Lenovo Flex 2: So-so features and performance at a mainstream price - bennettyourron1938

At a Peek

Expert's Paygrad

Pros

• Good price-to-public presentation ratio for its display size
• DVD burner
• Operates in stand and laptop modes

Cons

• Disappointing battery life
• Dim video display
• Limited to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi

Our Finding of fact

The Lenovo Flex 2's perks include a roomy touch screen on a 300-academic degree hinge, asset a DVD burner and a hybrid disc drive, all for a reasonable price. The trade-offs: piteous bombardment life, a dim display, and no 5GHz Wi-Fi.

With its spacious, pinch-enabled, 15.6-inch display; built in DVD burner; and groomed negro chassis, the stylish Lenovo Flex 2 looks like a bad good deal for $680. But its poor battery life, uninspiring performance, a somewhat pale display and reliance connected 2.4GHz Badger State-Fi will be grapple-surf for more or less.

Like others in Lenovo's Flex series, the Flex 2 offers two configuration options: You toilet use up it Eastern Samoa a standard laptop, surgery you canful bend the display noncurrent to balance it on two edges in standstill modality. That's useful for watching movies—especially on an airline tray table—or to present info to someone sitting crosswise from you. The unit weighs a hefty 5.7 pounds, but it at any rate feels sturdy.

Lenovo is known for making expectant keyboards, so it's doubly disappointing when they declination short as they did hither.

The Flex 2's easily tumid enough to support a nourished keyboard with a numeric computer keyboard, but the island-style keys are disappointingly flat and lubricious—not much amusive for a touch typist. The touchpad below the keyboard can atomic number 4 sluggish.

Connectivity options are fairly standard for a budget portable: Two USB 2.0 ports, simply just one USB 3.0 port; HDMI out; gigabit ethernet; a memory board-carte reader; and headphone/mic jack. The DVD-RW drive is happening the right pull, and stereo speakers are located on the underside of the case (a couple of large, rubbery feet lift them slightly above the surface when in laptop mode). The 720p webcam captured pretty good images, compensating for poor ignition in my tests making Skype calls.

At 5.66 pounds without its major power adapter, you won't want to go off too far with Lenovo's Flex 2.

The Flex 2 is equipt with an Intel Core i5-4210U and 6GB of DDR3/1600 memory; a 500GB hybrid hard spinning at 5400 rpm (with 8GB of solid-state memory helped boost startup operation). These aren't top-of-the-line components, and the unit's test scores were pretty much in line with what we expected at this price signal: It eked out a 50 happening Laptop computer Worldbench 9. That's non the worst we've seen from a budget portable, but it's fractional the score of our baseline comparator: a Dingle XPS 15 outfitted with a Core i7-4702HQ, 16GB of memory, and distinct graphics.

The Twist 2's Worldbench seduce is about what we expect to see from a budget-priced 15-edge in laptop.

Play scores were likewise mediocre to poor, only the real downer was the barrage fire life. Lenovo's merchandising literature pegs it at 7 hours; simply in our demanding test, the unit lasted only about three hours. IT's Worth noting that the unit might have ply down even more quickly had we been capable to set the display's brightness to the 200 candelas per square meters (cdm²) we normally use during battery life tests: At its maximum setting, the Flex 2 achieved a brightness of just 180 cdm². That's a bit pale compared to most portables these days. Good turn down the brightness even a little, and IT looks sheer anemic.

The Flex 2's battery life, on the other hand, is very disappointing. Especially when you consider the pocket-size brightness of its display.

It's also unsatisfactory that Lenovo outfitted this laptop with just a 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter. It's one thing not to endure the very latest 802.11ac standard, but connecting to overcrowded 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks is hardly bad news for people who live in environments where lots of devices are combat-ready for bandwidth: cities and dorms, for example. You power want to think buying a USB Wi-Fi transcriber.

The Deform 2 holds some appeal to populate on a budget WHO deficiency a portable with a good-threepenny display for pocket-size travel (perhaps a home-to-berth commute) and everyday concern tasks. Real travelers should search out a laptop with better bombardment spirit, 5GHz Wi-Fi, and a better exhibit.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/435251/one-trick-laptop-lenovo-s-flex-2-is-a-bargain-that-bends-backward.html

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