If portability and a sleek design are important to you, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is slimmer and typically offers a high-quality display and build, plus a long battery life suitable for general use and creative workflows. However, if your focus is on gaming or demanding tasks requiring a dedicated graphics card, like 3D rendering or certain machine learning applications, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" would be more suitable, as it usually offers better gaming performance and cooling systems at the expense of being bulkier and having shorter battery life. Choose the MacBook Pro for premium build and battery life if those suit your daily needs, or opt for the Legion for performance-heavy tasks, at a slight cost increase. Give Feedback
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Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019)
Very good for content creation
Best in class overall build quality
Good portability
Very good battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good overall display quality
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.4/10
7.9/10
4.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
3072 x 1920
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
8.7/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is only fair.
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" boasts a higher screen refresh rate and a more powerful Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU which is better suited for gaming and 3D applications, as well as compatibility with a wider range of games due to its Windows operating system. In contrast, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) has a lower refresh rate and an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU, which provides fair 3D capabilities, but its MacOS limits game availability.
Engineering and Design
7.5/10
8.2/10
4.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
4.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is very good for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) offers a high-quality screen and long battery life, suiting prolonged engineering tasks without frequent recharging, yet it has an older CPU and GPU compared to the Lenovo Legion 5 15". On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" features a more powerful CPU and GPU for demanding design software, with a high refresh rate screen that appeals to fast-paced visual work, but it is heavier and less portable with a shorter battery life.
Content Creation
8.0/10
7.4/10
4.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
3072 x 1920
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" 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
7.9/10
7.3/10
4.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3072 x 1920
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) and Lenovo Legion 5 15" are both good for software development, though the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is somewhat better.
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
7.8/10
8.0/10
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
3072 x 1920
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
477.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion 5 15" for engineering and design, software development, and content creation, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has a better screen for gaming and AI.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a high-resolution display and exceptional brightness, along with wide color gamuts, making it ideal for general use and professional design tasks, but its standard refresh rate is lower than what's preferred for 3D applications. The Lenovo Legion 5 15" also offers a high-quality display with good brightness and resolution suitable for general and engineering use, but it may not support the high refresh rates needed for smooth visuals in gaming and 3D modeling. Color accuracy with extended gamuts in both laptops ensures vivid and precise hues, important for detailed design work.
Battery
12.0 Hours
4.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 12 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion 5 15" has 4 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
Good
Fair
16.0in
SIZE
15.6in
4.3 lbs
WEIGHT
5.3 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) has good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$540
$999
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) has a price of $540 and the Lenovo Legion 5 15" costs $999.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) and Lenovo Legion 5 15" are both good for general use.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) is favored for general use by those who value higher screen quality, longer battery life, and lighter weight for better portability, whereas the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is better suited for users seeking a balance between general use and gaming, helped by its high-performance CPU and GPU but with the tradeoff of a heavier build and shorter battery life. Both laptops come with ample memory and storage for general tasks, but the MacBook's superior display and the Legion’s gaming capabilities set them apart for different user preferences.
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How the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) and the Lenovo Legion 5 15" compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
"The Lenovo Legion 5 15 is an affordable gaming laptop with a lot of power. The new AMD processor Ryzen 7 5800H offers plenty of performance and it is also very efficient. The combination with the fast 130W version of the GeForce RTX 3060 ensures high gaming performance. We also like the fast 165 Hz display with the 1080p resolution. The automatic graphics switching causes some problems with stutters, which are very annoying. If you do not need long battery runtimes, you should definitely deactivate the hybrid graphics mode in Lenovo's Vantage app. The Legion 5 15 is never silent."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2019) or the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
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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