Lenovo Legion Slim 5 review: OLED gaming at a surprisingly low price

OLED screens are actually the stuff of goals. If you happen to’re after crisp, lovely colours, deep inky black tones, phenomenal response occasions, and top-tier refresh charges, no different panel tech even mildly comes near delivering all these parts in a single go. The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14APH8 pairs precisely that with an exceptionally low price ticket, that means this laptop computer provides extraordinary worth already.

It’s not with out fault, after all. Lenovo has actually minimize some corners to facilitate that heavy funding, significantly provided that this OLED display additionally comes with a powerful 2,880 x 1,800 decision as nicely. For the cash, although, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is without doubt one of the greatest gaming laptops on the market right this moment.

Who’s it for then? Merely put, a gamer who’s not trying to waste any money. The much less funds you’ve, the extra worthwhile that funds turns into, actually on the subject of placing it in the suitable place. It’s a balancing act, ensuring you don’t by chance purchase a laptop computer that has an apparent bottleneck, and Lenovo has labored arduous to make sure that’s not going to occur.

There may be one large caveat to that assertion, however I’ll contact on that within the benchmark part. I’ve been testing the Legion Slim 5 for round two weeks now, utilizing it as my every day driver at occasions, gaming on it at others, and have run it by way of all method of benchmarks. I even managed to sneak in just a few hours on Baldur’s Gate 3 with it as nicely.

Specs

On the coronary heart of the Legion Slim 5 lies one of the crucial intriguing laptop computer processors on the market proper now. Simply on par with the Intel Core Extremely chips discovered within the likes of the Alienware M16 R2, the Ryzen 7 7840HS is an eight-core, 16-thread processor, clocking in at 3.8GHz and able to boosting all the way in which as much as 5.1GHz.

What’s fascinating right here is that this can be a hybrid processor, which concurrently has a number of the greatest tech discovered within the Zen 4 structure, paired with a wholesome chunk of the RDNA 3 GPU structure too. Actually, the 7840HS is extremely much like the desktop Ryzen 7 8700G, that includes the identical core counts, max clock pace, cache, and built-in GPU as nicely, specifically the Radeon 780M.

That alone offers the 7840HS, the equal of round 37.5% of a Radeon RX 7600 at its core. AMD has additionally included a devoted Ryzen AI NPU (neural processing unit) on this chip, which is designed to assist with particular AI duties at the moment being built-in into Home windows 11.

Talking of GPUs, we’re not simply working on built-in graphics right here, as Lenovo has additionally included a full-size devoted cellular graphics card within the type of the Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB. Not like lots of Nvidia’s cellular GPUs, this cellular chip truly matches the desktop RTX 4060 in nearly each facet, even as much as its most 115W TDP. Nevertheless, Lenovo has dropped that energy score draw right down to 105W, to higher steadiness the interior thermal load.

That is one space that’s actually been in the reduction of, significantly to hit that value level. Because the display itself runs at 120Hz with a 2,880 x 1,800 decision, there’s no getting away from the truth that the RTX 4060 is simply not going to be able to dealing with any AAA titles at that decision at over 60fps. That may be a little bit of a disgrace, because it does imply you’ll should drop the decision down to essentially get pleasure from that display within the newest video games, though the GPU’s assist for Nvidia DLSS does assist considerably to counter that.

The opposite slight quality-of-life compromise is on the reminiscence entrance. The Slim 5 has soldered LPDDR5X reminiscence on-board, reasonably than SODIMM slots. That may severely cut back the life expectancy of this machine, and upgrading your RAM later down the road goes to be a no-go.

On the plus facet, the RAM runs at a quick pace of 6,400MHz, whereas the 7840HS formally solely helps DDR5 reminiscence at as much as 5600MHz anyway, so you might be technically getting a sooner spec than that. Nonetheless, it could have been preferable to have the ability to improve your RAM at a later date if you happen to needed.

Options

Inside {hardware} apart, the large promoting level of this laptop computer is its display, and oh boy is it a magnificence. For that upfront funding, you get your self an extremely crisp 14.5-inch OLED show, clocking in at 120Hz with a 2,880 x 1,800 decision.

That provides you a pixel density on the Home windows desktop of round 234.22ppi. For comparability, a number of the greatest 4K gaming screens rocking 32-inch panels will solely internet you 137.68ppi, that means the Legion Slim 5’s display is severely sharp and crisp. If you happen to get pleasure from a fantastically clean desktop expertise, that is the place to be.

Heck even beautiful in-game too. There’s little to no perceivable ghosting in any respect, and shade accuracy is on level, significantly when having fun with HDR content material, or something with a pop of shade in it. Latency is a little bit slower than I’d like, logging simply 7.6ms in Blur Buster’s MPRT check, which is considerably sluggish for an OLED, however it’s nonetheless not significantly noticeable whenever you’re within the midst of a firefight (or a dialog tree).

In the meantime, the connection choices are nice, though they may very well be higher. There’s no Wi-Fi 7 or Bluetooth 5.4 assist for a begin, though you do nonetheless get loads of USB 3.2 Kind-C and Kind-A ports to assist you, plus there’s an HDMI out within the rear, and extra impressively a full-sized SD card reader too.

Nevertheless, there’s no devoted Ethernet port, except you’re hooking it up through a USB adapter, and also you solely get Wi-Fi 6E for wi-fi networking. Nonetheless, relying by yourself private networking circumstances, which may not be fairly the destructive it first seems. Wi-Fi 6E nonetheless delivers loads of bandwidth and channel entry, and equally, Bluetooth 5.2 provides greater than sufficient bandwidth for many modern-day units.

The keyboard and trackpad are surprisingly fulfilling to make use of as nicely. The trackpad particularly has a soft-touch, rubberized end that’s extremely clean and feels beautiful underneath your fingers. In the meantime, the keys aren’t mechanical, however the motion is slick and silent, with a softness to every press that by no means feels overly spongey. They do have lighting, however it’s purely a white backlight, which is deactivated more often than not. Hilariously the facility button does in reality have an RGB LED, although.

You additionally get a fairly customary guarantee right here as nicely, only one 12 months og couriered or carry-in service, which is mildly irritating provided that Lenovo is a multi-billion greenback firm, the reminiscence is soldered, and you need to cope with the potential quirks of the OLED display, equivalent to burn-in. Happily, Lenovo does have a lifeless pixel coverage, though there’s no point out of burn-in substitute or comparable.

Design

The Slim 5’s construct high quality is mostly top-tier, with a mixture of plastics and anodized aluminum as customary. There’s delicate Legion branding etched onto the again of the display, and the general aesthetic is remarkably clear.

There are not any daring rounded edges such as you discover on the Alienware M16 R2, and the chassis balances the shape issue and cooling obligations nicely. At simply 1.75kg, the Lenovo Legion Slim can also be extremely gentle, and this together with its peak of simply 2.1cm means you’ll haven’t any hassle carrying it round in your bag.

The ports are nicely situated too, with the rear of the laptop computer housing that 170W energy adapter, plus two USB Kind-A ports, and an HDMI output as nicely. These ports even have illuminated indicators above them, sat on a ledge simply earlier than the display itself, which supplies the Legion Slim 5 a novel look.

Sadly, as beforehand talked about, it does have that soldered reminiscence, which is able to hurt the lifespan of this laptop computer long run, significantly given you solely get 16GB. On the plus facet, nonetheless, it may well assist as much as two PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs within the 2280 type issue, so there’s loads of growth room, if you’re eager to chuck in a further video games drive, or an SSD with a little bit extra grunt.

Talking of which, Lenovo is utilizing an SK Hynix OEM M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD right here, which is fairly quick on learn speeds, maxing out the PCIe 4.0 customary, nonetheless, write speeds are lower than half that (3.5GB/s), making it an excellent candidate for an improve.

This machine can also be severely quiet in comparison with many gaming laptops. The fan noise is actually there, however you don’t have to drown it out with an honest headset to have an fulfilling expertise with the Slim 5. It’s no louder than your common gaming PC underneath full load, if not truly barely quieter than that. That’s little doubt partly because of a mix of AMD’s ridiculously environment friendly CPU Zen 4 structure, and the 105W RTX 4060 GPU.

Benchmarks

I’ve run the Legion Slim by way of numerous benchmarks, together with artificial exams and actual sport benchmarks, to essentially get an excellent gauge of simply how nicely it performs in day-to-day duties and gaming. General, that Ryzen chip is kind of the juggernaut. In Cinebench R24, it clocked in a rating of 872 in multi-core and 102 in single-core.

That’s truly sooner than the Intel Core Extremely 9 discovered within the MSI Stealth 16 (although this chip is hindered by the cooling in that exact machine). Equally, its 3DMark CPU profile outcome averaged an index of seven,519 versus 7,972 from the Extremely Core 7 discovered within the Alienware M16 R2. However once more, that laptop computer prices an excellent 75% greater than the Slim 5.

Gaming, although, nicely that’s a special matter. I run these laptops by way of two units of benchmark exams. One at 1080p, and one at its native decision. This offers us a extremely good thought of how nicely they carry out comparatively, and in isolation with that native display res.

The excellent news is that at 1080p the Slim 5 does a fairly good job of nailing body charges if the situations are right. Whole Warfare: Warhammer averaged 72fps, Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS Tremendous Decision and body technology enabled hit 75fps, and F1 2023 landed a mean of 43fps (you possibly can allow DLSS on this sport to make it run faster too).

Bounce as much as that 2,880 x 1,800 full-screen res, nonetheless, and that’s the place gaming efficiency begins to take a tumble. Whole Warfare had its body fee nearly minimize in half, right down to 37fps, Cyberpunk 2077 fell to only 19fps, even with DLSS enabled, and F1 23 averaged simply 25fps. That’s a painful drop.

In the end, your greatest guess, if you happen to do need to play the most recent titles, is to drop that decision right down to 1,920 x 1,080 or comparable. That’s not the tip of the world; you’re nonetheless a pixel density of 151.92 if you happen to do this, which remains to be sharper than 4K on a 32-inch display, however it’s not the display’s native decision.

Battery

The Slim 5 was mildly underwhelming on the battery life entrance as nicely. Lenovo’s packed in a 73.6 WHr battery pack into that 14.5-inch type issue, with an included 170W reversible adapter to again it up.

That’s a reasonably first rate achievement, given the laptop computer’s already small bodily footprint, however it does hurt the battery life. In PC Mark 10’s gaming check, the Slim 5 solely lasted for 53 minutes from 100% down to three%. It’s uncommon that we see gaming laptops final way more than an hour in a gaming check, although.

By far the extra troubling outcome got here within the type of the modern-office check, the place the Lenovo lasted simply 218 minutes earlier than it shut down. Intel Extremely Core-powered laptops we’ve lately examined managed to final nicely into the 360-minute vary, earlier than reaching the same destiny.

If you happen to evaluate that to the Extremely Core 7 discovered within the Alienware unit, the Slim 5 solely lasted for 56% of what that machine managed, regardless of having a battery capability that’s 82% as giant. That is truly probably resulting from Intel having a slight edge in its TDP management, with the most recent Core Extremely chips working as little as 20W versus Ryzen’s 35W, whereas concurrently making the most of low-power environment friendly cores.

Worth

With that, it’s time to speak value. Lenovo has curiously positioned the Legion Slim 5 at fairly an intriguing value level. I’ve seen this very spec as little as $1,299 within the US, and £1,500 within the UK. For what you’re getting, each of these costs are literally fairly cheap. Getting an OLED display, even only a 14-inch one, actually does set the Slim 5 aside from the overwhelming majority of competing laptops at this value.

There are downsides, after all. This specific spec isn’t going to final fairly so long as a number of the different choices on the market that don’t have soldered reminiscence, and sure the RTX 4060 is a little bit of an odd pairing with a display res that tops out at 5 million pixels. Nevertheless, it’s a reasonably well-rounded bundle nonetheless, and if you happen to’re prepared to drop that display decision in video games, you’ll have an excellent time in video games for at the least the subsequent couple of years.

Alternate options

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

You probably have a bit more cash to spend, Asus’ newest ROG Zephyrus G14 has a equally dazzling 14-inch LED display and a stunning slimline design that solely weighs 1.5kg. The G14 suffers from the identical problem because the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 with its use of soldered reminiscence, however it’s a fantastic machine if you happen to spec it up with 32GB at the beginning.

Now and again you’ll discover it on supply as nicely, with the worth for thew 15GB RTX 4060 mannequin on Greatest Purchase dropped from $1,599 to only $1,299, that means it then provides very comparable worth to the Lenovo.

Learn our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 assessment.

Verdict

Lenovo’s Legion Slim 5 provides improbable worth, partly because of that luscious, crisp, and clean OLED panel and its very good CPU for the cash. Nevertheless, the usage of soldered RAM is a mark towards it, and we suggest shopping for this machine for 32GB if you happen to can.

The RTX 4060 GPU additionally doesn’t have sufficient energy to play video games on the display’s native decision, though it may well deal with 1080p gaming nice. That is all comprehensible, given the low value MSRP, however it nonetheless would have been nice to at the least have a way of upgrading that reminiscence.

The Slim nonetheless ticks a number of containers, although, particularly if you happen to’re on a good funds. If you happen to’re prepared to drop the decision a smidge in video games, then this can be a decently-balanced funds gaming laptop computer with a improbable display, and stable gaming efficiency, particularly if you happen to lean into Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling and body technology tech.