The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" is a more budget-friendly option and offers a longer battery life, which is ideal for general use and it's quite portable too. It also has a touchscreen, a comfortable keyboard, and is optimized for everyday tasks. The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6", on the other hand, is more costly but comes with a powerful graphics card, more memory, and a high-refresh-rate display, which makes it well-suited for gaming, 3D rendering, machine learning, and engineering-related tasks; however, it has a shorter battery life and is slightly heavier, affecting portability. Choose the IdeaPad for cost-effective daily computing or the Legion Slim 7 for higher performance in demanding applications. 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 5 15"
Very good battery life
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6"
Good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Good overall display quality
Very good speakers
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
7.4/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" is only fair.
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
6.7/10
7.8/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" is good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" is only fair.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" has an integrated GPU and less RAM, which may limit performance for demanding engineering tasks and complex design work, whereas the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" includes a dedicated Nvidia GPU and more RAM that significantly boost its capabilities for these applications. Despite both having IPS screens with similar resolution, the Legion Slim 7's display offers higher color accuracy and contrast, providing a better visual experience for detailed engineering and design projects, though it's slightly heavier and less portable than the IdeaPad.
Screen Quality
6.5/10
7.7/10
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
341.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 has a better screen than the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, and software development.
When considering general use, a display's panel type, resolution, and brightness determine its quality; the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 has a fair balance between these factors, making it suitable for everyday tasks. For engineering and design work, where the accuracy of color reproduction is crucial, both the IdeaPad 5 and the Legion Slim 7 offer good coverage of color gamuts, translating to vibrant and accurate visuals. As for Gaming and 3D applications, a high refresh rate is critical for smooth visuals, and unfortunately, both laptops have lower refresh rates, making them less ideal for those specific tasks.
Battery
11.0 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" has 11 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.
Cost
$690
$1,200
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" has a price of $690 and the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" costs $1,200.
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" are both good for general use.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" is equipped with a competent AMD Ryzen 7 processor, adequate RAM, and a high-quality IPS screen that supports touch, making it favorable for general use due to its balance of performance and practical features. In contrast, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" offers a more powerful Ryzen 7 CPU with superior graphics capability and more RAM, designed for those who need extra performance for tasks like gaming or creative work, but with slightly less battery life and marginally larger dimensions affecting its portability. Both boast good screen quality and are capable of handling general tasks comfortably, but the Legion is heavier due to its gaming-oriented offerings and has a higher refresh rate display, which could make especially fluid visuals less of a priority for the IdeaPad.
Content Creation
7.3/10
7.7/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" are both good for content creation.
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
7.3/10
7.5/10
6.8/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" are both good for software development.
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.
Portability
Good
Good
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
4.0 lbs
WEIGHT
4.1 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" and Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" both have good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.6/10
7.6/10
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" and Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
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How the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" and the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" compare to other laptops
"The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 is convincing due to its long battery life. The device scores points especially with its large battery and long battery runtimes combined with its low consumption. The CPU and GPU perform in the test as one would expect, and in line with what was familiar from the somewhat smaller 14-inch sister model, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14."
"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 Lenovo IdeaPad 5 15" or the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6"
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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