Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16IRX8 laptop review: A hefty US$1600 for the GeForce RTX 4060

[Redaktion]

The Legion Pro 5 series is home to Lenovo's midrange gaming laptops, but our expectations are nonetheless high considering the lofty starting price of over $1500 USD for just the RTX 4050. The model impresses on most fronts so long as you can live with some notable drawbacks.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Legion-Pro-5-16IRX8-laptop-review-A-hefty-US-1600-for-the-GeForce-RTX-4060.712713.0.html

[Neenyah]

Say what you want but this one quite literally looks cheap when design/aesthetics are in question. Just compare it with a pretty sexy 82RF (2022 model) psref.lenovo.com/Product/Legion/Legion_5_Pro_16IAH7H?MT=82RF or 82JQ (2021 model) psref.lenovo.com/Product/Legion/Legion_5_Pro_16ACH6H?MT=82JQ - both of those look like a premium devices. This one here is like a bit more polished IdeaPad Gaming 3.

[Pooh Sheisty]

Say what you want but this one quite literally looks cheap when design/aesthetics are in question. Just compare it with a pretty sexy 82RF (2022 model) psref.lenovo.com/Product/Legion/Legion_5_Pro_16IAH7H?MT=82RF or 82JQ (2021 model) psref.lenovo.com/Product/Legion/Legion_5_Pro_16ACH6H?MT=82JQ - both of those look like a premium devices. This one here is like a bit more polished IdeaPad Gaming 3.

Agreed, the new model with silly rounded corners leans towards Fisher Price childrens toy aesthetics

[Marius1380]

Best review I've read thus far. Painfully detailed. Very well done 👍

[Dorby]

The whole point of Legion series since 2020 was the longer (non-gaming) battery life compared to competition thanks to using Ryzen processors. Swithcing to Intel will immensely cut the demand for the Legion lineup no doubt.

Not to mention, this same model was US$1400 (ex-tax) with RTX 3070 since January 2021 which was more almost 2 years ago. The older model which performs identical to this 2023 one is still very much available all over the world for less than the new one's MSRP...

[NikoB]

Not to mention, this same model was US$1400 (ex-tax) with RTX 3070 since January 2021 which was more almost 2 years ago. The older model which performs identical to this 2023 one is still very much available all over the world for less than the new one's MSRP...

Models 2022 with R7 6800H+3070Ti cost $1100 in the USA at the autumn 2022 sales. Whoever wanted it bought it... =)

[David B]

AMD or Intel Legion 5 pro ?

[larkhon]

Why is the 140w TDP still being mentioned when we know that the 4060 is not getting faster beyond 105w? or are we to understand that the manufacturers overclock is bypassing the limit?
Point is, Legion laptops are very popular because they squeeze out more performance with their higher TDP. Does it still work with this generation?

[LL]

The article title do not make sense. The authoor talks about the price of a 4050 but the laptop have a 4060.

Point is, Legion laptops are very popular because they squeeze out more performance with their higher TDP. Does it still work with this generation?

It seems to have indeed a boost over other 4060 in results.

[legioner]

Are you sure about this? "four copper heat pipes". Most of other channels said these are aluminium heat pipes

[Mind limited HDMI output]

Can the HDMI 2.1 output drive an OLED TV like SAMSUNG S95B or LG 42" C2 to its fullest using 40 Gbit/s? I've read LENOVO only has 32 Gbit/s output bandwidth. It's also supposed to be a fixable BIOS/software limitation, but LENOVO doesn't want to fix it and people are, righteously so, complaining, see e.g. forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming-Laptops/Only-8bit-colour-depth-in-4K-120Hz/m-p/5178756?page=1#5940468

[NikoB]

Can the HDMI 2.1 output drive an OLED TV like SAMSUNG S95B or LG 42" C2 to its fullest using 40 Gbit/s? I've read LENOVO only has 32 Gbit/s output bandwidth. It's also supposed to be a fixable BIOS/software limitation, but LENOVO doesn't want to fix it and people are, righteously so, complaining, see e.g. forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming-Laptops/Only-8bit-colour-depth-in-4K-120Hz/m-p/5178756?page=1#5940468

Full version HDMI 2.1 have bandwidth (without service overhead) - 42.2Gbps(48 with overhead).

Without exception, manufacturers of equipment scam with HDMI 2.1 ports for a simple reason - scammers from the HDMI Standards Consortium allow them to do this, deceiving buyers. A class action lawsuit against a consortium of producers and manufacturers has long been needed. In general, this is the task of state consumer protection agencies in each country, but since the whole world depends on the technologies of the West - they can do what they want. Much more interesting is why there are no class-action lawsuits against the consortium and manufacturers in the US / EU about this ...

[more infos-HDMI 2.1 speed]

The NGREEDIA 4050 Laptop only has 6GB VRAM and is also much slower than a 4060 Laptop, maybe think about paying for a 4060 Laptop (the next big jump would be a 4080 Laptop, not 4070 Laptop). Unfortunately AMD dGPUs use a less advanced TSMC node (N6) and lack in efficiency vs NGREEDIA (TSMC N4) (this is a full node improvement), which is kinda important in mobile hardware/notebooks.

More info regarding the HDMI issue: Supposedly a vBIOS (video BIOS) (BIOS of the dGPU) update can increase the HDMI 2.1 bandwidth from HDMI 2.1 FRL4 (32G) to HDMI 2.1 FRL5 (40G). But I don't know if this works for the new 2023 models and the product warranty is probably going to expire.

NOTEBOOKCHECK, can you check which HDMI 2.1 bandwidth this notebook has? Previous models were supposedly HDMI 2.1 FRL4 (32G).

More HDMI infos:
Assuming this LENOVO Legion Pro (AMD version runs longer than the INTEL version assuming everything else is equal btq.) offers HDMI 2.1 FRL4 (32G).

Gaming in HDR on OLED TV
Assuming the OLED TV doesn't require a 4K120Hz signal to allow HDR, 4K 4:4:4 chroma 10bit and up to 104Hz is be possible. Personally I think I notice quite a difference on my OLED TV in fast titles (CS:GO custom 64 player servers) of 100 Hz vs 120 Hz, but since this dGPU is not for 4K gaming, one should be able to reduce the resolution to 1080p/1440p and still have enough HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for native 120Hz 4:4:4chroma and 10bit for HDR gaming.

Watching HDR videos on OLED TV
In theory this would be enough to drive an OLED TV with 10 bit (10 bit are required for HDR), native/normal 4:4:4 chroma and 60 Hz, as the required HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for this is enough:
15.68 Gbit/s (15.678432 -> 15.68) <- ((3840+80)*(2160+62)*3*10*1*60)/10^9.
* 3 means there are 3 subpixel (RGB) per pixel
* 10 is the color depth in bit per subpixel (10bit are required for HDR)
* 1 means full/native 4:4:4 chroma (for 4:2:2 use 2/3 and for 4:2:0 use 1/2)
* 60 [Hz]
* +80 and +62 come from the CVT-R2 timing format
But the question is if the OLED TV would allow for HDR at 60 Hz setting (I'd assume it would?), or if it requires the full 120 Hz?
But the bandwidth would not be enough to drive a OLED TV at its native 120 Hz:
32.27 Gbit/s <- ((3840+80)*(2160+127)*3*10*1*120)/10^9.
100 Hz would be possible, however, but this would be a weird value and 60 Hz are not divisible without a remainder, this means there may be screen tearing.

[Gastredner]

Fan noise when running Witcher 3 on Performance would stabilize at 47.6 dB(A)...If the CPU and GPU are stressed significantly more such as with benchmarks or with very demanding games, however, our Legion Pro 5 16 can reach the same 55 dB(A) maximum.

This worries me a bit. 55db is very annoyingly loud. I am a bit dissappointed that Lenovo relies on only two pretty shallow looking (<10mm?) fans and a few heatpipes. The Alienware M16 or the Asus Strix 16 each have a small third fan. The Alienware X16 has 4 big fans which would be awesome if Dell did not decide to ruin it by making it a lot too thin. Nevertheless competitors move to enhanced cooling with more than two fans allowing for quieter fans under load while Lenovo still relies on only two fans on their Pro 5 and even the expensive Pro 7.

[NikoB]

Fan noise when running Witcher 3 on Performance would stabilize at 47.6 dB(A)...If the CPU and GPU are stressed significantly more such as with benchmarks or with very demanding games, however, our Legion Pro 5 16 can reach the same 55 dB(A) maximum.

This worries me a bit. 55db is very annoyingly loud. I am a bit dissappointed that Lenovo relies on only two pretty shallow looking (<10mm?) fans and a few heatpipes. The Alienware M16 or the Asus Strix 16 each have a small third fan. The Alienware X16 has 4 big fans which would be awesome if Dell did not decide to ruin it by making it a lot too thin. Nevertheless competitors move to enhanced cooling with more than two fans allowing for quieter fans under load while Lenovo still relies on only two fans on their Pro 5 and even the expensive Pro 7.

All this is useless, because physics cannot be deceived. If you do not want to sit in tiresome noise and with the probability of failure of electronics within 2 years, buy a desktop.

Even desktop 4090s are much quieter thanks to huge 3-slot heatsinks and 3-4 coolers, despite the huge consumption. At the same time, they are up to 1.5 times faster than mobile 4090.

Play on a "gaming" laptop - judge to engage in masturbation. This is what desktops are for. With large monitors, comfortable chairs and high-quality full-fledged keyboards with long key travel and good tactile feedback.

For the price of a laptop with 7945HX + 4090, you can buy a desktop with a huge monitor and all this will be much quieter and at the same time at least 1.5 times faster in fps.

If a person is not a shift worker or he does not have an urgent need for some reason to constantly be on the road - at home there is nothing better than a quiet desktop even under full load.

Today it is impossible to buy a universal laptop for both games and business, for a simple reason - in games it is already obsolete at the time of purchase.