The Legion 5 offers a larger screen with a higher refresh rate, which can be advantageous for an immersive gaming experience but may sacrifice portability due to its larger size and weight. Conversely, the Legion Slim 7 is lighter and offers longer battery life, making it more suitable for travel and extended use away from power outlets. If you prefer gaming and don't mind the extra weight, the Legion 5 might be your choice, but if you value portability and battery life for general use and mobility, the Slim 7 would be more appropriate. Both have similar performance capabilities with their processor and graphic cards suited for gaming and engineering tasks. Give Feedback
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Advantages of the Lenovo Legion 5 17"
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has no clear advantages over the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6".
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6"
Good portability
Good battery life
Very good speakers
Key differences
Content Creation
7.2/10
7.7/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for content creation, though the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" 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.
Screen Quality
7.3/10
7.7/10
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
305.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
350.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 has a better screen than the Lenovo Legion 5 17" for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
The Lenovo Legion 5 and the Slim 7 models both offer panels with suitable resolution and brightness for daily tasks, ensuring clear and vivid displays for browsing, productivity applications, and media consumption. Their good color gamut coverage benefits engineering and design professionals who require accurate color representation for their work. However, despite these strengths, their lower refresh rates may be less appealing for gaming and 3D applications, where smoother motion and quicker screen updates are critical for optimal performance.
Battery
4.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" has 4.5 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.
Portability
Poor
Good
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
6.5 lbs
WEIGHT
4.1 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" has good portability, while the Lenovo Legion 5 17" has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for general use.
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" offers solid performance, thanks to its capable CPU and adequate RAM combined with a large screen, but it's less portable and has shorter battery life compared to the slim design and longer battery life of the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6", which still offers similar performance credentials. While both have high-quality screens and sufficient storage for general use, the Legion Slim 7 is more conducive to mobility and extended use away from power outlets.
Gaming and AI
7.4/10
7.4/10
7.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
165Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
6.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
7.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for gaming and AI.
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" is equipped with an Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card and a 144Hz screen refresh rate which makes it good for gaming and 3D applications, offering vibrant visuals and smooth motion. The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6", while also featuring an Nvidia RTX graphics card, boasts a higher screen refresh rate of up to 165Hz, which provides an even more fluid gaming experience and is especially beneficial for fast-paced games.
Engineering and Design
7.6/10
7.8/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
7.5/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" are both good for engineering and design.
The Lenovo Legion 5 17" offers robust performance for engineering and design with its ample screen size, dedicated graphics, and a quality processor, but it's heavier which could affect portability. Meanwhile, the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" also provides strong performance with similar CPU and GPU, while offering better portability and battery life, making it ideal for on-the-go professionals who require power without sacrificing mobility.
Software Development
7.0/10
7.5/10
7.4/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
7.4/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" 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.
Build Quality
7.4/10
7.6/10
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" and Lenovo Legion 5 17" both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,200
$1,200
$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 Legion Slim 7 15.6" costs $1,200.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Lenovo Legion 5 17" and the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 15.6" compare to other laptops
"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."
"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 Legion 5 17" 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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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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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.
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