Lenovo Flex 5 2-in-1 Laptop: Ryzen 5 4500U, 14" IPS, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD Expired

Nobody pays me for my reviews (sadly 'cos my kids are eating me out of house and home)

Just used my Costco membership to buy (on behalf of a neighbour) the 4700U / 16 GB / 512GB SSD version for someone who's (no doubt virtually) off to college and had a good look around at prices / options in the process. The Dad's now asking about a second for his two younger kids - not much cash, so am looking at the 4500U lower cost version)

I recommended this Lenovo to him based on hardware specs (CPU, Memory, SSD), price, the keyboard (college student typing reports), versatility form factor (2 in 1, 14") and brand name. I recommended going the Costco route also because of warranty - all in all a great longevity play for a 4 year stucdent. On the downside, I listed the screen quality (resolution is fine) and the lack of 4k 60Hz on the USB-C - which I CAN do on my macbook. Having said that, I'm going to test this soon since I've seen conflicting info from reviewers. (Not really important to a college student that last one.)

So you've got three main deals....

4500U with 8GB and 256GB SSD like in this deal.... $520
4500U with 16GB and 256GB SSD on Amazon........ $600
4700U with 16GB and 512GB SSD on Costco............ $750

If you're a member of Costco, I think it's a compelling choice - especially if you have the Costco credit card. 4 years of warranty. Plus the 3 year drops and spills was an extra $100, so you're out the door with a realistic 4 or 5 year very capable solution for in my case, just shy of $900 incl tax. Note the Costco version didn't come with the active pen (sub $30 purchase).

If I had to go down in price, I would go for the 16Gb version on Amazon over the 8GB Office Depot - even though it's over internet / no local store. The 4500U CPU is from online review / benchmarks very strong (ie more than enough horsepower) already, despite not being the 4700U (I would somewhat disagree with a previous commentator - I have an i5 8th gen Intel in a macbook and it's pants slow, as in atrocious, so I would really appreciate a faster CPU like this AMD). Looking into the future, you will never regret paying $80 more for twice the memory. This laptop is NOT memory upgradeable - only SSD and wifi chip upgradeable.

On a wider issue, Lenovo really struck hard and fast with this laptop and AMD chip - but I've noticed that HP now has the "Envy" equivalent (I think in 13 and 15 inch), plus Acer etc. So kudos to Lenovo for getting it out the door and to market and changing the value prop in the home laptop class, but expect other forms from other vendors and price competition to start kicking in as supply becomes available.

Also rumour has it that the 11th gen Intel allegedly dropping later this year is "going to be much better* than the current 10th gen Intel, which conspicuously lags behind the new AMD mobile chip (esp on a price / performance). Mind you could just be "spoiler reviews". So as with most things in technology - if you don't force yourself into a mental box and wait a little longer, there's normally something better, cheaper, faster coming along. I personally think this laptop is conspicuously good enough for most and if I waited, it wouldn't be for an Intel at the same price, it would be for the AMD to go down in price.

NET NET - it's a good solid laptop and I think a great deal for say a student or home office worker. Go for the 16GB if you can. Paired with a monitor, I think it'd be a great and versatile home office dual use laptop. Remember to double check in whatever you look at for the 4500U / 4700U / 4xxx- there are a lot of last gen 3xxx AMD based laptops still on the market and it's easy to make that mistake - AMD's 4th gen is significantly better, not just in speed but also power / heat / battery life.

2p

Dingo

Sounds like you need to hit the gym, bud.

According to the reviews on the OD website, the RAM is not expandable to 16GB as claimed in the description. This is confirmed by Lenovo's response to one of the reviews.