What it’s like to work on the Lenovo Flex 5G, the first 5G laptop you can buy

Hello freedom, goodbye anchor. That’s what I thought when I first opened the box for the new Lenovo Flex 5G, the first 5G-powered laptop we’ve been able to test, and the first most consumers will be able to buy.

Now I can go anywhere, do anything, and not be at the mercy of the cafeteria’s Wi-Fi systems or connect my phone and its much slower 4G connection (or as AT&T sadly calls it, 5G E).

Then reality hit. I do not go anywhere. There is an ongoing pandemic. Cafes and restaurants are mostly closed. I’m not going to take the subway anywhere. I can be as hyperconnected as I want, as long as it’s a combination of sitting in my house, wearing a mask, being six feet away from others … you know. If there is a golden age of thin and light ultraportable laptops fused with the latest (expensive) 5G technology, well, this is not it.

But the human spirit cannot be held back, at least not by laptop problems. My portion of Brooklyn had a handful of cafes that recently added sidewalk tables and chairs, at distances that seemed at least relatively close to six feet away.

I was getting turned on again. The Flex 5G was about to be my first remote sidewalk / coffee shop experience since I returned to New York City after a long flight. It helped make the Flex line one of those rare secret weapons in the laptop business. It has never received an extraordinary amount of rumors, but I’ve often recommended it to people as a low-cost, high-quality alternative to more expensive laptops.

The original Flex was a half step between the 360-degree hinged Yoga line and the old Lenovo shells. Its screen bent past a standard laptop screen, but not enough to turn it into a tablet, it was a head scratch. Fortunately, Lenovo soon showed some flexibility (sorry) and turned the Flex line into a true 360-degree hybrid.

While the Flex is generally considered a lower-cost yoga alternative, this specialized version is not for the weak budget. It’s $ 1,499 from Lenovo or Verizon, and that only includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

A laptop with the brain of a smartphone

The Flex has a conservative look. Basic gray, without visual style. But it is not unattractive. It’s hair under three pounds and just 15mm thick, which puts it roughly in MacBook Air territory, but with a slightly larger 14-inch display. The most interesting thing, besides the 5G antenna, is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx processor. PC makers have tried to stick smartphone chips into laptops for the past few years, with little success. But most of the initial wave of 5G computers will be Arm-based, which is a natural fit for 5G right now. We are still comparing the Flex 5G, but even in my anecdotal use for a day, I felt the irritating evidence of not having a conventional Intel or AMD chip.

Apple is preparing to getting into Arm based computers too, as announced on WWDC; in that case, it’s serving more powerful machines (for carefully optimized software), rather than emphasizing better battery life and mobile connectivity and lower prices.

Speed ​​race

For an expensive laptop like this, it all comes down to 5G performance. But there is much more that affects that than just the hardware. Despite all the great chatter, 5G service is still very limited. Verizon maps are here, and you can dig deeper into a granular look at coverage. Even here in New York, it is literally block by block, as seen on this detailed map.

Fortunately, I found myself working outside in one of these active areas. First sitting outside a coffee shop, then walking a few blocks with the Flex 5G in speed tests in tablet mode, I found some sweet spots and some dead spots, but nowhere near the nearly gigabit 5G promises. That being said, when the stars aligned, it was still faster than my home’s broadband connection and much, much faster than my 4G phone.

I averaged between 170Mbps and 200Mbps of download speed for the Flex 5G, reaching 210Mbps. Upload speeds ranged from 40 Mbps to 60 Mbps.

My (Spectrum’s) home broadband generally ranged from 115Mbps to 140Mbps, while my AT&T iPhone topped 49Mbps down / 11Mbps up.

Am I getting the full 5G experience? It doesn’t necessarily feel that way, but it’s certainly faster than any other connection you have access to right now. Having the built-in 5G is much more convenient than connecting it to a phone, which tends to go offline or slow down just when you need it most. As with everything related to 5G, the real value will grow along with 5G coverage, which is still a work in progress.

We will continue to test 5G speeds on the Flex 5G, as well as run performance tests and battery tests, which will be included in our full review.

See also: Verizon vs. AT&T vs. T-Mobile: How to choose the best 5G operator for you