This Lenovo 2-in-1 Is A Winner At This Price Point, Even If It's Not For Me

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is presently connected waste for $699.
• It is simply a midrange laptop that's awesome for activity acknowledgment to its coagulated hardware and clear audio.
• However, nan show isn't very vibrant and nan keyboard is lackluster.

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When shopping for a 2-in-1 laptop, you person to measurement aggregate characteristics: versatility, performance, and price. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i is 1 specified instrumentality that checks disconnected those boxes for budget-conscious buyers. It's designed to maximize its value, delivering coagulated mundane capacity crossed nan committee while remaining affordable. 

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That said, it doesn't excel successful immoderate peculiar category, offering satisfactory capacity crossed nan board. In that sense, nan exemplary doesn't guidelines retired from its rivals. I'd still urge it, however, to anyone looking for a well-priced 2-in-1. Let's return a person look. 

Practicality complete style

Like galore IdeaPads earlier it, this laptop favors practically complete flash. It sports a simple, all-gray chassis that blends into astir agency spaces. The instrumentality reminds maine a batch of nan precocious released Acer Aspire 16 successful position of looks, though Lenovo's PC is somewhat bigger, measuring 14.02 x 10.04 x 0.77 inches and weighing 4.18 pounds. For comparison, nan Aspire measures 14 x 9.85 x 0.63 inches and weighs 3.42 pounds.

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The quality isn't massive, though nan other abstraction does let for a larger number pad that doesn't compress nan keys. It's a mini touch, but I deliberation spreadsheet writers will admit it aft hours of entering numbers.

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Typing connected nan IdeaPad was a mixed experience. The keyboard is comfortable to activity connected acknowledgment to nan generous magnitude of abstraction betwixt nan keys. But nan keys themselves consciousness mushy, lacking nan tactile consciousness that makes agelong typing sessions easy connected nan hands. The trackpad besides took maine immoderate clip getting utilized to. It sits left-aligned, leaving a important magnitude of quiet abstraction to nan right.

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The intent of this layout is apt to springiness your wrist a spot to rest, which is thoughtful of Lenovo. However, nan trackpad is small, truthful it limits nan scope of motion. You're forced to assistance your digit much often to repetition movements conscionable to get nan cursor crossed nan screen. 

Mixed media

For a 2-in-1 laptop, nan touchscreen is nan standout feature. Unfortunately, Lenovo's IdeaPad 5i stumbles here; it's not great. Color accuracy is nan first issue. The show looked noticeably dull, pinch washed-out tones and anemic saturation. Reds, successful particular, were noticeably little vivid. 

I noticed this erstwhile looking astatine nan Google Chrome logo and saw that nan reddish information astatine nan apical looked orange. On nan agleam side, nan colour opposition is awesome pinch heavy achromatic and vibrant whites.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Another problem was nan glossy decorativeness connected nan glass. It reflects a ton of light, making it difficult to watch contented moreover astatine maximum brightness. Photographing nan IdeaPad 5i for this reappraisal proved to beryllium much challenging than pinch erstwhile laptops I've reviewed, chiefly owed to this issue. With a maximum brightness of 300 nits, it is astir intolerable to spot nan surface successful thing but perfect conditions and settings. More often than not, you'll beryllium staring astatine yourself.

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The 16-inch surface features a 16:10 facet ratio, providing users pinch ample surface existent property for work. The pixel solution is group astatine 1900 x 1200, ensuring that matter and video look sharp, and nan 60Hz refresh complaint is capable for on-screen animations while browsing and streaming movies. Also, nan 1080p webcam is serviceable. You will look bully successful video calls, though it isn't thing groundbreaking.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

Audio capacity is wherever nan laptop amazed me. The IdeaPad 5i houses a brace of 2-watt speakers that support Dolby Audio. This allows them to present cleanable sound pinch a astonishing soundstage. You tin distinctly prime retired vocals, guitar riffs, bass lines, and drums. 

There is simply a catch: a low-volume ceiling. These speakers will not beryllium filling an full room. Still, nan clarity is impressive. In my experience, astir speakers opt for large audio to disguise a level output. Lenovo did nan opposite, and it pays off.

Lightweight performance

When it comes to performance, Lenovo's laptop holds its own. The IdeaPad 5i runs connected an Intel Core Ultra 7 255U processor, an integrated Intel graphics card, and 16GB of storage. It's not a powerhouse, but it's well-suited to mundane productivity alternatively than earthy power.

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In testing, nan hardware handled my emblematic workloads (which included complete 50 Chrome tabs, aggregate video livestreams, Google Docs writing, Slack, Spotify, and immoderate ray editing) without awesome hiccups. The 2-in-1 hinge adds a batch of value, too. Editing apps consciousness much earthy to navigate while successful tablet mode.

I do wish a stylus was a portion of nan wide package. Instead, nan accessory is simply a abstracted purchase. Another astonishment came from nan device's benchmarking results successful Cinebench 2024; specifically testing nan computer's expertise to grip analyzable 3D rendering. 

According to nan hardware comparison level NanoReview, nan Intel Core Ultra 7 255U has an mean Cinebench 2024 people of 568. In my tests, nan IdeaPad 5i achieved a people of 674, indicating that it's much tin of tackling dense workloads than primitively thought.

Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET

That said, I still wouldn't count connected this Lenovo PC for ultra-demanding workloads. It's much that users pushing it to its limits connected mundane tasks that will beryllium amazed astatine its expertise to clasp its own. 

The lead hardware helps pinch artillery life, arsenic it lasted astir 12 hours connected a azygous complaint during my testing. Not rather nan marathon artillery life that I saw connected nan Aspire 16, but it tin surely past nan full workday -- and past immoderate --  rather comfortably.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 is presently connected waste for $699. I would urge it to anyone seeking a 16-inch surface convertible laptop for activity but wants to support things firmly successful nan debased to mid-range value point. 

It boasts above-average performance, but nan ocular output mightiness beryllium excessively substandard for users looking for a vivid display. If you worth versatility, you'll much apt to bask this convertible PC, moreover if it's not needfully for me. 

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If you're looking for thing much polished, nan Acer Aspire 16 offers akin capacity pinch a importantly amended artillery life. I besides propose nan Dell 14 Plus. It's a smaller PC pinch a sharper display.