At 22 millimeters thick and three.1 kilos, the Flex 5i gained’t win any portability awards, nevertheless it’s hardly overweight. The plastic all-gray design additionally feels primary to a fault, regardless of the inclusion of an accent stripe in barely darker gray on the left aspect of the lid. The identical no-nonsense keyboard and trackpad discovered on most Chromebooks are accounted for right here as effectively.
Quick in addition and quick to get up, I discovered the Flex 5i to be constantly speedier than the Acer 515—however solely marginally, besting it on benchmarks by lower than 10 p.c throughout the board. Battery energy nonetheless suffered by an identical proportion, maybe a necessity to accommodate the modest velocity enhance. I eked seven hours and 20 minutes of life out of the Flex 5i on a full-frame YouTube video playback check, in comparison with nearly eight-and-a-half hours on the Acer. Given the Flex 5i’s smaller show, that’s maybe an even bigger delta than you would possibly initially suppose.
I’ve written beforehand concerning the new apps and options out there throughout the Chromebook Plus platform, corresponding to animated wallpapers, Google’s Magic Eraser from its Pixel phones, and video options that clear up your webcam photos and movies. Google says loads extra artificial-intelligence-driven extras are coming in 2024. Prepared for an on-demand, AI-generated background in your subsequent Google Meet? It’s on the way in which.
{Photograph}: Lenovo
For now, the machine is able to rumble straight out of the field, absolutely configured inside minutes of powering it on. I encountered no issues with stability or dragging efficiency all through my testing. The machine was additionally just about silent even below load, aided by upward-firing audio system that pumped out loads of sound.
Is all of this value that additional hundred bucks over an entry-level Chromebook Plus mannequin? The true get right here is the touchscreen, and arguably the addition of the microSD card slot, however each of these gadgets could have area of interest attraction that not everybody wants. Should you can reside with out them, go for the cheaper Acer 515 Chromebook Plus. But when they sound helpful, that is an excellent little laptop computer that checks off all of the Chromebook Plus packing containers at a nonetheless very cheap value.
