The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex is not your regular laptop, meaning you may think you’ll have trouble deciding whether its best and worst offer value for money. The IdeaPad Flex series is an alternative to the company’s Yoga notebooks which cost more and also feature better specs.
In other words, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex is the budget-conscious consumer’s Yoga laptop. You can get this 14-inch portable PC for Rs 42000 and higher depending on which 4th generation Intel processor you’re after, the version of the Microsoft Windows OS you’re picking to go with it and so on.
The basic configuration options let you choose between a 4th generation i3, i5 or i7 Intel processor, Nvidia or Intel graphics and the Microsoft Windows version pre-installed on it amongst other things. Starting off with its worst features, the IdeaPad Flex has a 14-inch touchscreen spitting out visuals in just 1366 x 768p resolution.
To add it this, the display does not include IPS (In-plane switching) technology to allow for a wide viewing angle. It’s quite an embarrassing feature to have overlooked or ignored in a laptop such as the Flex because the screen can also be rotated by 300 degrees to let users bend it into a V resting on its side.
In this position, the IdeaPad is in stand mode for easy viewing and acting as a tablet, resulting in the keyboard deck lying face down. Firstly, if you’re going to make a notebook with a display that folds back, Lenovo, at least put IPS on it. Secondly, it’s not very nice to have our keyboard kissing the surface it’s on when the laptop could have stood in an inverted V.
In its review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex, Wired says that the touchpad is ‘rickety’ and the LCD too dim. The pros you might want to consider before looking for another option is the 9 hour battery life, decent audio and fast SSD.