LENOVO IDEAPAD FLEX 5 REVIEW: RYZEN 4700U FOR A LONG BATTERY LIFE

AMD's Ryzen 4000 series of processors have been well received by critics. Powerful, with excellent integrated graphics by today's standards and capable of achieving good autonomy, these CPUs have performed well in the notebooks in which they have been used up to now. Unfortunately, finding a laptop that equips them is not easy , many models have arrived but at present many of these are difficult to find in Italy, as in the case of this Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 that we review today.

It is a convertible laptop, which can also be used as a tablet, but which finds its best use with traditional laptop use. In this context, Lenovo's notebook performs really well, thanks above all to a powerful and balanced hardware platform, capable of providing hours of autonomy, all offered at a fair price for what is offered.

Design, build quality and audio

Lenovo had to compromise with this IdeaPad Flex 5, a mission that we can however say successful. The goal was not to excessively raise costs, the list price of 949 euros does not allow access to noble materials such as metal, despite this the build quality is adequate for the price, especially in the palm rest area, the one that surrounds the keyboard. where Lenovo has used a special plastic that conveys a good feeling to the touch. For the rest, plastic is the main material with which this notebook is made, which has some creaking here and there but without ruining the general quality of the product. Even when open, IdeaPad Flex 5 makes an impression, thanks to fairly small bezels.

Observing it closed there are no particular design cues to report, the imprint of Lenovo can be seen, the style follows that of other models of the Chinese house, without however standing out from the crowd. The strength of this product is instead the hinge that joins the screen to the base, which allows you to flip the display 360 degrees, to take advantage of the integrated touch screen, or to take advantage of a "V" configuration, to place the display on a floor.

We are not lovers of Windows 10 in touch configuration, the interface is not the best in this mode of use, but it can be convenient as needed, not to mention that in this way it is possible to take advantage of the supplied stylus.

Excellent equipment of expansion ports, which include two USB 3.1 Type A, one USB Type C, HDMI 1.4 output, memory card reader and 3.5 mm jack for headphones and microphone. On the body there is also space for the fingerprint reader, compatible with Windows Hello.

The keyboard is done discreetly, the backlight comes in handy on many occasions but the key actuation is slightly harder than average. On the other hand, the touchpad is excellent, precise and fast, just a pity that the body around it is not very thick and tends to flex , confirming the discreet, but not exceptional, impressions on the build quality of this notebook.

The audio is another of the elements sacrificed on the price altar, the two speakers placed on the sides of the keyboard are only sufficient, with a sound without bass and with a limited sound range.

The dimensions are all in all contained, of 32.15 x 21.75 mm with a variable thickness from 1.8 to 2.1 cm. The weight of 1.6 kg is not the most contained, however the use on the move remains comfortable, even if there are products more suitable for this specific area.

Technical features

 

Underpinning the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is the Ryzen 7 4700U processor , paired with 8GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. The processor offers 8 Zen 2 cores, since it does not have Simultaneous Multithreading, no further logic cores can be exploited, and it is made at 7 nm. The base clock is 2 GHz, while in boost it reaches 4.1 GHz, and integrates a Vega RX GPU with 7 CU and a clock of 1600 MHz . The display is a 14-inch IPS with Full HD resolution, there is also a variant with a TN panel on the list, which, however, we do not recommend due to a yield that is certainly lower than that of our test product. Lenovo has chosen a glossy cover for the display, if you are used to a matte panel the reflections may be annoying.

The quality is slightly below average, mainly due to a not great contrast, while the brightness is sufficient for outdoor use but we have also seen better under this front. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 4.2, the webcam is a common 720p model while the battery is 52 Wh. As you can understand, to do the lion's share in these specifications is the processor of AMD, which manages well to carry out everyday tasks but also more, thanks to its good overall power.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 benchmark

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is a laptop capable of offering an excellent everyday user experience, after all, the Ryzen 7 4700U is characterized by a remarkable overall power, especially for this price range. The absence of Simultaneous Multithreading penalizes it in the multi-core benchmarks, but in reality the AMD solution is suitable for all purposes, including video editing, as long as you do not overdo the complexity of the project, in this case need more. Cinebench R20 shows 2991 points in the multi core benchmark and 467 in the single core one, values that testify to its good overall power. With CPUz, on the other hand, 3960 are reached in the multi core benchmark and 512 in the single core one.

Moving on to the SSD, the performance does not stand out from the crowd, with CrystalDiskMark marking a value of 2197 MB / s in sequential reading and 1051 MB / s in sequential writing.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is a laptop suitable for use in different contexts and gets along well even with heavy applications, without however reaching the levels of a true desktop replacement, after all the price places it in the mid-range of the market.

The integrated GPU from one hand in all applications that can benefit from hardware acceleration, while in gaming the performance is only suitable for titles that are not very complex on the graphics front.. During our test we used Shadow of the Tomb Raider, where in the internal benchmark it scored 26 fps with a resolution of 1280x720 with medium settings, and Batman: Arkham Knight, also tested with the same settings, where it reached an average of 45 fps. Playing with this laptop is therefore possible, but with many compromises in settings and resolution. With lighter titles the situation improves, but this is certainly not its ideal operating range.

During the benchmarks the behavior on the thermal front was excellent, reaching 85 degrees but without a noticeable degradation in performance, confirming the good dissipation system installed, effective but a little noisy. The autonomy is also of a high level , which easily covers an entire working day with normal use (web browsing, office, video and document management), slightly exceeding 12 hours.

 

 

Techcrunchpro    thepinkcharm  themarketinginfo   worldmarketingtips technologybeam