Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14" Touchscreen Review

Grab this 2-in-1 if you find it under $1,000. Its 1TB SSD and 8-core Ryzen CPU are legitimately great for the price. Just know you're carrying a heavy 2.8kg laptop with a so-so screen.

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 is a bit of a mixed bag, but it gets the fundamentals right for the price. You're getting a solid 1TB NVMe SSD that's faster than most laptops we test, paired with a capable 8-core AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU. It's a 14-inch touchscreen convertible that weighs in at 2.8kg, which is on the heavier side for its size, but the 2-in-1 flexibility is there if you need it.

Our overall score puts it at a 64.2 out of 100. It's strongest for creator tasks, scoring a 68.4, and decent for entertainment at 66.8. Where it stumbles a bit is as a student machine, landing a 60.3. The price is the real story here, with a huge spread from $934 to $1250 depending on where you look.

Let's talk about what this thing does well. That 1TB NVMe SSD is a standout, landing in the 85th percentile. In plain English, it's one of the best storage setups you can get at this price, making file transfers and boot times feel snappy. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU is also strong, sitting well above average in our rankings. It's an 8-core chip, so it handles multitasking and more demanding apps without breaking a sweat.

The discrete AMD Radeon 860M GPU is about average, which is fine for light gaming and creative work but don't expect to max out modern titles. The 16GB of RAM is a bit of a letdown, ranking in the mediocre 44th percentile. For a machine marketed for creators, that's a bit tight these days. The 14-inch 1920x1200 touchscreen is fine, with decent 300-nit brightness, but the color gamut (45% NTSC) is nothing to write home about.

The value proposition here lives and dies by the price you pay. We've seen this config listed anywhere from $934 to a steep $1250. At the lower end, around $950, this is a compelling package. You're getting above-average CPU power, best-in-class storage, and a discrete GPU. At $1250, it starts to feel overpriced, especially when you consider the mediocre RAM and the heavy chassis. Shop around, because that $316 price swing is massive.

Stacked up against its peers, the IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 carves out a niche. The Apple MacBook Pro 14" will run circles around it in CPU and GPU performance, and has a far better screen, but you'll pay at least twice as much. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 14" offers a stunning 3K display and is likely much lighter, but probably lacks the discrete GPU. The ASUS ROG Flow is a gaming beast, but that's a different category entirely. This Lenovo's win is its combo of a good CPU, great SSD, and discrete graphics at a (potentially) lower price point than those premium machines. You just accept the trade-offs in weight and screen quality.

Students who carry their laptop all day should look elsewhere. At 2.8kg, this is a brick for a 14-inch machine. Professional creators who need color-accurate screens for photo or video editing will also be disappointed by the 45% NTSC display. And if your main goal is high-end gaming, the Radeon 860M just isn't built for that.

If you can snag this Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 for close to $934, it's a easy recommendation for someone who needs a versatile, capable laptop for general productivity and light creative work. The core specs are strong where it counts. If you're looking at prices near $1250, we'd tell you to keep looking. At that point, the compromises on weight, RAM, and screen become harder to justify when other options enter the frame.