Lenovo Legion 5: 17ACH6H RTX 3070 Review

by Alex Braham 41 views

Hey guys! Today, we're diving deep into the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H equipped with the RTX 3070. If you're on the hunt for a gaming laptop that balances performance, size, and price, you've probably stumbled upon this beast. Let's break down what makes this laptop tick, its strengths, and where it might fall a little short. Buckle up; it's going to be a detailed ride!

Design and Build Quality

The design of the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H screams understated power. It’s not as flashy as some of its competitors, but that's part of its charm. The laptop sports a clean, minimalist aesthetic with a focus on functionality. The chassis is primarily made of high-quality plastic that feels sturdy and well-built. While it might not have the premium feel of an all-aluminum build, it certainly doesn't feel cheap. The matte finish helps to keep fingerprints at bay, which is always a plus.

One of the first things you'll notice is its size. Being a 17-inch laptop, it's naturally larger and heavier than your average 15-inch model. This extra real estate allows for better cooling and a more immersive gaming experience, but it does impact portability. If you're planning to carry it around frequently, be prepared for some extra weight in your bag. The hinge is robust, allowing for smooth opening and closing of the lid without excessive wobble. The Lenovo Legion 5's build quality inspires confidence, suggesting it can withstand the rigors of daily use.

Ports are generously distributed around the laptop, including USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and an Ethernet port, covering all your connectivity needs. The keyboard layout is spacious and comfortable, with well-spaced keys and decent travel. The trackpad is also adequately sized and responsive, making it suitable for general use, although serious gamers will likely prefer an external mouse. Overall, the design and build quality strike a good balance between aesthetics, durability, and functionality, making the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H a solid choice for gamers and power users alike.

Display

The display is arguably one of the most crucial aspects of any gaming laptop, and the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H doesn't disappoint. It features a 17.3-inch Full HD (1920x1080) IPS panel with a refresh rate of 144Hz. The high refresh rate is a game-changer, providing incredibly smooth and fluid visuals, especially in fast-paced games. This results in reduced motion blur and a more responsive gaming experience.

The IPS technology ensures wide viewing angles and accurate color reproduction. Whether you're gaming, watching videos, or working on creative projects, the colors appear vibrant and true to life. The brightness levels are also adequate for most indoor environments, although it might struggle a bit in direct sunlight. Color accuracy is decent, covering a reasonable portion of the sRGB color spectrum, making it suitable for content consumption and casual content creation.

While the resolution is only Full HD, it's a reasonable compromise to maintain high frame rates with the RTX 3070. Pushing for a higher resolution like 1440p would put a significant strain on the GPU and potentially reduce performance in demanding games. The screen also features anti-glare coating, which helps to minimize reflections and distractions, allowing you to focus on the game. The display is a strong point, offering a smooth, vibrant, and immersive viewing experience that enhances both gaming and multimedia consumption. Whether you're tearing through the latest AAA titles or binge-watching your favorite shows, the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H's display delivers crisp and clear visuals.

Performance

Under the hood, the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H packs some serious firepower. It's equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. This combination delivers exceptional performance for gaming, content creation, and other demanding tasks. The Ryzen 7 5800H is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that can handle anything you throw at it. It provides excellent performance in both single-threaded and multi-threaded applications, ensuring smooth multitasking and responsiveness.

The RTX 3070 is a powerhouse GPU that can handle the latest games at high settings with ease. It features 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and supports ray tracing and DLSS technologies, enhancing the visual fidelity and performance of compatible games. You can expect to achieve consistently high frame rates in most titles, even with graphics settings cranked up. The laptop also comes with ample RAM (usually 16GB or 32GB) and a fast NVMe SSD, ensuring quick boot times and snappy application loading.

In terms of gaming performance, the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H excels. Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Call of Duty: Warzone run smoothly at high settings, with frame rates well above 60fps. The RTX 3070 allows you to take full advantage of ray tracing and DLSS, resulting in stunning visuals and improved performance. The laptop also handles content creation tasks such as video editing and 3D rendering with ease. The powerful CPU and GPU combo ensures that you can work on large projects without experiencing significant slowdowns.

However, it's important to note that the RTX 3070 in the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is a mobile version, which means it's not quite as powerful as the desktop counterpart. Still, it delivers impressive performance that rivals many desktop GPUs. The cooling system does an admirable job of keeping temperatures in check, but the fans can get quite loud under heavy load. Overall, the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H offers excellent performance for its price, making it a great choice for gamers and content creators alike.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard on the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is designed with gamers in mind. It features a comfortable and responsive typing experience with well-spaced keys and decent key travel. The keys have a slightly soft feel, which makes typing for extended periods less fatiguing. The layout is standard, with no unusual key placements that might throw you off. The keyboard also includes a full-sized numeric keypad, which is a welcome addition for those who work with numbers frequently.

One of the standout features of the keyboard is its backlighting. The keys are backlit with a customizable RGB lighting system, allowing you to personalize the look of your laptop. You can choose from a variety of colors and effects to match your style or gaming setup. The backlighting is also functional, making it easier to see the keys in low-light environments. The keys are also anti-ghosting, which ensures that every keypress is registered, even when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously. This is crucial for gaming, where precise and accurate inputs are essential.

The trackpad is adequately sized and responsive, providing smooth and accurate cursor control. It supports multi-finger gestures, such as scrolling and zooming, making it easy to navigate through web pages and documents. The trackpad's surface is smooth and pleasant to the touch, allowing for comfortable use. While the trackpad is suitable for general use, serious gamers will likely prefer an external mouse for gaming. The trackpad is functional and reliable, making it a solid choice for everyday tasks.

Audio

The audio quality on the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is surprisingly good for a gaming laptop. It features dual speakers that are located on the bottom of the laptop. The speakers produce clear and balanced sound, with decent bass and crisp highs. While they might not rival a dedicated sound system, they are more than adequate for gaming, watching videos, and listening to music.

The speakers are tuned by Harman Kardon, which is known for producing high-quality audio products. The tuning helps to enhance the soundstage and clarity, resulting in a more immersive listening experience. The laptop also supports Nahimic Audio, which allows you to customize the sound settings to your preferences. You can choose from a variety of presets, such as Gaming, Music, and Movie, to optimize the audio for different types of content.

The laptop also includes a headphone jack, which allows you to connect a headset or external speakers for a more personalized listening experience. The headphone jack supports high-resolution audio, ensuring that you can enjoy your music in the highest possible quality. The microphone array is decent, providing clear and accurate voice capture for online gaming and video conferencing. Overall, the audio quality on the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is a pleasant surprise, offering a well-rounded listening experience that enhances both gaming and multimedia consumption.

Battery Life

Battery life is an area where gaming laptops typically struggle, and the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is no exception. It's equipped with a 60Wh battery, which provides decent but not exceptional battery life. You can expect to get around 4-5 hours of light use, such as web browsing and word processing, on a single charge. However, when gaming or performing other demanding tasks, the battery life drops significantly, typically lasting for around 1-2 hours. Battery life will heavily depend on your usage patterns and power settings.

To extend the battery life, you can adjust the power settings in Windows and reduce the screen brightness. Disabling unnecessary background processes and closing unused applications can also help to conserve power. The laptop also supports rapid charging, which allows you to quickly recharge the battery when needed. The Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is not designed to be used on battery power for extended periods. It's best to keep it plugged in when gaming or performing other demanding tasks to ensure optimal performance.

For typical use cases, such as browsing the web or doing office work, you can get a decent amount of unplugged time, but don't expect it to last through a full workday. If battery life is a top priority for you, you might want to consider a different type of laptop, such as an ultrabook or a 2-in-1. The Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is primarily designed for gaming and performance, and its battery life reflects that.

Pros and Cons

To summarize, here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons of the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H:

Pros:

  • Excellent performance for gaming and content creation
  • High refresh rate display
  • Comfortable keyboard with customizable RGB backlighting
  • Decent audio quality
  • Good selection of ports

Cons:

  • Battery life is average
  • Can get loud under heavy load
  • Relatively large and heavy

Conclusion

The Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H with the RTX 3070 is a fantastic gaming laptop that offers a great balance of performance, features, and price. While it might not be perfect, its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. If you're looking for a powerful gaming laptop that can handle the latest games at high settings, the Lenovo Legion 5 17ACH6H is definitely worth considering. Just keep in mind its size and weight if portability is a major concern. Overall, it's a solid choice that will provide you with countless hours of gaming enjoyment. I hope this review helps you make an informed decision. Happy gaming!