Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus 14" 83EK0000UX 2023, Core i3-1315U, 8GB, 128GB SSD, Storm Grey

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is a 14-inch 2-in-1 Chromebook with a Core i3-1315U, 8GB RAM, and 128GB storage. It's fast, well-built, and a great value at USD 360 to USD 499. Skip it if you need storage or gaming performance.

The Core i3-1315U is a 6-core, 8-thread chip with a 1.2GHz base clock, and in ChromeOS it absolutely flies. We're not talking gaming laptop territory, but for the stuff Chromebooks actually do, browser tabs, Google Docs, video calls, light photo editing, this thing handles it without breaking a sweat. The 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM is enough to keep a couple dozen tabs alive without constant reloading, which is the classic Chromebook pain point. Our database puts the CPU at the 38th percentile among similar products, so it's not a powerhouse by laptop standards, but ChromeOS is so lightweight that it feels faster than the specs suggest.

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics are fine for streaming and casual Android games, but don't expect much beyond that. Gaming is the weakest area here, scoring just 5.7 out of 100 in our analysis. GeForce NOW cloud gaming works well if you have a solid connection, but native gaming is basically a non-starter. The 128GB SSD is on the small side, landing in the 7th percentile for storage, but ChromeOS leans hard on cloud storage and you get 2TB of Google One storage free for 12 months with the Chromebook Plus bundle, which softens that blow considerably.

Stacked against the HP OmniBook X Flip 14, the Lenovo holds its own on price but loses on raw specs. The OmniBook X Flip is a premium Windows convertible with better internals, but it costs significantly more. The Apple MacBook Air M2 is in a completely different league for performance and battery life, but you're paying double or triple the price, and macOS isn't ChromeOS. If you want a Chromebook specifically, the Flex 5i is a much better value than most Windows alternatives at this price.

The ASUS Zenbook UX3405CA and Dell Latitude XPS 13 are both excellent Windows ultrabooks, but again, they're aimed at a different buyer. The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is closer in spirit with its lightweight design and OLED screen, but it's also pricier. For someone who wants a Chromebook with a touchscreen and 2-in-1 flexibility, the Flex 5i undercuts all of these competitors while delivering the core experience most people actually need.

At USD 360 to USD 499, the Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is a genuinely good deal, especially at the lower end of that range. The price spread across vendors is worth paying attention to, with the best deal coming in at USD 360 from one of the two US listings. You're getting a proper Core i3, 8GB of RAM, a touchscreen, and a convertible design for less than half the price of a MacBook Air. The included 12 months of Google One AI Premium with 2TB of storage adds real value if you actually use Gemini and cloud storage. That said, if you can stretch to a Windows laptop in the USD 500 range, you'll get more storage and better gaming performance. But for ChromeOS users, this is one of the better values out there.

The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus sits in that sweet spot where Chromebooks stop feeling like budget toys and start feeling like actual laptops. You're getting a 14-inch 2-in-1 with a 1920x1200 touchscreen, an Intel Core i3-1315U, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Prices bounce around between USD 360 and USD 499 depending on the vendor, which puts it firmly in mid-range Chromebook territory. It's aimed at students, casual users, and anyone who lives in Google's ecosystem and wants something that flips into tablet mode for good measure.

People searching for this thing usually want to know if it's good for school, whether it can handle multitasking, and if the Chromebook Plus branding actually means anything. Short answer: yes, mostly. The Core i3-1315U is a proper 6-core chip, not some weak ARM processor, and ChromeOS barely breaks a sweat on it. The 8GB of RAM is the real floor for comfortable Chromebook use in 2025, and Lenovo didn't cheap out there.

Build quality feels more premium than the price suggests. The aluminum lid and sturdy hinge give it a MacBook-adjacent vibe, and the backlit keyboard is genuinely nice to type on. At 1.60kg it's not the lightest 14-incher out there, but the convertible design means you can prop it up in tent mode for Netflix or fold it flat for note-taking with a stylus.

Skip the Flex 5i Chromebook Plus if you need to run Windows or macOS software, since ChromeOS won't cut it for things like full Adobe Creative Suite or PC gaming. If you're a gamer, the integrated graphics and 5.7 out of 100 gaming score should send you toward a Windows laptop with a dedicated GPU instead. Power users who need lots of local storage will also find the 128GB SSD frustrating, and the 300-nit display isn't great for outdoor use. If any of those apply, look at the HP OmniBook X Flip or a MacBook Air M2 instead.

Should you buy the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus? If you're a student, a casual user, or someone who lives in Google's ecosystem and wants a reliable 2-in-1 without spending MacBook money, yes. The Core i3-1315U and 8GB of RAM make this one of the more capable Chromebooks on the market, and the build quality punches above its price. The touchscreen, backlit keyboard, and convertible design make it versatile enough for note-taking, media consumption, and everyday productivity.

But if you need serious storage, native gaming, or Windows-specific software, this isn't your machine. The 128GB SSD fills up fast, and the integrated graphics are a hard ceiling. For everyone else, especially at USD 360, this is one of the easiest Chromebook recommendations we can make.