Introduction
Yoga, known with it's flexibility, is premium priced. Ideapad Flex inherits the flexibility of Yoga partially and priced cheaper. It could be a tactic to introduce the "dual mode" laptop to the consumers and leads them to buy Yoga ultimately. "Dual mode", touchscreen, thin and light are the main features of the Ideapad Flex.
The models available at the moment are :
i3 4030U, 4GB RAM, Intel HD4400, 500GB HDD, 1366x768 with touch, Windows 8.1 SL w/ Update 1
i5 4210U, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 840M, 500GB HDD, 1366x768 with touch, Windows 8.1 SL w/ Update 1
Our protagonist today is... drrrrrrdrrrdrrrr... dum! The model with i3. Does it meet it's selling points? Let's see.

Specification
Processor - Intel Core i3 4030U. [Haswell architecture, 2 Cores with HT, 1.9GHz, 15W TDP]
RAM - 4GB DDR3
GPU - Intel HD 4400 [IGP]
HDD - Hitachi 500GB [HTS545050A7E660, 7mm thickness, 5400RPM, SATA]
Screen - 1366 x 768, TN panel, touchscreen, glossy
Weight - 2kg
WiFi - Intel AC 3160
Colour - White exterior, black interior
Battery - Built-in 4 cells, 41600mWh

Unboxing

The specifications.

Being unboxed.

Charger.

Rated at 45W

As usual, packed in a plastic bag.

Checklist.

Lenovo logo.

This post has been edited by kingkingyyk: Jul 20 2014, 10:33 AM

Protected by a layer of transparent plastic cover.

The ventilation holes.

I/O ports - HDMI, LAN, USB3.0, headphone jack.

I/O ports - Kensington lock, 2x USB2.0, Power button, Battery LED, Card reader (not captured).

The keyboard.

Sticker again. Introduction to the feature of the laptop.

The hinge.

Lenovo logo again.

Peeled off the sticker. Screen now.

i3.

This post has been edited by kingkingyyk: Jul 20 2014, 10:33 AM

User Experience
It was a great time to use it. I was greeted with the decent performance thanks to i3 4030U. General browsing and office task aren't issues to it. When I was installing apps into it, it didn't show sign of slowing down despite it is on battery. The keyboard is spongy as usual and doesn't come with backlit. It is a nice laptop to carry around and the thickness would not take up the real estate in your bag. The weight would not burden your back as well.

~ 2.5cm thick.
The touchscreen was nice to play with, where the sign of false detection was kept minimal. Swiping and pinch to zoom worked great.

With my external HDD attached.
However, the yellowish screen seems to be the Lenovo's tradition and it is not in the exception. After adjusting the colour in Intel Control Panel, it became better.

In fact, there are actually 3 modes - the normal laptop, flipped laptop and "tablet".

This is how it looks when being flipped.

Flipped laptop.

"Tablet".
Once you flipped the screen at around 180 degree, the stock Lenovo software will notify you that the touchpad and keyboard are being disabled. There is also "Lenovo Transition" to control the software to go full screen.
In flipped laptop mode, I was expecting the screen to swing when I touch, but it turned out that I was wrong. The screen is sturdy. Lenovo didn't ignore the problem of wear-and-tear as well. The laptop is equipped with rubber bumper to prevent scratches. Thumbs up to this detailed design.

Rubber bumper.
The laptop comes with an accelerometer as well. When you rotate it in "tablet" mode, the screen will auto rotate accordingly.
However, in such form, it is flimsy. There is no rubber bumper at the surface contact point, so I reckon the holding force is provided by the stiffness of the hinges. Every time you place it in "tablet" mode, you would experience extra heartbeats because of that illusion. Due to the poor viewing angle of TN panel, the screen is bad under this mode. You would see colour transitions .

Despite it is a low power machine, but the palm rest was warm when I was performing web browsing. Bassy speaker, naked card reader, and generic HD webcam end the user experience.

Captured by the HD webcam [Lowlight]

Temperature
I'm a temperature freak. However, temperature is not a problem to it. My room was at 32C.
Idle Temperature - 43C
Load Temperature - 60C [Prime95 maximum heat stress was ran until the maximum temperature no longer rises, in High Performance Mode]

Open Hardware Monitor

This post has been edited by kingkingyyk: Jul 20 2014, 10:31 AM

Energy Manager
Because the battery is built in the laptop, therefore extra precautions have to be taken to prevent the premature spoilage of it. Therefore, Lenovo had came out the solution by Lenovo Energy Manager. You can control the charging in a limited way.

Turn on the conservation mode to control charging.
Once this mode is activated, the battery will stop charging at 55 - 60%. This is certainly not a good solution. Both computer sellers and consumers should aware of it to keep the battery operating for a long time. Anyway, once you used to it, it should not be a problem to you.

Performance Modes
Energy Manager also provides you a simple UI to switch between power saving, normal and high performance mode.

The battery life of this laptop is decent as expected. It only used up 10% of battery for my 1 hour of web browsing.

Strengths
Light, Thin, "Dual Mode", Outstanding temperature control, Touchscreen, Intel AC3160 instead of the mainstream Qualcomm or Broadcom chipset.

Weaknesses
TN Panel, Flimsy in tablet mode, Single USB3.0 port, Gets dirty easily.

Conclusion
This laptop has the price tag of RM1699, the street price is around RM1650. I have got it with RM1660. It is hard to find consumer class laptop without IGP this year, therefore I paid premium for it despite slightly overpriced. It has no advantage when compared to other brands' offerings. The "Dual Mode" isn't whistle and bell to me. The reason is simple : It failed give the user enough confidence. So if you are seeking for a laptop for web browsing or office task, this can be shortlisted. Not because of it's "Dual Mode", but due to it's battery life and weight. If Lenovo doesn't mind to put IPS panel into it, then I'm sure it will be sold like hot cakes.

P/S : I was surprised by the WiFi adapter given by Lenovo. They had slapped a better WiFi adapter into this machine.


This review was made possible by OC4/3.

This post has been edited by kingkingyyk: Jul 20 2014, 12:16 AM

nice review!

for me, your review came a bit late as i've already got a Flex 2 14 (i5)

btw, the Flex 2 14 (i5) screen is actually an IPS touch screen, but the yellowish problem is also there. Only when the brightness is raised up the effect becomes less pronounce.

my second concern is the touch pad. Placing a finger on top of the buttons is detected as touching the touch pad. This makes it difficult when people want to standby their finger resting against the click button.

my other regret is no backlit keyboard.

Yep. Lenovo cut out a lot of things in this cheaper variance. For the touchpad, what touchpad you got? Elantech or Synaptics?

I've checked. It's Synaptics.

I see. My Z400 has that problem too. Elantech is fine.

Yours is Elantech?

Btw, do you think there's a need for screen cover? I'm not sure if the screen is easily scratched or not.

Yep, the Flex I got is Elantech. But I miss the double fingers tap to right click feature from Synaptics.
According to my experience, laptop screen rarely gets scratched.

This post has been edited by kingkingyyk: Jul 23 2014, 01:33 PM

Elantech touch pad is better?

Btw, the screen is very reflective. Have you come across any anti reflective screen cover for laptop?

Less false response. Try to find matte screen protector.

Hello where you can find this screen protector for flex 2 14?

Normal widescreen screen protector will do the job.

http://shopap.lenovo.com/my/en/laptops/lenovo/flex/

I read from website, the 14" suppose to be Full HD?

Hi hi,

I am looking at Flex 2-14 with i5, just wondering on the touch pad.

How do I check if it is Elantech / Sypnatec?

Does it make lots of difference?

It says that the backlit keyboard is optional, I've checked with Lenovo store, they say the default unit doesn't come with that. Will have to add money if want.

Yes, current models come with Full HD. I just bought the Flex 2 14 i3 FHD version for RM1,650 (street price). I love it so much I might get the i5 model as well.

If I am not mistaken, the backlit keyboard is not an option for local (m'sia) models.

This post has been edited by peet: Jan 3 2015, 02:21 AM

I bought the flex 2 at digital mall approximately 6 months ago. Unfortunately, due to my recklessness,my screen broke. I went back to the place where i bought my flex 2 but the technician was on leave so I went to other shops and stalls at digital mall. Many of them whom i consulted said that they can't fix my laptop due to unavailability of the LCD screen apparently because it's new in the market and there no required spare part and asked me to go Lenovo service center. I was reluctant to go there because i think it will be going costs me a bomb. However, my screen is still clearly visible and my touchscreen is still functional. What should I do now and do you have any place to recommend to fix my flex 2?How much is the cost gonna be? I am in desperate need of help now!!!