Desktops and laptops

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 14Q8X9 review

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 14Q8X9

CHOICE Expert Rating

75%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Very good keyboard
  • Very good touchpad (large)
  • Full-sized HDMI port
  • Has a microSD card slot
  • Can upgrade or replace some components (SSD, battery, Wi-Fi)
  • Very good Wi-Fi speed (Wi-Fi 7)
  • Short time to charge to 80 per cent
  • USB-C ports not Thunderbolt, but support external storage and secondary display
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Short power cord

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
Windows 11 Home

Recommended products

Recommended
Recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
75%
Performance score
67%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
79%
Battery life score
79%
Display score
79%
Audio score
50%
Wi-Fi score
80%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
4058
Storage read-speed (MBps)
4637
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
70
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
14:50
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:00
Expert tester comments
Lenovo's IdeaPad Slim 5 is a 14-inch Copilot PC with a Snapdragon processor. It's very zippy, it can last a long time on battery power (just shy of 15 hours in our rundown tests), and there are plenty of useful ports along its left and right edges. This includes two USB-C ports, which are not USB4 or Thunderbolt 4/5 speed, but they are quick enough to be used for displays and storage devices. The screen has a matte finish with a Full HD resolution, and a large touchpad and soft keyboard make it a comfortable overall user experience.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
C
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Replace/upgrade RAM
Slots for additional RAM
Replace/upgrade storage
Slot for additional storage
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Tested model

Cost

Price
$1,499.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
14
Native screen resolution (pixels)
1920 x 1200
Processor (CPU) type
Snapdragon X Plus X1P42100
CPU frequency (GHz)
3.24
RAM (GB)
16
Video graphics type
Qualcomm Adreno X1-45 GPU
Storage capacity (GB)
512
Available user space (GB)
396
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
7
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.5
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.18
Size (mm, H x D x W)
23 x 222 x 312

Features

Screen finish
Matte
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
2
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
2
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
0
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
2

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