Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 10 review: beautiful OLED display hampered by single-channel RAM

Lenovo's Legion 5i Gen 10 arrives with a standout feature: a 15.1-inch OLED display running at 2560x1600 resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate. The screen delivers exceptional color vibrancy and pixel density at 199.93 PPI, making it one of the most visually impressive panels seen in recent mid-range gaming laptops. At £1,348 in the UK and $1,499 in the US, the pricing sits competitively for the spec.

The critical issue, however, is the RAM configuration. The Legion 5i ships with a single 16GB DDR5 stick running at 4,800 MT/s, rather than the dual-channel 2x8GB setup found on competing mid-range models like the MSI Katana 15 HX and Asus TUF Gaming A16. While single-channel memory rarely impacts gaming performance at 1600p resolution where GPU load dominates, the bottleneck becomes severe during memory bandwidth-intensive tasks. Once RAM bandwidth saturates, performance drops significantly.

The UK model pairs the processor with an Intel Core i7-13650HX featuring 14 cores (6 performance, 8 efficiency threads) and a 4.9 GHz boost clock. The US variant upgrades to the Core i7-14700HX, adding eight additional threads. The RTX 5060 GPU runs at a full 115 W, with an average frequency of 2,678 MHz under gaming load. Storage comprises a 1TB Kioxia LS PCIe 4.0 SSD with support for a second M.2 slot.

Gaming temperatures averaged 76 degrees Celsius on the CPU and 81 degrees on the GPU, with peak readings of 99 degrees CPU and 85 degrees GPU. These figures reflect the thermal density of the slim 19.95 to 21.54 mm chassis, resulting in audible fan noise under sustained load. The Lenovo runs noticeably warmer than the Asus TUF Gaming A16, which achieved a 60-degree average GPU temperature and 71-degree peak CPU temperature with similar power constraints.

Beyond the display, the Legion 5i includes solid connectivity: WiFi 7, dual USB-C ports, twin USB 3.2 Type-A ports, HDMI output, and wired ethernet. The 80 Whr battery and 245 W power adapter support the thin profile, and at 1.9 kg the laptop remains portable.

The speaker system delivers surprising clarity for a gaming laptop. Two small tweeters positioned on either side of the trackpad produce noticeable bass and depth, though the audio remains characteristically thin compared to dedicated speakers. For casual in-session audio during gaming, the setup performs adequately.

The Legion 5i excels if your priorities are a high-quality OLED display in a slim form factor at a reasonable price. The processor, GPU, and thermal design handle 1600p gaming comfortably. However, the single-channel RAM configuration disqualifies it for users planning high frame rate gaming, content creation, or other memory-sensitive workloads. Lenovo frames single-channel as user-upgradeable, yet this doesn't address the architectural disadvantage at the point of purchase.