Choosing between the Apple MacBook Pro 14 and the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 involves considering how you plan to use your laptop. If portability, a high-quality display, and longer battery life are crucial, the MacBook Pro is an excellent choice, albeit at a higher price. It has a mini LED screen with better brightness and color coverage, making it suitable for professional photo and video editing. The MacBook Pro also comes with Apple's efficient M2 Pro chip, which offers robust performance for general use and ensures longer battery life.
On the other hand, the Legion Slim 5 provides a better price-to-performance ratio, especially if you're interested in gaming or tasks that require a dedicated graphics card, such as 3D modeling and machine learning tasks. It's equipped with an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU and a higher refresh rate screen, essential for gaming, but it is heavier and has a shorter battery life compared to the MacBook. Additionally, Lenovo's laptop offers more gaming-oriented features, including a backlit RGB keyboard, at a lower overall cost. Consider what’s most important for your daily needs and budget when deciding between these two laptops. 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 Pro 14 (2023)
Very good for general use
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Very good portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Slim 5
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023).
Key differences
General Use
8.5/10
7.6/10
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1200
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
489.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
300.0 nits
13.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
7.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.5/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.7/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is very good for general use, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) boasts a high-quality Mini LED screen with exceptional color coverage, a powerful CPU and GPU integration for robust performance, and a compact design enhancing its portability and battery life, making it very good for general use. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5, while also having a capable CPU and ample RAM, offers a lower-resolution IPS screen and heavier build, and despite the inclusion of a dedicated graphics card, it compromises on portability and battery life, classifying it as good for general use.
Gaming and AI
7.0/10
7.7/10
5.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.4/10
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1200
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 and Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) are both good for gaming and AI, though the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is somewhat better.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Content Creation
8.5/10
7.5/10
7.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.3/10
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1200
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is good.
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
8.4/10
7.4/10
7.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.3/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1200
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) is very good for software development, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 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.
Screen Quality
9.2/10
7.2/10
14.2in
SIZE
16.0in
3024 x 1964
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1200
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
489.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
300.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 leverages a high-resolution display with excellent brightness and color fidelity, which makes it exceptional for general use and engineering tasks that benefit from accurate color representation, such as DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color gamuts. However, it typically has a standard refresh rate which isn't ideal for 3D applications that benefit from higher refresh rates. The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 also provides a good display with solid resolution and brightness for general and engineering uses, but for gaming and 3D purposes, its standard refresh rate might not deliver as smooth an experience as displays designed specifically for those high-motion activities.
Battery
13.5 Hours
7.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 has 13.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 has 7 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
Very Good
Fair
14.2in
SIZE
16.0in
3.5 lbs
WEIGHT
5.2 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 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 Pro 14 (2023) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,700
$1,000
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) has a price of $1,700 and the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 costs $1,000.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and Lenovo Legion Slim 5 are both very good for engineering and design.
The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) offers a high-performance CPU and GPU with ample RAM, complemented by a high-quality Mini LED screen perfect for detailed engineering and design tasks; however, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5, while also equipped with strong CPU and GPU capabilities, has a significantly larger battery and provides an additional advantage of a higher screen refresh rate, which makes it well-suited for both engineering applications and gaming, despite a lower portability score due to its higher weight. Both laptops possess quality keyboards and speakers, and manage operating noise effectively, though the MacBook stands out with its slightly better speaker quality.
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How the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 compare to other laptops
"In the Apple MacBook Pro 14 2023, the M2 Pro is slowed down. From the improved 5nm process, the new M2 Pro is a very solid upgrade. Graphics performance has increased by about 25% in tandem with a clear improvement in efficiency. The processor has also seen a performance leap of up to 20%, but this is accompanied by an increase in consumption of up to 25%. Fundamentally, Apple its maintaining its advantage over AMD and Intel, particularly in optimized applications where the results are very good in view of the comparatively low power consumption."
"The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 acknowledges that a gaming laptop doesn’t have to be as thick as possible and can still ensure adequate cooling when the muscles need flexing. To this end, in the Slim 5 Gen 8, it finds a neat balance of refined, trimmed-down design that still lets its internals cruise (even above their max power ratings). Lenovo then added in some high-end build quality with an altogether excellent keyboard that’s useful for both work and play."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) or the Lenovo Legion Slim 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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