The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex is a mid-range convertible PC that accommodates those who need a solid design, long battery life, and high performance without spending too much money. Its convertible nature and color features offer a lot of flexibility, and the 14-inch display is a nice stop-gap between 13 and 15 inches for those who need a bit more screen real estate without sacrificing portability.
The exterior of this year’s Flex 5i 14 is almost identical to the model I tested a year ago. The top cover is now made of aluminum instead of plastic. This provides better rigidity for the display, which is important if you often twist it for tent, stand and tablet mode. The lower part of the case is still made of polycarbonate with woven glass fibers. Because of the plastic, the notebook flexes a bit, but overall it feels sturdy.
Weighing about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg), it is quite portable. The soft surface has a light texture and feels comfortable, and it’s available in three different colors: Abyss Blue, Graphite Grey, or Platinum Grey. I have the Graphite model for testing. Ports are the same as last year, with a USB-C port, two USB-A ports, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, and an SD card reader.
That’s enough for basic physical connectivity, and I love the removable storage option for sharing photos and files. Wi-Fi 6 makes for a faster and more reliable Internet connection, and it’s coupled with Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless accessories. The 720p front-facing camera is good enough for video conferencing, and there’s a physical camera shutter button for added privacy. The fingerprint reader integrated into the right palm rest works flawlessly.
We praised the AMD version of the IdeaPad Flex 5 for its performance thanks to the Ryzen 5 4500U. It was impressive at the time, but what a difference a year makes. This is now a previous generation chip, and the new Ryzen 5000 series processors are significantly faster, and the delta between the previous version and the current Intel version of the 11. In my review unit, the Core i5-1135G7 was equipped with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB solid-state drive (SSD), so we can compare not only with the AMD predecessor, but also with current laptops.