With a Chromebook at this price, the display is usually where things get skimped on. For the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook, this is partially the case. Lenovo has bundled in an adequate panel for the price, but with one notable short fall. Simply accessible. Every individual detail of the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook 14" is engineered for maximum speed and ease of use, including a powerful Intel processor that cuts through the heaviest workloads without breaking a sweat. A full battery lasts 10 hours, so you can get things done all day without charging, talk to Google to manage different tasks on Chromebook, and stream your shows and tunes on a 14" FHD touchscreen display, featuring the crystal-clear Waves-certified sound system.

The problem here is its 45% rated coverage of the NTSC gamut, which left colours feeling quite washed out and not necessarily as punchy as other displays I’ve seen on Chromebooks. For the most part, it’s decent enough, but not the best option if watching video is a priority. This is one of the best results I’ve seen from any laptop, let alone a mid-range Chromebook, and means you’ll be able to get between one and two working days out of the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook before you need to plug it in. In day-to-day tasks and in a suite of synthetic benchmarks, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook proved to be a nippy performer. This is because of the combination of a lightweight OS in ChromeOS and its snappy Intel Core i3-1215U chip. This provides a total of six cores, split between two P-cores and four E-cores, helping to give the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook an excellent all-round performance. The 8GB of RAM on offer provides enough headroom for general computing, and even opening a load of Chrome tabs didn’t make the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook falter. Combined with this, the 256GB SSD is more generous than a lot of other Chromebooks, where some will still feature either 32GB or 64GB of eMMC storage.

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Stream content at Full HD with the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook's 14" touchscreen display, featuring narrow three-sized bezels so you get more screen, and an enhanced Waves-certified user-facing stereo speaker system with built-in amplifier for fuller, louder and crystal-clear audio. The only issue here is arguably the operating system itself. ChromeOS still doesn’t support certain apps that Windows does, or offer as wide functionality, meaning you are limited on what you can do. It’s fine for light computing, but not for anything more than this. Battery Life

The top-firing speakers were decent in testing with good volume, and little in the way of distortion. They carry with them a fair amount of mids, and not much in the way of low-end, but are still decent enough for day-to-day work and relaxing with content on Disney+ or Prime Video after you’re done. The fact they’re also top-firing is also handy if you use your laptop on a soft surface such as a bed, where downwards-firing units would be muffled. PerformanceA weight of 1.85kg makes this quite a heavy laptop for its size though, making it a little bit more of a pain to carry around. Similarly-priced competitors can lose an inch or two in screen size, but also lose anything from 300 to 500 grams of mass, making them a better choice for those on the go. As much as that extra weight can make it a tad cumbersome to carry, it’s reflective of how well built the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is. The chassis feels solid and isn’t hollow. Whether that all-rounder approach can help the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook along with being one of the best Chromebooks we’ve tested remains to be seen, though. I’ve been doing some testing to find out. Design and Keyboard Lenovo’s long-standing IdeaPad lineup of laptops has oftentimes made some excellent affordable candidates, and hopefully, that can extend into their lineup of Chromebooks with their latest fusion – the aptly-named Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook. Battery: These systems do not support batteries that are not genuine Lenovo-made or authorised. Systems will continue to boot, but may not charge unauthorised batteries. Lenovo has no responsibility for the performance or safety of unauthorised batteries, and provides no warranties for failures or damage arising out of their use. **Battery life is based on the MobileMark® 2014 methodology and is an estimated maximum. Actual battery life may vary based on many factors, including screen brightness, active applications, features, power management settings, battery age and conditioning, and other customer preferences.