Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US Review

Overview

The Lenovo Flex 5 series of laptops is one of the most popular budget 2 in 1 set on the market. This Flex 5 81X20005US is the direct successor to the Flex 5 81SS000DUS with the Ryzen 5 3500U processor and the Intel competitor with the 8th gen i5 processor. This model was released in the fourth quarter of May 2020 and immediately became one of the quickest laptops to be sold out on Amazon after its release. This should tell you a lot about the anticipation surrounding its release. But , why the rush ? Well, undoubtedly, one of the reasons is the fact that it comes with the new and highly rated AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, but there are other reasons too. It’s 2 in 1 feature in addition to battery life, portability and of course, budget friendly price.

Full Specifications

Display

The new Flex 5 features a 10-point, 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS touchscreen that of course , has a a pair of 360°  hinges, thus allowing it to be flipped all the way over and into a tablet mode. This display has a brightness of about 250 nits which is a little below the average of its competitors. As for color accuracy, this screen covers around 70% of the of the sRGB color gamut which is well below some other 14 ” 2 in 1 laptops. Its IPS technology ensures it has decent viewing angles , which is definitely a plus especially on a smaller display. An advantage of of this display is its ability to use a pen , that of course, you can use to write or draw on screen. The great news is that this stylus actually comes with the laptop unlike in the past where you had to purchase it separately.

Performance Power

Processor

Powered by the all new AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, this is one of the major reasons behind the buzz surrounding the Flex 5. This Ryzen 5 4500U is a mobile CPU designed for thin and light weighted laptop. This processor has a total of six cores and six threads and operates at a base clock speed of 2.3GHz and a max boost speed of 4.0GHz. The 4500U though designed for super thin laptops,is by no means, a walk over.It is a bit weaker than the 8 core Ryzen 7 4700U, but beats the Core i7-1065G and definitely the  i5-10300H, both on Intel’s side. Check out benchmarks of the Ryzen 5 4500U here.

Graphics

The Flex 5 doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card. Fortunately though, it has the New AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 Integrated graphics. The GPU is based on the Vega architecture and has 6 CUs (= 384 of the 704 shaders) clocked at up to 1.500 MH. Even though it is not a dedicated graphics card, the Vega 6 is still able to run games almost as well as the GeForce MX230  dedicated graphics card. See some gaming benchmarks of the MX 230 here. You will be able to have an idea of how well this specific laptop will perform in gaming.

Memory (RAM)

The Lenovo Flex 5-14 81X20005US, ships with 16 GB 3200MHz RAM soldered to the motherboard. The RAM being soldered, means that you can’t remove or replace the memory, but the good thing is that 16 GB RAM is good enough for just about any task, this laptop, based on its CPU, will do well at.

Storage

For storage solution, the manufacturer has employed a 256 GB SK Hynix NVMe SSD which provides plenty of speed in booting and overall reflexive performance. 256 GB of storage for many people today though, is quite small; 512 GB would be awesome. You can’t complain too much at this price point though.

Build Quality & Design

Build quality is very important when selecting a laptop , especially if it is a device you plan on using a lot or you move around regularly. The Flex 5 has a very similar design to that of its predecessor with a full plastic chassis, apart from the keyboard deck that is mainly polycarbonate ABS.The good thing though, is the plastic that makes it is actually of very good quality and as such, gives the laptop a sturdy feel. You hardly see build quality of a laptop mentioned without looking into the hinges of the display panel. The hinges on the Flex 5 appear to be firm and very durable which of course, is a major plus for the overall build quality of device in question. As mentioned before, the overall design is quite similar to the older model, but with a slight difference in the design of the exhaust / back ventilation area and overall it has a more premium and refined feel.

Connectivity

The Flex 5 has a decent selection and variety of output and input ports. With a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Always On) port and a regular
USB 3.1 Gen 1 port plus a USB-C (Power Delivery 3.0), you wont be short on USB options. In addition, this laptop comes with one HDMI port and a MultiMediaCard (SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card) card reading solution. As for networking, the device gets it internet via a  2×2 WiFi 5 (802.11 ac)  wireless adapter and additional wireless capabilities courtesy of its Bluetooth® 4.2 connectivity options. `As for audio, the Flex 5 has a headphone/microphone combo jack that allows you to not only receive sounds from the computer through a headset, but also to input sounds.

Battery ?

Battery life is very important in especially devices like the Flex 5 that users will want to take around and away from power outlets. Lenovo used a 52.5 Wh lithium ion battery pack in this system which gives around 7-8 hours of regular operation and playback time, even though the manufacturer themselves and retailers advertise a ten hour battery life. Honestly though, even 7 hours is quite decent for the specs and the price of the device. It should be noted though that for gaming and other CPU intensive tasks, the laptop’s battery will be drained in around five 4.5 – 5 hours.

Laptop Deal’s Verdict

The Flex 5 is certainly a competitive device for its price. It stocks a good balance between performance power, premium aesthetics , battery life and value for your money. It is a great pick for general tasks such as word processing, surfing the internet, watching videos, and even some amount of modern gaming. It is a device that students in particularly may enjoy because of its notes taking features and solid battery life. While it will do a decent job in “hobby like ” photo editing , if you are into any tasks that require a highly color accurate display like professional photo editing, this may not be the best. It may also not be the best for a device that will be used widely outside (in sunlight) , because of its relatively dim display. Overall though, the Flex 5 at its price point, is great value for your money.

You can see the price and offers of the Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US HERE or at the banner below.