIDIA RTX 5070 8GB GDDR7 |
| GPU TGP | 115W | 115W |
| AI TOPS | 572 | 798 |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR5-4800 | 32 GB DDR5-5600 |
| Max RAM | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| Storage | 1TB SSD PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe | 1TB SSD PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe |
| Display Size | 15.3″ (38.8cm) | 16″ (40.6cm) |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) | 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA) |
| Panel Type | IPS | OLED |
| Refresh Rate | 165Hz | 165Hz |
| Brightness | 300 nits | 500 nits |
| Color Gamut | 100% sRGB | 100% DCI-P3 |
| HDR | Dolby Vision | DisplayHDR True Black 1000, Dolby Vision |
| Cooling | 250W Vapor Chamber | 250W Vapor Chamber |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 6 |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Weight | 2.1 kg | — |
| Warranty | 1 Year Onsite | 2 Year Onsite + ADP |
Biggest Differences of Lenovo Legion 5 vs. Pro
Display Technology
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is featuring a superior 16″ WQXGA OLED panel with 500 nits, 100% DCI-P3 and also DisplayHDR True Black 1000, which is giving the deeper blacks and the more richer colours. The Legion 5 on other side is including a 15.3″ WUXGA IPS panel having 300 nits and 100% sRGB, which is solid enough but still it cannot match up to the Pro’s visual fidelity.
Processing & Graphics Power
The Pro edges out the Legion 5 with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 cores, 5.4GHz) and the RTX 5070 (798 AI TOPS), but the Legion 5 also it is holding its own quite well with the i7-13650HX (14 cores, 4.9GHz) and the RTX 5060 (572 AI TOPS) for the mainstream 1080p gaming purpose.
Memory Configuration
The Legion Pro 5 ships with 32 GB of the faster DDR5-5600 RAM in one dual-channel configuration, whereas the Legion 5 is coming with only 16 GB of DDR5-4800 sitting in a single SO-DIMM slot. This dual-channel setup of the Pro it is providing a noticeable uplift in the memory-heavy tasks, and it can also make impact on the gaming performance in those bandwidth-hungry titles.
