Today we are witnessing a showdown between 2 extremely popular mid-tier gaming laptops. In this corner, weighing in at 5 pounds and sporting a macho gaming aesthetics is Asus Tuf A15 Gaming Laptop. And on the corner, also weighing in at 5 pounds and rocking a unique iridescent logo with trippy colors is Lenovo Legion 5 Gaming Laptop. So who will come out on top and get crowned the champion and who goes home a loser? Keep watching to find out!
1 Build Quality
Both these laptops are made from plastic so don't expect metallic unibody construction. But the good news is that they are not using some cheap flimsy plastic. Instead both these laptops are built using a combination of ABS polymer and polycarbonate material. Asus Tuf A15 claims military grade toughness and boasts MIL-STD-810H certification. When I hold it in my hands, it does feel like a tank. I especially like its sturdy hinge which securely holds the display and prevents it from wobbling during intense gaming sessions. The top lid is grey in color and exhibits minimal flex. Asus Tuf A15’s brushed metal finish with contrasting hairline brushstrokes and aggressive angles give it an attractive macho gaming look.
Lenovo Legion 5 on the other hand has a more subdued non-gaming look. But I dig its iridescent logo which reflects ambient light creating these trippy colors when viewed from certain angles. Lenovo Legion 5’s hinge is shifted away from the corner by an inch. This allows the screen to flip back 180 degrees, something you cannot do on Asus Tuf laptop. Overall both these laptops have pretty good build quality, but I will give this round to Asus. Its construction feels more solid and durable. Its hinge feels more sturdier than Legion 5. So with this win, Asus take the first round and leads this contest 1-0
2 Display
Now let's talk about the display quality of the screen. Both laptops have a
large 15.6” full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080. Both screens
use high quality IPS panel with support for higher refresh rates. Asus Tuf
uses a 144 Hz refresh rate screen that pumps out a peak brightness of 260
nits. Lenovo Legion 5 offers a choice of 2 different screens. The cheaper
model comes with a 120 Hz refresh rate screen with a peak brightness of 250
nits. The more expensive model boasts 144 Hz refresh rate screen and a peak
brightness of 300 nits. Both Asus and Lenovo offer anti-glare matte coating
on their screen to prevent distracting reflections from ambient light.
Asus Tuf supports something called nvidia adaptive sync technology which
synchronizes the display's refresh rate with the GPU's frame rate. This
reduces lag, minimizes stuttering, and eliminates visual tearing for smooth
and immersive gameplay. When it comes to color reproduction, Asus Tuf’s
screen offers a decent 58% SRGB color gamut which is comparable to what
Legion 5 offers in its base model. But the upgraded screen in Legion 5
offers a superior 100% SRGB color gamut with 300 nits of peak brightness. So
this is going to be a tough round for me to declare a winner. The problem is
the fluctuating price. If you can find an Asus Tuf A15 laptop with 144 hz
refresh rate screen at the same or cheaper price than Legion 5, then it can
be declared the winner. But at the time of making this video, Lenovo Legion
5 was cheaper than Asus.
So the best option is to check the purchase links below where I have listed
all available configurations of these laptops. Based on the price and
availability in your region, you can make a purchasing decision. So I will
declare this round as a tie which means after round 2, Asus is still leading
this contest 1-0
3 Hardware Specs
Moving on to the hardware specs, both these laptops offer a choice of going
with either a 6-core 12-thread Ryzen 5 4600H processor or an 8-core
16-thread Ryzen 7 4800H processor. The 2 extra cores and 4 extra threads in
Ryzen 7 give it a mild 6% single core performance boost and a more beefy
18.5% multi core performance boost. You can pair these CPUs with
Nvidia GTX 1650 or upgrade to GTX 1660 Ti or RTX 2060 GPU.
RTX 2060 is clearly the top dog when it comes to gaming performance,
followed by GTX 1660ti and GTX 1650. At the time of making this video Lenovo
Legion 5 was edging out Asus Tuf A15 in price to performance ratio. Here in
the US, for $750 you can get Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 5 4600H CPU and GTX
1650 GPU. Similarly configured Asus Tuf laptop will cost you more.
Let's talk about the storage option on both these laptops. Both Asus and
Lenovo offer 8 GIG DDR4 RAM and 512 GIG of PCIe SSD. The 8 GIG RAM occupies
the first DIMM slot while the 2nd slot is empty. So that means you can add
another 8 GIG RAM in the 2nd slot, thereby doubling the system RAM to 16
GIG. This will also enable the dual channel configuration which is about
10-15% faster than single channel configuration. If you want to go crazy,
you can add 16GIG RAM in each slot for a grand total of 32 GIG. You also get
a 2.5” SATA3 slot for adding a 2nd SSD drive as well as a 2nd PCIe NVME
drive slot in both these laptops.
I have provided links to compatible RAM and SSDs that will work with both
these laptops in the purchase links below. So this is an easy win for Lenovo
Legion 5 because it offers a bigger bang for your bucks. So the score now
reads 1-ALL after round 3
4 Keyboard & Trackpad
Both these laptops have a large 6-row chiclet style keyboard with numeric
keypads and user adjustable LED backlighting. My Lenovo Legion 5’s keyboard
only supports white backlighting while Asus Tuf A15 supports full RGB
lighting. Both laptops use black keycaps with white lettering which offers
great contrast in both dark and well lit rooms. Asus Tuf laptop prominently
highlights WASD keys with RGB colors making them easier to locate during
gaming.
The typing experience on both Asus and Lenovo is pretty good. They both
offer decent key travel distance and good actuation force. Both use large
arrow keys and spacebar keys making them gaming friendly. Let's quickly talk
about the trackpad. Lenovo legion 5 offers a wider trackpad measuring 4.1 by
2.9 inches compared to Asus Tuf which comes with a 4.2 by 2.3 inch trackpad.
The trackpad on Asus Tuf laptop has 2 dedicated physical buttons for left
and right click, something missing on Lenovo Legion 5.
So I will award this round to Asus Tuf because I prefer its RGB backlit
keyboard with customizable WASD keys. I also prefer the dedicated left and
right click buttons on Asus Tuf’s trackpad which is missing on Legion 5. So
with this win, Asus again takes the lead. The score after round 4 is 2-1 in
favour of Asus Tuf A15
5 Battery & thermals
Lenovo Legion 5 comes with a 60Whrs battery that supports Rapid Charging
allowing it to go from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes. It delivers about 5
hours of battery life doing typical web surfing with WiFi turned ON. Asus
TUF A15 on the other hand comes with a large 90WHrs battery that delivers
close to 7 hours of battery life doing similar tasks. When it comes to
thermal design, Lenovo Legion uses two fans, four radiators, three heatpipes
and plenty of air vents at the bottom of the laptop to keep it cool. This
coupled with ample thermal plates on top of the CPU, GPU and VRMs allows
Legion 5 to run cool even under heavy load.
The cooling system on Asus Tuf A15 utilizes three heatsinks and multiple
heatpipes. There are 2 dedicated tunnels which expel dust particles, dirt
and debris from the chassis. This prevents gunk build-up in the thermal fins
increasing system stability and lifespan. But in my personal use, I have
consistently found Lenovo Legion 5 to run cooler and quieter than Asus Tuf
A15.
So this is going to be a tough round to judge. It will come down to whether
you value longer battery life or a cooler and quieter running gaming laptop.
Since I always plug my gaming laptop while playing, I don't care much about
battery life. But I can't stand noisy and hot running gaming laptops. So I
will award this round to Lenovo Legion 5 for its excellent thermal heat
management. With this win, Lenovo comes back from behind and ties the final
score to 2-ALL.
Conclusion
So that means after 5 grueling rounds, this contest ends in a tie! But we
need to declare a winner. So which laptop should you buy? I think the answer
will come down to your preference. If you love a macho gaming laptop with
humongous battery capacity and a fancy RGB keyboard with custom WASD keys,
go with Asus Tuf A15. On the other hand, If you prefer a more mainstream
looking gaming laptop with excellent thermals, go with Lenovo Legion 5. Of
course the price will play a huge role in your purchasing decision. I have
seen excellent deals on both these laptops in the past. So keep an eye on
their price by following the links below. As we approach back to school and
holiday shopping season later in the year, I definitely expect some sweet
deals from the manufacturers. So what do you guys think? Would you prefer
the Asus TUF A15 or Lenovo Legion 5 gaming laptop? Please let me know in the
comment section below.
Purchase Links
👉 Buy Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 5 4600H and GTX 1650
👉 Buy Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 7 4700H and GTX 1660 Ti
👉 Buy Lenovo Legion 5 with Ryzen 7 4700H and RTX 2060
👉 Buy Asus Tuf A15 with GTX 1650
👉 Buy Asus Tuf A15 with RTX 2060
👉 Buy Asus Tuf A15 with GTX 1660 Ti
Buy 1080p USB Webcam
👉 Fifine
Hardware upgrades
👉 Buy recommended RAM upgrades
👉 Buy recommended SATA3 SSD upgrades
👉 Buy recommended PCIe NVMe SSD upgrades
Disclosure: Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases