Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i 14IRU8 review: Affordable 14-inch convertible with Thunderbolt 4

The 2023 IdeaPad Flex 5 14IRU8 is this year’s update to the 2022 IdeaPad Flex 5 14IAU7. It swaps out the 12th gen Alder Lake-U Core i5-1235U processor on last year’s model for the 13th gen Raptor Lake-U Core i5-1335U while the rest of the laptop remains unchanged. Thus, we recommend checking out our review on the 2022 model to learn more about the physical features of the IdeaPad Flex 5 14.

Our test unit is a middle configuration with the Core i5-1335U, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD for approximately $900 USD. All configurations at the moment come with a 1200p IPS touchscreen. AMD versions of the IdeaPad Flex 5 14 are also available with the Ryzen 5 7530U or Ryzen 7 7730U instead.

Competitors include other affordable 14-inch convertibles like the Dell Inspiron 14 7435 2-in-1 , Acer Aspire 5 Spin 14 , Asus VivoBook Flip 14 , or HP Pavilion x360 14 . More Lenovo reviews: Interestingly, Lenovo has swapped out the Intel AX201 on last year’s model for a RealTek RTL8852BE likely to trim down on costs. The RealTek module performs slower as shown by our chart below, but transfer rates are otherwise steady and reliable.

The target audience of casual home users or students will likely not notice the difference. The bottom panel is easily removable to show no major internal differences between the 2022 and 2023 models. There are no changes to the display this year or even other panels to choose from.

The limited sRGB coverage is unfortunate but otherwise typical for the budget convertible category as shown by the table below. The panel is poorly calibrated out of the box which is to be expected from a budget laptop. Color temperature is overly warm and color accuracy suffers because of it.

Grayscale and colors would improve dramatically after a proper calibration with our X-Rite colorimeter, but highly saturated colors would remain inaccurate due to the narrow sRGB coverage mentioned earlier. Our calibrated ICM profile is available to download above for free. We set both Windows and Lenovo Vantage to Performance mode prior to running the benchmarks below.

For better or worse, the Vantage UI has been overhauled from the previous year and so owners will have to relearn all the new submenus and repositioned settings. The 13th gen Core i5-1335U offers minimal performance benefits over the 12th gen Core i5-1235U in most scenarios. Its key advantage is faster Turbo Boost which can come in handy when launching applications or editing pictures, but the two CPUs otherwise perform about the same once their short-term Turbo Boost benefits run their course.

As shown by the graph below, our CineBench R15 xT scores would drop 18 percent after the initial run since Turbo Boost clock rates are not indefinite. Upgrading to the Core i7-1355U configuration is only expected to boost processor performance by just a few percentage points based on our time with the ThinkPad X1 Yoga G8 . PCMark scores are ever-so-slightly ahead of last year’s model by just a few percentage points.

Interestingly, the competing AMD-powered Dell Inspiron 14 7435 2-in-1 scores higher than our Lenovo despite the fact that our Core i5-1335U outperforms the Ryzen 5 7530U. LatencyMon still shows minor DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs of our homepage. Thankfully, 4K video playback at 60 FPS remains excellent with no dropped frames recorded.

The 2023 model employs the same Samsung PM9B1 M. 2 2242 NVMe SSD as on the 2022 model. Unlike the pricier PM9A1, the PM9B1 is a midrange PCIe4 x4 SSD offering transfer rates that are about half as fast which is still more than sufficient for a Core i5 U-series CPU.

However, performance would still throttle after a few minutes of stress similar to what we observed on last year’s model as shown by our DiskSpd loop test results below. The integrated Iris Xe 80 EUs in our 2023 Flex 5 14 is up to 5 percent faster than the same GPU in the 2022 model which, for practical intents and purposes, is not enough of a difference to be noticeable. For more significant gains in performance, users will have to consider the competing Radeon 680M or 780M as found on more expensive models like the Lenovo Yoga 7-14.

Upgrading to the Core i7-1355U configuration with the Iris Xe 96 EUs is expected to boost graphics performance by 15 to 20 percent based on our time with the ThinkPad X1 Yoga G8. Fan noise is not any noisier than on last year’s model despite the fact that processor temperature is much cooler this time around as our Stress Test section below will show. However, the fan would still occasionally pulse between silence and 28 dB(A) when simply web browsing or video streaming.

The low 30 dB(A) range isn’t loud enough to be bothersome, but the pulsing makes it more noticeable. Hot spots can reach up to 40 C on the top and bottom sides, respectively, which is slightly warmer than what we recorded on the competing Inspiron 14 7435 2-in-1 . CPU clock rates and power draw when initiating Prime95 stress would spike to 3.

6 GHz and 50 W, respectively, lasting for only the first few seconds or until core temperature reaches 82 C. Thereafter, the CPU would drop to just 1. 4 GHz and 15 W in order to maintain a cooler core temperature of just 55 C.

Interestingly, this is about 400 MHz slower and 20 C cooler than what we recorded on last year’s model when under similar conditions. The mid 50 C range appears to be a ceiling for the 2023 model even when running other demanding applications like FurMark or Witcher 3 . Power consumption when idling is roughly the same as on last year’s model.

However, differences begin to show when running more demanding loads. Prime95, for example, would demand about 7 W less on our 2023 model while Witcher 3 would demand about 4 W less for slightly higher performance-per-watt year-over-year. Battery life is a bit longer than before by about half an hour.

We’re able to record almost 10 hours of real-world WLAN usage which is competitive against the Inspiron 14 7435 2-in-1 or Acer Aspire 5 Spin 14 . Charging from empty to full capacity is faster this time around at only 75 minutes. The primary difference between the 2022 and 2023 models is the newer 13th gen Intel CPU for the latter which offers faster performance, higher performance-per-watt, and longer battery life by just slight margins all around.

The benefits aren’t noticeable under real-world scenarios and so users considering the older 2022 version instead won’t be missing out on very much. For most home users and multimedia playback purposes, the 2022 model can offer essentially the same performance and experience as the physically identical 2023 model for less money. The more disappointing aspects of the IdeaPad Flex 5 14 are its lack of display options and costly RAM upgrades.

Though we understand that sRGB coverage is typically limited on budget laptops, some new options anyway would have helped to better differentiate the newer model from the older one. As for the RAM, Lenovo is not currently offering a simple upgrade path from 8 GB to 16 GB. For example, the cheapest 8 GB SKU retails for just $605 while the cheapest 16 GB SKU retails for $840.

Value-per-dollar drops significantly for the higher-end SKUs especially since the Core i5-1335U performs so similarly to the pricier Core i7-1355U. It may therefore be better to wait for a sale on the 16 GB configuration or opt for the essentially identical 2022 model . Lenovo is now shipping the 2023 IdeaPad Flex 5i 14 starting at $574 USD for the base 8 GB configuration up to $900 for the 16 GB configuration.

AMD variants are also available . .