Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 good as a gaming laptop? Not for gaming

Processor - This processor, the Core i7-9750H 6-Core 2.6GHz, is excellent and can meet 2021 AAA title requirements with relative ease. Loaded up with plenty of processor cores, this CPU has 6, which is excellent for AAA gaming that wants extra cores for processing.

Graphics Card - This laptop graphics solution is not for modern AAA 2021 releases. It is not a gamers choice. Modern AAA games can make use of more than the 4GB VRAM available in this graphics solution. It has an OK amount of VRAM but could struggle moving into the coming year..

System Memory - This laptop system memory is excellent at meeting today’s 2021 system requirements demands and with its 24GB of RAM it will certainly meet the requirements of games into the near future as well.

Screen Size - Our review laptop has a 15.6" panel. We certainly feel this is a good gaming laptop size in 2021 and gives a happy balance between portability and physical gaming viewability. When laptops get much smaller, it makes it harder to see in-game menus and some of the game huds can take up a lot of the screen area, leaving less space for you to see main game playing areas on physically smaller screens. In our minds, if you have a smaller 1.5Kg or larger 3.5Kg laptop with you, it's always going to be a lump to transport. And so for a gaming laptop we would rather see the games more clearly on a larger 17inch screen, upon arriving at a destination, rather than compromise a game’s experience. But for some it will be the other way around. Fortunately there will be something for everyone in the laptop marketplace.

Refresh Rate - The higher the screen panel refresh rate, the better for gaming laptops. The refresh rate is the number of times a second the screen is capable of refreshing the game’s image. If a laptop can deliver 100 frames per second (FPS) in a game and your laptop has a 60Hz refresh rate, then you will only get a max of 60 frames per second. The higher the refresh rate and the game’s FPS the smoother the sharpness is as the screen view moves around in game. You can get this laptop with 60Hz refresh rate which, for gaming, is an ok refresh rate.

GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile graphics card gaming performance in the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop

As gamers, one of the biggest choices we make for a new portable machine is to select a laptop with the right mobile graphics card. With this laptop we are specifically considering how the price-to-performance of the graphics card looks and if it has the capability to run modern popular games like today’s most popular titles, Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassins Creed: Valhalla in ultra graphics settings on its native 1080p resolution. The GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile card that's powering the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop, when compared to today’s top 500 most demanding games, can run 303 at min system specs and will run 0 games when comparing to their increased recommended system requirements.

Comparing Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

We really want to see how the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 will compare across all permutations of the Legion 5i 15 model range. This will give us a good sense of how well it sits in terms of cost to performance within its own lineup, and will better help us decide if this laptop represents good value to us today.

We currently give the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop a 0 out of 10 for its P2P score. Where the higher the better rating. As mentioned the figure will adjust as new hardware is released and performance expectations shift over time. With a number of Legion 5i 15 laptops in the model lineup this particular variant places at the 5th position for Price to Performance value. Laptops closer to the top place (1st) are value gaming laptop options that deliver the best performance for the laptop price.

Now let's look at where this laptop sits compared to all other laptops, including those outside of the Legion 5i 15 range. It currently offers 100% worse rating when comparing its price to performance rating against the best laptop available today for price to performance, which is the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, which currently costs $999.00. Second on the Price to Performance laptop ranking at the moment is the MSI GF65 Thin i7-9750H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 which we have a recorded price of $908.00. If we compare our laptop to this one then our laptop returns with 100% worse performance/ price rating figure than it.

How does the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

You might be considering a CPU heavy laptop and wondering how this Legion 5i 15 laptop does in the grand scheme of CPU focused laptops. Let's compare this laptop with a top CPU performance laptop available today and see how its CPU performance stacks up. This top tier processor focused laptop is currently the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1440p. With a Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz CPU in it that performs 43% better compared to our laptop’s Core i7-9750H 6-Core 2.6GHz.

Interestingly we can see 459 games recommended system requirements are lower in performance than our laptop’s CPU performance capability. This is when we look at the top 500 most demanding games around today. For minimum system requirements in this same area the number is 499 games are worse than our cpu performance, again looking at the top 500 most demanding minimum system requirements.

Today’s games are getting more demanding so let's see how our gaming laptop performs against their recommended cpu system requirements. First off we have the Assassins Creed: Valhalla which currently our Core i7-9750H 6-Core 2.6GHz is 24% better next let's see how well it runs against Hitman 3. We can see it is 24% better. Ok finally lets see it against Cyberpunk 2077. Here our laptop is 24% better.

How does the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Shall we see if our review laptop holds out favourably against a top GPU performance focused laptop PC that is currently available. We choose the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K laptop as one of the best GPU laptop performers today to compare graphics ability with our laptop. This puts a GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB video card from that laptop, one of the best laptop graphics cards available at the moment, against our review laptop’s GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile. This comparison shows that laptop to be 157% better comparably in performance as our review laptop.

Our laptop GPU beats 0 games recommended system requirements when looking at today’s top 500 most demanding games. This number changes to 303 games if we compare to the top 500 most demanding games for minimum system requirements.

When compared to the recommended graphics requirements of the most popular games today, like Cyberpunk 2077 our laptop GPU is 40% worse in performance. Compared to Assassins Creed: Valhalla our laptop graphics performance is 40% worse.

The Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 has a 1080p screen resolution, should I get a 4K resolution gaming laptop instead?

There is a lot of talk about getting 4K capable monitors and our review laptop has a 1080p native resolution, and a physical 15.6" panel. Lets explore if it would be better for you to grab a laptop with a 4K screen rather than the 1080p offered here? 4K laptops have a 60Hz screen refresh rate normally, that means a game would not be able to run at more than 60 frames per second even if the hardware could deliver more. While 60FPS would provide acceptable stability, a lot of gamers would prefer higher FPS than this. However, thats not the only issue here. Modern AAA game system requirements would need more powerful gaming hardware than is normally found in laptops, to play reliably at 4K Ultra graphics settings, even at 60FPS. What refresh rate does the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 panel have available? It can be picked up with the following 60Hz refresh rates.

Dropping a game’s resolution down from the laptop’s native 4K resolution to a more sustainable 1080p or maybe 1440p, would certainly deliver extra frames and improve stability. So there is always that option if the experience is unplayable due to low frame rates. But know that this action comes at a price. Dropping from a monitor or laptop panel’s native resolution immediately reduces in-game visual definition across all the game’s graphics. It basically makes the game look blurry. Not an ideal situation if you just bought your new 4K gaming laptop. However, a 1080p laptop could very well have some good hardware in it, capable of playing AAA games comfortably at 4K with a few graphics setting tweaks. If this is the case then hook up the gaming laptop to a 4K or 1440p desktop monitor, for some serious home based gaming sessions. A decent desktop monitor is not going to have 60Hz getting in the way of extra FPS and is going to be enjoyably larger than the 15inch or 17inch screen thats most common on laptops.

Possibly a suitable purpose for a 4K laptop would be if you were keen to watch 4K streaming services like Netflix. At which point perhaps it's enough of a selling point for you to consider a 4K laptop?

At the moment our advice would be, stick to the 1080p laptop panels for now. Your laptop remains portable and 4K laptop’s just aren't quite there yet. The 4K needs to be a no brainer but at the moment you will still have to lower resolution in game to get playable but sub par visuals that still can't raise above 60FPS.

Today’s best 1440p desktop monitor for a laptop is - ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS

A well priced 1440p gaming monitor with 75Hz, is the ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS, which is currently priced at $299.00 and would work well with our Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop. To help provide some further information into this desktop monitor price trends we saw it cost a recorded low of $269.99, which we tracked on 26th Dec 2020.

Today’s best 4K desktop monitor for a laptop is - Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz

A well priced 4K gaming monitor with 144Hz refresh rate is the Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz. It has a price today of $829.99 and should be a nice accompaniment to the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop. Providing some more insight, this 4K Monitor has increased its price by $770.02 during these past two weeks. So keep your eyes out as it could be cheaper than we have recorded here today. The cheapest we have tracked this 4k monitor was for the price of $549.99, on 13th Nov 2020.

[Note - check that monitor display connectors are compatible between a monitor and a laptop before purchase]

If you are looking to view 4K streaming content, while keeping yourself mobile with your laptop, then maybe a 4K resolution panel would be a better experience than the normal 1080p. In general, we think it's probably not worth the extra money for any visual gains you might not spot, without a direct comparison, especially if you are thinking to game on your laptop as well.

We think don't spend your extra cash on getting a 4K laptop to game on, as it's likely to feel disappointing to buy a super shiny new 4K laptop, then have to lower the resolution while playing your games, delivering a blurry in-game experience, and only getting up to a maximum 60FPS due to the usual 60Hz 4K panel restriction.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop

A mouse that is well priced at the moment and could accompany the Lenovo Legion 5i 15 i7-9750H GTX 1650 Mobile 24GB RAM 512GB M.2 laptop is the Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons. Of the mice we price track, it is one of the best valued mice today and currently priced at $12.99. Our suggested mouse has actually lowered its price during these past two weeks, dropping by $46.98. This was part of the reason we selected it as a good mouse for the price and a great accompanying peripheral for this laptop. Further to our mouse information, this mouse had a lowest price recorded by us of $11.99 dated on 15th Aug 2020.

Of the headset we monitor and price track, today’s top headset is the HyperX Cloud Stinger, priced at $47.99. The lowest price recorded by us so far for the headset is $25.98 recorded at 12th Mar 2020.