With all of the hype about the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook yesterday, it was easy to overlook a new 2-in-1 from the same company: the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5, which starts at $360 when it launches in June.
This is a 13.3-inch 1080p convertible with an included pressure-sensitive stylus that can be configured with up to a 10th-gen Intel Core i5 processor. Given that the base model comes with 32 GB of storage, I suspect the chip powering that configuration is either a Celeron or a Pentium but I’ll swing by Lenovo’s CES booth to find out.
Aside from the stylus support, a first for Lenovo’s Chromebooks, the company says this is also the first 13-inch Chromebook with “intelligent built-in user-facing dual stereo speakers”. It will be difficult to test the sound quality on the show floor, but I like the speaker placement alongside the keyboard.
Here’s a rundown on the specs as provided by Lenovo:
| CPU | Up to 10th-Gen Intel Core i5 |
| GPU | Intel Integrated Graphics |
| Display | 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen, 300 nits |
| Memory | 4 GB / 8 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 32GB / 64GB eMMC or 128GB SSD, microSD slot for expansion |
| Connectivity | WiFi 6 (Note: No mention of Bluetooth but I suspect it’s there) |
| Input | Water-resistant, backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad, 720p webcam |
| Ports | Two USB Type-C (3.1), one USB Type-A (3.1), headphone jack |
| Battery | Claimed run-time of up to 10 hours |
| Weight | 2.97 pounds |
| Software | Chrome OS automatic software update expiration: TBD |
The chassis is plastic while the top lid is aluminum. Considering that and a $360 starting price, this is an entry-level to mid-range device although with options you can certainly make it more powerful. I like the fact that if you want more and faster local storage, a true SSD option will be available.
Heard anything more on this? My ASUS C302 is having problems, looks like a good replacement, but I don’t know if I was to wait until June.
32 GB is not sufficient.. I cant download Chrome recovery image. I cant install Google play store due to space constraints in my Chromebook 14e. I don’t have a single item stored on the disk. Lenovo needs to get their act together and Google needs to let users use the card slot for disk expansion.
So I can’t speak to Lenovo’s design decisions, but Chrome OS and no data stored locally should only take 4-6 GB or so. You can also use an SD card or USB flash drive to store data with a Chromebook. Additionally, you can download and use a Chrome OS recovery image on removable media as well. Cheers!