If your priority is excellent screen quality, long battery life, and you require high performance for tasks like video editing, graphic design, or music production, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is suitable despite its higher price. The MacBook Pro is more portable due to its lighter weight, and macOS might be preferred for certain creative work. In contrast, if budget is a concern and you need a good machine for gaming or tasks that benefit from a dedicated graphics card like 3D modeling or high-end gaming, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" is a strong contender. The Legion offers a larger screen and is specifically designed for gaming, though it is heavier and has a shorter battery life. 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 16 (2021)
Excellent for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Good portability
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 17"
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021).
Key differences
General Use
9.0/10
7.2/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
497.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
17.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.5 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.8/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is excellent for general use, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) offers an exceptional experience for general use due to its powerful CPU, high RAM, superior screen quality, and outstanding battery life, but it comes with a high level of portability. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" provides a solid performance with a good processor, decent RAM, and a quality screen but trails in battery life and is less portable, making it a less ideal but more affordable option for everyday tasks.
Engineering and Design
8.7/10
7.6/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
5.0/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) excels in engineering and design due to its superior CPU and GPU performance, ample RAM, and exceptional Mini LED screen quality providing high resolution and color accuracy, but it is less portable compared to other laptops.
Content Creation
8.8/10
7.2/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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
8.9/10
7.0/10
7.5/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
32.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) is very good for software development, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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
9.4/10
7.3/10
16.2in
SIZE
17.3in
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
497.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion 5 17" for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) offers a high-resolution display with outstanding brightness and color accuracy, optimizing visual fidelity for tasks like photo editing and design that rely heavily on true-to-life colors, making it an excellent choice for general use and engineering. The Lenovo Legion 5 17", while providing a capable display for general activities and creative work, falls short in gaming and 3D applications due to a lower refresh rate, which is crucial for the smooth rendering of fast-moving images. In contrast, the MacBook Pro, despite its high-quality display for static images and color-sensitive work, does not cater to 3D needs where a high refresh rate is key to a seamless visual experience.
Battery
17.5 Hours
4.5 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has 4.5 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
Good
Poor
16.2in
SIZE
17.3in
4.7 lbs
WEIGHT
6.5 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.4/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,949
$1,200
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) has a price of $1,949 and the Lenovo Legion 5 17" costs $1,200.
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" and Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) are both good for gaming and AI.
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.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) and the Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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 17 is a current-gen 17-inch gaming laptop and equipped with the latest AMD CPU and a powerful GPU, that manages to reach its full potential. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600H is a very good choice for this laptop and able to maintain its performance level for long periods of time. Our test model only falls behind consistently in a direct comparison with its competitors that are often equipped with eight cores and 16 threads. Despite this, the Legion 5 17 leaves an excellent impression and is almost able to keep up with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 mobile GPU in synthetic benchmarks."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021) or the Lenovo Legion 5 17"
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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