If you're on a tight budget and need a laptop for simple tasks like web browsing, light office work, and media consumption, the Gateway 14.1" offers the essentials at a much lower price; however, its performance for demanding tasks will be limited due to its basic processor and low memory and storage capacity. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is pricier but has much stronger performance capabilities with its advanced processor, high-end graphics, and larger memory and storage, making it suitable for intensive engineering tasks, 3D work, machine learning, and gaming. The tradeoff is portability: the Lenovo is heavier and less suited for frequent travel compared to the lighter Gateway. Additionally, the Lenovo's higher-quality display and better battery support more immersive experiences but come at the cost of its higher price point. 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 Gateway 14.1"
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
Good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
5.6/10
7.5/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
208.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
8.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.0 Hours
5.3/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.0/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.8/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for general use, while the Gateway 14.1" is poor.
The Gateway 14.1" has a less powerful Intel Celeron CPU and only 4GB of RAM, making it less capable for demanding tasks, whereas the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is equipped with a robust AMD Ryzen CPU and 16GB of RAM, offering smooth performance for a variety of applications. Additionally, the Gateway's screen, battery life, and portability make it less favorable for general use, in contrast with the Lenovo's high-quality screen, longer battery life, and despite being less portable, its tradeoff comes with enhanced performance and cooling.
Gaming and AI
5.4/10
7.9/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for gaming and AI, while the Gateway 14.1" is poor.
The Gateway 14.1" is ill-suited for gaming and 3D applications due to its less powerful Intel Celeron processor and basic Intel UHD Graphics 600, which are not designed for high-end graphics rendering and it has a lower refresh rate screen at 60Hz. On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is equipped with a stronger AMD Ryzen processor and a high-end Nvidia RTX 4060 graphic card, which is capable of rendering demanding graphics smoothly, and a 165Hz screen that can display more frames per second for a smoother gaming experience.
Engineering and Design
5.5/10
8.2/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.5/10
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is very good for engineering and design, while the Gateway 14.1" is poor.
The Gateway 14.1" laptop with its Intel Celeron processor, 4GB RAM, and basic Intel UHD Graphics is underpowered for engineering and design tasks which demand robust computational and graphical capabilities. Conversely, the Lenovo Legion 5 15" is well-equipped for these tasks with a high-performance AMD Ryzen CPU, 16GB RAM, and a powerful Nvidia RTX GPU, along with a superior screen that offers higher resolution and greater color accuracy.
Content Creation
5.8/10
7.4/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for content creation, while the Gateway 14.1" is poor.
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
5.8/10
7.3/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.0/10
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
5.3/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" is good for software development, while the Gateway 14.1" is poor.
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
6.0/10
8.0/10
14.1in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
208.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" has a better screen than the Gateway 14.1" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Gateway's screen may suffice for documents and web browsing due to decent resolution and brightness, but its limited color gamut and lower resolution can hinder detailed engineering work and its slower refresh rate can reduce the gaming and 3D graphics experience. The Lenovo Legion 5, with higher resolution and brightness, provides a clearer and more vibrant display for everyday tasks and more accurate color representation for engineering and design applications, but its lower refresh rate might not deliver the smoothest visuals needed for high-speed gaming and immersive 3D work. Both models lack the optimal refresh rate for gaming, which could lead to less fluid motion during fast-paced action or complex 3D rendering.
Battery
8.0 Hours
4.0 Hours
The Gateway 14.1" has 8 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
Very Good
Fair
14.1in
SIZE
15.6in
3.3 lbs
WEIGHT
5.3 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Gateway 14.1" has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 15" has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
5.1/10
7.6/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 15" has good build quality, while the Gateway 14.1" has poor build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$99
$999
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Gateway 14.1" has a price of $99 and the Lenovo Legion 5 15" costs $999.
"The Gateway Ultra Slim 14" is surprisingly quiet with long battery life. The inexpensive Gateway excels at maximizing performance per dollar with lots of RAM and storage, super-quiet fan, and a long battery life. It can even house up to two M.2 SSDs which we weren't expecting from such a cheap system. However, the iffy reliability of the keyboard and USB-C port on our test unit means users should double-check for these potential issues immediately after purchasing."
"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 Gateway 14.1" or the Lenovo Legion 5 15"
About Gateway
Gateway is a laptop and tablet brand owned by Acer which sells budget-friendly laptops exclusively through Walmart. It was previously an American computer company until its acquisition by Acer in 2007, who then revived the brand in 2020. Gateway laptops are manufactured by Chinese company Shenzhen Bmorn Technology, which also makes EVOO-branded models.
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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