The MacBook Air (2022) is ideal for everyday use, offering a balance of portability, performance, and battery life. It's highly suitable for productivity tasks, general media consumption, and lightweight creative work. On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is designed for gaming and performance-intensive tasks such as 3D work, machine learning, and engineering software, at the expense of being heavier and having shorter battery life. If portability and battery efficiency are your priorities, go for the MacBook Air. If you need high performance for demanding tasks and can handle a bulkier device, the Legion 5 Pro would be a better choice. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (2022)
Very good for software development
Best in class overall build quality
Excellent portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Pro 5
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
8.4/10
4.1/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is very good for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is only fair.
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has a less powerful integrated GPU and a standard refresh rate display, which makes it less optimal for high-end 3D applications and gaming, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 boasts a high-performance dedicated Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU and a higher refresh rate screen, enhancing its capabilities for gaming and 3D tasks; moreover, gaming is further limited on the MacBook due to the incompatibility of many popular games with macOS.
Engineering and Design
7.5/10
8.5/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.3/10
4.1/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air (2022) is good.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 offers a high-performance CPU and GPU, more RAM, and a higher refresh rate display which makes it superior for demanding engineering and design tasks compared to the Apple MacBook Air (2022) which has an efficient CPU and GPU suitable for less intensive tasks. However, the MacBook Air wins on portability with a lighter build and longer battery life, making it better for on-the-go use where less power-intensive applications are needed.
Screen Quality
7.6/10
8.0/10
13.6in
SIZE
16.0in
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
486.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
340.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Air has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 for software development, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 has a better screen for gaming and AI.
The Apple MacBook Air's display offers crisp and vibrant visuals due to its high resolution and brightness, making it excellent for everyday tasks, as well as providing a wide color spectrum that benefits engineering and design work. However, its screen falls short for 3D applications, largely due to a lower refresh rate that does not cater to the fluid motion required for such tasks. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Pro 5's screen, while also offering high resolution and capable brightness for general activities and a broad range of colors for professional design, doesn't reach the high refresh rates that gaming and intense 3D work would greatly benefit from.
Battery
15.0 Hours
3.5 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 has 3.5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Excellent
Fair
13.6in
SIZE
16.0in
2.7 lbs
WEIGHT
5.6 lbs
0.4in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has excellent portability, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.4/10
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,199
$1,840
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) has a price of $1,199 and the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 costs $1,840.
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) and Lenovo Legion Pro 5 are both good for general use.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Content Creation
7.9/10
7.8/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.3/10
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Air (2022) and Lenovo Legion Pro 5 are both good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.0/10
7.6/10
6.7/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.3/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1664
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
10.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Apple MacBook Air (2022) to be very good for software development, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
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How the Apple MacBook Air (2022) and the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry is a very good, but too expensive daily MacBook. The new MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly once again a very good mobile companion, but we are still a little bit disappointed on a very high level, which is definitely connected with the increased price point. The new chassis is extremely slim and the front edge is no problem during typing, but the bezels are pretty wide for a modern device and in addition with the vertical space required for the notch, the new Air has larger footprint than some Windows rivals."
"It doesn't quite match its Legion Pro 7i sibling as an Editors' Choice winner, but Lenovo's AMD-powered Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 is a stylish, well-built gaming laptop with solid performance at both 1080p and its sharper native resolution. It's cheaper than some comparably equipped machines and better than some similarly priced ones. That's a recipe for success, even without its frequent availability of discounts or sales. A brighter screen and longer battery life would be nice, but even as is the Legion Pro 5 earns a solid recommendation."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air (2022) or the Lenovo Legion Pro 5
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
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Laptops Expert
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