This is my detailed review of the Lenovo Legion 5a series.
This 5a is a newer addition to the Legion lineup for the year, a 15-inch and slightly less refined alternative to the Legion 7a discussed in a previous article .
It’s still a well-made and portable design built on AMD+Nvidia hardware, offering an OLED display and good inputs and IO. In fact, this 5a is similar in many ways to the 7a, but that one remains a higher-tier model.
At the same time, this Legion 5a is more affordable than the 7a, and even significantly so in most markets. All things considered, I expect many of you looking for an all-purpose laptop around 1500-1800 USD/EUR to eventually lean on this one. Follow this link for updated prices and configurations at the time you’re reading the article.
I’ve used this Legion 5a for about two weeks, alongside the Legion 7a, and have gathered my thoughts and impressions below in this review article.
Specs sheet as reviewed – Lenovo Legion 5a mid-tier laptop
2026 Lenovo Legion 5a 15AGP11, gen 11
Display 15.3-inch, 16:10, glossy, non-touch,OLED QHD+ 2560 x 1600 px , 165Hz 1ms,
Processor AMD Gorgon Point Ryzen AI Series 400,
Video AMD Radeon 860M + Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop 8GB graphics (up to 115W with Dynamic Boost)
Memory 32 GB DDR5-5600 RAM (2x RAM slots), max 32 GB
Storage 1 TB SSD (SK Hynix) – 1x M.2 4.0 x4 (2280), 1x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x2 (2280)
Connectivity WiFi 7 (Realtek 8922AE) 2×2 with Bluetooth 5.4, Gigabit LAN
Ports Left: LAN RJ 45, 2x USB-C 4.0
Battery 80Wh, 245 W power adapter, USB-C charging up to 140W
Size 344 mm or 13.54” (w) x 244 mm or 9.63 (d) x 18.95 – 19.95 mm or .75″ – .79” (h)
Weight 1.91 kg (4.21 lbs),
Extras clamshell 15-inch format with 180-degree screen angle, partial metal chassis,
Design and construction This Legion 5a checks many of the right boxes for a mid-tier design with a competitive price in today’s environment. Sure, when you think about it, a device like this one used to sell for around 1K USD/EUR a few years ago, but inflation and RAMmageddon pushed the prices up significantly this year. Still, I expect you’ll be able to find this for around 1.5K USD or your local equivalent later this year, and for that amount of money, you’re getting yourself a pretty solid laptop overall.
This is in many ways a slightly less refined variant of the Legion 7a.
For instance, it’s somewhat thicker and heavier, but still under 2 kilos, while also being a more compact 15-inch design.
The main chassis and the lid are made out of aluminum with the same soft coating offered on the Legion 7 models as well, but with this series, the underside is made out of plastic. That, however, is rather an advantage, as that part is stronger and doesn’t creak, while the aluminum bottom on the Legion 7a did.
In fact, the overall build quality and feel of this series kick outside of this lineup’s price range and rival devices in the premium segments. At the same time, you should treat this device well, as painted aluminum of this sort can dent and scratch if not looked after. Unlike on the Legion 7a, the entire chassis is the same finish, including the edges, which looks better to my eyes.
Lenovo offer the Legion 5a series in two color options: either this Glacier White variant that we have here, or an opposite Cosmic Black model. I’d reckon most would prefer the latter, albeit this white is rather unique and intriguing. It’s also a far more carefree choice, as it doesn’t show smudges or finger oil nearly as easily.
The design is similar between the 5a and the 7a models, with the same clean interior and the same LEGION writing in the middle of the lid, in dark chrome. A bit much for my liking, especially on this white color.
As far as ergonomics go, this matches the 7a in nearly all aspects. The chassis and lid are well made, the hinges are even a little stiffer and still allow the screen to open all the way back flat, and all the edges and corners are friendly on the wrists.
The always-on power button that lights in various colors based on the selected power profile is still there under the screen, though, and just as annoying when watching a movie at night.
As for the IO, the 5a includes 2x USB-C ports with USB 4.0, a full-size HDMI, 3x USB-A ports, and an audio jack. There’s no card reader, unlike on the Legion 7a, and the USB-Cs are still all placed on the left edge, towards the middle-front of the chassis. Ideally, at least one of those would have been placed on the rear, alongside the other ports.
Before we wrap this section up, I’ve added some side-by-side images of the 16-inch Lenovo Legion 7a and this 15-inch Lenovo Legion 5a model, to better showcase the similarities and the minor differences in sizes, details, and IO between them.
Sure, the 5a is a little thicker, but overall the two look and feel very much the same in actual use.
Finally, here’s the black variant of this 5a series. I’d reckon most will preffer this over the white variant, as it looks classier and is better suited for most work/school environments. Just keep in mind that the smooth finish is going to smudge easily, and you’ll have to constantly clean it.
Keyboard, touchpad The keyboard on the Legion 5a is more or less the same as the ones in the Legion 7a and 7i models.
It’s a standard Legion layout, with a NumPad Section and full-sized and properly spaced arrows. The main keyboard is shifted towards the left, alongside the touchpad.
This keyboard types well. The keys have a smooth matte finish, with a small dash in them and 1.6 mm of stroke depth. The feedback is fine, although I wasn’t able to type on it quite as accurately or as quickly as on some other laptops in this class. I also found it a little noisy.
The keys are RGB backlit, but with a single zone in this variant, unlike on the higher-tier Legions that offer multiple zones. The contrast is still limited on this sort of white keyboard with any of the available colors; that’s why I prefer manually disabling the lighting during the day and only switching it on when needed at night. There’s no auto-lighting function, and a fair bit of light creeps out from underneath the keycaps.
The touchpad is PTP (smooth plastic), not glass, but it worked just as it should during my time with the laptop. It’s a little smaller in size than on the Legion 7a, due to the overall smaller chassis, but still fine overall, and still leaves plenty of space at the top and bottom, so ghost touches and clicks when using this computer on the lap are never an issue. I preffer this basic function over design approach.
Finally, as far as biometrics go, the camera at the top supports IR, and there’s no finger sensor.
15-inch modern OLED display, non-touch The display on this Legion 5a is a 15.3-inch 16:10 OLED in a non-touch glossy implementation. This is the same panel previously seen in the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition , a significantly more expensive series.
This is a recent-gen Samsung OLED panel, with 500 nits of sustained brightness and up to 1000 nits peak HDR brightness. Contrast and blacks are just as expected from a modern OLED, and the refresh rate of 165Hz and quick response times of under 1ms allow it to be a solid choice for playing games. The panel on the 7a/7i Legions is larger and offers a 240Hz refresh rate, but this one is similar otherwise.
The fact that this is non-touch is important, as text and light colors look clean and smooth, unlike on most touch OLED variants. At the same time, there’s no protective glass over the panel, like on touchscreens, but the finish is still reflective.
Here’s what we got in our tests, with an X-Rite i1 Display Pro sensor :
Panel HardwareID: Samsung SDC421B (ATNA60HU02-0);
Coverage: 100% sRGB, 94.3% Adobe RGB, 99.9% DCI-P3;
Type: 2.5K 2560 x 1600 px, 10-bit, 165Hz;
Measured gamma: 2.2;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 504.12 cd/m2 on power;
Min brightness in the middle of the screen: <10 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 1:1;
White point: 6705 K;
Black on max brightness: 0 cd/m2;
PWM: Yes, to be discussed.
This is a good quality display overall, with decent brightness and clarity, and rich, punchy colors.
The reflective finish does make it somewhat annoying to use in bright light, so you’ll mostly want to keep it indoors. Furthermore, you should be aware of the potential quirks with OLED laptop displays , the most important being PWM flickering – this flickers at a frequency of around 1.3 GHz at any brightness level under 100% – so you need to keep it at max brightness to prevent the issue, which is rather impossible in most conditions.
Hardware and performance Our test model is a mid-spec configuration of the 2026 Lenovo Legion 5a gen11, code name 15AGP11 , with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8GB dGPU, 32 GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and 1 TB of fast SSD storage.
Disclaimer: Lenovo provided this retail unit for this review. It was tested on the software available as of mid-August 2026 (BIOS T3CN37WW, Legion Space 1.10.11.6, Nvidia Game Ready Driver 610.88). This is mature software, so little can change with later software updates.
Spec-wise, the 2026 Legion 7a is built on the latest AMD and Nvidia mobile hardware available to date.
The Ryzen AI 7 450 is a mainstream AMD Gorgon Point SKU for this year. It’s a hybrid design with 4x Zen5 Performance and 4x Zen5c Efficiency Cores, and runs at 80-90W of sustained power in this chassis, which is plenty enough for this platform.
However, as mentioned in previous articles, AMD’s Gorgon Point 2026 refresh is merely a minimal refresh of the existing Strix Point platform, thus more or less 2024 AMD tech rebadged under a new name. Nonetheless, the Ryzen AI 7 450 is still a solid mid-tier platform for general use and normal work/school/gaming use.
A minimally faster AMD Ryzen AI 9 465 platform is also offered with this series in some regions (with 4x Zen5 and 6x Zen5c Cores), while the highest-tier Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (4x Zen5, 8x Zen5c cores) is reserved for the Legion 7a lineup only. Nonetheless, they perform similarly for general use, and the differences in sustained CPU chores are small: the 465 is ~10% faster than the 450, and the 470 is a further 10% faster than the 465. Given the choice, I’d go with the 450 configuration on this Legion 5a.
For the GPU, this 2026 Legion 5a series is offered with a mid-powered, mid-range Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8GB (up to 115W). The design includes a MUX and either regular Optimus or Advanced Optimus.
The series comes with DDR5 memory, unlike the 7a, which is built on onboard LPDDR5x memory. That means there are two memory DIMMs inside, and the RAM is upgradeable. Most retail models ship with 16 GB RAM, but configurations with 32 GB are also available by default. This test unit is a 32 GB variant, with two memory sticks inside.
For storage, there are two M.2 SSD slots, both full-size 2280 format and with support for gen4 speeds. In fact, both slots support either 2242 or 2280 SSDs. One’s a PCIe 4.0 x4 connection, while the other is only an x2 connection. Our unit comes with a fast 1 TB SK Hynix SSD (and M.2 2242 format), a solid performer for general use.
The SSDs and the WiFi module are M.2 formats, upgradable. The RAM is upgradeable as well. To get inside, you need to remove the back panel, held in place by a handful of screws of two different sizes. Inside, you’ll notice there’s less unused space than on the larger 16-inch Legion 7a chassis, but still some towards the front near the battery. The speakers are even more measly, and the RAM slots are covered by a thermal shield that you’ll have to remove to get to the memory DIMMs.
This laptop bundles Lenovo’s updated Legion Space control software, offered with Legions since 2025. It’s still not the most intuitive piece of software, but it gets things done once you figure it out. The software offers the standard Legion profiles: Quiet, Balance, Performance, and Custom, with the latter offering various settings for the CPU/GPU and fan control.
Anyway, here are the power limits and targeted fan noise levels for each of the default profiles:
Quiet Balance Performance Custom
CPU only, PL1/PL2 TDP
45/50W
65/80W
80/95W
90/95W
GPU only, max TGP
60W, D-Notify
75W
105W
115W
Crossload power,
75W, 15 + 60 W
105W, 30 + 75 W
140W, 35 + 105 W
150W, 35 + 115 W
Noise at head level, tested
<35 dBA
~38 dBA
~45 dBA
~52 dBA, max fans
These are standard settings for recent Legions, and similar to the settings on the Legion 7a. Overall, versatile profiles for a device of this format.
Before we jump to the performance section, here’s how this laptop handles everyday use and multitasking on the Quiet profiles, unplugged.
Performance and benchmarks – AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 + Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with a 1-2 second delay between each run. For consistency with other reviews, we keep the laptop raised on a stand.
Here’s what we got for the AMD Ryzen 7 450 platform on this notebook:
Performance mode – scores of 2650 points, 45 dBA fan noise, 85W sustained TDP, CPU temperatures around 90-92 °C;
Performance mode with the laptop flat on the desk – 5% lower scores as the TDP is thermally limited to around 80 W;
Balance mode – similar scores of 2650 points, 38 dBA fan noise, 85W TDP, CPU temperatures around 95 °C (slight thermal throttling);
Quiet mode – scores of 2150 points, <30 dbA fan noise, 45W TDP, CPU temperatures around 70-75 °C;
Balance mode on PD – scores of 2350 points, <30 dBA fan noise, 40W TDP, CPU temperatures around 65 °C;
Balance mode on battery power – scores of 1900 points, <30 dBA fan noise, 28W TDP, CPU temperatures around 55 °C.
Minor differences in performance between these modes. Balance mode on PD power is especially interesting, delivering excellent scores at lower power and thermals than the other modes.
The CPU runs hot on Performance and especially on Balance, due to the high applied power. Howver, as you’ll see in a bit, longer sustained loads trigger a TDP limit for both modes, which results in more acceptable thermals.
To put these findings in perspective, here’s how this AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 implementation fares in this test against other mobile platforms offered in similar devices.
It’s about 20% slower than the Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 in this sustained CPU load and 10% slower than a Ryzen AI 9 465 due to having fewer Cores and Threads overall. That also makes it slower by a similar amount to existing Panther Lake Core Ultra 9 hardware and previous-gen Intel Arrow Lake Core Ultra Series 200 or AMD Strix Point Ryzen AI 300 Series platforms.
These differences are small, though, within 10-20% between platforms, and shouldn’t matter that much in your decision. After all, if you’re after a CPU that’s truly capable in sustained multi-threaded loads, a Core HX or Ryzen HX platform would make more sense, albeit you won’t find it in this format or/and at a comparable price.
We then went ahead and further verified our findings with the more taxing Cinebench R23 loop test and Blender – Classroom, which resulted in slightly lower sustained power levels: 80W sustained on Performance, 65W on Balance, and 45W on Quiet.
We also ran the 3DMark CPU test on the Performance and Quiet profiles.
Finally, we ran our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time. This unit passes the test both when kept flat on a desk or when raised up on a stand, which means the performance is not impacted when the heat builds up inside the chassis. More on that in the gaming section.
Next, we ran the entire suite of tests and benchmarks on the Performance profile with the GPU set on Hybrid mode and running on Game Ready Drivers, and with the screen set at the native 2560 x 1600 px resolution. The laptop is placed on a stand for the best cooling performance and consistency with other reviews.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 8499, 16 – 8475, 8 – 6473, 4 – 4416, 2 – 2344, 1– 1186;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 28032 (Graphics – 31722, Physics – 29271, Combined – 14482);3DMark 13 – Port Royal: 7951;3DMark 13 – Speed Way: 3032;3DMark 13 – Steel Nomad: 2776;3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 12315 (Graphics – 12650, CPU – 10711);3DMark 13 – DLSS: DLSS Off – 16.68 fps, DLSS On – 69.26 fps, 415% performance difference.
Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 7422;Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 20819;
Aida64 Extreme, memory test – ;PCMark 10: 8811 (Essentials – 10652, Productivity – 14416, Digital Content Creation – 12088);GeekBench 6.6.0: Multi-core: 13799, Single-Core: 2900;GeekBench AI 1.7.0 (ONNX, CPU): Single: 3346, Half: 1816, Quantized: 8437;CineBench R15 (best run): CPU 2689 cb, CPU Single Core 299 cb;CineBench R23: CPU 18116 pts (best run), CPU 18173 pts (10 min loop test), CPU Single Core 1972 pts (best run);CineBench 2024: CPU 958 (10 min run), CPU Single Core 117 pts;CineBench 2026: GPU – 47432 pts, CPU Multiple Threads – 3681 pts, CPU Single Core – 650 pts, CPU Single Thread – 478 pts.
And some work-related tests, on the same Performance profile.
Blender 5.1.2 – BMW Car scene- CPU Compute: 2m 04s ;Blender 5.1.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 20.06s (CUDA), 8.82 (Optix);Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 40s;Blender 5.1.2 – BMW scene – GPU Compute: 41.91s (CUDA), 19.48 (Optix);
SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax 07: 108.52;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia 06: 71.54;SPECviewperf 2020 – Creo 03: 114.19;SPECviewperf 2020 – Energy: 40.36;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya 06: 411.38;SPECviewperf 2020 – Medical 03: 37.88;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX 04: 24.34;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW 07: 257.38.
SPECviewperf 15 – 3DSMax 08: 33.06;SPECviewperf 15 – Blender 01: 54.30;SPECviewperf 15 – Catia 07: 45.37;SPECviewperf 15 – Creo 04: 102.03;SPECviewperf 15 – Energy 04: 39.96;SPECviewperf 15 – Enscape 01: 38.33;SPECviewperf 15 – Maya 07: -;SPECviewperf 15 – Medical 04: 37.48;SPECviewperf 15 – Solidworks 08: 21.91;SPECviewperf 15 – Unreal Engine 01: 71.08;V-Ray Benchmark: CPU – 11298, CUDA – 1641, RTX – 2558.
Somehow, this ends up performing a little better than the Legion 7a configuration tested earlier.
Sure, that Ryzen AI 9 in the 7a is faster in multi-threaded CPU loads, but this Ryzen AI 7 450 is still plenty competitive for general use, with similar single-core and IPC capabilities. With multi-threaded tests, however, this trails the Ryzen 9 470 by 15-20%. It also trails the Ryzen AI 9 465 configuration by about 10%.
On the GPU side, the system runs the RTX 5060 at higher overall power here in Performance mode than on the 7a, at around 105W TGP. That allows for 3-5% higher scores in the graphics tests, and minimally improves scores in the mixed-use and work-related tests.
You might have noticed that I tested the Legion 7a with Studio Drivers and this 5a configuration of Game Ready drivers. This could impact some of the scores in some tests, but for what it’s worth, the GPU in the 7a still ran at about 95W TGP on Game Ready drivers, so I’d still expect this 5a implementation to score a little higher regardless.
Overall, this is a capable mid-tier platform that should meet most demands for general use and multitasking, as well as occasional work/school/gaming that would require more resources. Nonetheless, your expectations should be realistic; you’re not getting this hardware for max sustained performance; there are better-suited options out there for that task. Not as compact or priced similarly, though.
Custom Mode – max power, 52+ dBA noise Custom mode allows for a multitude of CPU/GPU power customizations and fan settings.
However, somehow I couldn’t max out the CPU/GPU settings while having the fans on Full Speed on this unit; the options just weren’t there as on other Legions that I’ve used. A weird software bug.
Nonetheless, based on what we’ve already tested on the Legion 7a, the gains in performance are minimal over the standard Performance profile, definitely not justified by the massive increase in noise, as the fans run closer to 52 dBA at full speed, up from 45 dBA on Performance.
Balance Mode – low power, 38 dBA noise Balance mode is the mid-level profile that keeps fan noise low at only ~38 dBA, with still excellent performance and better thermals than on Performance mode. This is where the series excels.
Here’s what we got in this case:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 8397, 16 – 8426, 8 – 6555, 4 – 4514, 2 – 2347, 1 – 1186;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 25881 (Graphics – 28977, Physics – 29284, Combined – 13101);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 10802 (Graphics – 10842, CPU – 10584);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 6287;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 17545 cb, CPU Single Core 1982 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 4m 47s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 102.96;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 67.42;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 390.75;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.50;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 243.88.
We’re looking at 95+% of the CPU scores and 80-85% of the GPU capabilities possible in Performance mode, with the CPU/GPU temperatures averaging low-70s °C, despite the much quieter fan noise of 38 dBA.
Quiet Mode – lower power,~30 dBA noise Quiet mode limits the CPU/GPU power more to keep noise levels at sub-30 dBA, with even lower temperatures than on Balance, with the CPU/GPU averaging around mid-60s °C with mixed use.
Here’s what we got:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 6738, 16 – 6775, 8 – 4282, 4 – 2473, 2 – 1373, 1 – 776;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 23008 (Graphics – 26841, Physics – 23179, Combined – 11051);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 9603 (Graphics – 9655, CPU – 9319);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 5707;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 14359 cb, CPU Single Core 1249 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 6m 02s;SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 94.78;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 60.10;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 360.86;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 21.26;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 224.77.
The CPU performs at about 90% of its capacity in multi-threaded loads, but the single-core scores drop significantly compared to the other profiles, at only about 60%; we noticed the same behavior on the Legion 7a as well.
The GPU runs at about 75% of its capacity on Performance mode.
Balance Mode on PD power We also tested this laptop on PD power, with a 100W ROG PD charger. I don’t have a Legion PD charger to test if that would change things in any way, and haven’t tested with a 140W charger either.
Here’s what we got in terms of benchmark results on Balance mode on 100W of USB-C PD power:
3DMark 13 – CPU profile: max – 7118, 16 – 7166, 8 – 5583, 4 – 4276, 2 – 2311, 1 – 1174;3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 15996 (Graphics – 17456, Physics – 25873, Combined – 7273);3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 5996 (Graphics – 5620, CPU – 9661);Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Extreme: 3671;CineBench R23 (10 min loop): CPU 14722 cb, CPU Single Core 1990 cb;Blender 5.1.2 – Classroom scene – CPU Compute: 5m 24s.SPECviewperf 2020 – 3DSMax: 67.47;SPECviewperf 2020 – Catia: 45.44;SPECviewperf 2020 – Maya: 270.37;SPECviewperf 2020 – SNX: 23.07;SPECviewperf 2020 – SW: 154.00.
The performance on the CPU loads is very competitive, at about 80-90% in multi-threaded tests in Performance mode with the laptop plugged in via the main charger. Single-core scores are fine as well. Thus, using this laptop on PD power is a perfectly possible option for multitasking and general use, if you don’t want to bring along the main charger.
With the CPU only drawing around 40W TDP on PD power, the system shouldn’t pull energy out of the battery with casual use. There isn’t any proper PD pass-through as fast as I can tell, though, as mixed use that engages both the CPU and GPU trickle-discharges the battery. Furthermore, the GPU’s TGP is severely limited in this mode anyway, and the RTX 5060 only works at about 40% of its capacity.
Gaming performance – Gorgon Point Ryzen AI 9 + GeForce RTX 5060 With benchmarks out of the way, let’s see how this Legion 5a handles modern games.
We tested a couple of different games on the various available profiles at the native QHD+ (2560 x 1600 px) resolution, with the Nvidia GPU set on dGPU mode and running on Game Ready drivers. For consistency with other reviews, the laptop is raised off the desk.
Here are the results:
Lenovo Legion 5a, RTX 5060 Laptop 100-115W QHD+ Performance, QHD+ Balance, QHD+ Quiet,
Black Myth: Wukong 34 fps (22 fps – 1% low)
–
–
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 2x 40 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
34 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
30 fps (14 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth: WukongMFG On 4x 68 fps (15 fps – 1% low)
60 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
56 fps (12 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077 37 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
–
–
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 2x , Ray Reconstruction On, 62 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
54 fps (24 fps – 1% low)
46 fps (20 fps – 1% low)
Cyberpunk 2077MFG On 4x , Ray Reconstruction On, 104 fps (23 fps – 1% low)
92 fps (20 fps – 1% low)
82 fps (18 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 48 fps (34 fps – 1% low)
38 fps (30 fps – 1% low)
32 fps (26 fps – 1% low)
Horizon Forbidden West 102 fps (88 fps – 1% low)
90 fps (74 fps – 1% low)
80 fps (66 fps – 1% low)
Red Dead Redemption 2 78 fps (60 fps – 1% low)
73 fps (58 fps – 1% low)
67 fps (52 fps – 1% low)
Shadow of Tomb Raider 100 fps (78 fps – 1% low)
85 fps (68 fps – 1% low)
76 fps (54 fps – 1% low)
Black Myth, Cyberpunk, Horizon FW – recorded with MSI Afterburner fps counter in campaign mode;
Far Cry 6, Red Dead Redemption 2, Tomb Raider – recorded with the included Benchmark utilities;
Red Dead Redemption 2 Optimized profile based on these settings .
Much like with synthetic tests, the gaming framerates delivered here are 5-10% better than on the Legion 7a configuration.
That still means most games are running smoothly at 2.5K resolution and Ultra settings, but the 8 GB vRAM limit can interfere in some titles and force you to cut back on the graphics. With this unit, it happened when testing Black Myth: Wukong with the Multi Frame Generation option set to 2x/4x, but not in the other tested games.
With that out of the way, let’s go through some CPU/GPU logs.
First, Performance mode with the laptop raised off the desk. We measured fan noise of around 45 dBA at head level, with CPU/GPU temperatures in the high-70s °C.
However, flat on the desk, these temperatures rise by about 10 °C and end up in the high-80s °C, thermally throttling the GPU. That being the case, placing the laptop on a stand or at least raising it off the desk when running sustained loads is a must here, as the cooling module chokes otherwise. The impact is more pronounced than on the Legion 7a configuration.
Custom mode allows for higher CPU/GPU power levels and faster, louder fans. I didn’t get to properly test it here, as already explained earlier. Regardless, I wouldn’t consider running the laptop with max fans anyway, as it gets too loud at 52 dBA.
Balance and Quiet modes, on the other hand, are surely interesting options for this lineup.
Balance mode delivers about 80-85% of the framerates possible on Performance mode, with sub-38 dBA fan noise and excellent thermals in the lower-70s °C (as long as you keep the laptop off the desk, of course). As mentioned already, this is the profile I’d mostly use on this notebook for general chores, heavier work tasks, and gaming; it’s an excellent balance between performance, thermals, and noise levels.
Quiet mode delivers about 70-75% of the framerates, with fan noise of around 30 dBA and still fine thermals: low-70s °C on the CPU and high-70s °C on the GPU.
Finally, gaming on battery power is an option, with framerates about 25% lower than Quiet plugged in and less than 1 hour of runtime (although you could squeeze more with various tweaks, including gaming on the iGPU instead).
Noise, Heat, Connectivity, speakers, and others The cooling module on this Legion 5a is rather simple, with two fans, two average-sized heatsinks, and three heat pipes.
For comparison, here’s the cooling module in the Legion 7a. Keep in mind the 7a is a slimmer chassis, so those fans and heatsinks are lower profile and capacity than on the 5a. This is why the 5a runs at slightly higher-power or/and slightly lower thermals.
This cooling module is adequate for this platform and chassis, with fair internal temperatures in mixed use, as long as you keep this laptop raised off the desk with sustained taxing loads. We’re generally looking at internal temperatures in the mid-70s °C for sustained mixed use.
Flat on the desk, internal temperatures jump out of control and the laptop overheats, in a more severe way than measured on the 7a chassis.
Much like on that chassis, pushing 80+W of power into the CPU in multi-threaded loads leads to high internal temperatures. But even at 80W, we measured CPU temperatures in the mid-80s °C on Performance mode, 10 °C lower than on the 7i in the same scenario.
As far as the noise levels go, expect 52 dBA on Custom mode, 45 dBA on Performance, 38 dBA on Auto, and sub-30 dBA on Quiet.
With daily use, the fans idle often when using the laptop on battery power, but remain more active when using it plugged in. Nonetheless, they spin quietly even when active, and you’d hardly notice them at all even with casual use and general multitasking. I haven’t noticed coil whine or electronic noises either, so overall a fine cooling design for everyday use.
External temperatures are excellent overall, with most surfaces keeping around 30 °C or lower.
*Daily Use – streaming Netflix in EDGE for 30 minutes, Quiet Mode, fans at <30 dB
With demanding loads, most of the chassis still stays comfortable when using the laptop in Performance mode and raised off the desk. However, the hottest spot develops around the right side of the keyboard, close to the arrows keys, around high-40s °C. That means the laptop can feel somewhat uncomfortable to the touch, especially when used in a hot environment that might amplify these results. At the same time, the other parts of the keyboard, around the WASD keys and armrest, average in the mid-30s °C to low-40s.
Keeping the laptop flat on the desk leads to higher thermals overall and is to be avoided here.
As for the other profiles, both Balance and Quiet mode run slightly cooler all over the chassis, and develop a lower hotspot around the same area.
*Gaming – Balance mode – playing Cyberpunk for 30 minutes, fans at ~38 dB
For connectivity, there’s the latest-gen Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 through a Realtek module on this laptop. Everything performed fine.
Audio is handled by a set of dual speakers. The overall audio quality is rather mediocre, with limited bass and average volume; these speakers are smaller and sound poorer than those in the Legion 7a and Legion 7i units. Lenovo should have put more effort into better audio with these lineups, as that is my main complaint about them.
Finally, there’s a 5MPx camera placed at the top of the screen, flanked by microphones. It’s more or less the same camera implemented in the Legion 7a and various Yoga models this year, a wide-angle shooter with decent image quality in good light. The camera includes IR with support for Windows Hello. A kill-switch button is implemented on the laptop’s right edge, as on other Legions.
Battery life There’s an 80 Wh battery inside this Lenovo Legion 5a, fairly sized for a device in this segment.
Here’s what we got in our battery life tests, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~50% brightness) and the default 60Hz refresh rate (switches to 60Hz automatically when unplugged). I’ve also set the Windows 11 power mode to Best Power Efficiency.
8 W (~10 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;10-12 W (~7-8 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;10 W (~8 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;10 W (~8 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;12-20 W (~4-7 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;90 W (<1 h of use) – Gaming – Cyberpunk, Balance Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON.
Decent runtimes all things considered, although browsing tends to be quite heavy on the efficiency here, with serious variations in power draw between tabs and apps. That means mileage with general use can vary greatly.
Here’s what we got on the Legion 7a for comparison, a similar Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 configuration with the larger 16-inch display. More or less the same runtimes.
10-12 W (~6-8 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;9 W (~9-10 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;9 W (~9-10 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;12-20 W (~4-7 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Quiet Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;75 W (~1 h of use) – Gaming – Cyberpunk, Balance Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON.
And here’s what we got on the Yoga 7i Pro on the Panther Lake platform with a similar 15-inch OLED display; this runs significantly more efficiently.
8-10 W (~8-10 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;7-7.5 W (~11-12 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;6.5-7 W (~12-13 h of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Battery Saver Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON;9-12 W (~7-9 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Adaptive Mode, screen at 50%, Wi-Fi ON.
This series ships with a 245W charger, a pretty bulky charger for a laptop of this kind.
USB-C charging is supported as well and is adequate for general use and multitasking; just don’t expect to run heavier workloads or games on PD.
Price and availability – Lenovo Legion 5a series At the time of this article, the Lenovo Legion 5a series is widely available in most markets.
Follow this link for updated prices and configurations in your area .
The entry-tier configuration with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, and the RTX 5060 GPU, goes for 1799 USD in the US, 1800-1900 EUR in Europe, and 1600 GBP in the UK. These are competitive prices in all markets for 2026 standards, and don’t account for any discounts that will generally push the price closer to 1500 USD/EUR. And the RAM/SSD are upgradeable if you want to go that route.
You could also but extra RAM and a 1 TB SSD out of the box, in which case the price jumps a fair bit. And there’s also the option to select a Ryzen AI 9 465 CPU, but that upgrade makes little sense to me.
Follow this link for updated prices and configurations in your area , at the time you’re reading this article.
Final thoughts- 2026 Lenovo Legion 5a review In many ways, this Lenovo Legion 5a is an even better-value notebook than the Legion 7a discussed in a previous article , although the choice between them comes down to how much less you’re paying for the 5a in your region.
On the US market, the difference is rather significant between the two, at around 300-500 USD or so. Over here in Europe, however, it seems to be only 200-300 EUR, and that makes the 5a less attractive.
All in all, the two are very similar in most ways. They’re built on the same specs, more or less, and deliver similar capabilities for general use, multitasking, work/school apps, and gaming. Having tested both, though, the 7a does offer a slightly faster CPU in sustained loads, while the 5a comes slightly on top on the GPU end and tends to run a little cooler internally, but at the same time warmer at the keyboard level. The 5a scores an extra point with the possibility to upgrade the RAM, while the memory on the 7a is onboard (albeit faster).
Then, both lineups are similar in looks and functionality, with minor differences in design between them. The 7a offers a card reader that’s not available on the 5a, and zone-RGB keyboard lighting, as notable extras. The 7a also offers a larger and faster 16-inch OLED display, but the 15.3-inch display on the 5a is almost there as well; furthermore, both are glossy, non-touch OLEDs.
Finally, they deliver similar runtimes on battery power, despite the 7a including a marginally larger battery, and both are rather lacking when it comes to the quality of their speakers – the audio on the 5a is just worse, though, with some tiny, tinny speakers inside.
Overall, the 7a offers a generally more polished experience, while the 5a pales in comparison, mostly for that hotspot that develops around the arrow keys with gaming.
All in all, both these lineups are solid offers in the mid-tier segment of compact lightweight all-purpose notebooks. They’re made well, practical, and sufficiently powerful and efficient to meet the expectations of most average buyers, both for casual and everyday multitasking, but also for tackling more demanding loads and games at times. You should be fine with either one, but I generally lean towards the 5a if the price difference is justifiable in your region.
At the same time, I’d also keep an eye on that Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i series . Over here in Europe, it slots in between the Legions in terms of pricing ( but that varies between regions, as the Yoga is more expensive than both Legions in other markets), and it’s a Panther Lake platform with similar RTX 5060 graphics and the same 15-inch OLED display, albeit running a little slower due to the lower TGP. However, the Yoga Pro is a much more portable design than both Legions, offers better runtimes on battery, and is arguably a better-looking and better-made chassis as well.
This wraps up my time with the Lenovo Legion 5a. Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com . I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.
