If budget is a primary concern, the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" offers basic functionality for everyday tasks like web browsing, word processing, and streaming without straining your wallet. However, if you need more power for gaming, 3D modeling, or other demanding applications, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" justifies its higher price with superior performance and a larger display, though it is less portable and may have a shorter battery life compared to the lighter and more compact IdeaPad. Choose the IdeaPad for casual use and easy carrying, or the Legion if performance and screen size outweigh cost and portability concerns. 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 Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14"
Very good portability
Good battery life
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 17"
Good for general use
Good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good for software development
Good for content creation
Good overall display quality
Good overall build quality
Good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.1/10
7.2/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
239.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
9.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.5 Hours
6.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
8.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.8/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for general use, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" is only fair.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" offers lower performance due to its basic CPU and minimal RAM, paired with a lower quality screen, which makes it less suitable for comfortable, efficient general use, though it is more portable and has a longer battery life, lending to its use in highly mobile scenarios.
Gaming and AI
5.5/10
7.4/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" is poor.
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.
Engineering and Design
5.5/10
7.6/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" is poor.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
6.2/10
7.2/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for content creation, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" is only fair.
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
6.4/10
7.0/10
3.3/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
4.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
6.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good for software development, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" is only fair.
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
5.3/10
7.3/10
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
239.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
305.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has a better screen than the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" likely has limited resolution and brightness, which impacts the clarity and visibility of content, making it less suitable for all scenarios. For engineering and design, its poor coverage of color gamuts like DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB means less accurate color reproduction, crucial for detailed work. On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" falls short in gaming and 3D due to an average refresh rate, limiting the smoothness of motion despite having a good resolution and panel type for detailed and bright imagery.
Battery
9.0 Hours
4.5 Hours
The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" has 9 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
Very Good
Poor
14.0in
SIZE
17.3in
3.0 lbs
WEIGHT
6.5 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
6.0/10
7.4/10
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has good build quality, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$153
$1,200
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" has a price of $153 and the Lenovo Legion 5 17" costs $1,200.
"The IdeaPad 1 14 is a simple machine, but it’s well-designed and has nearly everything you’d expect from a no-nonsense laptop that allows you to check emails and get schoolwork or other light tasks done with relative ease. A "true" 128GB SSD (as opposed to an eMMC drive) and a roomy 14-inch full HD display are arguably the star attractions, with the comfortable keyboard and reasonably modern styling playing important backup roles."
"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 Lenovo IdeaPad 1 14" or the Lenovo Legion 5 17"
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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