Verdict
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is a solid all - round Chromebook with good feeling , a tough chassis and a great performance for the price . Just check out for its meagre port wine selection and the fact that it ’s quite weighty .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Lenovo ’s long - bear IdeaPad card of laptops has oftentimes made some splendid affordable candidates , and hopefully , that can extend into their card of Chromebooks with their latest fusion – the aptly - name Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook .
At £ 550/$550 , it sits well among the ocean of Chromebooks uncommitted at this monetary value , but alternatively of offering clever feature such as 2 - in-1 functionality of theHP Chromebook x2 11 , or a flip CRT screen like that of theAcer Chromebook Spin 514 , Lenovo ’s option is more conventional .
Whether that all - rounder approach can help oneself the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook along with being one of thebest Chromebookswe’ve tested remains to be seen , though . I ’ve been doing some examination to find out .
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Design and Keyboard
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook , at first glimpse , carries the same appearance as the non - ChromeOS chance variable of this laptop , with a good - looking grey chassis . It ’s a two - tone grey , with a distinct line on the laptop ’s eyelid also offering a lightly - discase finish , which give it a little fleck of pizzazz compared to the sea of solid black and grey at this terms . For a business organization - looking laptop , it ’s skillful to have something a flake more foul-smelling .
A free weight of 1.85 kilo make this quite a heavy laptop computer for its size of it though , making it a little bit more of a pain to transmit around . likewise - price competition can lose an inch or two in screen door size , but also recede anything from 300 to 500 gram of hoi polloi , making them a better pick for those on the go . As much as that extra weight can make it a tad cumbersome to carry , it ’s contemplative of how well built the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is . The anatomy feel self-coloured and is n’t vacuous .
The 16 - inch screen on go makes this one of the magnanimous Chromebooks out there , but it ’s a screen whose bezel are relatively slender on the side and around the top . The top also houses a 1080p webcam , which is a squeamish signature , as some Chromebooks and Windows laptops are still lumbered with a 720p one , even in this day and geezerhood .
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Compared to other bounteous - cover Chromebooks , the port pick on the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is meagre . It ships with a duo ofUSB - C3.2 Gen ports , one of which is used for charging , as well as two USB - A 3.2 Gen 1 larboard , a earphone / mic combo jack and a Micro SD card lector . This is okay for modern workflow , although it would have been dainty to see a dedicated display yield such as an HDMI port , which is present on most other similarly - priced units I ’ve try out .
The advantage of this being a Chromebook with a large chassis is that it come with a virtually full - size of it keyboard layout , a consecrate phone number digs and all . It ’s a comparatively comfortable keyboard to type on , with excellent tactility and a snappy locomotion across all keys . The fact it is n’t backlit is a shame , though , as this Chromebook wo n’t be too suited for after - dour working .
There ’s a magnanimous trackpad to boot , too . It provides pile of real estate for your fingers and the buttons on offer ply good skin perceptiveness . Besides this , there is n’t much to describe on – there is n’t a fingerprint sensor , for instance . The only literal brandish is the Lenovo logo plate present in the bottom right turning point .
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Display and Sound
With a Chromebook at this price , the display is ordinarily where thing get skimped on . For the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook , this is partly the case . Lenovo has bundled in an adequate panel for the Mary Leontyne Price , but with one notable short fall .
As a 16 - in screen with a 1920×1200 resolution , it yield you a lot of space for day - to - day working and provides solid detail on expose images , too . It ’s also an IPS panel , which provide some good viewing angles in testing while determine the latest Grand Tour special , while its 300 nits of brightness meets our object for passable reverberance .
The problem here is its 45 % rated reportage of the NTSC gamut , which leave colours feeling quite washed out and not inevitably as punchy as other displays I ’ve get wind on Chromebooks . For the most part , it ’s comely enough , but not the best option if watch picture is a antecedency .
The top - firing speakers were decent in testing with good volume , and little in the path of distortion . They carry with them a fairish amount of mids , and not much in the room of low - end , but are still decent enough for day - to - mean solar day oeuvre and loosen with content onDisney+orPrime Videoafter you ’re done . The fact they ’re also top - sacking is also ready to hand if you use your laptop computer on a soft surface such as a bed , where downwardly - firing social unit would be muffled .
Performance
In sidereal day - to - 24-hour interval tasks and in a cortege of celluloid benchmarks , the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook proved to be a nipping performer . This is because of the combination of a lightweight osmium in ChromeOS and its frosty Intel Core i3 - 1215U chip . This leave a aggregate of six cores , part between two P - cores and four E - cores , helping to give the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook an first-class all - pear-shaped performance .
For the tripping computing task it ’s contrive for , it felt wonderful to employ , with the sum of six cores allowing the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook to business leader in front in the benchmark mental testing , peculiarly for multi - core performance . It ’s here where Lenovo ’s oblation smooth the brightest against the competition .
The 8 GB of RAM on offer provides enough headway for general computing , and even open up a loading of Chrome tabs did n’t make the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook falter . Combined with this , the 256 GB SSD is more generous than a lot of other Chromebooks , where some will still feature either 32 GB or 64 GB ofeMMCstorage .
The only issue here is arguably the work system itself . ChromeOS still does n’t support sure apps that Windows does , or offer as wide functionality , signify you are limited on what you’re able to do . It ’s all right for swooning calculation , but not for anything more than this .
Battery Life
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook also packs in some serious survival , with it last for just over 13 and a half hours in our battery test after dialling the brightness down to half and run a television iteration .
This is one of the best results I ’ve see from any laptop , let alone a mid - range Chromebook , and intend you ’ll be capable to get between one and two working days out of the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook before you need to plug it in .
Of naturally , whacking the light up is go to drain the battery quicker , but that ’s a trade - off that ’s wider than with just this laptop computer .
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Final Thoughts
As opposed to extend any extras such as a touchscreen or two - in - one functionality , the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook do up a conventional laptop experience with a lot to like about it . It ’s a good looking automobile , although it is quite heavy . On the positive side , the keyboard is fantastic , and the trackpad devote you a lot of room .
Inside , the Intel Core i3 - 1215U packs a major punch , and make up the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook one of the nippiest performer for the damage , while its compounding of 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD give some great headroom for multi - tasking and storage severally . The display on offer is largely okay if you ’re after a adult - screen Chromebook , but colours can look a fiddling wash out and lack that punch you get from likewise price choice such as theAcer Chromebook Spin 514 .
recommend the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is pretty sluttish if you ’re after an all - round Chromebook that develop the basics right . It does n’t have a touchscreen or the 2 - in-1 functionality of theHP Chromebook x2 11 , but for those wanting a conventional laptop computer for a effective price , this is one to consider . Check out ourBest Chromebookguide for more options .
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How we test
Every laptop we review go through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality , performance , projection screen timber and battery sprightliness .
These include conventional man-made benchmark and written test , plus a series of real - world checks , such as how well it runs popular apps .
FAQs
The 5 touch to the manikin variant , and the small i refers to the fact this Chromebook head for the hills an Intel processor .
Test Data
Full Specs
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