Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 (2020) Laptop Review

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is a 2-in-1 laptop with a simple, understated design. It has a wedge shape that makes it look slightly thinner at the front, relatively thin bezels, and up-firing speakers on either side of the keyboard. There are exhaust vents on the bottom and the rear of the device.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 2-in-1 has a decent build. Although it's entirely of plastic, it doesn't feel cheap. There's some flex in the display but almost none in the keyboard deck. The corners of the screen pop out slightly if you twist the display; however, it isn't an issue under normal use.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i's hinge is excellent. You can flip the screen around to use the laptop as a tablet. There's a bit of play to it, but there's very little wobble when typing. The screen is easy to lift with one finger, although the keyboard begins to lift once you push it past 120 degrees.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 2-in-1 laptop is very portable. It's lightweight, and its charger is small and easy to bring around.

The serviceability is okay. Accessing the internals is easy; you only need to remove the screws on the underside and use a prying tool to open up the edges. Unfortunately, the memory isn't user-replaceable, so you need to get enough for your needs upfront. You can see the manual here.

• Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 laptop
• Lenovo Pen
• USB-A Lenovo Pen holder
• 65W USB-C power adapter
• Manual

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14's screen looks sharp, and while it's on the smaller side, there's still enough space to have two windows placed side by side. Its 16:9 aspect ratio is great for media consumption, although 16:10 would have been better for productivity, as it'll allow you to see more information at once when reading a document or website. If you're looking for a 2-in-1 laptop for business use but want a taller 3:2 aspect ratio, check out the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (2020).

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is only available with a 60Hz display, which is typical of most productivity-focused laptops. It has a slow response time causing noticeable ghosting, so it isn't ideal for viewing fast-moving content or gaming.

The contrast ratio is just okay. It's in the typical range for most IPS panels; however, it's still relatively low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This level of contrast isn't ideal for dark room viewing, as it makes blacks look gray.

The screen gets reasonably bright. It's fine for most indoor settings but too dim for very well-lit or sunny environments. It gets very dim at the lowest setting, which is great for viewing media in a dark room. If you want a laptop with a brighter screen, the HP ENVY x360 13 (2020) has a 1000 cd/m² display option.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i's reflection handling is mediocre. Direct reflections are visible even with the screen at full brightness and can be very distracting when viewing dark scenes.

The black uniformity is passable. Clouding is minimal, but there's a lot of backlight bleed along the top and bottom edges.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i has an okay horizontal viewing angle. Image and color accuracy degrade quickly when viewing from the side, which isn't ideal if you want to share color-critical work with others around you.

The vertical viewing angles are okay. Colors quickly become washed out if you're looking even slightly from above or below, so you have to look at the screen almost straight on to get the most accurate image.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 displays reasonably accurate colors. Most inaccuracies are due mainly to the display's narrow color gamut, which isn't an issue for productivity use but may be a problem for media consumption and creative professionals, as content will look washed out. The gamma is quite bad, with most scenes being too bright. However, the color temperature is very close to the standard 6500K target, resulting in a neutral tone.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 has a poor color gamut. Its sRGB coverage is poor, meaning it can't display many of the colors used in standard web content. It isn't an issue for casual, everyday use, but because it's only capable of displaying a narrow range of colors, it isn't ideal for any content creation, including for those working in Adobe RGB. It also isn't suitable for viewing or producing HDR content.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i uses a completely flicker-free backlight, which can help reduce eye strain if you're sensitive to it.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 has a great keyboard. It feels decently spacious and is easy to adapt to. The keys have plenty of travel and provide good tactile feedback, although you have to apply a fair amount of force to actuate the keys, which might cause some strain when typing for very long periods. You can adjust between two backlight brightness levels or turn it off completely. If you need a keyboard with a numpad, check out the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (2020).

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14's touchpad is okay. The size is adequate, but it doesn't feel particularly smooth, so your fingers might occasionally get stuck when dragging and dropping. Although palm rejection is good overall, it occasionally registers unwanted touches if you're near the top corners. Like most other touchpads, it's hard to click near the top third.

The speakers are good. There's almost no bass whatsoever, but this is typical of most laptop speakers. There's minimal compression at maximum volume, so content still sounds rich. That said, they don't get very loud.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i's webcam and microphone are mediocre. The image looks soft, washed out, and slightly underexposed. The microphone is loud and clear, but there's a lot of static, and voices sound hollow. If you need a similar laptop with a better webcam, check out the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 (2022), which is a newer version of this laptop.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i has a good port selection. All the USB ports support USB 3.2 Gen 1 with a maximum data transfer rate of 5Gbps. Unfortunately, you can't use the USB-C port to output to an external display, and the HDMI port only supports up to 4k video at 30fps. If you need a laptop with Thunderbolt support, check out the Acer Swift 3 14 (2020).

The wireless adapter is a Realtek 8822CE.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is available with the following CPUs:

• AMD Ryzen 3 4300U (4 cores/4 threads, up to 3.7GHz)
• AMD Ryzen 5 4500U (6 cores/6 threads, up to 4.0GHz)
• AMD Ryzen 7 4700U (8 cores/8 threads, up to 4.1GHz)
• Intel Core i3-1005G1 (2 cores/4 threads, up to 3.4GHz)
• Intel Core i5-1035G1 (4 cores/8 threads, up to 3.6GHz)
• Intel Core i7-1065G7 (4 cores/8 threads, up to 3.9GHz)

All of the available CPUs are designed for light to moderately demanding workloads, like text processing, web browsing, video playback, spreadsheets, and presentations. Although most people can get by with four physical cores for everyday use, having more will allow you to run more demanding applications with less slowdown. Only the Intel CPUs have multithreading technology, which enables multiple processes to run on the same core. Having more physical cores provides better performance than multithreading since each core can work exclusively on a single process.

If you only need to browse the web or perform light productivity tasks, the Ryzen 3 and i3 models will be more than adequate. However, if you tend to have more windows open and want the system to run more smoothly, you'll be better off with the Ryzen 5 and i5 models. The Ryzen 7 and i7 models can handle heavier workloads like light 3D rendering or video editing and provide a smoother experience during heavy multitasking.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is available with the following GPUs:

• AMD Radeon Vega 5 (Ryzen 3 4300U integrated)
• AMD Radeon Vega 6 (Ryzen 5 4500U integrated)
• AMD Radeon Vega 7 (Ryzen 7 4700U integrated)
• Intel UHD Graphics (Intel i3 and i5 integrated)
• Intel Iris Plus Graphics (Intel i7 integrated)
• NVIDIA GeForce MX330 2GB (Intel i7 only)

All of the integrated GPUs perform similarly to one another and are only capable of handling light tasks like web browsing and video playback, not video editing or gaming. The Intel i7-1065G7 uses integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics, which is reasonably faster than the Intel i3-1005G1 and i5-1035G1 models that have integrated Intel UHD graphics. You can also get the Intel i7–equipped IdeaPad Flex 5i with dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX330 2GB graphics. It'll perform much better than integrated graphics for computationally intensive tasks, but it isn't powerful enough to provide a smooth gaming experience in demanding titles.

You can get the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i with 4, 8, or 16GB of DDR4 memory running at 3200MHz. Only the AMD Ryzen 3 4300U and Intel Core i3-1005G1 models can be configured with 4GB of RAM, while you can configure the other models with 8GB or 16GB.

You can configure the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. Every model uses an NVMe SSD, which makes booting and launching applications very fast.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U performs excellently in the single-thread synthetics benchmark, making it good for tasks like photo editing or light video editing. Its multi-thread performance is decent, good enough for general productivity, but not demanding tasks like video editing. It scores poorly in the GPU compute scenario, which is typical of integrated graphics.

Generally speaking, the Intel CPUs perform better in single-thread workloads, while the AMD CPUs are better in multi-thread workloads. Naturally, more cores will give you better multi-thread performance, so if you run heavily multi-threaded applications, it's best to get the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U. The NVIDIA GeForce MX330 will give you the best GPU compute performance, although if you perform such demanding tasks, you're probably better off getting a true mobile workstation with a more powerful H-series CPU.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 with a Ryzen 5 4500U performs very well in CPU rendering tasks for creative workloads. If you want to reduce render times, opt for the Ryzen 7 4700U or Intel Core i7-1065G7 models, which have better multi-thread performance since they have more cores and threads.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 with a Ryzen 5 4500U takes a while to render 3D scenes. None of the configurations are ideal for 3D rendering tasks. The NVIDIA GeForce MX330 in the highest-end i7 models will render scenes faster but likely still not fast enough for professionals.

The Radeon Vega 6 integrated graphics in our model of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 scores badly in the game scene benchmark, which is typical of an integrated graphics chip. All the Intel and AMD options with integrated graphics will perform similarly, but the i7-1065G7 variant with integrated Intel Iris Plus graphics will perform a bit better. Additionally, the Intel i7-1065G7 models with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX330 2GB graphics card will perform better as it's a dedicated card, but it still isn't powerful enough to push 60fps at 1080p in AAA titles, even at the lowest graphics settings.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14's SSD performs excellently, with fast read/write speeds that help make the system feel quick and light overall. The SSD's speed may vary depending on the size, as larger SSDs tend to perform better.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i's battery lasts almost as long as Lenovo's 10-hour claim in the video playback test and almost an hour and a half longer when surfing the web. It's more than enough to get you through a full workday of light or medium productivity on a full charge. There's also plenty of screen-on time for people who frequently watch media while on the go. However, your battery will run out much faster if you run CPU-intensive tasks like photo or video editing or 3D rendering. If you want a Chromebook with even longer battery life, check out the HP Chromebook 14 (2021).

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 runs Borderlands 3 terribly. On the "High" preset, it can't sustain a playable framerate, and even on the lowest graphical settings, it's barely playable. Because of the demanding nature of the game, even the highest-end Intel Core i7 model with dedicated NVIDIA MX330 graphics isn't powerful enough to provide smooth gameplay.

Civilization VI runs poorly overall on our configuration of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5. The FPS drops noticeably when panning around the game world. However, the turn time is reasonable, thanks to the CPU's decent multi-thread performance. You can get a much smoother playing experience by turning the graphical settings to the minimum.

CS:GO runs poorly on our model of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14, even though it's an older title. On high settings, it barely pushes out frames as quickly as the refresh rate of the screen, and there are a lot of stutters. However, you can get a significantly smoother experience by playing on the lowest settings. The highest-end IdeaPad Flex 5i model, with an i7 and dedicated NVIDIA MX330 graphics, won't stutter nearly as much.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs terribly on our configuration of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5. The sections on the graph with noticeably shorter frame times (higher FPS) correspond to intervals with mostly static scenery. The game runs much better on the lowest settings, but it isn't smooth enough to provide a great experience.

When idle, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 makes a mid-pitched whirring noise that doesn't sound bad. Under load, the noise is identical but louder, although it still isn't too bad. On the other hand, the keyboard already feels warm to the touch while the laptop is idle, and under load, the upper-left side gets very hot.

The integrated Radeon Vega 6 graphics on the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 don't suffer from any measurable performance loss over time. The AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU on our unit experiences only a slight loss after thirty minutes running at full load, but it isn't even noticeable.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i comes with a few pieces of pre-installed software:

• Lenovo Pen Settings: Adjusts settings for the included pen.
• Lenovo Vantage: Checks for driver and BIOS updates and keeps track of the system status and your warranty.
• Lenovo Utility: Related to technical support for the laptop, like when hardware and software information needs to be logged. It didn't seem to do very much during our testing.
• McAfee LiveSafe: Commonly pre-installed anti-virus software.

You can get the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i with a touch pen using WAES (Wacom Active Electrostatic) technology. It has a built-in battery and can be attached to the laptop using the USB pen holder. Some models have a fingerprint sensor at the bottom right corner of the keyboard, below the arrow keys, which you can use to log in quickly.