Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 Review: Top End Performance at a Mid-Range Price

Lenovo’s Legion line is one of the most prominent names in the world of gaming laptops. So its recent release, the Legion Pro 5i Gen 8, has a lot to live up to. Its specs look incredible, but you really need to put one through its paces to see if they translate into real life. That’s just what I did here.

As far as the basics go, the display is a nice 16-inch, 2k, screen with a decent enough 165Hz refresh rate. It’s not the most high-end thing you’ll see on a laptop, but it isn’t cheap either. There is also a very good selection of ports, and Lenovo has been decent enough to put USB-A ports on both sides of the laptop—something not enough companies bother to do.

But there’s more to a gaming laptop than its screen and ports. They’re creatures of compromise. So let’s look at what Lenovo has done well and where the Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 may have fallen short.

Specs as Reviewed

• CPU: 13th Generation Intel Core i7-13700HX Processor
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU (140W)
• RAM: 2 x 8GB SO-DIMM DDR5-4800
• Operating System: Windows 11 Home
• Display: 16in WQXGA (2560×1600) IPS 300nits, 165Hz
• Storage: 512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe, Two M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots
• Ports: 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Always On), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (data transfer, Power Delivery 140W and DisplayPort 1.4), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (support data transfer and DisplayPort 1.4), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Ethernet (RJ-45), 1x Headphone/microphone combo jack (3.5mm), 1x Power connector
• Audio: 2 x 2W Speaker System with Nahimic Audio
• Camera: FHD 1080p, with E-shutter, fixed focus
• Dimensions: 14.3 x 10.25 x 0.88-1.05in
• Weight: 5.6lbs

It Comes With A Whole Lot of Stuff You Don’t Need

The first thing you’ll notice when booting up the Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 is the large number of additional programs included with the laptop. Some of them, like Lenovo’s Vantage app, are actually quite useful and can help you optimize your laptop’s settings and get the most out of your machine. Others are just bloatware and can be quite annoying.

Don’t get me wrong, this problem is easily fixed, and the Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 is powerful enough to carry a lot of passengers before its performance is affected. But one app, in particular, kept kicking up and minimizing the full-screen games I was playing at pivotal moments—which isn’t ideal for a gaming laptop. At the price point Lenovo is selling this at, you want a smooth and premium experience. You don’t want to spend a while going through a trial and elimination process so you can actually play games on it.

This Can Handle Everything You Throw At It

As you may expect with a high-end gaming Laptop, Lenovo has really pushed it with the hardware here. It’s about as top-end as you can currently get without nudging into the weird, experimental builds that cost more than a car. A 13th Generation Intel Core i7-13700HX processor is the brains of the outfit, boasting 16 cores and a clock speed of up to 5.0 GHz.

This is coupled with 16GB of DDR5 RAM, which isn’t a weak point by any means — but is possibly the one area where Lenovo could’ve pushed the boat out more, as many of its rivals offer 32GB of memory with their flagship gaming laptops. Still, 16GB is plenty and, coupled with the processor, is enough to handle pretty much any task you want to throw at this laptop.

The real star of the show is the 4000 series GPU that has been crammed into this bad boy. The version Lenovo lent us to test-packed a 4060, but you can get a 4070 if you want to fork out a little more cash. It is worth noting that laptop GPUs aren’t the same as you’ll find in a desktop for a number of reasons. A rough rule of thumb is, knock a generation off and that’s pretty much the performance you’ll actually get from it. So that 4060 is really a 3060 in Desktop terms.

After some extensive testing, I’ve concluded that doesn’t actually matter in this case. This is a very powerful, high-end GPU that can run pretty much anything on very high settings. I’m a bit of a VR enthusiast, if you haven’t noticed, so naturally, I slapped half of my back catalog on the Legion. VR games have to essentially be rendered twice, which is why they’re a bit more demanding than their 2D equivalents. The Legion handed them flawlessly. Everything looked great and ran silky smooth.

As a bonus, everything is tied to the current console generation in gaming terms—so this Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 is probably going to be playing in the big leagues until 2028 at the earliest and is likely to still be a heavy hitter early in the next decade.

The Keyboard Is Surprisingly Nice

Part of the reason I bought my daily driver is its keyboard. I write a lot, obviously, so the semi-mechanical keyboard on the Alienware i5 was a good choice. I hate a lot of things about my personal laptop, but the keyboard isn’t one of them.

However, I should have gone for this Legion instead. Is the “Truestrike Gaming Keyboard” Lenovo added to its laptop as good? No, it isn’t. But it’s still very comfortable to write with. Key travel is smooth and nice, and you can type out extensive pieces without your carpal tunnel disintegrating. From a gaming standpoint, the built-in anti-ghosting protection works perfectly, but that’s the case for many modern high-end keyboards.

You can also set custom lighting profiles if RGB is your bag. I only did this to test it out and then didn’t bother, as I think it looks stupid. But each to their own there.

Battery Life Is… It’s A Gaming Laptop

Lenovo boasts that their fast charging system will get your battery back up to 80% in as little as 30 minutes, and from experience, this laptop does indeed charge very quickly. Its charger, which looks like a beefed-up USB Type-A connector, has grown on me too. Initially, it was a lot harder to insert than a barrel-style connector — but it stays in place very securely which is ideal when using the laptop on a couch or on a bed.

Unfortunately, beyond the fast charging, it goes back to being a gaming laptop in battery life terms. These high-performance machines are thirsty, and even if you’re just watching YouTube videos or browsing the web, you’re going to struggle to get more than a couple of hours out of the Pro 5i Gen 8’s “80 Wh Battery” when it’s unplugged. The performance and portability is great, but the battery life makes using this as a work laptop or an allrounder a massive pain.

It’s What You’d Expect, at a Surprisingly Decent Price Point

The Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 retails for $1,1589.99, if you’re paying full price. In my opinion, the premium processor and GPU choice make it well worth the money at that price point. You can add more RAM to a laptop easily enough, should you ever need it, and the SSD can also be expanded on. All of the shortcomings aren’t deal breakers, provided you’re actually looking for a gaming laptop. Don’t use a gaming laptop as a work laptop; it’s torture.

The bottom line is the Pro 5i Gen 8 does what it is meant to do incredibly well, and is something you should strongly consider if you’re looking for a new gaming laptop in the mid-range price bracket.

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