The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has no clear advantages over the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14".
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14"
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 battery life
Very good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
6.2/10
7.8/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
220.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
5.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
7.0 Hours
6.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.5/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.6/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" is good for general use, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" is only fair.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
5.8/10
7.7/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
9.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" 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
5.8/10
8.4/10
4.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.3/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" 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
6.3/10
7.9/10
4.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" is good for content creation, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" 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
6.3/10
7.9/10
4.2/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
6.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" is good for software development, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" 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
5.2/10
8.5/10
15.6in
SIZE
14.5in
1366 x 768
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
TN
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
220.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 has a better screen than the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
5.0 Hours
7.0 Hours
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has 5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 has 7 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
6.5/10
7.8/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" has good build quality, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$360
$1,295
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has a price of $360 and the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14" costs $1,295.
"The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is an enduring office notebook with a powerful Ryzen APU. Lenovo's office all-rounder easily handles office and internet applications as well as modest games - the Ryzen 5 5625U APU and 16 GB of RAM make this possible. The CPU and GPU can work at consistently high clock rates. The emission values are okay, but the noise emissions should be lower under medium to full load. The relatively light notebook (approx. 1.6 kg) achieves practical battery runtimes of about 10 to 11 hours."
"The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 acknowledges that a gaming laptop doesn’t have to be as thick as possible and can still ensure adequate cooling when the muscles need flexing. To this end, in the Slim 5 Gen 8, it finds a neat balance of refined, trimmed-down design that still lets its internals cruise (even above their max power ratings). Lenovo then added in some high-end build quality with an altogether excellent keyboard that’s useful for both work and play."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" or the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14"
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
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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.