Features
How the Lenovo Legion 5Pi rekindled my love for games and arts
And helped me rediscover myself
Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be? I was frantically searching for answers to this question, during my exasperating quarter-life crisis.
While I was losing hope waiting for directions, a monstrous laptop came to my house — the Lenovo Legion 5Pi. At first, I wondered how its arrival could mean anything in my situation. Surprisingly, having a gaming laptop helped me take the first step in dealing with my existential issues.
Traveling back to past
When I set up the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, I was taken back to my tranquil past. It felt like I was fourteen-going-fifteen again, cocooned in my bedroom.
Headphones in, keyboards lighting, chips and soda on the side, electric fan buzzing — life back then was untroubled. All I ever worry about was how to finish my homework so I could play online games all night.
At that time, I was stuck between two worlds: my character’s adventures in Grand Fantasia and other titles, and of course, the real world. But now, all I have is this sickening reality unraveling before me.
I’ve thought of playing games again, seeing the laptop as an opportunity to escape my current frustrations. But at some point, I realized escaping wouldn’t help me fix my issues nor provide answers.
What I did instead was sit in my emotions and used the laptop to navigate how I’m feeling — and possibly find out where I’m going next.
If you’re thinking if I went to Google to search for answers… you’re damn right, I didn’t.
Yes, I didn’t. I may be questioning my entire existence and the path I’m supposed to take while my friends are settling down and getting married, but I still believe I’m going to find the answers in a different way.
Honestly, my life felt like I was a character stuck on a puzzling quest. In between my thoughts, somehow it sunk in that maybe, this laptop was just what I needed.
Seeing and using the Legion 5Pi helped me remember how much I loved playing games. How I would spend my hours diving in different worlds, building and developing my character’s skills and personality — and even socializing with players across the world.
Games were my favorite escape
I’ve met several friends from all walks of life through gaming. Looking back, it gave me the advantage to power through this crisis.
I remember Paula, one of my online game BFF turned actual BFF for 10 years and counting. She taught me about going after my passion and what sparks joy in my heart. Surprisingly, I followed her advice until life got in the way.
Reminiscing, I logged into a dear, old game before I dropped gaming as part of my life — League of Legends, if you’re wondering. Previously, I was in my hellish college years; losing myself in depression, suffering from abuse, and other existential crisis I was facing.
But playing it this time around didn’t spark any pain from the past. Instead, I felt relieved clicking through the mouse and smashing buttons on the colorful keyboard. I was glued to the Legion 5Pi’s large screen, consumed by the stunning graphics and gameplay like I was living in the world I used to enjoy.
In this brief experience, I recalled who I really am before I decided to drop parts of myself in order to fit in, to be accepted. Truth is, I really liked playing games. It has been my escape from the hell that life put me through. More importantly, it helped hone my skills and personality in life — something your education won’t usually provide.
Going back to making art
Recalling what my friend said about pursuing your passion, I realized how I wasn’t creating art anymore. I also remembered Gabriel, a mentor-slash-guildmate (who’s ten years older than me) that I really admired, especially with how he balances his life. Work, gaming, hobbies, relationships… and he even had the time to make art.
During my stint with the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, I enrolled in an online course to pursue some art classes I’ve been meaning to take for years.
I had fun learning through this gaming laptop, and I continued creating art both on this machine and on paper. It was an amusing experience to rediscover parts of myself. How I dropped arts and games to fit in and follow society’s mainstream culture; partying, feeding into wanderlust, crazing over trends.
Using the Lenovo Legion 5Pi reminded me to be true to myself. When the realizations hit me, I started building a stable ground for myself. I considered how I forgot to make my inner child happy — something that we should be doing no matter the age.
Older people used to nudge us to never forget the things that fill joy into your heart since it’s the key to living a happy life. In my case, it was always creating and playing.
Recollecting all these thoughts, I took the first step in dealing with my quarter-life crisis. Having a stable self can help you survive all these life problems, and it’s what I’m actively trying to do.
And maybe, I’ll get a gaming laptop like the Lenovo Legion 5Pi, so I can ensure I live a happy and balanced life, without forgetting who I really am.
Lenovo Legion 5Pi
The Lenovo Legion 5Pi is a competitive gaming laptop, carrying the latest Intel Core H-series processors. It focuses on extreme performance, sporting up to 32GB of RAM, 1TB of NVMe SSD, and an NVIDIA RTX 2060 for a powerful gaming experience.
It also comes with a 15-inch IPS HDR display with a 240Hz refresh rate for buttery-smooth gameplay. The display comes with 100% sRGB color accuracy, making it perfect for gamers, artists, and creators.
The Lenovo Legion 5Pi retails for PhP 74,995. It’s available in Lenovo’s official stores and authorized retailers.
We are fans of what ASUS did with their latest dual screen offering — the ASUS Zenbook DUO 2024. The Zenbook Duo isn’t exactly new. ASUS has been adding extra screens to their laptops whenever they can — but never quite like this.
You see, ASUS managed to put a literal second display but still make it compact enough to fit most bags with provision for 14-inch laptops. As cliché as it sounds, the Zenbook DUO 2024 is an engineering marvel.
However, it’s more than just a gimmick. In our review, we noted how the form factor lent to a slight boost in productivity despite us not maximizing the product just yet. With that, let us share with you our favorite things about the ASUS Zenbook DUO 2024.
A unique mode for every scenario
A built-in, sturdy kick-stand unlocks the many possibilities available to the Zenbook DUO 2024. Some of the modes are: Laptop, Dual Screen, Desktop, and Sharing.
Each one lends itself nicely to different work and media consumption scenarios. Don’t feel like showing off? Keep things discreet and save some battery life with laptop mode.
Need two screens? Switch to either Dual Screen or Desktop mode to take advantage of more screen real estate.
Presenting something to someone across the table? Sharing mode lays the laptop flat allowing for easier viewing.
The ability to morph to different modes depending on your needs is astounding. The best thing is that it is both functional and can serve as an ice breaker.
Oh and we’ll never tire of sharing how the Desktop mode is perfect for watching two K-Pop fancams at the same time.
Screen Xpert for the dual displays
This form factor won’t work without the right software support backing it. To that end, ASUS made Screen Xpert. What it does is essentially let you adjust the layout of the apps according to your needs.
You can have up to four (4) apps live viewed at the same time. For our part, we usually only divided the screen to two, using one to reference a review guide or press release while writing news articles and/or reviews.
But if you’re monitoring certain things, this will be pretty helpful having multiple windows laid out right away to get a quick overview of things is a godsend.
The best thing is that a lot of these functions work intuitively. There’s a single button you can press to easily switch what’s displayed on the two screens.
If you want more granular control, you can have the Screen Xpert floating bar ready at your disposal. Here you can control the brightness level of each screen individually. You also have the ability to change the orientation of each screen to your liking.
There are also App Switcher and App Navigator functions to give you a better, more seamless way to layout the apps you use so that it’s most efficient for your needs.
AI, Copilot, and more
Something we didn’t mention much in the review is how the laptop is built with the AI age in mind. Powered by Intel Core Ultra 7 155-H, this thing is equipped with an NPU chip to aid in on-device AI tasks.
There’s stuff that happens in the background like making sure the AI-related tasks are processed with the NPU while the main CPU handles the rest. In the simplest terms, the Intel Core Ultra 7 is smart enough to delegate a task to the chip that will best execute it. That results in a more optimized overall performance.
Copilot is one of the biggest AI additions to any Windows machine. The possibilities are close to limitless. For our part, we’ve only really played around with Copilot Designer. But there’s so much more that you can do with it. Just remember to always check the results. Every AI output still needs a human touch.
AI is also present in other functions like noise cancellation and the camera. AI Noise Cancellation makes sure you can hear and be heard no matter what scenario you’re in. It’s perfect for remote workers who do not exactly have control over their immediate surroundings.
Meanwhile, AiSense Camera works not only as a Full HD IR camera. It also automatically detects the lighting levels in your environment and adjusts brightness levels accordingly. You also get functions like auto-framing and background blur. Lastly, there’s the slightly creepy Eye Contact feature that locks your gaze to the camera. It can be a bit disorienting so maybe pick the occasions when you’ll use it.
GlideX
Working beyond this dual screen laptop? ASUS also made sure to equip the Zenbook DUO 2024 with software that makes adding even more screens a no-sweat task.
With GlideX you can easily connect your Zenbook DUO 2024 with smartphones, tablets, or even another PC. Even better, it’ll give you the option to control everything from a single device.
DUO more
For a first-of-its-kind device, the ASUS Zenbook DUO 2024 is pretty darn polished. That’s thanks largely to the company experimenting with dual screens long before releasing this dual screen machine.
The Zenbook DUO 2024 literally lets you do more, providing options for flexibility that will help you optimize your workflow so you can finish your tasks more efficiently. This is more than just a gimmick device, it’s actually helpful and that’s because ASUS took the time to fit it with the proper software support.
More on the ASUS Zenbook DUO 2024 here.
This feature is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and ASUS Philippines.
The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G prides itself in its charging technologies. But what about its camera capabilities? Well, here’s a quick round-up of the many photos we took around the time the Note 40 series was launched in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
The NOTE 40 Series features a 108MP main shooter with 3x Lossless Superzoom. It also has OIS for steadier shots when taking videos.
The edits applied to the photos here only some resizing and cropping to make the page easier to load. Take a look at all these sample shots
Infinix Note 40 Pro series launch day
Kwai Chai Hong/ ‘Little Ghost Lane’
Petaling Street (Chinatown)
In and around Central Market
Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery
Istana Negara entrance
Merdeka Square
Malaysian Bak Kut Teh and more
Petronas Twin Towers at night
Steady shooter
The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G isn’t a stellar shooter. But at its price point, it’s pretty darn decent for capturing different scenarios. Take these photos into some editing software and you can certainly elevate their look.
The NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G is priced at PhP 13,999. It may be purchased through Infinix’s Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop platforms, where customers can get up to PhP 2,000 off. Additionally, the first 100 buyers can get an S1 smartwatch or XE23 earphones. Alternatively, customers may opt for the Shopee-exclusive NOTE 40 Pro (4G variant) for PhP 10,999.
Get your game on with the Lenovo LOQ 2024. This capable laptop is your entry point to PC Gaming and a lot more.
It comes an absolutely affordable price point: PhP 48,995.
You get capable hardware and the hood to support gaming and more. The Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I runs on the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Arc Graphics.
Those are key to bringing unreal graphics to this segment. Supporting latest tech like DirectX 12 Ultimate, players are able to enjoy high frame rates on the Lenovo LOQ.
Creating content? It comes with AI Advantage to help boost performance. Engines and accelerators boost the media processing workloads especially for creatives. It also works with Intel’s X Super Machine Learning, Leading to images that are as close to reality.
The laptop supports a configuration of up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD Storage.
As for its display, the device has a large 15.6-inch, Full HD panel that is more than enough for gaming, video editing, content consumption, and whatever else you do on a laptop. This display has 144Hz refresh rate, 300 nits brightness, and anti-glare.
Videos come out clear, crisp, and realistic. Audio is punchy and as loud as it gets. Windows Sonic elevates it more when you use headphones. And it just takes a few minutes to render HD videos on editing software.
As it runs on Windows 11, if you are going to use it for work, you can take advantage of various features. The Lenovo Vantage Widget is there for constant reminders, Copilot will help you organize your tasks, and Microsoft Edge is there for casual browsing.
There is an assortment of ports at the back for easy connectivity. And as this is meant for gaming, we put it to the test. Racing that looks better with high frame rate? Check. Shooting titles that require heavy work? Not a problem. You can play all your favorites and not worry about performance.
Best of all, it takes less than an our to juice up this laptop all the way to 100%.
So, whether you’re looking to get started with PC Gaming, or an upgrade for work and entertainment needs, the Lenovo LOQ has you covered.
This feature is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and Lenovo Philippines.
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