There are many great laptops that are priced between $ 600 and $ 1,000 , and even some that have made our list of thebest laptops . But if you ’re on a really nasty budget , abudget laptopthat ’s near to $ 500 can be a lot more palatable . Lenovo ’s IdeaPad Flex 5i hits the $ 500 mark on cut-rate sale , making it an interesting selection for anyone who ’s strapped for cash .

All budget machines cut recess somewhere , and with the IdeaPad Flex 5i , that ’s in the chipset that powers it . The display , though , is surprisingly full , making the laptop a becoming option if you do n’t need tons of mogul . The wildcard , though , is battery life , and that ’s where the IdeaPad Flex 5i suffers the most .

Specs and configuration

There are two configurations of the IdeaPad Flex 5i , both of which are available at Best Buy . aright now , you could buy the ingress - level configuration with an Intel Core i5 - 1235U , 8 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , and a 14 - inch FHD+ IPS display for $ 500 . That ’s on sale from a leaning price of $ 680 . The other form , which is n’t useable right now , is $ 550 list for just 256 GB of storage .

What this mean is that , right now , the entry - degree role model is attractively price at $ 500 . The problem is , it ’s not alone at that kind of price . I can guide at just theAsus Zenbook 14 organic light-emitting diode , which tops our listing of the good budget laptops , as a good option . you may buy it today at $ 564 with a prominent OLED display , a degraded AMD chipset , and great barrage fire life .

Design

The IdeaPad Flex 5i is made of charge plate ( with glass fiber ) , something that ’s increasingly strange lately . Or , at least , you ’ll only find it in the least expensive laptop where at one item you could spend $ 1,000 and still not get an all - metal laptop . In this one , it ’s just ok , without any flexing in the bottom shape or keyboard deck of cards and just a little bending in the hat .

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5x 2 - in-1 , which is a twosome of hundred dollar more expensive , it ’s a mix of metal and plastic but it was n’t meaningfully more full-bodied . Of course , if you spend a plenty more , you could get a laptop computer that has no deflection or flex whatsoever , but there ’s nothing haywire with Lenovo ’s drive at these prices . And the Zenbook 14 OLED is evenly as well - made and just a little more expensive .

For a 360 - degree convertible 2 - in-1 , the IdeaPad Flex 5i has reasonably small bezel , especially in the bottom Kuki . So , it ’s not overly big in breadth and depth . It ’s a little chunky , though , at 0.70 inch dense , which is a little more than most laptops I ’ve reviewed lately . And it ’s heavy at 3.42 pounds , which is a lilliputian surprising given the credit card structure .

As a 360 - academic degree convertible security , the weight and heaviness matter more , because the IdeaPad Flex 5i is think of to be used as a tablet along with clamshell , collapsible shelter , and media modes . It ’s totally potential to use it with the optional active pen for writing and eviscerate on the showing , but you ’ll want to shore it up .

Aesthetically , the IdeaPad Flex 5i is minimalist but attractive enough . It ’s a simple all - gray colorway with only a mates of chrome logo badges . The production line are elementary and the laptop computer does n’t stand out , but that ’s fine . you could get beneficial - looking laptop if you drop a lot more money , but that ’s probable to be a good enough reason to do so .

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is Lenovo ’s usual reading with prominent , graven keycaps and tons of central spacing . The switches are reasonably snappy and have a precise bottoming action . It ’s not the good I ’ve used , such as Apple ’s Magic Keyboard or those used in HP ’s OmniBook lineup , but it ’s more than good enough . I had no problem typing this revaluation , which is enough to manifest its comfort .

The touchpad is o.k. . It ’s mechanically skillful , which is unsurprising for a budget laptop computer . The button clicks are a bit cheap and rough , and it could be a fiddling big . But it ’s o.k. . The exhibit is pen- and touch - enable , and weirdly I did have more job with using touch than is distinctive . Some touches did n’t register , which is unusual . The active pen is optional , so I could n’t essay that .

Connectivity and webcam

Connectivity is honest , with a commixture of modern and legacy port . There ’s just one USB - C port wine ( with Thunderbolt 4 ) , but the power supply is proprietary so you do n’t have to use a USB - ascorbic acid port for charge . Wireless connectivity is two generations behind , though , so that ’s a distinguishable restriction .

The webcam encounter the 1080p resolution that ’s become standard . Notably , there ’s no neural processing unit ( NPU ) , so there ’s no effective on - gadget financial support for AI . There ’s also no infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial realisation , but the fingerprint lector on the palm rest work well .

Performance

I have n’t brush up a laptop in quite some prison term with a twelfth - gen Intel CPU . It ’s not unusual that a budget laptop will use an elderly chipset , and here we have the Core i5 - 1235U that ’s not only two generations behind Intel ’s latest Lunar Lake but also a very old - school intention . It ’s a 9 - James Watt chip and so should be fairly efficient , but as we see below that ’s not the compositor’s case .

With 10 cores ( two Performance and eight Efficient ) and 12 thread , it ’s not a eminent - functioning chip . That ’s peculiarly straight given that we ’re talking about older cores here . And we can see it in our benchmark , where the IdeaPad Flex 5i is a heap dull than modern chipsets . That include the Core Ultra 7 258V , a Core Ultra Series 2 chipset that ’s meant to be this coevals ’s small - powerfulness parts . This is one area where the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is n’t an improvement .

It ’s not that the IdeaPad Flex 5i ca n’t get any work done . It can , particularly distinctive tasks like web browsing , productivity apps , and media consumption . But it ’s not go to experience very fast . And its graphics performance is just really sorry .

Battery life

I send a mesa with contemporary barrage life story results to highlight the dramatic difference between today ’s Windows chipsets and past versions . The IdeaPad Flex 5i has a relatively low electric battery at 52.5 James Watt - hours , where many 14 - in laptops are at least 60 W - hour . But it also has a sensibly modest - power FHD+ IPS display . So , those two agent equilibrise out jolly against the laptops I ’ve reviewed lately with larger batteries but more great power - thirsty organic light-emitting diode presentation .

But it really does n’t count . As you could see , the IdeaPad Flex 5i has terrible shelling life . It ’s unlikely to make it to lunchtime even when running a lightweight workflow . If you ’re using it to get genuine workplace done , you might get a mates of hours . I have n’t visit result this bad in quite some time , and that ’s even account for punt laptops and other machines with extremely sinewy components . Once again , the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is a much more attractive option .

Display

It ’s not uncommon for budget machines to hit their budget prices by using an inferior display . Quite often , that means short brightness , bad colouring , and Negroid that calculate more like grays . I did n’t get a bad opinion of the IdeaPad ’s Flex 5i ’s 14.0 - in FHD+ ( 1920 x 1200 ) IPS showing when I pull out the laptop computer out of the box , but I was looking forrad to seeing what my colorimeter had to say .

When I execute the tests , I was sunnily surprised . Brightness was quite gamy at 370 nit , well above our usual ( and increasingly out - of - day of the month ) 300 - nit brink . Contrast was also excellent at 1,710:1 , well above our 1,000:1 preference . It ’s not OLED - level inkiness , but still more than honest enough . Colors were n’t very blanket at 68 % of sRGB , 51 % of AdobeRGB , and 51 % of DCI - P3 , which is below the average informatics showing results of 75 % , 100 % , and 75 % , severally . But the colors were fairly precise at a DeltaE of 2.19 — less than 2.0 is more than good enough for productivity employment , so this show was near enough .

Ultimately , the display perforate above the budget toll for everyone except creators who need more exact colour . Subjectively , the presentation was ok for productivity use and medium economic consumption . The two - verbalizer audio arrangement did n’t abide out as either better or worse than typical .

A budget laptop that’s a little hard to rate

A great laptop computer under $ 600 is tough to make without some severe via media . The IdeaPad Flex 5i gets very close to hitting that mark , with its well - build up chassis , solid keyboard and touchpad , and good - enough performance .

However , its battery life is very dissatisfactory , particularly by forward-looking standards . The real problem is the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED , which be only $ 64 more , despite having a unspoilt OLED show and much prospicient battery life story . love that the IdeaPad Flex 5i is n’t a bad laptop for the money , but I have a arduous time commend it when the Zenbook 14 organic light-emitting diode is right there on offer .