Review: Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus

The Chromebook Plus parade continues as a bevy of manufacturers jump aboard the biggest upgrade to the category since it launched. For those who missed the news, Chromebook Plus is a new enhanced version of Chromebooks certified by Google, featuring faster CPUs, more RAM and storage, sharper displays, and nicer cameras. Basically, they're just better Chromebooks.

This is all backed up with new software tricks designed to make you forget you’re working on a web-centric laptop with a stripped-down operating system. (Don’t worry: If you still want an OG Chromebook, they remain available on the market, with refurbished models selling under $100.)

My first encounter with a Chromebook Plus was Acer’s 515 model, an entry-level product that hits the market as the least expensive price you can find for the category—$400. Lenovo’s IdeaPad Flex 5i pops that up to $499—a 25 percent price hike but still an excellent bargain when compared to Windows and macOS notebooks. Is the extra hundo worth it?

Courtesy of Lenovo

The under-the-hood specs here are similar to the Acer 515, including a nearly identical 3.75-GHz Intel Core i3-1315U CPU and the same 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of flash storage. While Lenovo's Flex 5i also has two USB-C ports (one used for charging) and one USB-A port, Lenovo swaps in a microSD card slot for the HDMI output that the Acer includes. If you tend to load up your laptop with lots of local files, you might prefer the expandable storage.

The big difference is the screen, and it’s either an upgrade or a downgrade depending on your point of view. While the Acer 515 is a typical clamshell with a 15.6-inch nontouch display, the Flex 5i offers a smaller 14-inch touchscreen. The laptop also has the now classic 2-in-1 design that allows it to bend backward into an inverted V shape, should you want to use the device for uninterrupted media streaming or toddler entertaining. Both units share a similar, mid-level brightness and a standard 1,920 x 1,080-pixel screen resolution.

Photograph: Lenovo

At 22 millimeters thick and 3.1 pounds, the Flex 5i won’t win any portability awards, but it’s hardly obese. The plastic all-gray design also feels basic to a fault, despite the inclusion of an accent stripe in slightly darker grey on the left side of the lid. The same no-nonsense keyboard and trackpad found on most Chromebooks are accounted for here as well.

Fast to boot and fast to wake up, I found the Flex 5i to be consistently speedier than the Acer 515—but only marginally, besting it on benchmarks by less than 10 percent across the board. Battery power however suffered by a similar proportion, perhaps a necessity to accommodate the modest speed boost. I eked seven hours and 20 minutes of life out of the Flex 5i on a full-frame YouTube video playback test, compared to almost eight-and-a-half hours on the Acer. Given the Flex 5i’s smaller display, that’s perhaps a bigger delta than you might initially think.

I’ve written previously about the new apps and features available across the Chromebook Plus platform, such as animated wallpapers, Google's Magic Eraser from its Pixel phones, and video features that clean up your webcam images and videos. Google says plenty more artificial-intelligence-driven extras are coming in 2024. Ready for an on-demand, AI-generated background for your next Google Meet? It’s on the way.

Photograph: Lenovo

For now, the machine is ready to rumble straight out of the box, fully configured within minutes of powering it on. I encountered no problems with stability or dragging performance throughout my testing. The machine was also virtually silent even under load, aided by upward-firing speakers that pumped out plenty of sound.

Is all of this worth that extra hundred bucks over an entry-level Chromebook Plus model? The real get here is the touchscreen, and arguably the addition of the microSD card slot, but both of those items may have niche appeal that not everyone needs. If you can live without them, opt for the cheaper Acer 515 Chromebook Plus. But if they sound useful, this is an outstanding little laptop that checks off all the Chromebook Plus boxes at a still very reasonable price.