Surface Pro 7 vs. Lenovo Legion 5i 17”: Which is better?

Here is a side by side comparison between Surface Pro 7 and Lenovo Legion 5i 17” specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

Surface Pro 7 Pros

Reasons that Surface Pro 7 is better than Lenovo Legion 5i 17”.

Supports faster memory

Surface Pro 7 supports a faster memory speed than the Lenovo Legion 5i 17”. It supports up to 3733MHz versus 2933 MHz of system memory on the Lenovo Legion 5i 17”.

Memory type and speed
Surface Pro 7 - LPDDR4X
3,733 MHz
Lenovo Legion 5i 17” - DDR4
2,933 MHz
About 70% lighter

Surface Pro 7 weighed 1.70 pounds, 70% lighter than the 5.5 pounds Lenovo Legion 5i 17”.

WeightSurface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Pound
1.70 lbs.
5.5 lbs.
Kilogram
0.77 kg
2.49 kg

Lenovo Legion 5i 17” Pros

Reasons that Lenovo Legion 5i 17” is better than Surface Pro 7.

Newer manufacturing

2020 vs. 2019

Much faster CPU performance

Intel Core i7-10875H inside Lenovo Legion 5i 17” has a 84% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i7-1065G7 inside Surface Pro 7.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
Lenovo Legion 5i 17” - Intel Core i7-10875H
6,874
Lenovo Legion 5i 17” - Intel Core i7-10750H
5,412
Lenovo Legion 5i 17” - Intel Core i5-10300H
3,747
Surface Pro 7 - Intel Core i7-1065G7
3,722
Surface Pro 7 - Intel Core i5-1035G4
3,347
Surface Pro 7 - Intel Core i3-1005G1
2,027
Supports larger memory

Lenovo Legion 5i 17” supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Pro 7. It supports up to 32GB versus 16GB of system memory on the Surface Pro 7.

Max system memory size
Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
32 GB
Surface Pro 7
16 GB
Upgradable memory

Lenovo Legion 5i 17” comes with two SODIMM slots that allow you to replace or upgrade when needed. On the flip side, you can't upgrade RAM on the Surface Pro 7 since it has onboard memory.

MemorySurface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Slots
Onboard
x2
TypeLPDDR4XDDR4
Supports discrete graphics

Configurable up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 vs. integrated

Upgradable storage

Lenovo Legion 5i 17” comes with a single removable M.2 SSD slot that you can replace and upgrade in the future. On top of that, it also has a single SATA slot that users can use to install a 2.5-inch SATA SSD, SSHD, or a hard disk drive to add even more storage.

SlotsSurface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
M.2
Onboard
Yes x1
40% larger display

Lenovo Legion 5i 17” has a 17.3-inch screen size 40% larger than the 12.3-inch Surface Pro 7.

Display size
Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
17.3-inch
Surface Pro 7
12.3-inch

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Surface Pro 7 Price
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 12.3in Intel Core i5 10th Gen 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Platinum (Renewed)
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 12.3in Intel Core i5 10th Gen 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Platinum (Renewed)
By Microsoft
$309.99
$369.00 16% OFF
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – 12.3" Touch-Screen - 10th Gen Intel Core i5 - 16GB Memory - 256GB SSD (Latest Model) – Platinum (PUW-00001) (Renewed)
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – 12.3" Touch-Screen - 10th Gen Intel Core i5 - 16GB Memory - 256GB SSD (Latest Model) – Platinum (PUW-00001) (Renewed)
By Microsoft
$534.97
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – 12.3" Touch-Screen - 10th Gen Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD – Platinum
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – 12.3" Touch-Screen - 10th Gen Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD – Platinum
By Microsoft
$889.41
Lenovo Legion 5i 17” Price
Lenovo - Legion 5i - Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7-11800H - 8GB DDR4 RAM - 1TB NVMe TLC SSD - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Graphics - 17.3" FHD 144Hz - Windows 11 Home - Phantom Blue
Lenovo - Legion 5i - Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7-11800H - 8GB DDR4 RAM - 1TB NVMe TLC SSD - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Graphics - 17.3" FHD 144Hz - Windows 11 Home - Phantom Blue
By Lenovo
$1,079.00
$1,449.99 26% OFF
Lenovo 2023 Legion 5i 17.3" 144Hz FHD IPS Gaming Laptop 8-Core Intel i7-11800H 32GB RAM 1TB NVMe SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB GDDR6 HDMI Thunderbolt4 WiFi AX RJ45 Backlit Windows 11 Pro w/RE USB
Lenovo 2023 Legion 5i 17.3" 144Hz FHD IPS Gaming Laptop 8-Core Intel i7-11800H 32GB RAM 1TB NVMe SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB GDDR6 HDMI Thunderbolt4 WiFi AX RJ45 Backlit Windows 11 Pro w/RE USB
By Lenovo
$2,019.99
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i - (2023) - Gaming Laptop Computer - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060-16" WQXGA - 165Hz - Intel Core i7-13700HX - 16GB RAM - 1TB SSD - Windows 11-3-Month Xbox GamePass Included
Lenovo Legion Pro 5i - (2023) - Gaming Laptop Computer - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060-16" WQXGA - 165Hz - Intel Core i7-13700HX - 16GB RAM - 1TB SSD - Windows 11-3-Month Xbox GamePass Included
By LENOVO (UNITED STATES)
$1,289.00
$1,599.99 19% OFF

Availability

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Released20192020
Release Date
  • Introduced: October 2, 2019 (Microsoft October Event)
  • Pre-ordered: October 2, 2019
  • Released: October 22, 2019
Announced in April 2020
PricingStarting at 749$Starting at $1,099.99
Generations-

Exterior

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Dimensions11.50” x 7.9” x 0.33” (292 mm x 201 mm x 8.5 mm)
Width: 11.50” (292 mm)
Height: 7.9” (201 mm)
Thickness: 0.33” (8.5 mm)
15.84" x 11.41" x 1.05" / 398.6mm x 290mm x 24.3-26.6mm
Weight
  • Intel Core i3: 1.70 lbs (775 g)
  • Intel Core i5: 1.70 lbs (776 g)
  • Intel Core i7: 1.73 lbs (790 g)
Starting at 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
Colors
Matte Black Platinum
Phantom Black
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Surface Type Cover
    • Not included
    • Weight: 0.68 lb (310 g)
    • Dimension: 11.61 x 8.54 x 0.19 inches (295 mm x 216 mm x 5mm)
  • Keyboard:
    • Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys
    • Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12)
    • 4 directional keys; Windows, Brightness and Media Controls Keys;
    • LED backlighting
  • Trackpad:
    • Precision glass trackpad.
    • Trackpad size: 4 x 2 inches (101.6 mm x 50.8 mm)
    • Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.
  • Keyboard
    • Backlit full-size with the white backlit keyboard.
  • Touchpad
    • Precision Touchpad.
    • Supports multi-touch gesture.

Display

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Size12.3 Inches17.3 Inches
Info
  • Resolution: 2736 x 1824 (5M Pixels)
  • Density: 267 PPI
  • PixelSense™ Display
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Inking: designed together with Surface Pen
  • Touch: 10 points multi-touch
  • Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
  • 10nm Oleophobic Coating
  • 100% sRGB color, individually calibrated
  • 17.3" FHD 60Hz
    1920 x 1080, IPS, 60 Hz, 72% NTSC, 300 nits.
  • 17.3" FHD 144Hz
    1920 x 1080, IPS, 144 Hz, 72% NTSC, 300 nits, Dolby Vision™ Enabled.

Ports

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Surface Pro 7 Ports
Image Source: Microsoft
Left (1)
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone
Right (3)
  • 1 x USB-C
    USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery, DisplayPort
  • 1 x USB-A
    USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1 x Surface Connect
    Charging, Docking Station
Bottom (1)
  • 1 x Surface Type Cover port
Under Kickstand (1)
  • 1 x microSD card slot
  • 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C (with DisplayPort)
  • 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A (always on)
  • 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
  • 1 x HDMI™ 2.0
  • 1 x RJ45 Ethernet
  • 1 x SD Card Reader
  • 1 x Kensington MiniSaver Lock slot
  • 1 x 3.5mm microphone/headphone combo
  • 1 x Power input
  • 1 x NOVO hole

Internal Specs

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Processor
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1005G1
    2 cores, 4 threads, 1.20 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G4
    4 cores, 8 threads, 1.10 → 3.70 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7
    4 cores, 8 threads, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 15W
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    4 cores, 8 threads, 2.50 → 4.50 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 45W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    6 cores, 12 threads, 2.60 → 5.00 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 45W
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H
    8 cores, 16 threads, 2.30 → 5.10 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W
Integrated Graphics
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1005G1
    Intel® UHD Graphics
    32 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G4
    Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
    48 Execution Units, 300 → 1050 MHz
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7
    Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
    64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1050 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1150 MHz
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1200 MHz
Memory
4GB 8GB 16GB
3733 MHz LPDDR4X RAM
  • Memory Slots
    • 2 x DDR4 SODIMM
  • Memory Configurations
    • Minimum Memory: 8GB
    • Maximum Memory: 32GB
    • Memory Speed: 2933MHz
Discrete Graphics-
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 (4GB GDDR5)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti (4GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti (6GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 (6GB GDDR6)
Storage
128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB
BGA PCIe SSD
  • Storage Slots
    • 1 x M.2 2230/2280 PCIe SSD slot
    • 1 x 2.5 inches hard drive slot
  • Storage Configurations
    • 128 GB/256 GB/512 GB/1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
    • 1 TB/2 TB HDD

Connectivity

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Wi-Fi
  • Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
WiFi 6 802.11AX (2 x 2)
Up to 2400 Mbps, WiFi 802.11 b/g/a/n/ac/ax.
Bluetooth
  • Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology
Bluetooth 5.0
Ethernet-Gigabit LAN
Speed: 10/100/1000 Mbps.

Battery

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Size43.2 Wh80 Wh (4 Cell polymer)
Battery LifeUp to 10.5 hours of typical device usageUp to 7.7 hours
Power Supply
  • 60W power supply with USB-A (5W) (65W total)
  • Supports Fast Charge (0-80% in about one hour)
  • 170W AC power adapter
    Lenovo proprietary charging port.
  • 230W AC power adapter
    Lenovo proprietary charging port.

Software

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
OS
  • For Consumer: Windows 10 Home
  • For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro
Free upgrade to Windows 11
  • Windows 10 Home 64-bit
  • Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Built-in AppsMicrosoft Office 365 30-days trial
  • Lenovo Vantage
  • Lenovo PC Manager
  • McAfee LiveSafe™
  • Lenovo Antivirus
  • Microsoft Office Trial5
  • Power2Go

Camera & Audio

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
Camera
  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
  • 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video
  • 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD video
Front-facing camera
Top-mount front camera with fixed focus lens, 0.92 Megapixels (1280 x 720 HD) at 30 fps.
Audio
  • Dual far-field Studio Mics
  • 1.6W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium
  • 2 x 2W Harman Kardon® Speaker System with Chamber
  • Dolby Atmos® Headphone Support
  • Dual-array microphones

Misc

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
InkingSupports Surface Pen
4096 levels of pressure
Tilt sensing
Best in class latency
Paper feel
0.1mm precision
magnetic storage
-
Sensors
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Accelerometer
  • Gyroscope
-
Security
  • HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
  • Chassis Kensington® Wedge security lock
In the box
  • Surface Pro 7
  • Power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Safety and warranty documents
  • Legion 5i 17"
  • AC Adapter
  • 80Wh Internal Battery
  • Quick start guide
Warranty
  • One-year limited hardware warranty
  • Commercial: Advanced Exchange warranty service with expedited device replacement
One Year Legion Ultimate Support

Key Features

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”
At Glance
Released in Late
2019
3:2 2.7K
12.3”
1824p 60Hz
Weight
1.70 lb
0.77 kg
Up to
Intel Core i7-1065G7
4C/8T, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,088
Single Core
Geekbench 5
3,722
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz
Configurable up to
16GB
3733 MHz LPDDR4X
Surface Pro 7 Ports
Released in Early
2020
16:9 FHD
17.3”
1080p 144Hz
Weight
5.5 lb
2.49 kg
Up to
Intel Core i7-10875H
8C/16T, 2.30 → 5.10 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,192
Single Core
Geekbench 5
6,874
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® UHD Graphics 630
24 Execution Units, 350 → 1200 MHz
Upgradable up to
32GB
2933 MHz DDR4
NVIDIA GeForce
RTX 2060
6GB GDDR6

Comparison Summary

Surface Pro 7 vs. Lenovo Legion 5i 17”

Microsoft has released the Surface Pro 7, a 12.3-inch machine, in late-2019. It is powered by up to a quad-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 with a boost clock speed up to 3.90 GHz. The laptop has an integrated graphics option up to Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics (64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz).

On the other hand, we have the 17.3-inch Legion 5i 17” was introduced by Lenovo about a year later in early-2020. It comes with up to an octa-core Intel Core i7-10875H with a boost clock speed up to 5.10 GHz. It has a dedicated GPU option up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6.

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Surface Pro 71
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1005G199383.31%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G41,03787.00%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G71,08891.28%
Lenovo Legion 5i 17”1
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H1,06189.01%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H1,13495.13%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H1,192100.00%
01,192

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Surface Pro 71
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1005G12,02729.49%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G43,34748.69%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G73,72254.15%
Lenovo Legion 5i 17”1
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H3,74754.51%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H5,41278.73%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H6,874100.00%
06,874

The Surface Pro 7 has a 12.3-inch display which is way smaller than the 17.3-inch Lenovo Legion 5i 17”. In addition, The Surface Pro 7 weighs 1.70 lbs. about 223% lighter than the 5.5 lbs. Lenovo Legion 5i 17”. Moreover, measured at 11.5” x 7.9” x 0.33”, the Surface Pro 7 is much more portable than the Lenovo Legion 5i 17” at 15.84” x 11.41” x 1.05”.

Surface Pro 7Lenovo Legion 5i 17”

Moving over to upgradability, Microsoft claims that the Surface Pro 7 supports up to 16GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4X memory. However, it has an onboard memory module that is not upgradable by the users. It also has soldered storage, and there are no M.2 slots for expansion.

For Lenovo Legion 5i 17”, it supports up to 32GB 2933 MHz DDR4 memory that you can upgrade with two memory module slots on the motherboard. It also has a single removable M.2 SSD slot that users can replace or upgrade when needed. Besides that, it also comes with a SATA slot where you can install an additional 2.5-inch SATA-based SSD, SSHD, or a hard disk drive.

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