Lenovo IdeaPadIdeaPa Flex 5 Chromebook
It might not be flashy,fla but the Flex 5 offers impressive usability and per performance at a bargain price
PRICE £442 (£530 inc VAT) VA ) from lenovo.com/gb
Of the three conv convertible Chromebooks in this month’s Labs, the Lenovo Chromebook F Flex 5 has the least elegant name and the least elegant design. At 17mm thick and 1.35kg in weight, it’s actually slimmer and lighter than the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, but there’s something about the balance and
16:9 aspect ratio that makes it less satisfying to use in tablet form. Meanwhile, t the Asus Chromebook Flip C436FA feels substantially lighter and goes even further than the Acer in it its tablet-like appeal, and has a larger 14in screen to boot.
However, the Lenovo has h some real points poi in its favour. It’ It’s cheaper than both its rivals while matchi matching the Asus on screen qu quality and beating both on performance, perfo and we would argue that it’s the best of the three for overall ove usability if you’re planning to use your Chromebook primarily in laptop form.
The physical design might be more businesslike, but it’s still very functional, with the 13.3in screen folding back on Lenovo’s ingenious hinge to work in either tent or tablet modes. Only the lid is metal, with the body made of plastic, but Lenovo has done a great job of matching the colours and making it all feel like one unit. The bezels around the screen are narrow, bar the chunky one below the display, and the dark grey keys complete the styling – it looks more expensive than it is.
The Flex 5 may not be as svelte as the Asus, but it makes up for it with connectivity, fitting in a USB-A 3.1 port as well as the USB-C 3.1 ports you’ll find on either side. Lenovo has also placed a volume rocker and an on/off button on the right-hand side, which definitely helps when you’re watching films in tablet mode and want to quickly turn the volume up or down. It’s also one of the cheaper Chromebooks we’ve seen with Wi-Fi 6 (in a 2x2 MIMO configuration), ration), not to mention Bluetooth 5. . The screen is another other sure sign of a Chromebook mebook that punches well ll above its price tag, with a 300cd/m2 2 maximum brightness, ss, 99.1% sRGB coverage verage and a low Delta E of 1.96. . Its gloss coating ting isn’t as reflective ective as the Acer’s, and with a Full HD resolution n it’s impressively ly crisp and clear. The same me can’t be said about the audio, though, which suffers ffers from little bass, a harsh treble and a boxy, congested mid-range, so you might want to connect some headphones if you’r you’re planning to either watch movies or play pla Stadia games.
Lenovo laptops – including its Chromebooks – tend ten to have good keyboards, and while whi the Flex 5 doesn’t have a ThinkPadlevel effort due to a lighter feel, its 1.4mm travel and positive action mean that it’s still a treat to type on.
The touchpad is nothing special in terms of size or materials, but it works pretty much flawlessly when recognising swipes and taps, multi-finger gestures or left and right clicks.
There’s nothing second-rate about the IdeaPad Flex 5’s performance, either. Equipped with a Core i5-10210U processor and 8GB of DDR4 RAM, it matched substantially more expensive Chromebooks in our benchmarks and, in some cases, it even got within touching distance of the fastest Chromebooks from HP and Dell. With a 128GB M.2 SSD rather than the usual eMMC flash storage, it’s also well equipped to handle Android apps and Linux applications at decent speeds.
What’s more, you won’t find yourself reaching for the charger too often because the IdeaPad Flex 5 doesn’t fall down when it comes to stamina. We didn’t quite make 12 hours before it ran out of power, but 11hrs 9mins should see you through the working day.
Overall, that’s what we like about the IdeaPad aPad Flex 5 Chromebook. book. It’s neither the fastest nor the flashiest machine, but everything is designed and nd specified to give you a great, hardworking Chromebook at a very affordable fordable price. So, if you’re u’re looking for a workhorse horse that can handle a little entertainment nment on the side, you won’t on’t find anything better for the he money.
“It’s neither the fastest nor the flashiest machine, but everything is designed to give you a great, hardworking Chromebook”