Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Pro 16IHU6 in review: 16-inch all-rounder with good battery life

The IdeaPad's slim aluminum case comes in a matte, silver-gray color (Cloud Gray). The display bezel is black. Lenovo has opted for a stylish, no-frills design with smooth surfaces. The laptop doesn't have a maintenance hatch, and the battery is firmly built into the device.

The 16-incher shows a good build quality. The gap dimensions are accurate, and there are no material protrusions. Rigidity and stability leave no room for criticism. The lid and base unit can be twisted a bit, but the whole situation still remains within limits. The hinges hold the lid firmly in position, but they allow it to wobble a bit. The maximum aperture angle is about 155 degrees. Moreover, opening the lid with one hand is possible.

Despite the different display formats and sizes, the devices in our comparison field don't differ too much in terms of dimensions. The IdeaPad weighs about 1.9 kg, a good 200 grams more than the competition.

Lenovo equips the IdeaPad with two USB-A slots (USB 3.2 Gen 1) and two USB-C slots (1x Thunderbolt 4/USB 4.0, 1x USB 2.0). The included power adapter can be connected to both USB-C ports; the USB-C 2.0 port has been primarily intended for this by Lenovo. As a result, the Thunderbolt 4 slot remains available for other things (docking station, external GPU). The latter supports DisplayPort via USB-C. Along with the HDMI output, there are consequently 2 video outputs.

The ports are located in the rear areas of both sides. The space next to the palm rest remains free of cables. It would've been ideal if Lenovo had placed one USB-C and one USB-A port, respectively, on each side of the device.

With transfer rates of 90.6 MB/s (copying large data blocks), the memory card reader (reference card: AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60) is among the fastest models. A comparison with the rates of the Dell XPS 15 makes it clear that much more would be possible. Moreover, the reader doesn't accommodate SD cards completely. They protrude a good 17 mm.

The WLAN chip (Intel AX201) supports the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax standards and offers Bluetooth 5 functionality. In addition, the data rates determined under optimal conditions (no other WLAN devices nearby, short distance between laptop and server PC; router: Netgear Nighthawk AX12) are very good.

In terms of quality, the webcam (0.9 MP, max. 1280x720 pixels) in the Lenovo laptop isn't able to stand out from the cameras of the contenders. Things are better when it comes to color accuracy: With a deviation of around 8, the target (DeltaE less than 3) is clearly missed, but the competition is (narrowly) beaten.

The usual documents are included with the laptop: A quick-start guide and warranty information.

Lenovo grants the 14-incher a two-year warranty in Germany. Furthermore, warranty extensions are available. For example, a four-year on-site warranty costs about 121 Euros (~$142).

Keyboard

Lenovo equips the IdeaPad with a backlit chiclet keyboard (including a number pad). The smooth, flat keys have a short travel and a clear stroke. The resistance provided by the keys is pleasing. Moreover, the keyboard yields a bit during typing. It didn't prove to be bothersome, though. The two-stage backlight is controlled via a function key. All in all, Lenovo delivers a keyboard that is suitable for everyday use. 

With the IdeaPad 5 Pro, Lenovo has a 16-inch all-rounder in its lineup that provides enough performance for office and Internet applications as well as computer games.

The laptop offers three performance profiles ("Intelligent Cooling", "High Performance", "Battery Saving Mode"), which can be switched between via the key combination "Fn" + "Q". We used the "Intelligent Cooling" profile. In addition, we ran some benchmarks with the "High Performance" and "Battery Saving" profiles active. The results can be found in the comparison tables.

We verify if the CPU Turbo is also consistently used when plugged in by running the Cinebench R15 benchmark's multithread test in a continuous loop for at least 30 minutes. Turbo is used to a small extent. Moreover, the High Performance profile leads to a slight increase in clock speeds.

The Battery Saving profile allows the CPU to run at speeds well below the base clock rate for a prolonged period of time. Nonetheless, the available processing power is more than sufficient for office and Internet use. Furthermore, the profile has a positive effect on noise and heat development as well as on battery life.

The fast and smooth system didn't cause any problems. The CPU provides more than enough performance for office and Internet applications. The dedicated graphics core makes it possible to play computer games. This is accompanied by good PCMark results. The RAM (16 GB, DDR4-3200, on-board) runs in dual-channel mode. Expanding the memory is not possible.

The dedicated GeForce MX450 graphics core is Nvidia's latest mid-range model. The GPU is based on the same Turing chip as the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics core. Nvidia has four variants of the MX450 in its portfolio. The IdeaPad is equipped with variant 2.

The 16-incher delivers the best 3DMark results that we have been able to determine with the MX450 so far. The GDDR6 graphics memory (2,048 MB) is probably responsible for this. The 25-watt MX450 GPUs that we have seen so far were usually "only" equipped with slower GDDR5 memory. Furthermore, the integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs GPU is active, and the laptop works with Nvidia's Optimus graphics-switching solution.

Most games in our database achieve playable frame rates at HD resolution and low to medium quality levels. Titles with moderate hardware requirements allow the selection of higher settings. The IdeaPad also takes the top spot among the MX450 laptops tested so far when it comes to gaming, and it delivers the best frame rates almost throughout. In addition, the High Performance profile sometimes leads to a small increase in frame rates.