I haven’t seen too many retailers selling the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook with 8 GB of RAM here in the US. When I have, the price has been $499.99, the same as Lenovo charges for direct sales. So it caught my eye today that Costco is offering a $50 savings on this configuration. If you’re a warehouse member, you can nab the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook with 8 GB RAM for $449.99.
Not only do you get double the memory of the base $379.99 model at this price, but you also get bumped up from an Intel Celeron to a Core i3.
Even better, you go from 64 GB of eMMC storage to 128 GB of faster PCIe SSD storage. All of those upgrades are easily worth the $70 premium over the base configuration, in my opinion.
I first looked at this device back in June and I was generally impressed with performance of the 4 GB model, saying:
I don’t use benchmarks for my buying decisions but for what it’s worth, the $849 Pixelbook Go I reviewed last year scored lower in some of the same tests, which is interesting. I’m chalking that up to the Go having an 8th-generation chipset while this Lenovo unit has newer 10th-generation silicon inside. Also, the base clock speed of the Core i5 in the Go is 1.3GHz, while the Core i3 I’m using now runs at 2.1GHz.
I like the 1080p 13.3-inch display, WiFi 6 support that offers great connectivity speeds with my WiFi 6 router, the physical webcam cover, above-average backlit keyboard, and the trio of USB ports.
About the only thing I didn’t like was the large power brick but that’s a small concession I’d be willing to make for such a great value. Oh and don’t expect super loud sound out of the 2W speakers either.
I should note that although I haven’t experienced any issues with the 360-degree display hinges, some readers have reported that theirs broke.
I don’t know if that’s a widespread issue but I did search for this problem in various user reviews on retailer sites. I only found a few such instances, however it’s worth mentioning.
Also worth noting is that Costco offers a 90-day return policy on this convertible Chromebook, which is a nice little insurance policy in case of any issues in the first three months.
Here’s a rundown of what you get for your $449.99:
| CPU | Dual-core Intel Core i3-10110U Processor (2.1 GHz / 4.1GHz) |
| GPU | Intel Integrated UHD Graphics |
| Display | 13.3-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 touchscreen, 16:9 aspect ratio, 250 nits brightness |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR4-2600MHz memory |
| Storage | 128 GB PCIe SSD, microSD card slot for expansion |
| Connectivity | WiFi6 (802.11ax, 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Input | Spill-resistant backlit keyboard, USI stylus (optional) support, 720p webcam with physical privacy shutter |
| Ports | 1 USB Type-A, 2 USB Type-C, headphone/microphone combo jack |
| Battery | 51 WHr, expected run-time up to 10 hours |
| Weight | 2.97 pounds |
| Software | Chrome OS automatic updates through June 2028 |
For the price, you’re getting a solid mid-range Chromebook at not much more than an upgraded entry-level configuration.
Based on my usage of the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook, it should easily meet the needs of typical Chromebook usage when it comes to browsing and Android apps. Probably even the occasional Linux app or two from time to time.
