🔬[REVIEW] Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro - well-performing but with just 16GB RAM
Channel: LaptopMedia
Date: 14/11/2022

📈 💵  Specs and Prices: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-5-pro-16-2022/
👁️  Buy our display profiles: https://laptopmedia.com/review/lenovo-ideapad-5-pro-16-2022/#buy-our-profiles
🔬 In-depth Review: https://laptopmedia.com/review/lenovo-ideapad-5-pro-16-2022/

➡️  CONTENTS:
[0:00] Introduction
[0:16] Design and construction
[0:43] Keyboard and Touchpad
[1:03] Ports
[1:21] Display quality
[2:07] Battery life
[2:29] Performance
[3:50] Temps and Stability
[4:39] Disassembly and upgrade options
[5:11] Verdict
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🔬[REVIEW] Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro

[Intro]

The laptop is entirely made of aluminum, which is reflected in the weight and thickness, stopping the scales at 1.92 kg and having a profile of 16.9 mm. The design is the same as last year, with rounded corners and soft edges. The Lenovo branding is minimal, with two small appearances at the edge of the lid and the base. The lid and keyboard deck don’t show a lot of flex, however, the lid is slightly more flimsy. 

[Input devices]

Still, it opens with one hand, revealing a full-sized keyboard with a NumPad. The typing experience is great thanks to the clicky feedback, despite the slightly shorter key travel. The touchpad is massive and covered in Mylar, which is very smooth. The responsiveness and accuracy are great as well. 

[Ports]

The left side houses a power plug, an HDMI 2.0 port, one 10-gigabit USB Type-C port, which has Thunderbolt certification on Intel models, and an audio jack. On the other side, you get a MicroSD card reader and two full-sized 5-gigabit USBs.

[Display]

There are two display options that have a QHD+ resolution and an IPS panel. One of them also has a 120Hz refresh rate, ideal for some competitive games. We tested the regular 60Hz option, which has excellent viewing angles, a max brightness of 337 nits, and a high contrast ratio, which should ensure dark black colors. It covers 90% of the sRGB gamut and reaches a dE value of 1.5 with our Design and Gaming profile, which you can purchase by clicking the link in the description. 

[Battery]

The IdeaPad 5 Pro is equipped with a 75Wh battery. Our configuration sports a Ryzen 5 6600HS and an RTX 3050 with a 65W power limit. The laptop lasts for 10 hours and 44 minutes of Web browsing, or 10 hours and 10 minutes of video playback, which is a good result.

[Performance]

The Ryzen 5 6600HS has a 35W TDP, 10W lower than the regular 6600H, which is a good option for thinner laptops, as the CPU can maintain more stable clock speeds and lower temperatures. When compared to its Intel counterpart, the IdeaPad 5i Pro with 45-watt Core i5-12500H, it does show a lack in performance, both in 3D and 2D Rendering. 

On the other hand, the AMD-powered model uses a dedicated GPU, which is much better than the integrated graphics inside the Core i5. The Intel model has access to the Arc A370M, which we were able to snag up and test for ourselves. To keep it short, some titles need the GPU to settle down for about 10 minutes, after which the FPS improves and the games run better. Other games like Far Cry 6 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider give us BSOD (Blue screen of death), which is very unusual. Intel definitely needs better driver support.

Death Stranding performed decently, not having significant FPS drops even at the highest preset. 

[Cooling]

The laptop uses a simple cooling solution with two heat pipes that cover both the processor and graphics. There are two fans and two heat sinks as well. We also have to mention the grill on the base, which supplies air to the setup. 

The CPU manages to maintain high clock speeds, running at 3.70 GHz on all six cores. At the same time, it keeps a 54W TDP throughout the whole stress test, while not going above 84°C. 

The GPU runs closer to 60W, with 62W being the max TGP that the 3050 reaches in the test. Clock speeds and temperatures are great, which is fantastic for prolonged loads like video editing. 

Comfort during the test was good, as the two fans didn’t produce any unbearable noise, while the keyboard’s hotspot was only 43°C.

[Teardown and upgradeability]

Despite the large 16-inch footprint, the IdeaPad 5 Pro comes with soldered memory. You only get up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, but at least it runs in quad-channel mode. Still, it would get eaten up very quickly by every Creator program. Storage-wise, there’s only one M.2 PCIe x4 slot that supports Gen 4 SSDs. 

[Verdict]

The IdeaPad 5 Pro delivers performing and efficient hardware while keeping temperatures and comfort at a very good level. While the Intel version does carry more performance, it's Arc GPU does have its driver issues, which really limit its gaming capabilities, all the while the RTX 3050 that we have here is performing fantastically. The only thing that’s got us worried is the low RAM configuration that’s available, so hopefully, Lenovo can up the capacity.