The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is designed for professionals seeking top-tier performance, especially in creative tasks like video editing or design, with a high-resolution Mini LED display offering exceptional color accuracy and high brightness, driven by a powerful internal processor and graphics unit. Its expansive battery life supports longer working sessions away from power outlets, but this comes with a higher price and heftier build, reducing portability. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" presents a more budget-friendly option with commendable performance for gaming and general use, thanks to its dedicated graphics card and high refresh rate screen. While its screen doesn't match the Apple's color precision and resolution, it's lighter and thus easier to carry around, though with a shorter battery life restricting its unplugged endurance. Both have ample storage and memory, but your choice will largely hinge on your specific needs between advanced creative work or gaming and general portability versus cost consideration. 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 (Late 2023)
Very good 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
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6"
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023).
Key differences
General Use
8.8/10
7.7/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
487.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
17.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for general use, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has a high-resolution Mini LED display, an advanced CPU that's well-suited for multitasking, ample RAM, and an exceptionally long battery life, making it very good for general use with its superior screen and performance factors.
Engineering and Design
8.9/10
7.8/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
6.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
18.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is superior for engineering and design largely due to its higher-quality Mini LED screen with better color accuracy, contrast, and brightness compared to the Lenovo Legion Slim 7's IPS display, alongside its more powerful CPU and GPU which are essential for compute-intensive tasks. While the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 offers good performance as well and is lighter, making it easier to carry around, its lower screen quality and lesser performing hardware components mean that for those prioritizing top-tier performance and screen precision for professional design work, the MacBook Pro would be a more suitable choice.
Content Creation
8.9/10
7.7/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
18.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" 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
7.5/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
18.0 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 (Late 2023) is very good for software development, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" 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
9.3/10
7.7/10
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
487.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16's display stands out for general use with its high resolution and brightness, which enhance clarity and visibility even in brightly lit conditions. For engineering and design, this MacBook Pro excels due to its wide color gamut coverage, ensuring accurate color reproduction that professionals require. However, its lower refresh rate makes it less suitable for 3D tasks, where a higher refresh rate is crucial to handle rapid movements smoothly.
Battery
17.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 has 9 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.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$2,499
$1,200
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has a price of $2,499 and the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" costs $1,200.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) and Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" are both good for gaming and AI.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) with its powerful integrated GPU is suitable for 3D tasks but has a limited gaming library due to MacOS's compatibility issues with many popular games. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 features a high-refresh-rate screen and a dedicated Nvidia GPU, providing an edge for gaming and 3D applications with broader game support on Windows.
Portability
Good
Good
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
4.7 lbs
WEIGHT
4.1 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) both have good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
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We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) and the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" 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 Slim 7 is a slim Legion notebook that is just as excellent with Nvidia & Intel. However, the Legion Slim 7i slightly sullied by lacklustre battery life. You get a slim aluminium chassis, great input devices, decent port selection, fast high-quality WQXGA display and great performance. Supporting Thunderbolt 4 is one advantage of the Intel/Nvidia model tested in this review. Moreover, this variant has slightly higher CPU performance as well as better GPU performance in certain applications (e.g. CUDA-based apps). The Lenovo Legion S7i is thin, premium and performant – but less efficient than its AMD counterpart."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) or the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6"
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.
By the numbers
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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.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
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.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.