I recommend this Chromebook over many Windows laptops that cost twice as much

ZDNET's key takeaways

• The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is on sale for $600.
• It excels as an inexpensive work laptop thanks to its comfortable keyboard, solid hardware, and useful features in ChromeOS.
• Its sub-standard touchscreen will limit usability for some.

I've been really curious to see how things have changed since my last Chromebook review, which was the Acer Chromebook Plus Enterprise 515 last year. I recently had that opportunity with the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus a computer that I would now recommend over Acer's device. Not only is it cheaper, but it performs better, too.

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Lenovo's model isn't flashy. It is a demure laptop clad in a dark gray aluminium chassis. The closest thing to a flourish is the two-tone pattern on the back. The Flex 5i makes up for its lack of pizzazz by being a dependable work machine, and it starts with the keyboard.

Reliable and comfortable

According to the company, the laptop sports a "drop-down hinge," positioning the keyboard at a slight angle. I noticed this does two things. First, it places your hands in a more comfortable position, and secondly, it pushes the edges of the wrist rest away, so they're not poking your arm. You can type away for hours and hardly notice any strain.

Below that is a spacious trackpad. It's big enough that you can drag the cursor from one side of the screen to the other without having to lift your finger. The trackpad is solid overall, although I wish it were slightly off to the side. I've found having the trackpad off-center to be more comfortable.

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On either side of the keyboard are a pair of perfectly placed 2W speakers. They may not be a high-end sound system, but the drivers have been optimized by Waves MaxxAudio to ensure impressive output. I played a jazz livestream from YouTube, where I found myself instantly surrounded by music, especially for a Chromebook. 

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Design tradeoffs

Lenovo's Flex 5i is a chunky Chromebook. At 3.5 pounds, it's not super heavy, but it is nearly an inch thick when closed. It feels like the computer can survive a drop or two. If you ever get the opportunity to hold this, you'll see what I mean. Port selection is not too shabby, either. The array consists of two Thunderbolt inputs (both of which support data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps and DisplayPort 1.4 for external monitors), a USB-A port, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack.

The Chromebook's design is solid, although I didn't like a few things. Lenovo placed heat vents on the bottom of the laptop, blasting warm air directly toward your legs. Then, there is the touchscreen. Visual output is noticeably dull.

Admittedly, I wasn't expecting too much from a Chromebook. Lenovo's machine houses a WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) display. Screen resolution is passable, with support for 45% of the NTSC color space, resulting in middle of the road color accuracy. What's worse are the thick bezels around the glass, further restricting the display's overall area. Such are the tradeoffs for a device in this price point. 

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

AI that's actually useful

My review unit housed an Intel Core i5-1334U processor along with 8GB of RAM. Lenovo's Flex 5i isn't a super-powered machine by any means, but it gets the job done. The hardware was able to handle 50 open browser tabs consisting of Amazon listings, 15 ZDNET reviews, and multiple 1080p YouTube live streams (among other things) without breaking a sweat. If you're using this device for multitasking and web browsing, it handles it quite well.

Also: Why I recommend this Lenovo over the dozens of work laptops I've tested - and it's on sale

Like a lot of Google hardware, the IdeaPad Flex 5 comes preloaded with generative AI in ChromeOS. Although I'm not typically impressed with pre-loaded AI features, I did enjoy playing around with Notebook LM. It's a handy tool that takes PDFs, Google Docs, and digital documents to create an easily accessible reservoir of information. 

The tool can also summarize documents, which proved itself quite useful when I asked it to condense several laptop reviews that I've written into a few paragraphs. This process took the Chromebook less than a minute to complete. 

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Another thing I enjoy about the Chromebook is its convenience. Setting it up is really easy; you can connect your Google Account to quickly transfer over Chromebook apps, bookmarks, passwords, and more from your old device. It took just a few minutes to transfer everything from my profile.

I also appreciated how ChromeOS instantly detected my Soundcore Space Pro headphones while I was wearing them, allowing me to connect my headphones without even opening Bluetooth settings. Like with the apps, this was made possible by the Google Account connection, as the headphones were already registered to my account.

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Regarding battery life, I had the Chromebook on Battery Saver, and it lasted for about nine hours while running ZDNET's laptop tests. That's not a super long time, but it is enough for a full work day.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is on sale for $600 at Costco. I recommend this to anyone looking for a new work, budget-friendly computer. It performs better than some higher-end laptops while providing a soft keyboard and loud speakers. If display quality is important to you, I would instead suggest the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus from 2024. The resolution is the same, but it has an AMOLED panel that provides more vibrant colors.