Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook 14inch FHD Laptop (Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, Chrome OS) – Storm Grey

Product Information

Three benchmarks focus on the CPU, using all available cores and threads, to rate a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Primate Labs' Geekbench 5.4 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution (lower times are better). I suppose that depends on how you view entry-level and mid-range Chromebooks. However, a Celeron or Pentium has long been considered on the low end of that scale. The IdeaPad Flex 5i preinstalls 30-day trial versions of McAfee antivirus software and Microsoft Office 365. Likewise, the Flex 5i comes with Lenovo Vantage, basically an interface to let you tune your system’s performance, update drivers, personalize audio and display settings, and request remote support.

Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14-inch is well-built, easily handled with a comfortable keyboard and a bright screen, and relatively capable for its price. You certainly wouldn’t use it as a PC gamer—but for general office work, it offers enough performance. The screen is a bit of a wild card, since we tested 400 nits, while Lenovo only promises 300, and the color coverage could use a boost. Lenovo’s long-standing IdeaPad lineup of laptops has oftentimes made some excellent affordable candidates, and hopefully, that can extend into their lineup of Chromebooks with their latest fusion – the aptly-named Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook. 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. 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.The Flex 5i case feels solid, with practically no give in the top half, since that’s held firm by the aluminum frame and the glass of the display. The bottom half is made of a combination of polycarbonate and glass fiber (for stiffening). While it feels sturdy, there is a slight flex at the center of the keyboard, if you press your thumbs there. The only i5 competitor here is the Asus VivoBook S14 (S433), with its 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 and 8GB of RAM—all the others have 16GB. These laptops all have Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, so you won’t be using any as a dedicated gaming laptop. 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. This is definitely more of a mid-range performer, even with the 4 GB of RAM, that should suit most Chromebook user’s needs. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a definite contender for “Chromebook of the year” based on the price and performance. 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.

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. If you’re familiar with last year’s slightly smaller model, you’ll see many familiar features. In fact, this isn’t a radical redesign although moving up from a 13.3-inch display to a 14-inch panel does give a little more room in the chassis. This time around there are larger speaker ports alongside the keyboard, for example. These house 2W speakers are tuned with Waves MaxxAudio. The sound quality isn’t bad and the loudness is high for a laptop of this size and price. 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. 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.

Verdict: A Budget Convertible With Some Limits

For comparison purposes, I ran the same benchmarks on last year’s Flex 5 Chromebook with its 10th-generation Core i3. And mainly to see the progress Intel has made over the last few silicon iterations, I included my daily driver. That’s the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 with an 8th-generation Core i5 paired with 16 GB of memory. All comparison systems, except the Asus VivoBook S 14 (S433), scored above 5,000 on the PCMark 10 Full Productivity Test Suite, indicating a laptop fully capable of performing standard office tasks. In fact, 4,000 is the cutoff for that, so all of these units can hold their own with productivity tasks.