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Over the past couple months, the upcoming Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook we got our hands on at CES 2020 has shown up here and there. It was available for pre-order for a short time at Amazon in a few configurations, but the pre-order status didn’t last very long. The listings are still there, but there’s no action you can take on them. Unlike other devices that have shown up to be promptly removed (like the ASUS Flip C436), the Lenovo Flex 5 has curiously remained listed on Amazon as unavailable.
Other than those listings, however, we’ve not been able to find too many other signs of this high-value-proposition Chromebook on the internet. Today, however, it looks like that could be changing as B&H Photo has now put up their listing for the Flex 5 and turned on pre-orders as well.
Currently, B&H is offering two configurations of the Celeron base model with 4GB of RAM and your choice of either 32GB or 64GB of storage. I’d bet a 10th-gen Celeron will be more processor than many folks need, to the 4GB/64GB version of this at only $379 will make for a great Chromebook across the board. Couple those capable internals with a 300-nit 13.3-inch 1080p screen, backlit keyboard, upward-firing speakers, solid build, USI pen support, and a convertible hinge and you have the makings of a great Chromebook.
As Gabriel posited over the weekend, it is possible that this device becomes the go-to recommendation for an affordable, capable, enjoyable Chromebook experience. While we love our high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, they come with high price tags and even higher expectations. At a sub-$400 price, the Flex 5 won’t fall prey to those nit-picks and because of that, it could become a favorite among Chromebook users for it’s mix of quality build and low price.
We’re patiently waiting for the official word from Lenovo on this, but if retailers are starting to take pre-orders for a Chromebook, you can be pretty sure the official availability isn’t far off. I’d peg this one for late May if I was guessing, but let’s hope we’ll have some firm details before then and you can decide for yourself if this is the right one for you.
