The new Flex 5 Chromebook
LenovoAs a daily Chromebook user for the past six or seven years, I just had to try out Lenovo’s new Flex 5 Chromebook I’ve been hearing so much about. Thankfully, the nice folks at Lenovo loaned me a unit for a couple of weeks. I’ve been using it full-time ever since and believe it may be the single-best Chromebook on the market right now. Especially when you consider what you get for $410. It’s loaded, great-looking and fast.
First the features: It’s a convertible 2-in-1 laptop-tablet that has a pair of hinges capable of rotating 360 degrees. And the hinges are sturdy, so whether you put it in tablet, tent, stand or laptop mode — or any angle in between — it holds well. Better yet, it feels like a high-quality machine rather than the many flimsy Chromebooks on the market. It’s about time a company finally addressed this pet peeve of mine, for this price neighborhood. The 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 touchscreen is bright, vibrant, and responsive to the touch. It’s surrounded by a slim bezel, which enhances the sleekness of its look. The 2.97-pound model I tested runs on Intel’s Core i3 processor, and comes with 64GB of SSD storage. Forget the specs: It’s just consistently lightning fast, no matter what you’re doing. Way faster than my current Chromebook yet on the same WiFi network. The 51Wh battery aims to provide 10 hours of usage. I didn’t formally measure my usage, but getting nearly that many hours per charge was a cinch — even with the screen turned to full brightness. Plus it has a webcam, headphone jack, standard USB-A slot, a MicroSD card slot, and two USB-C slots that can be used for powering up the laptop and for other functions. Front-facing stereo speakers sound pretty good — I used it for streaming movies and was more than pleased. The one issue of course with front-facing speakers is that when you put the laptop in tent mode on a table to watch a video — as I tend to do — the speakers are behind the screen and facing the other direction. The keyboard is back-lit, which was especially handy for me in early morning hours when I wanted to keep the room lights off. This model also has a Google Security H1 chip. And it supports a digital pen.
There’s a less-pricey version that uses a Celeron 5205U processor with 1.9 GHz CPU. But I honestly would just spring the extra cash for the i3 version with 2.1 GHz.
During my testing, I’ve done everything possible on it — web surfing, document creating and editing, movie streaming, music playing, photo editing, you name it. I’ve tried everything in both laptop and tablet orientations, just to seek its Kryptonite -- and came up empty. That’s pretty unusual for a Chromebook or any laptop in this price category. I found it to be fast, reliable and robust with a screen that’s easy on the eyes. It’s no surprise to see why it scored such high accolades from other reviewers and testers. When I’m in the market for a new model — which will be soon — this will be my go-to choice.
The Link LonkJuly 19, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Lenovo Perfects The Chromebook - Forbes
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