For a balance of performance and portability, the Lenovo LOQ 15i is a strong contender. It offers a newer processor and graphics card, which translates to better performance in gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning tasks, despite its lower price point. The LOQ's smaller screen size makes it more portable and its battery life is notably longer, making it a better choice for on-the-go use. However, if you prioritize a larger display for more immersive gaming or engineering tasks, and don't mind a heavier and less portable device, the Lenovo Legion 5 17" with its higher screen pixel density and better color coverage could be the way to go. The Legion 5 also has a number pad, which might be important if you do a lot of number-crunching. Remember, the Legion 5's larger size and weight make it less ideal for frequent travel. 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 Legion 5 17"
Good speakers
Advantages of the Lenovo LOQ 15i
Very good for engineering and design
Good battery life
Key differences
General Use
7.2/10
7.8/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
305.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
329.0 nits
4.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
6.0 Hours
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
5.8/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.6/10
The Lenovo LOQ 15i and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for general use, though the Lenovo LOQ 15i is somewhat better.
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
7.4/10
7.9/10
7.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.3/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
6.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.0/10
The Lenovo LOQ 15i and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for gaming and AI, though the Lenovo LOQ 15i is somewhat better.
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
7.6/10
8.2/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
7.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.3/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo LOQ 15i is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" is good.
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
7.2/10
7.8/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo LOQ 15i and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for content creation, though the Lenovo LOQ 15i is somewhat better.
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
7.0/10
7.6/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Lenovo LOQ 15i and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for software development, though the Lenovo LOQ 15i is somewhat better.
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
7.3/10
7.1/10
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
305.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
329.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has a better screen than the Lenovo LOQ 15 for engineering and design, while the Lenovo LOQ 15 has a better screen for content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
4.5 Hours
6.0 Hours
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has 4.5 hours of battery life. The Lenovo LOQ 15 has 6 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
Poor
Fair
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
6.5 lbs
WEIGHT
5.2 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The Lenovo LOQ 15i has only fair portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$1,200
$1,080
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
$1,800
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has a price of $1,200 and the Lenovo LOQ 15i costs $1,080.
"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."
"Even after a short time with the LOQ 15, you'll find it has a lot going for it, but ultimately it's just "good"—not quite a star. The performance is respectable for the hardware it’s running, but Lenovo had to make some design sacrifices to trim the price. One of the better aspects is the keyboard, making it one of the better low-cost gaming laptops to actually put your hands on."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo Legion 5 17" or the Lenovo LOQ 15i
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
380
Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
131,895
Recommendations made
28,578
Consumer hours saved
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.