Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 Review: 2-In-1 Convertible System At An Affordable Price

The ‘Flex’ series of Lenovo consists of budget-friendly Chromebook 2 in 1  that boasts a full-day battery life. In this Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review, we will take a look at one of the members of that family.

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 Price

Priced at $500, Lenovo has asked for quite a lot for the supposed-to-be-affordable ‘Flex’ line. However, you will be hard-pressed to find another laptop that offers similar features.

For example, HP Pavilion x360, which is 15% more expensive than the Ideapad Flex 5, comes with only the 14-inch option. It comes with RAM of 8GB though, compared to only 4GB on the Flex 5.

If you can live without the tablet convertible function, opting for the Asus VivoBook is a wiser choice as it offers 15-inch screen real estate with only a handful of minor compromises.

Now let’s go further into our Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review to see what you are going to get.

Design And Features

In the last few years, laptop brands have given the entry-level price bracket more and more desirable features and Lenovo has also jumped on the bandwagon.

While you won’t get MacBook Pro’s classy feel and look, the Flex 5, by no mean, looks cheap.

In this Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review, we have a 15.6-inch variant, which is also touch-enabled and comes with a resolution of 1080p.

The display has IPS panel technology and is surrounded by metal with very slim bezels. At the top of the screen is a 720p webcam.

While the chassis is made of plastic, it still exudes a rigid feeling. The robust 360-degree hinge ensures durability and the keyboard is firm and stable with only a little bounce and flex.

When it comes to ports, the Flex 5 has everything an average user will ever need. There is a USB-C port, a headphone jack, an HDMI socket, and a barrel power connector on the left side of the laptop.

On the opposite side, you will find a 4-in-1 card reader, which supports SDHC, MMC, and SDXC cards, along with two USB-A ports.

Some other features worth mentioning in our Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review are the 720p webcam and the option to pair the laptop with a digital pen.

The Flex 5 is shipped with Windows 10 Home out of the box. The good news is, the S Mode of the OS increases security and performance. And the bad news is, security here means it doesn’t allow anything but apps from Microsoft to be installed.

So this means bidding farewell to conference apps not from Microsoft, Apple apps, and Adobe.

The S Mode also helps saving memory and CPU, which is especially handy for a laptop that only has 4GB of RAM.

So in short, S Mode is handy for businesses and schools, but not so much for homes or even business users.

And the best thing here is, you can turn off the S Mode via the Microsoft Store in only five minutes.

Performance

As a laptop for displaying content, the Flex 5 does the job well. The combination of 4GB of RAM, 128GB M.2 SSD, and dual-core Intel Core i3-1005G1 chip ensures a pleasing experience.

In cases like having too many tabs opened at once or running an image editing software, expect to experience issues related to having too little RAM.

However, don’t worry too much as the M.2 SSD can kick in and take responsibility. It would be nice having 8GB though.

Flex 5’s performance receives mixed reviews, not a surprise given the price and market positioning.

While the display has decent viewing angles and vibrant colors, the brightness level isn’t up to par with some competitors on the market.

Dolby-enabled speakers generate thin and weal audio.

Last but not least, let us talk you out of trying to play games with this Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review as the Intel graphics card can’t handle it.

Battery Life

Lots of brands have chosen to sacrifice the battery life to cut costs, but it isn’t the case with this Flex 5.

The laptop is powered by a mammoth 52.5Wh battery, which ensures 10 hours of PCMark test and 12 hours of video playback.

That long battery life is more than enough for a long-haul flight, school work, or the office.

So that is the end of our Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 review. Our verdict here is to go for it if you have no intention of gaming and a deep pocket.

>>> Lenovo To Launch The World's First Foldable Laptop - ThinkPad X1 Fold