Investing in a Lenovo Ideapad 5 Series 11th Generation laptop will be well worth your time and money if you need a long-term computing solution. Any gamer or designer who relies on a rich multimedia experience or requires a large amount of storage and memory will appreciate the peace of mind that comes with having their hardware kept up to date. The Flex 5i supports Intel Wi-Fi 6 (2x2/160) Gig+, allowing optional 160MHz channels capable of 1,680Mbps Wi-Fi speeds—twice as fast as the 840Mbps on standard 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 80MHz. The laptop also offers Bluetooth 5.2, which supports wireless headphones, game controllers, and smart home devices within 800 feet, at speeds up to 50Mbps—plus LE Power Control (LEPC), allowing the transmitter to adjust transmission power by itself or as requested by a peer device. Interestingly, both the Flex 5i and the Yoga 7i showed great variance between 100% and 50% brightness, with the Flex 5i shifting from 400.8 nits at 100% all the way down to 47.6 nits at 50%. The Yoga 7i had 324 nits at 100% and 39 nits at 50%. The Acer Spin 5 had a more expected variance, 552.8 nits at 100% brightness to 223.3 nits at 50%. The 12th Generation Core i5-1235U (U for ultraportable) Intel Core i5 CPU is energy efficient, at some cost to performance, compared to Intel P-series CPUs (not to mention even higher-end Core H chips). Like many of the 12th Generation Alder Lake CPUs, the 1235U is a hybrid architecture combining Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficient-cores (E-cores). Lenovo Voice: Lets you control the laptop by voice and translate speech to another language in real-time. It also has a voice-to-text feature.

I've been a computer-tech writer and editor for several decades, and a photographer who writes about photo techniques and equipment for over a decade. My first job in the tech press was as a writer for Compute! magazine, where we used Commodore 64s from Circuit City as word processors. I next became the editor of Computer Dealer, offering advice to computer retailers, then moved on to Personal Computing as an executive editor, where I developed the magazine's benchmark suite. I held several positions at the massive Computer Shopper magazine before becoming editor in chief. While at Computer Shopper (owned by CNET Networks at the time), I edited bi-annual issues of Technology Review as a joint project with Fortune magazine.

We are happy to report that the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14-inch feels snappy and handles multitasking very well. Working with 10-15 tabs open in Chrome at the same times proves to be no issue, even when editing spreadsheets at the same time. You could make the case that Lenovo might have done better with a larger battery than the 52.5Wh one it used, even at a modest weight gain. The slightly more power-hungry processor in the Acer Spin 5 didn’t prevent the system from scoring right in the middle on battery life, at 12 hours and 38 minutes. Obviously, gaming isn’t a focus for this laptop and our 3D benchmarks show that it doesn’t exactly excel in that department. But while playing Fortnite with no other players onscreen, the fps rises to 40-50, which looks OK on paper, but it fluctuates a lot and there are a lot of dropped frames. When things start to get heated the frame rate can drop to the low 20s, which would be considered unplayable by most people. We tested the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i (model 82R70007US) equipped with a 1080p IPS display, an Intel Core i5-1235U CPU, integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of memory, and 512GB of storage. The display, CPU, memory, and storage are configurable; you can see the available options in the table below. This review applies to all models with a model number starting with '82R7'. Screen There is just one problem – the charger uses USB-C, meaning that when you're charging you don’t have an available USB-C port. Charging over USB-C is a good thing, but in this case, we would rather have a traditional charging port — or even better — another USB-C port.

From this jumping off point, the touch screen and its multiple alignment options (including tablet, laptop, and “tent” mode) offer lots of versatility.In addition, high-quality gadgets and technology products tend to have better performance. This is particularly important for products that are used for tasks such as gaming, video editing, or graphic design. A high-quality LENOVO IdeaPad Slim 5i 14″ Laptop is likely to have better specs and features, which will translate into better performance and a better user experience. Despite growing acceptance for 2-in-1 convertibles, the key choice is whether you actually need tablet mode or a touch screen. Since the pen is an optional extra, Lenovo is hedging its bets somewhat. However, that’s also true with Dell’s Inspiron 2-in-1 series and others that don’t include their supported stylus pens, either. Results for the 100% brightness test was a bit of an anomaly, since the Flex 5i came in second with 400.8 nits, an impressive score. The Acer Spin 5 was best, with 552.8 nits. The Yoga 7i brought in a respectable 324 nits.

To the question of “needing” a 2-in-1 laptop, I can attest that—although I’m plenty comfortable with non-touch laptops—pressing an onscreen button or link in laptop mode is just plain simpler than with a touchpad or mouse. Likewise, it’s handy to flip into tent or tablet mode when sharing information. A convertible PC is often used for media — the stand or tent modes make it quite easy — so the speakers need to be able to keep up. There is a single 2W speaker on either side of the keyboard for unmuffled sound when the PC is on your lap. It's going to face away from you if you're using the Flex 5i as a tablet, but the sound is good enough that it shouldn't matter. The speakers get loud, they remain clear, and there's no buzzing. I listened to music and watched TV without issue.The Yoga 7i and Acer Spin 5 were best on the display tests, scoring 100% of the gamut on the sRGB test. The Flex 5i, Asus VivoBook and Inspiron 14 came in at 69%, 65%, and 64% respectively on the same test. Those three scores in the 60s are a giveaway that these displays are budget products. On the DCI-P3 gamut, likewise, the Acer Spin 5 (85%) and Yoga 7i (80%) showed decent quality with their scores. The other three were in the high 40s or low 50s on the same test, with the Flex 5i coming in third with 52%. The Ryzen 4000-series chip is behind this impressive performance, and in Cinebench the 4500U in our review unit competes with the Intel Core i7-7700K. Even more impressive, GeekBench 5 gives us a single-core score of 1,092 which is on par with the Intel Core i5-9400F, and the multi-core score of 4,800 even beats the same chip with a noticeable margin. High-resolution QHD displays produce images with crisp and clear colors that look accurate and realistic. Thanks to the device's ultra-narrow four-corner bezels, the screen is kept in sharp focus.

Make sure you're one step ahead of the game. It can be difficult to keep up with the latest technological advancements when it comes to keeping up with all the latest and greatest. The immediate and long-term benefits of investing in new technology are clear. Prepare for the future with a Lenovo Ideapad 5 Series 11th Generation laptop that will last for many years to come. The Flex 5i 14 isn't sleek, though. It measures 0.8 by 12.7 by 8.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.3 pounds, which just barely qualifies it as an ultraportable. The stylish, ultrapremium Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 measures just 0.56 by 11.7 by 8.2 inches and weighs 2.9 pounds, though it does have a smaller display. The Flex 5i 14 isn't designed for more CPU-intensive tasks like 3D rendering in Maxon's Cinebench, manipulating images in Adobe Photoshop, or transcoding 4K video using the open-source HandBrake app. The last trial represented a particular challenge, with the Flex finishing in last place, though it was more competitive in the image editing and 3D rendering trials.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 gets a soft refresh for 2021, bringing 11th Gen Intel Core CPUs to the plate.

Of the comparison convertibles we match against the Flex 5i, three have the Intel Core i7-1255U and one the Intel Core i7-1255P, which outperform the Core i5-1235U on the Flex 5i. The fifth system has an 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7, with only 8GB of RAM. Interestingly, a Flex 5i available from Walmart with the Core i7-1255U likewise comes with only 8GB RAM. The Lenovo Flex 5i was disappointing on the battery rundown test, coming in last with 10 hours and 36 minutes. Not that 10-plus hours is terrible, but the longer the better. All the others lasted for between 12 and 13 hours, with the Yoga 7i coming in just one minute shy of 14 hours. Two sturdy 360-degree hinges hold the screen firmly in place while allowing smooth movement among laptop, tablet, tent, and presentation modes. The slight extra vertical space of a 16:10 rather than 16:9 aspect ratio makes the display look and feel larger than it is, and it also improves the tablet experience because 16:9 screens feel too narrow when held as tablets in portrait mode. This combination of size and aspect ratio is perfect for most convertible users, as it's large enough for getting work done in laptop mode while compact enough to hold in one hand while tapping and swiping with the other in tablet mode. The two P-cores in the 1235U are capable of multi-threading and can run at a maximum turbo power of 4.4GHz. The eight E-cores are capable of a maximum 3.3GHz. The CPU’s base power is 15 watts, while the maximum turbo power is 55 watts. The Flex 5i also supports Rapid Charge Boost, regaining two hours of use from the 52.5Wh battery on just a 15-minute charge.