After teasing it in March, Lenovo will soon launch its first 14-inch Legion gaming laptop – the appropriately named Legion Slim 5.
As the old saying goes, big things come in small packages because, even though the Legion Slim 5 weighs 4.19lbs (1.9 kg), there's a lot of muscle behind it. The full specs sheet isn’t out yet, but looking at what we have, customers will be able to equip their machine with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. The hardware will be supported by Lenovo’s AI Engine Plus which, in turn, is powered by the laptop’s LA1 AI chip. Using both together, the Legion Slim 5 is said to be able to learn a user’s gaming habits by tracking “key components and processes to maximize [both] performance and battery life”.
Judging by the wording in the announcement, there will be other hardware options on release for those looking for something more affordable.
One of a kind
In addition to being the first 14-inch Legion model, it’s also the first of its series to have a “16:10 WQXGA Plus [resolution] OLED display” covering all of the DCI-P3 color gamut. WQXGA Plus, in case you're curious, is 2880 x 1800 pixels on screen. Similar to the graphics card, the monitor’s quality is boosted with its own set of features from the “AI-powered DLSS 3” tech to full ray tracing for realistic in-game lighting. Add a 120Hz variable refresh rate as the cherry on top and you have an environment where the RTX 4060 can “truly shine.” Sure, it’s not the best graphics card in its family, but it’s still plenty powerful.
Other notable features include up to 64GB of memory, up to a terabyte of storage, as well as a “73.6Whr battery with Super Rapid Charge Pro technology” for fast charging.
Lenovo states the 14-inch Legion Slim 5 “with AMD Ryzen processor” will launch September 2023 in Storm Grey. Prices start at $1,439.99 USD.
The company claims in its announcement the Legion Slim 5 will ship out in August; however looking at the official storefront, we didn’t see it. All we saw was the Legion Slim 5i Gen 8. We reached out to Lenovo for launch clarification and when people can expect an international release.
Analysis: Getting in on a trend
The Legion Slim 5 comes at a very interesting time for the industry as companies shift more towards 14-inch displays on their gaming laptops. There is a niche to be filled here as people seek out lightweight options. Luckily for Lenovo, very few devices have the qualities of the Legion Slim 5 – a slim gaming laptop with an OLED screen and an RTX 40 series GPU at a decent price. The closest competitor it has at the time of this writing is the Razer Blade 14, but it costs nearly $2,500. There is the Alienware x14 R2 which has a similar price point although it lacks the OLED display.
It’ll be interesting to see where the Legion Slim 5 goes from here. Will it become a titan in the industry or come up short? OLED burn-in could be a concern, potentially hampering its appeal.
While we have you, check out TechRadar’s list of the best gaming laptops for 2023.
