During IFA 2022 Lenovo announced its first 16-inch Chromebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i. Per the company’s press release, this laptop was built to facilitate both hybrid work and entertainment. Given its large display, it could prove one of the best Chromebooks for Chrome fans who like a big screen.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is well-equipped with features you would expect to find in the best laptops. All configurations pack a 16-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, but the most decked-out version has a 2.5K LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Lenovo says this configuration can reach 350 nits of brightness and covers 100% of the sRGB color spectrum.
The large screen and refresh rate should make watching YouTube videos or other streaming content a more pleasant experience. There’s also the taller aspect ratio, which provides more vertical space for viewing web pages and documents.
In terms of design, the IdeaPad 5i is 14.3 x 10.0 x 0.8 inches and weighs 4.10 pounds. It will be available in Space Gray. This is fairly large and heavy for a laptop, though not egregiously so.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook sounds like it could be a solid ChromeOS-driven machine for work. Spec-wise, it packs up to an Intel Core i3-1215U CPU, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. With regard to ports, the Chromebook has two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, a microSD slot, a headphone jack and a Kensington lock slot. Lenovo claims the IdeaPad 5i has a 12-hour battery life.
The built-in 1080p Full HD camera should make you look halfway decent during video calls. Likewise, the user-facing speakers tuned by the included Waves MaxxAudio application ought to make calls and whatever else you’re listening to come through clearly.
Lenovo also unveiled some other products at IFA 2022 in Berlin this week, including a promising OLED-equipped Chrome tablet: The Tab P11 Pro. This Android tablet features an 11.2-inch 2.5K (2560 x 1536) OLED touchscreen with a refresh rate of 120Hz. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which is rare in Chromebooks. Lenovo says the screen can reach up to 600 nits of peak brightness and covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
The company also claims the Tab P11 Pro offers “120% more power than the previous generation” thanks to its MediaTek Kompanio 1300T octa-core processor and up to 8GB of RAM. Speaking about productivity, there’s an included detachable keyboard if you want to use the tablet as a pseudo laptop. The optional Lenovo Precision Pen 3 should also facilitate productivity.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook doesn’t yet have an official release date for the US market. However, at a recent event in New York City, Lenovo confirmed to us that the IdeaPad 5i would have a starting price of $399 in the United States (which you may be able to save on with one of our Lenovo coupon codes). It will cost €549 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with an expected release date of September in those territories. The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has a starting price of $399 and is expected to launch on September 2022.
Be sure to check out our impressions of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 and the Lenovo Glasses T1 based on our own hands-on time with both. Lenovo has also announced the IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook which looks set to make serious gaming on Chromebooks a reality. Also, check out our IFA 2022 live blog for more news from the big event!
Read next: I used ChromeOS exclusively for two weeks — here's how that went.
