LEGION 5i Intel vs LEGION 5 AMD

If you had a chance to check our LEGION 5i review a few months ago you know we think very highly of this gaming laptop. While most PC enthusiasts are up to date on the battle between AMD and Intel on the desktop front, the war wages just as heavy on the laptop side. LEGION has decided to make both processor brands available to their customers based on their preference. Today we look at the Legion 5 with the AMD® Ryzen™ 7 4800H Processor priced at $1309.99 vs the Legion 5i Premium with the 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor priced at $1249.99.

The bottom line here is which system do we think is better for your GamingLyfe (#Glyfe). First, let us take a look at the overview of both laptops’ components as billed on the Lenovo website.

LEGION 5i 15” Premium Intel

Processor – 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor (2.50 GHz, up to 4.50 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 8 MB Cache)

Operating system – Windows 10 Home 64

Memory – 8 GB DDR4 2933MHz

Hard Drive – 128 GB PCIe SSD

Display Type – 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare, 300nits, 60Hz

Graphics – NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660Ti 6GB

Warranty – 1 Year Depot or Carry-in

Second Hard Drive – 128 GB PCIe SSD

Keyboard – Backlit – White – US English

Camera – 720p HD

Wireless – WiFi 6 802.11AX (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.0

AC Adapter – Not available

Battery – Not available

LEGION 5 15” AMD

Processor – AMD® Ryzen™ 7 4800H Processor (2.90 GHz, Max Boost up to 4.20 GHz, 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 8 MB Cache)

Operating System – Windows 10 Home 64

Memory – 8 GB DDR4 3200MHz

Hard Drive – 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD + 512 GB PCIe SSD

Display Type – 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare, 250 nits, 120Hz

Graphics – NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti 4GB

Warranty – One Year Legion Ultimate Support

Second Hard Drive – Not available

Camera – 720p HD

Fingerprint Reader – No Fingerprint Reader

Keyboard – Backlit – White – US English

Wireless – 802.11AX (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.0

Battery – 4 Cell Li-Polymer 60Wh

It’s a little bit tricky to understand because it is saying a second hard drive is not available for the AMD version however it does say in the main hard drive line a 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD + 512 GB PCIe SSD come with this laptop. This compared to the two 128 GB PCIe SSD’s that come on the Intel version. While 1 TB of memory may seem like a lot it is an HDD which is completely useless for gaming. If you store games on an HDD you will have massive load screen times and poor frame rates. HDD storage is however a great place to store your documents and images. So realistically we are looking at 256GB of SSD memory on the Intel vs 512GB of SSD memory on the AMD. This of course is what is included with the base models and can be upgraded at purchase. AMD wins this category.

Display panels are on both systems are 1920×1080 IPS panels which look amazing. Brightness on the AMD system is a little lower at 250nits compared to Intel’s 300nits. 300nits is average and the base standard for gaming while 500nits would be on the extremely good side. If you plan to game outdoors or near a window, you need a bright panel to see anything in direct sunlight. Most importantly the AMD version has a 120HZ monitor compared to Intel’s 60Hz. You will notice a huge visual difference between these 2 displays. 120hz is the base standard for gaming especially if you play FPS (First Person Shooter) games. Any lower than this you will experience performance issues like screen tear and input lag. AMD wins this category also.

I do find it a bit confusing how both laptops are at an almost identical price point but vary so much in hardware. In this case, the Intel model gets a slight upgrade with the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660Ti over the AMD model which includes the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti. It’s just a better graphics system all the way around with 2 extra Gigabytes of memory onboard. While you will not notice much of any difference when you are standalone gaming, you will however notice a performance improvement if you are live streaming or video editing. Both models are still in the GTX era of graphics but you can get into an RTX model for a few hundred dollars more. Intel wins this category.

Finally, it comes down to the processors the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H vs Intel Core i5-10300H. AMD is clocking a tad higher with a 2.9Ghz base and a 4.2Ghz turbo speed. This AMD processor also features 8 cores and 16 threads compared to the Intel with 4 cores and 8 threads. This will make a huge difference when live streaming or video editing. You will also get better frame rates while gaming in most cases with the AMD due to the higher speeds and added cores. Benchmarks will prove that the AMD processor is just outright better. AMD takes this category by a landslide.

The cases are identical both featuring this list of ports and slots:

  • USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (always on)
  • 3 x USB-A 3.2** Gen 1
  • USB-C 3.2 (DisplayPort™)
  • HDMI 2.0
  • RJ45 ethernet
  • Mic / headphone combo
  • Kensington lock slot

Both systems include Bluetooth 5.0, 2 x 2W Harman Kardon® speaker system, Dolby Atmos® headphone support, white backlight keyboard, a one-year warranty, and of course the LEGION sleek minimalist style we all love. While the AMD comes in at around $60 higher, we are going to have to award it as the winner of this gaming laptop duel.

Written by
Gaming since Nintendo! Entrepreneur, gamer, wine lover, America! Come join the fun on the GL Discord!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.