Lenovo Legion Slim 5 review: OLED gaming at a surprisingly low price

Our Verdict

Lenovo’s Legion Slim 5 14APH8 packs some epic hardware into an impressively small form factor, without compromising on its performance. It also features an awesome OLED display that, although not quite the most appropriate pairing with an RTX 4060, delivers a fantastic desktop experience, and is perfect for 1080p gaming nonetheless.

Reasons to buy

• Incredible OLED screen
• Sleek, modern design
• Great value
• Quiet operation

Reasons to avoid

• Soldered DDR5 RAM
• RTX 4060 isn't powerful enough for native res
• Underwhelming battery life

OLED monitors are truly the stuff of dreams. If you’re after crisp, beautiful colors, deep inky black tones, phenomenal response times, and top-tier refresh rates, no other panel tech even mildly comes close to delivering all those elements in one go. The Lenovo Legion Slim 5 14APH8 pairs exactly that with an exceptionally low price tag, meaning this laptop offers extraordinary value already.

It’s not without fault, of course. Lenovo has certainly cut some corners to facilitate that heavy investment, particularly given that this OLED screen also comes with an impressive 2,880 x 1,800 resolution as well. For the money, though, the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 is one of the best gaming laptops out there today.

Who’s it for then? Simply put, a gamer who’s not looking to waste any cash. The less budget you have, the more valuable that budget becomes, certainly when it comes to putting it in the right place. It’s a balancing act, making sure you don’t accidentally buy a laptop that has an obvious bottleneck, and Lenovo has worked hard to ensure that’s not going to happen.

There is one big caveat to that statement, but I’ll touch on that in the benchmark section. I’ve been testing the Legion Slim 5 for around two weeks now, using it as my daily driver at times, gaming on it at others, and have run it through all manner of benchmarks. I even managed to sneak in a few hours on Baldur’s Gate 3 with it as well.

Specs

At the heart of the Legion Slim 5 lies one of the most intriguing laptop processors out there right now. Easily on par with the Intel Core Ultra chips found in the likes of the Alienware M16 R2, the Ryzen 7 7840HS is an eight-core, 16-thread processor, clocking in at 3.8GHz and capable of boosting all the way up to 5.1GHz.

What’s interesting here is that this is a hybrid processor, which simultaneously has some of the best tech found in the Zen 4 architecture, paired with a healthy chunk of the RDNA 3 GPU architecture too. In fact, the 7840HS is incredibly similar to the desktop Ryzen 7 8700G, featuring the same core counts, max clock speed, cache, and integrated GPU as well, namely the Radeon 780M.

That alone gives the 7840HS, the equivalent of around 37.5% of a Radeon RX 7600 at its core. AMD has also included a dedicated Ryzen AI NPU (neural processing unit) in this chip, which is designed to help with specific AI tasks currently being integrated into Windows 11.

Speaking of GPUs, we’re not just running on integrated graphics here, as Lenovo has also included a full-size dedicated mobile graphics card in the form of the Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB. Unlike many of Nvidia’s mobile GPUs, this mobile chip actually matches the desktop RTX 4060 in almost every aspect, even up to its maximum 115W TDP. However, Lenovo has dropped that power rating draw down to 105W, to better balance the internal thermal load.

This is one area that’s certainly been cut back, particularly to hit that price point. As the screen itself runs at 120Hz with a 2,880 x 1,800 resolution, there’s no getting away from the fact that the RTX 4060 is just not going to be capable of handling any AAA titles at that resolution at over 60fps. That is a bit of a shame, as it does mean you’ll have to drop the resolution down to really enjoy that screen in the latest games, although the GPU’s support for Nvidia DLSS does help somewhat to counter that.

The other slight quality-of-life compromise is on the memory front. The Slim 5 has soldered LPDDR5X memory on-board, rather than SODIMM slots. That can severely reduce the life expectancy of this machine, and upgrading your RAM later down the line is going to be a no-go.

On the plus side, the RAM runs at a fast speed of 6,400MHz, while the 7840HS officially only supports DDR5 memory at up to 5600MHz anyway, so you are technically getting a faster spec than that. Still, it would have been preferable to be able to upgrade your RAM at a later date if you wanted.

Features

Internal hardware aside, the big selling point of this laptop is its screen, and oh boy is it a beauty. For that upfront investment, you get yourself an incredibly crisp 14.5-inch OLED display, clocking in at 120Hz with a 2,880 x 1,800 resolution.

That gives you a pixel density on the Windows desktop of around 234.22ppi. For comparison, some of the best 4K gaming monitors rocking 32-inch panels will only net you 137.68ppi, meaning the Legion Slim 5’s screen is seriously sharp and crisp. If you enjoy a beautifully smooth desktop experience, this is the place to be.

Heck even stunning in-game too. There’s little to no perceivable ghosting at all, and color accuracy is on point, particularly when enjoying HDR content, or anything with a pop of color in it. Latency is a little slower than I’d like, logging just 7.6ms in Blur Buster’s MPRT test, which is somewhat sluggish for an OLED, but it’s still not particularly noticeable when you’re in the midst of a firefight (or a dialog tree).

Meanwhile, the connection options are fine, although they could be better. There’s no Wi-Fi 7 or Bluetooth 5.4 support for a start, although you do still get plenty of USB 3.2 Type-C and Type-A ports to support you, plus there’s an HDMI out in the rear, and more impressively a full-sized SD card reader too.

However, there’s no dedicated Ethernet port, unless you’re hooking it up via a USB adapter, and you only get Wi-Fi 6E for wireless networking. Still, depending on your own personal networking circumstances, that might not be quite the negative it first appears. Wi-Fi 6E still delivers plenty of bandwidth and channel access, and similarly, Bluetooth 5.2 offers more than enough bandwidth for most modern-day devices.

The keyboard and trackpad are surprisingly enjoyable to use as well. The trackpad in particular has a soft-touch, rubberized finish that’s incredibly smooth and feels lovely under your fingers. Meanwhile, the keys aren’t mechanical, but the action is slick and silent, with a softness to each press that never feels overly spongey. They do have lighting, but it’s purely a white backlight, which is deactivated most of the time. Hilariously the power button does in fact have an RGB LED, though.

You also get a pretty standard warranty here as well, just one year og couriered or carry-in service, which is mildly frustrating given that Lenovo is a multi-billion dollar company, the memory is soldered, and you have to contend with the potential quirks of the OLED screen, such as burn-in. Fortunately, Lenovo does have a dead pixel policy, although there’s no mention of burn-in replacement or similar.

Design

The Slim 5’s build quality is generally top-tier, with a mix of plastics and anodized aluminum as standard. There’s subtle Legion branding etched onto the back of the screen, and the overall aesthetic is remarkably clean.

There are no bold rounded edges like you find on the Alienware M16 R2, and the chassis balances the form factor and cooling responsibilities well. At just 1.75kg, the Lenovo Legion Slim is also incredibly light, and this along with its height of just 2.1cm means you’ll have no trouble carrying it around in your bag.

The ports are well located too, with the rear of the laptop housing that 170W power adapter, plus two USB Type-A ports, and an HDMI output as well. These ports also have illuminated indicators above them, sat on a ledge just before the screen itself, which gives the Legion Slim 5 a unique look.

Sadly, as previously mentioned, it does have that soldered memory, which will harm the lifespan of this laptop long term, particularly given you only get 16GB. On the plus side, however, it can support up to two PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs in the 2280 form factor, so there’s plenty of expansion room, if you are keen to chuck in an additional games drive, or an SSD with a little more grunt.

Speaking of which, Lenovo is using an SK Hynix OEM M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD here, which is pretty fast on read speeds, maxing out the PCIe 4.0 standard, however, write speeds are less than half that (3.5GB/s), making it a good candidate for an upgrade.

This machine is also seriously quiet compared to many gaming laptops. The fan noise is certainly there, but you don’t need to drown it out with a decent headset to have an enjoyable experience with the Slim 5. It’s no louder than your average gaming PC under full load, if not actually slightly quieter than that. That’s no doubt in part thanks to a combination of AMD’s ridiculously efficient CPU Zen 4 architecture, and the 105W RTX 4060 GPU.

Benchmarks

I’ve run the Legion Slim through a number of benchmarks, including synthetic tests and real game benchmarks, to really get a good gauge of just how well it performs in day-to-day tasks and gaming. Overall, that Ryzen chip is quite the juggernaut. In Cinebench R24, it clocked in a score of 872 in multi-core and 102 in single-core.

That’s actually faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 found in the MSI Stealth 16 (though this chip is hindered by the cooling in that particular machine). Similarly, its 3DMark CPU profile result averaged an index of 7,519 versus 7,972 from the Ultra Core 7 found in the Alienware M16 R2. But again, that laptop costs a good 75% more than the Slim 5.

Gaming, though, well that’s a different matter. I run these laptops through two sets of benchmark tests. One at 1080p, and one at its native resolution. This gives us a really good idea of how well they perform comparatively, and in isolation with that native screen res.

The good news is that at 1080p the Slim 5 does a pretty good job of nailing frame rates if the conditions are correct. Total War: Warhammer averaged 72fps, Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS Super Resolution and frame generation enabled hit 75fps, and F1 2023 landed an average of 43fps (you can enable DLSS in this game to make it run quicker too).

Jump up to that 2,880 x 1,800 full-screen res, however, and that’s where gaming performance starts to take a tumble. Total War had its frame rate almost cut in half, down to 37fps, Cyberpunk 2077 fell to just 19fps, even with DLSS enabled, and F1 23 averaged just 25fps. That’s a painful drop.

Ultimately, your best bet, if you do want to play the latest titles, is to drop that resolution down to 1,920 x 1,080 or similar. That’s not the end of the world; you’re still looking at a pixel density of 151.92 if you do that, which is still sharper than 4K on a 32-inch screen, but it’s not the screen’s native resolution.

Battery

The Slim 5 was mildly underwhelming on the battery life front as well. Lenovo’s packed in a 73.6 WHr battery pack into that 14.5-inch form factor, with an included 170W reversible adapter to back it up.

That’s a fairly decent achievement, given the laptop’s already small physical footprint, but it does harm the battery life. In PC Mark 10’s gaming test, the Slim 5 only lasted for 53 minutes from 100% down to 3%. It’s rare that we see gaming laptops last much more than an hour in a gaming test, though.

By far the more troubling result came in the form of the modern-office test, where the Lenovo lasted just 218 minutes before it shut down. Intel Ultra Core-powered laptops we’ve recently tested managed to last well into the 360-minute range, before reaching a similar fate.

If you compare that to the Ultra Core 7 found in the Alienware unit, the Slim 5 only lasted for 56% of what that machine managed, despite having a battery capacity that’s 82% as large. This is actually likely due to Intel having a slight edge in its TDP control, with the latest Core Ultra chips running as low as 20W versus Ryzen’s 35W, while simultaneously taking advantage of low-power efficient cores.

Price

With that, it’s time to talk price. Lenovo has interestingly placed the Legion Slim 5 at quite an intriguing price point. I’ve seen this very spec as low as $1,299 in the US, and £1,500 in the UK. For what you’re getting, both of those prices are actually pretty reasonable. Getting an OLED screen, even just a 14-inch one, really does set the Slim 5 apart from the vast majority of competing laptops at this price.

There are downsides, of course. This particular spec isn’t going to last quite as long as some of the other offerings out there that don’t have soldered memory, and yes the RTX 4060 is a bit of an odd pairing with a screen res that tops out at 5 million pixels. However, it’s a fairly well-rounded package nonetheless, and if you’re willing to drop that screen resolution in games, you’ll have a good time in games for at least the next couple of years.

Alternatives

Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

If you have a bit more money to spend, Asus’ latest ROG Zephyrus G14 has a similarly dazzling 14-inch LED screen and a gorgeous slimline design that only weighs 1.5kg. The G14 suffers from the same issue as the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 with its use of soldered memory, but it’s a great machine if you spec it up with 32GB at the start.

Every now and then you’ll find it on offer as well, with the price for thew 15GB RTX 4060 model on Best Buy dropped from $1,599 to just $1,299, meaning it then offers very similar value to the Lenovo.

Read our full Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review.

Verdict

Lenovo’s Legion Slim 5 offers fantastic value, in part thanks to that luscious, crisp, and smooth OLED panel and its superb CPU for the money. However, the use of soldered RAM is a mark against it, and we recommend buying this machine for 32GB if you can.

The RTX 4060 GPU also doesn’t have enough power to play games at the screen’s native resolution, although it can handle 1080p gaming fine. This is all understandable, given the low price MSRP, but it still would have been great to at least have some way of upgrading that memory.

The Slim still ticks a lot of boxes, though, especially if you’re on a tight budget. If you’re willing to drop the resolution a smidge in games, then this is a decently-balanced budget gaming laptop with a fantastic screen, and solid gaming performance, especially if you lean into Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling and frame generation tech.