Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 14" 83KR001HUS, Core Ultra 5 225U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Cosmic Blue

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i is a 14-inch convertible with a touchscreen, Core Ultra 5 225U chip, and a $767 price tag. It's a solid everyday laptop for students and office workers, but the 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD are limiting. Gaming performance is nearly nonexistent with a 14.7 out of 100 score. Buy it for the convertible form factor, not for raw power.

The Core Ultra 5 225U does the heavy lifting here, and it's a decent performer for everyday tasks. With 12 cores split between performance and efficiency, it handles browser tabs, Office apps, and video calls without breaking a sweat. Our database puts it at the 58th percentile for CPU performance, which means it's about average compared to everything else on the market. For a $767 laptop, that's fine. You're not buying this to render 4K video or compile code all day.

The integrated Intel Graphics is where expectations need to stay grounded. It sits at the 55th percentile for GPU performance, which is middle of the pack for integrated graphics. You'll get smooth playback on streaming video, basic photo editing, and maybe some light indie games. But the gaming score of 14.7 out of 100 tells the real story. This is not a gaming laptop, and anyone expecting to run modern titles at playable frame rates will be disappointed. The 8GB of RAM is the other bottleneck. It ranks in the 24th percentile, which is mediocre by today's standards. With Windows and a handful of browser tabs, you'll feel the ceiling pretty quickly.

The IdeaPad 5i's most direct competitor is probably the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition. The Surface has a more premium build, better screen, and longer battery life, but it costs more and doesn't fold into a tablet. If you're in the Microsoft ecosystem and don't need the convertible form factor, the Surface is the better laptop. But the IdeaPad 5i undercuts it on price while still offering a touchscreen.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 and Acer Predator Helios Neo are gaming machines, and they're in a completely different league for GPU performance. The IdeaPad 5i's gaming score of 14.7 out of 100 is not even in the same conversation. If you want to play games, skip this entirely and look at those instead. The MSI Prestige is closer in spirit, a thin productivity laptop, but it typically comes with more RAM and storage. The IdeaPad 5i's main advantage is the convertible design and the lower price tag.

At $767 USD, the IdeaPad 5i sits in that awkward middle zone. It's not cheap enough to be an impulse buy, but it's not expensive enough to justify premium expectations. For the money, you're getting a convertible form factor, a current-gen Intel chip, and a touchscreen. That's a reasonable package. But the 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD feel like corners were cut to hit a price point.

Compare that to the competition. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro are both significantly more expensive, so that's not a fair fight. But even within Lenovo's own lineup, you can often find configs with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for not much more. The value here depends entirely on how much you care about the convertible hinge. If you'll actually use it as a tablet, the price makes sense. If you just want a regular laptop, there are better specs for similar money.

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 83KR001HUS is one of those laptops that tries to do a little bit of everything. It's a 14-inch convertible with a touchscreen, a 1920 x 1200 IPS panel, and Intel's new Core Ultra 5 225U chip. At 3.52 lbs, it's not the lightest thing on the shelf, but it's manageable for a backpack or a shoulder bag. The pitch here is simple: a flexible 2-in-1 for everyday work, school, and light media consumption without spending MacBook money.

Who's this for? Students, office workers, and anyone who wants a touchscreen laptop that can fold into a tablet for reading or sketching. The convertible hinge is the headline feature, and the 16:10 aspect ratio screen gives you a bit more vertical space than the old 16:9 panels. That's genuinely nice for documents and web browsing. But the 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD tell you this is a budget-conscious config, not a power user's machine.

What makes it interesting is the processor. The Core Ultra 5 225U is a 12-core chip from Intel's latest lineup, and it lands right in the middle of our CPU rankings at the 58th percentile. That's not going to set any records, but it's a solid step up from the older Core i5 chips you'd find in laptops at this price point. The question is whether the rest of the hardware keeps up.

If you're a gamer, move along. The integrated graphics and 14.7 out of 100 gaming score mean this laptop will choke on anything beyond browser games and very light indie titles. You'd be much better served by the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or Acer Predator Helios Neo, both of which have dedicated GPUs and are built for actual gaming.

Power users should also look elsewhere. The 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD are simply too small for heavy multitasking, video editing, or large file workflows. If you work with big datasets, run virtual machines, or edit photos and videos regularly, you'll outgrow this machine fast. Look for something with 16GB of RAM and at least 512GB of storage, like the MSI Prestige or a higher-spec IdeaPad config.

For students and office workers who want a flexible 2-in-1, the IdeaPad 5i is a decent pick. The touchscreen and convertible hinge are genuinely useful for note-taking, reading, and presentations. The Core Ultra 5 225U handles everyday tasks without complaint, and the reliability ranking in the 81st percentile means you're less likely to deal with hardware failures. Just be realistic about the RAM and storage limits.

If you're a multitasker who keeps 30 browser tabs open while running Spotify and a video call, the 8GB of RAM will frustrate you. Look for a 16GB config or a different laptop altogether. And if you have any interest in gaming, even casual gaming, this is not the machine for you. The integrated graphics simply can't keep up. But for light productivity, web browsing, and media consumption in a convertible package, it does the job.