One Of My Favorite Budget Oled Laptops For Work Just Even More Affordable

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 pinch nan Snapdragon X Plus processor is connected waste now for $689.
• It's durable and reliable, runs cool, and has a comfortable keyboard and OLED display.
• However, it mightiness not guidelines retired successful a marketplace of similarly-specced devices that are lighter and cheaper.

Over astatine Best Buy, nan Lenovo IdeaPad 5x is connected waste for $689, a 20% discount. The laptop is connected clearance, truthful supplies are limited.

We often trial galore of Lenovo's top-tier devices, but immoderate of nan much accessible models besides merit telephone outs. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 is 1 specified device, arsenic a applicable workhorse pinch a humble group of hardware and an accessible value tag.

It features a solid, sleek build pinch Lenovo's signature dual-hinge creation successful brushed silver, and upward-firing Dolby speakers. The 14-inch OLED touchscreen show completes nan laptop's first impression, framed by bladed bezels that make for a sleek, if non-descript, design.

Also: Samsung's Galaxy Book4 Edge laptop has 1 of nan champion displays - and it's $300 off

It hits nan correct notes for a competent activity instrumentality but keeps things low-key capable to enactment affordable. For example, nan OLED show looks awesome astatine 400 nits, but it's reigned successful pinch a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) solution and 60Hz refresh rate. This results successful a crisp ocular acquisition for web browsing, entertainment, and immoderate ray gaming, but it doesn't effort to push nan envelope. 

The larboard action connected this laptop is besides rather good, pinch 2 USB Type-C and Type-A ports, an HDMI, and a microSD slot. However, 1 of its biggest drawbacks is that nan USB-C ports don't support USB4/Thunderbolt 4, which will time off you without outer show entree if you don't person an HDMI cord. This is by nary intends a woody breaker for me, but it surely could beryllium for immoderate users. 

Also: The Surface Laptop is still 1 of my favourite Copilot+ PCs (and now it's complete $500 off)

We sewage nan first batch of Copilot+ PCs pinch Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite spot successful mid-2024, and now that capable clip has passed, we're seeing much noteworthy devices pinch nan Snapdragon X Plus, nan lower-tier chip. Take Asus' Zenbook A14, for example, which made waves astatine CES 2025 for its bladed and ray shape facet paired pinch an accessible value point. 

These devices target a circumstantial marketplace niche: affordable laptops that look good, tally cool, and person businesslike batteries but entreaty to a mainstream assemblage that doesn't request to break capacity barriers. 

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 fits that bill, pinch nan Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 processor making it little powerful than nan X Elite spot but competent nevertheless -- while generating a minimal magnitude of heat, moreover nether a dense load. This makes it a awesome laptop for workers who want a crisp OLED show and comfortable keyboard but aren't needfully moving pinch graphically demanding workflows.

The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience. The keys are large, silent, and person a bully recreation distance. I emotion nan full-size Backspace and L/R arrow keys, particularly pinch nan Home/End functions mapped onto them. These creation choices unsocial make this laptop an accommodating companion for agelong activity hours. 

Measuring astir 0.7 inches heavy and weighing 3.28 pounds, it would not beryllium considered "ultraportable," however, and astir apt would not beryllium nan champion prime for personification who will extremity up toting it around. For that reason, nan IdeaPad 5x takes a usability hit, particularly erstwhile compared pinch nan aforementioned Asus Zenbook A14, which has nan aforesaid processor and RAM, OLED display, and USB 4 support but weighs a full lb less.

Also: The mini PC I urge for Linux users is connected waste for $799 during Prime Day

It does costs up to $250 much than nan IdeaPad 5x. This brings maine to my past constituent astir nan IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1, which is that nan artillery life is good, but not precisely arsenic bully arsenic I expected. Perhaps we're getting spoiled by 20+ hr batteries, but successful my testing, nan IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 only sewage astir 13 hours connected 1 charge.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

This is simply a instrumentality that easy lasts an full time astatine nan agency connected 1 charge, and it tin spell beyond that, but successful my experience, not by a full lot. The 57Wh integrated Li-Polymer artillery connected committee is simply constricted successful its capacity, moreover if nan Snapdragon spot is exceedingly power-efficient. 

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The accelerated velocity astatine which laptops person been developed, produced, and appeared connected unit shelves complete nan people of nan past twelvemonth intends that hardware tech often evolves faster than merchandise improvement timelines. This results successful models for illustration nan IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 holding a unsocial position successful nan marketplace for a blink of an oculus earlier different devices show up pinch nan aforesaid hardware but connection thing unsocial aliases compelling that obscures its first usage case. 

ZDNET's buying advice

The IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 is an affordable 2-in-1 pinch a crisp, pro-looking OLED display, comfortable keyboard, and cool and quiet operation. Its accessible value intends that location are immoderate trade-offs: nan artillery is good, but its capacity is limited. The larboard action is ample, but it doesn't support Thunderbolt 4. 

I urge this laptop for nan personification who needs a reliable, affordable device, appreciates Lenovo's creation approach, and doesn't request to walk nan other bucks connected a instrumentality that makes its ultra-thin and ray shape facet its full identity.