Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x review: The best laptop under $1,000

But one positive thing about the 15.3-inch display is that Lenovo didn’t try to squeeze the number pad. No no. Just a standard keyboard layout with a central touchpad and enough room for your wrists. However, this also doesn’t feel like a very large laptop. The width and depth dimensions are almost identical to the 15-inch MacBook Air, and it’s only about 0.16 inches thick. It’s definitely a backpack and travel-worthy device.

Here the remaining concessions are surprisingly few and far between. One of the first things I test with budget laptops is the touchpad. Cheap Windows laptops have the notorious touchpads, which is one of the important parts of a laptop that can’t be explained in the specifications. I’m happy to report that the IdeaPad Slim 5x has a better tracking surface than most other laptops at this price. Performance is much better than that of the HP OmniBook 3 or OmniBook 5. It’s definitely more responsive than the Asus Vivobook 14. I’d say it’s more or less on par with the Dell 14 Plus from last year, although that laptop has received a price increase in recent months. The click sound is my only real complaint about the IdeaPad Slim 5x’s touchpad. It’s very loud. I’d take a responsive surface with a quiet click any day, but if you work in an office with co-workers, they might be annoyed by it.

Photo: Luke Larsen

I was also surprised by the sound of the speakers. These speakers didn’t wow me, but compared to the average set of speakers found on a typical Windows laptop at this price, they’re impressive. Of course, even the 13-inch MacBook Air undoubtedly feels fuller and louder, but these are at least serviceable. The webcam is not good either. It’s really only suitable in good lighting.

It only gets better

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus is no M5 killer – that’s for sure. Despite the improvements to the GPU this time around, the Apple M5 is still on another level. But Qualcomm is working to close the gap in CPU performance, even if the M5 remains the undisputed champion. I’d say this is a bigger deal in laptops designed with performance in mind, but here, that’s not a big deal. $850 doesn’t buy you a full-time video producer, AI junkie, or eSports player. For the things the IdeaPad Slim 5x is designed for, it excels.

A normal workflow consists of juggling a whole bunch of work applications, dozens of browser tabs, and maybe some simultaneous music and video streaming. The X2 Plus didn’t skip a beat. I came away convinced that there was more performance than most people needed. This is especially impressive considering the X2 Plus is a step down from the more powerful X2 Elite (or X2 Elite Enhanced), which partly explains how Qualcomm and Lenovo were able to lower the price.

The screen is also one aspect of this laptop that surprised me. It’s brighter and more colorful than most laptops at this price, and adding a touchscreen is easy to use. While I don’t typically like matte screens, the IdeaPad Slim 5x’s finer anti-glare coating made this screen look premium and clear — just without the heavy reflections.