I’ve made lots of threads here asking for new laptop recommendations, but I promise this will be the last time, because I’ve narrowed down my choice between two laptops that the JustJosh team have reviewed very favorably!
For context, I’m a graphic designer who’s looking for a sub 2kg laptop with dedicated graphics, so I can start get into 3D modelling and video editing (and light game dev).
now, the Asus ProArt P16 would be perfect for me…. but my budget is only $1200.
So after a lot of searching, I’ve narrowed my choice between two options:
new 2025 Lenovo Legion 5 (AMD Ryzen 7 260/RTX 5060)
Pros
- Brand new, so Lenovo’s 3 year warranty will last all the way until 2028-2029
- Objectively better CPU and GPU performance
- OLED!
- Slightly bigger screen at 15.1 inch vs the Yoga’s 14.5 inch
- Expandable storage & RAM
- IIRC better battery life?
Cons
- no touchscreen
- While the Legion’s weight falls just under my requirement, its still kinda bulky with a heavy charger, which might cause trouble on my small desk; especially with how much I rely on moving my current laptop around to make space for scribbling paper
- bad & weak speakers; I love to tune laptop speakers with EqualizerAPO, so a weak speaker just means it has less headroom for me to work with before the sound gets distorted
- The one on my budget only has 16GB RAM, I might need to buy RAM later which is a hard sell with the current state of RAM prices atm
- annoying port positions
used, “like new” 2023 Lenovo Slim Pro 9i 14 Gen 8 (Intel i7-13905H / RTX 4060)
Pros
- Much better build quality & speakers than the Legion
- Slightly better keyboard and trackpad than the Legion
- very bright mini-LED with a 3k resolution!!! This will definitely be the sharpest & brightest laptop screen I’ve ever seen in my life
- Touchscreen! I cant count how many times while doing graphic design, where I could’ve made a more refined shape, if I could just draw it with a pen instead of having to finagle it with a mouse
- Hinge can be fully unfolded 180 degrees, which lets me lay the touchscreen flat and draw on it without worrying about hinge wobble
- Lighter and smaller than the Legion, very relevant since the size allows me to fully unfold the screen on my desk
- It has a full size SD card reader I guess, even if I don’t own any SD cards or even any hardware that uses full-size SD cards
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The spec I’m being offered would’ve been the highest scoring Windows laptop in JustJosh’s Best 14 Inch Laptop video, as it’d have 1 extra point on CPU & GPU performance for 44 points total; 1 more over the G14’s 43 points
Cons
- While the used laptop store claims that its “like new”, a 2 year old laptop is a 2 year old laptop
- Lenovo’s warranty on it only lasts until November 2026
- Objectively worse performance than the Legion 5, to the point where I fear that it might not keep up with Davinci Resolve or Blender or Godot/Unity/Unreal Engine 5
- Intel 13th gen isnt exactly known for good battery life, and the Slim’s insane 3k resolution isnt exactly helping battery life either
- No expandable RAM or storage, at least it has 32GB RAM onboard
- It has a 80W GPU and a max 120W CPU, but its charger is only 140W?!
- No bundled stylus
- Big bummer that you dont actually get a mini-LED panel while on battery, the screen turns into an IPS while on battery
- I have to act fast before someone else buys it, and no Black Friday discount
So which laptop do you guys think I should pick?
- new 2025 Lenovo Legion 5 (AMD Ryzen 7 260/RTX 5060)
- used, “like new” 2023 Lenovo Slim Pro 9i 14 (Intel i7-13905H / RTX 4060)