CheckMag | The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16 is the best budget gaming laptop that can double as an office laptop

For a long time now, laptops and even desktop PCs targeted at users who want to play video games have followed the trend of coming in extravagant designs. Black cases with red or orange keyboard letters, red-colored accents, case designs that look like alien spaceships, brand logos screaming to be noticed. All this and more is commonplace when it comes to gaming laptops.

Some users might find them cool and maybe that kind of look is exactly what they’re looking for. Others, however, might share my opinion: these types of designs are hard to look at. And what about taking such a laptop to the office or to a business meeting? Unless I was working for a company that develops video games or other kinds of software for the masses, I honestly wouldn’t feel comfortable using a laptop that looks like a small spacecraft in the office.

I might have to go to meetings where current or potential clients or partners are present, for example. This creates an environment where professionalism is needed and appreciated, and whether we like it or not, this includes everything from the way we act and talk to the way we dress and the work devices that we use.

So, what do you do if you’re a gamer and you don’t want to pay for two separate notebooks? You’ll need to find a laptop that can run games while also looking as subtle and discreet as possible. This is when the 16-inch Lenovo Legion Pro 15 comes to mind.

When Notebookcheck reviewed this device, the author described the laptop as having a "muted design". This is exactly what we’re going for. As you can see, the Lenovo notebook has a black chassis that is very clean. There are no color accents on the outside, and the logos on the lid are subtle. Even if the Legion logo is slightly big, its monotone dark look and mostly simple design prevent it from becoming an element that’s too eye-catching.

When not using the backlight, the keyboard area looks completely normal. The same goes for the clickpad with its minimalist design. Finally, the protruding section at the back of the chassis, which holds several ports, manages to keep a low profile thanks to the clean esthetic of the small icons accompanying each port.

All in all, the 16-inch Lenovo Legion Pro 5 ticks all the boxes to be accepted in the office. At the same time, it’s our current number one budget gaming laptop in its base configuration. Equipped with the AMD Ryzen 5 7645HX, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, and 16 GB of RAM, the Legion Pro 5 is a great gaming machine that usually allows you to hit and even surpass the 60-FPS mark when playing modern titles in Full HD resolution and high settings. The laptop can also run games in Full HD and ultra settings if you don’t mind sacrificing some FPS and dropping to around 50 frames per second in some games. Lowering quality levels can even allow you to play some games in QHD resolution.

If the Legion Pro 5 piques your interest, take a look at it on Amazon where it’s available with 1 TB of SSD storage for around US$1,449. You can also find it on Lenovo's official US online store with a 512 GB SSD at a currently discounted price of around US$1,025.