Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 13" Laptop, FHD Touch Display, Intel Core i3-10110U, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage, Chrome OS

I purchased this to be a "commuter" device for university. My Windows laptop is a bit too expensive and fragile for me to want to stuff it in a backpack and carry it around all day. When I purchased this, I was looking for something that could be used for video conference lectures, that I could do schoolwork on, and that I could use for light internet browsing during study breaks. I used it during the fall 2020 semester, and this met those expectations and more. Here's the "Good, Okay, Bad" breakdown.Good:The convertible screen ended up being incredibly valuable, once I finally got my hands on a USI stylus. I used it to take notes directly on PDFs of my lecture materials using Squid, and it really upped my study game.If you're already deep in the Google ecosystem, this is a really handy device to have. My Pixel paired easily and now I can see my text messages on my computer. That's really cool.Startup takes no time at all.The battery life is impressive. I can consistently get at least 8 hours of heavy use, even with my brightness turned all the way up. It charges really fast, too.The screen is clear, bright, and vibrant. I'm used to a much larger screen on my Windows laptop, and the transition to this smaller screen was easy, because the quality is so nice.It's a durable little sucker. I'm kind of hard on my electronics. Four months of daily use, and it still looks the same as it did the day I unboxed it.The keyboard is excellent and I love that it's backlit. I wish it had a 10-key numpad, but it definitely wouldn't fit one.The touchpad is also excellent and I love that it supports multi-touch.I'm just a big fan of Chrome OS. It's simple and easy to use. There's almost no learning curve. It has a lot of fun little tricks that make it really simple and efficient to use.Okay:The RAM is sufficient for my needs. It gets a little laggy when I have a lot of tabs open and apps running simultaneously. By "a lot," I mean like 20+. I currently have 12 tabs, one of which is a youtube video, and Google Hangouts open and it's running fine. It sometimes struggles to handle having multiple youtube videos open, or having a youtube video paused in the background while I do a video call. It has crashed on me a few times, almost always when I have multiple youtube tabs or streaming services running simultaneously. But as long as I'm careful about how much I have open at one time, it's fine.The touchscreen is just okay, even with the USI stylus. It's not bad exactly, but sometimes it takes a while to recognize my USI stylus. I'm not sure if that's a problem with the stylus or the Chromebook. Palm rejection, latency, and smoothness vary a lot depending on the app you're using. (I tried every handwriting app in the play store.) I've never used it to draw. I wouldn't use this as a tablet replacement. It's a little bit too big and the layout is a little bit too unwieldy.The app selection is okay. You can run most Android apps on a Chromebook. Usually they work fine. Sometimes they're a little clunky.The webcam is alright. It's nothing fancy, but it's fine for video calls. I like the privacy cover.Bad:The speakers aren't great. They're loud enough, but they're tinny with no bass. The speakers on my Pixel 3a are objectively better. I almost always use headphones, so this isn't a huge problem for me - I didn't even notice until I'd already owned this Chromebook for a few months. But if listening to music without headphones or an external speaker is important to you, this might not be the device for you.Overall, I'm very happy with the Flex 5. I would recommend it if...You already have a more powerful Windows or Mac device and want something lightweight, cheap, and sturdy to carry around.You're caught between buying a tablet and a laptop, because you want a bigger screen/better keyboard/more traditional computer-like interface than you can get with a tablet, but you don't want to spend a ton of money on a laptop or sacrifice features and durability for a low-tier laptop. (This is the perfect compromise for that, especially if you're already a Google/Android user.)You're a light computer user who basically just wants an internet machine, but you want a nice internet machine. I would highly recommend this for an older adult or a kid who doesn't need any fancy software.You already own Android or Google devices and want something that will complement them.

This is my first Chromebook. I decided to dip my toe into the world of Chrome OS because I’m embarking on a long-term writing project using Google Docs, and I wanted a small, portable device with long battery life and a good keyboard. After some research, including reviews both on Amazon and on other sites, I decided on the Lenovo Flex 5. New to Chromebooks, I admit I was very hesitant. A 3D animator and motion graphics artist by trade, I own several Windows 10 workstations and laptops, all of which have powerful CPUs, high end graphics cards, lots of ram and ample storage. I was therefore reluctant to purchase a computer that only had an i3 processor and 4GB ram. But after using the notebook for two months, I couldn't be more pleased.Pros:Battery life: 8-10 hours with daily moderate use.1. Keyboard: For such a small device, the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable and quiet. Extra points for the nice backlit keys.2. Display: Sharp 1080 screen that is evenly lit. The touchscreen is very responsive.3. Size: Small footprint without feeling like you are sacrificing anything in the display or keyboard.4. Cost: At this price point, the Flex is hard to beat.5. Responsiveness: In my use (writing and surfing the web), the Chromebook has been very snappy, with no lag.6. Build quality: This Chromebook has an exceptionally solid feel.Cons:1. The screen has a gloss finish that might bother some users due to glare or reflections. So far that has been a non-issue for me, but it is a fingerprint magnet.2. Swivel screen. I hardly swivel the screen to turn the Flex into a tablet since I use mine for writing and therefore want the keyboard. I’m reporting this as a con only because there have been reports of the screen attachment breaking after repeated flips. Such reports have made me a bit paranoid about switching to the tablet configuration.3. Webcam quality is not very good. I tried it once and probably won’t use it again.4. Bluetooth mouse. This is a criticism of Chrome OS in general, not the Flex in particular. I purchased a Logitech bluetooth mouse for my Flex. I had no trouble pairing it, and the forward/backward navigation works fine. But scrolling with the wheel while surfing the web is VERY frustrating. Pages scroll smoothly and then suddenly jump much further down, causing you to have to scroll back up to find your place. This aggressive scrolling is not unique to the Flex or to the Logitech mouse. It has been well documented as an issue with Chrome OS and bluetooth mice. It is truly my only major grievance in owning this Chromebook. Google apparently has better things to do and has ignored customer complaints about this for years. Fortunately, the Flex has a touch screen, so you can always forgo the mouse and simply scroll using the display.In conclusion, I am extremely happy with my Lenovo Flex 5: nice keyboard, crisp display, terrific battery life, excellent build quality, and very attractive price point. But keep in mind that I’m using my Flex only for surfing the web and for writing in the cloud. I can’t comment on how well it handles other tasks, such as playing games. If you’re expecting tablet-like weight, you will be disappointed because it is considerably heavier than a tablet. Personally, I would rather have a well constructed Chromebook like this one than a flimsy, light one.