Ben Madilynn
In theory, it’s best to have different tools for different jobs. That might mean owning a gaming desktop to play the latest PC games, a mid-size laptop for day-to-day productivity, and an ultraportable or convertible notebook for travel. In reality, that approach is too expensive for most. That’s where midrange performance laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i (starts at $960; $1,499.99 as tested) come in. Though not the best tool for any one task, this Costco exclusive provides a lot of versatility at a sensible price. However, the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo remains our midrange Editors’ Choice pick among desktop replacements due to its wider availability.
Configurations: A Bonus for Costco Shoppers
Lenovo.com’s entry-level IdeaPad Pro 5i is affordable, retailing for roughly $960, but its hardware configuration is humble: It teams an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processor with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive, a 1600p IPS display, and previous-generation Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 mobile graphics.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Our $1,499.99 Costco review unit is far more lavishly equipped, with a Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, 32GB of memory, 2TB of solid-state storage, a 2K OLED screen, and GeForce RTX 4050 graphics. It’s more than $500 pricier than the base model, but arguably a better value in terms of cost versus components, and it’s been discounted at times to as low as $1,349.99.
Design: A Plain But Sturdy 16-Incher
Lenovo pitches the IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 as an affordable laptop for higher-level work at home, and its design certainly conveys that intent. It’s a simple gunmetal slab adorned only by a discreet Lenovo logo tucked into one corner. Opening the laptop doesn’t change the narrative, as Lenovo opts for elegance over flair again.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
However, as Apple’s MacBook Pro line has long proven, a safe design works well if decently executed, and Lenovo gets most of the details right. The gunmetal exterior has a subtle luster that stands out when light strikes it. The laptop also has curved and beveled edges, making it easier to pick up from a flat surface. Even the display hinge is well-tuned; I could lift the system’s lid with a single finger. A barely-there webcam bump on the top bezel helps with this.
It’s a rigid laptop, too. When opened and picked up from a single corner, the IdeaPad shows only the barest hint of flex—a pleasing result for a 16-inch machine in this price bracket. The display lid is a similar story, feeling stable whenever it’s opened or closed.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Although sold under “Pro” branding, the IdeaPad is just as thin and light as many of Lenovo’s Slim laptops. It measures 0.69 inch thick and weighs 4.28 pounds when equipped with discrete graphics, slightly trimmer than comparably equipped competitors like the Dell XPS 16 and the HP Spectre x360 16.
Using the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16: Decent Keyboard, Mediocre Touchpad, Plentiful Ports
You’ll find no shortage of physical connectivity along the Pro 5i’s flanks. At left are two USB-C ports: one supports Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 with a data rate of up to 40Gbps, while the other supports USB-C 3.2 with a data rate of up to 20Gbps. Both USB-C connections support DisplayPort alternate mode and USB Power Delivery, which can either connect to a monitor or charge the laptop.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
However, the laptop also has a dedicated power port for the included 170-watt AC adapter. You’ll need that adapter for faster charging and to see the best performance, but the USB-C ports are a welcome backup option if you leave the power brick at home.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Additional connectivity includes HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, an SD card reader, and a pair of 5Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. This is a healthy selection; Ethernet is the only standard port missing, though it’s increasingly rare among new Windows laptops. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Lenovo laptops tend to have some of the industry’s best keyboards, and the IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 upholds that reputation. Its spacious keys and number pad feel immediately comfortable to use and benefit from a crisp, taut response that clearly communicates when each key is activated.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
The keyboard backlight is functional but not remarkable, providing just a few brightness levels. The keyboard also has a Microsoft Copilot key for AI-based software functions. The numeric keypad is easy to use and feels spacious, as the keys are close to (though not quite) full-size.
The Pro 5i 16’s touchpad is less impressive than the keyboard. It’s more than 5 inches wide but only about 3 inches deep, which isn’t large for a 16-inch laptop. It’s also centered under the space bar which, because of the number pad, puts it slightly toward the left of the laptop. That leaves just a few inches of space between the left edge and the touchpad, and I find my palm often resting on the touchpad itself. That caused some unintended inputs while moving my hand between the keyboard and touchpad.
Testing the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16: Midrange Power Player
The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 I tested is the most potent configuration available. It has an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor with 16 cores (six Performance and eight standard plus two low-power Efficient cores) and a top turbo frequency of 5.1GHz. The CPU is paired with Nvidia’s RTX 4050 mobile graphics with 6GB of video memory and a maximum graphics power of 90W. The laptop also has 32GB of memory and a 2TB SSD.
For comparison, we rounded up a slate of similarly equipped alternatives. These include the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i, and the HP Spectre x360 16. These 16-inch competitors have Intel Core Ultra 7 or Ultra 9 processors and Nvidia RTX 4050 or 4060 graphics. We also included the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, our Editors’ Choice award holder in the midrange desktop replacement category.
Productivity and Content Creation
We run the same general productivity benchmarks across both mobile and desktop systems. Our first test is UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates a variety of real-world productivity and office workflows to measure overall system performance and also includes a storage subtest for the primary drive.
Three other benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 uses that company’s Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Geekbench 5.4 Pro from Primate Labs simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better).
Finally, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Systems. It uses Adobe’s famous image editor, Creative Cloud version 22, to rate a PC’s performance for content creation and multimedia applications. It’s an automated extension that executes a variety of general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks, ranging from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving an image to applying masks, gradient fills, and filters.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16’s performance was toward the upper end of the competitive systems. It didn’t deliver the best result in PCMark 10 but posted the leading multi-core CPU result in Cinebench and a competitive Geekbench score. It also produced the best result in the Adobe Photoshop 22 benchmark.
These results are not all surprising, as the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H occupies a higher performance tier than the processors we tested in most competitors. Outfitting a competitor’s laptop with a CPU upgrade could close this gap, but the Lenovo’s productivity and creative application performance was quite potent for a machine in its price range. And don’t forget our test unit also had 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage, double the allotments of many rivals. (The extra RAM definitely helped in the Photoshop trial.)
Graphics and Gaming Tests
For gaming laptops and other mobile gaming hardware (and sometimes just laptops with discrete graphics), we run both synthetic and real-world gaming benchmarks. The former includes two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for systems with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs). Additionally, we use the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which gauges OpenGL performance. These GFXBench tests are rendered offscreen to accommodate different native display resolutions; more frames per second (fps) means higher performance.
Our real-world gaming testing comes from the in-game benchmarks of F1 2021, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Rainbow Six Siege. These three games—all benchmarked at 1080p resolution—represent simulation, open-world action-adventure, and competitive/esports shooter games, respectively. Unfortunately, the Pro 5i and several of its peers balked at Rainbow.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16’s graphics performance was respectable, but fell more toward the bottom half of the pack in most tests, though it predictably shone in the CPU-intensive 3DMark Night Raid subtest. It easily bested the MSI Prestige due to the latter’s lack of a dedicated GPU, though you can buy the MSI without investing in a Costco membership.
Battery and Display Tests
We test each laptop and tablet’s battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.
To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen’s color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 endured 9 hours and 16 minutes in our battery test. That’s not bad for a desktop replacement, but it was the worst result in our test group. Display quality, on the other hand, is a perk: The IdeaPad has a 16-inch OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 2,048-by-1,280-pixel resolution, and a refresh rate of 120Hz. Though the resolution is not much higher than 1080p, it works out to an acceptable pixel density of 150 pixels per inch. Laptops with higher resolutions, like 2,880 by 1,600, will look sharper, but only just.
In our color-gamut measurement, the Pro 5i 16 proved capable of displaying 100% of the sRGB and DCI-P3 palettes and 93% of AdobeRGB. These excellent results help the screen achieve a vivid and saturated look. Competitors that also have OLED displays, like the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo, are just as beautiful. But those that lack OLED technology, like the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, look dull and flat by comparison.
Verdict: A Value Sweet Spot…If You Shop at Costco
The Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 is not an exciting-looking laptop, but it might well be one worth buying. It delivers potent CPU and GPU performance, an attractive OLED display, an enjoyable keyboard, and lots of connectivity at a reasonable MSRP of $1,499.99. It’s a decent value and even a bit of a steal when discounted.
That’s not to say it’s perfect. The IdeaPad didn’t dazzle in our battery life test, and its touchpad is underwhelming. Nor is it worth buying a Costco membership just to get this laptop, despite Costco’s doubling (to two years) the warranty for most computer purchases. Because of that, it’s wise to keep an eye on the price of the IdeaPad Pro 5i’s competitors if you’re ready to buy, as a shift in pricing could make them more attractive. But if you have a pal with a Costco membership, the IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 is a sensible pick for price/performance balance.
The Bottom Line
Though light on style and flair, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 is a practical, versatile 16-inch laptop that delivers a lot of capability per dollar, sweetened by an attractive OLED display and an enjoyable keyboard.
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About Matthew Smith
