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日本Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14, Gen 9) review – Comfort Over Power for Everyday Productivity
If you need a small 2-in-1 laptop in 2024, you can choose from a lot of machines. Lenovo is one of the leading manufacturers in this category of devices. If the price of the all-metal Yoga 7i 2-in-1 (14, Gen 9) or Yoga 9i (14, Gen 9) is too hefty for your budget, you can have a look at the IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14″, Gen 9) which isn’t that costly and it’s offered with snappy hardware. This includes two 45W AMD Zen 4 Hawk Point-HS CPUs alongside AMD Radeon 760M or 780M for graphics tasks. Just like many other compact transformers, the upgradability is as limited as it gets. However, the port selection is surprisingly rich with two Type-C connectors plus a pair of Type-As and a MicroSD card reader.
Display-wise, there are two 1200p 14″ 16:10 glossy touchscreen units – one IPS and one OLED. If you are an artist or content creator, the OLED panel combined with the optional Lenovo Digital Pen sounds like a good idea, if you can stretch your wallet a bit. The keyboard backlight isn’t a standard feature which can raise a few eyebrows. Still, you get a privacy shutter, two 2W Dolby Audio speakers, fTPM 2.0, a fingerprint reader, and a self-healing BIOS as default extras. The connectivity isn’t the latest and greatest (Wi-Fi 6 / E + Bluetooth 5.3) but considering the price class of the laptop, that looks normal. The battery supports fast charging which is a must for people who are constantly on the go.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-5-2-in-1-14-gen-9/
Contents
Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14", Gen 9) - Specs
- HDD/SSD
- up to 1000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 1x 2242 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 16GB
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home
- Battery
- 57Wh
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Glass Fiber
- Dimensions
- 313 x 227 x 17.9 mm (12.32" x 8.94" x 0.70")
- Weight
- 1.50 kg (3.3 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
- 2x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- HDMI
- 1.4b
- Card reader
- microSD (microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC)
- Ethernet LAN
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ax
- Bluetooth
- 5.2
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- HD / FHD with Privacy Shutter, Fixed Focus
- Backlit keyboard
- optional
- Microphone
- Dual Microphone Array
- Speakers
- 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Dolby Audio
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14″, Gen 9) configurations
Drivers
All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-5-2-in-1-14ahp9/downloads/
What’s in the box?
Inside the box, there are a couple of manuals and a 65W USB Type-C charger. Some machines are bundled with the optional Lenovo Digital Pen, with or without a replaceable AAAA alkaline battery.
Design and construction
The laptop is known as IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9. It looks like a modern business transformer. The design is unintrusive and stealthy. The device is made of a mix of plastic and glass fiber. The profile thickness is 17.9 mm. The iterations with an OLED display are lighter (1.50 kilos) compared to their sibling with an IPS panel – 1.60 kg. Yep, that’s a compact and light transformer.
You’ll need your both hands to open the lid which feels stable thanks to the glass cover of the display. The base is rigid – if you press it down harder between the touchpad and the Space key, you’ll notice some flex but that’s perfectly fine since you’ll not spot this during normal work. The small fella is available in two colors – Cosmic blue or Luna grey. The metallic painting of our blue laptop attracts smudges easily.
The bezels around the touchscreen are thin, except for the “lip”.
The “hump” above the display is home to a 720p or 1080p Web camera with a privacy shutter.
Because of the 360-degree hinge, this laptop can lay flat on your desk which is very useful when you want to share some info with other people. Working with the Lenovo Digital Pen is a joy, it glides effortlessly on the glass cover of the screen.
You can use the notebook in a clamshell, tent, stand, and tablet modes.
We have no complaints regarding the keyboard with optional backlight except for the tiny “Up” and “Down” Arrow keys that aren’t very comfortable for pressing. Two tall speaker grills are placed on the sides of the board. The latter offers large keycaps with long key travel while the feedback is alright but it’s a bit on the soft side. Still, the unit feels comfortable enough for long hours of usage. The fingerprint reader can be seen on the right palm rest area.
The size of the Mylar touchpad seems fine for a 14-incher – 75 x 120 mm. The pad smoothness is average but the accuracy is good enough for normal work.
On the bottom of the laptop, there are three rubber feet and a two-row ventilation grill that reveals part of the cooling. The hot air is guided via a single vent on the rear. It aims at the lower side of the lid and that’s why some heat makes its way to the display during heavy CPU loads.
Ports
On the left side, we can spot an HDMI 1.4b for up to 4K@30Hz external displays, two 10 Gbps USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) ports with PowerDelivery 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 functionality, and an Audio combo jack. On the right, you get two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports (the former supports the Always On function), a MicroSD card reader, and a Power button.
Display and Sound Quality, Get our Profiles
IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9 is equipped with a touchscreen WUXGA (Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array) IPS panel, model number LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125). It comes with a 60Hz refresh rate and support for Lenovo Digital Pen. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.5 cm), and the resolution – 1920 x 1200p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 162 ppi, and their pitch – 0.16 x 0.16 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 54 cm (this is based on the pixel density and the typical viewing distance at which individual pixels cannot be distinguished by the human eye).
Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality.
Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.
The maximum measured brightness is 307 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 289 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6780K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 69% Brightness (White level = 142 cd/m2, Black level = 0.1 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1380:1.
To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.
Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.
Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.
The yellow dotted line shows IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9’s color gamut coverage.
Its display covers 51% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 40% of DCI-P3.
Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.
Below you can compare the scores of the IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).
The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.
The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.
Response time (Gaming capabilities)
We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa обратно (these terms refer to the time it takes for pixels to change from one color to another (black to white and back to black in this case), a shorter time reduces picture blur with fast moving images).
We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 15 ms.
After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.
Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering)
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9’s display doesn’t flicker at any brightness level. This makes the screen pretty comfortable for long periods of use.
Health Impact: Blue light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.
Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement
Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 56.2 GU).
(High Gloss: >70 GU; Low Gloss: <30 GU; Medium Gloss: 30 – 70 GU)
Sound
IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9’s Dolby Audio speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 14AHP9 configurations with 14.0″ LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125) (1920 x 1200) IPS.
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Performance: CPU, GPU, Storage
All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Best performance” preset applied in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. Also, the “Performance” preset is selected in the Lenovo Vantage app and the “UMA Frame Buffer Size” is set to 2GB in the BIOS.
CPU options
This device is offered AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS or Ryzen 7 8845HS.
The laptop that we picked has a Ryzen 5 chip.
Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
GPU options
Depending on the CPU model, you get the AMD Radeon 760M or Radeon 780M.
Our machine has the 760M version.
Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests
| CS:GO | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) | HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 189 fps | 166 fps | 89 fps |
| DOTA 2 | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) | HD 1080p, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average FPS | 78 fps | 65 fps | 56 fps |
Storage performance
Our machine has a 512GB SK Hynix HFS512GEJ4X112N. The Gen 4 NVMe is snappy and it doesn’t get too hot during benchmarking – 65°C.
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Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life
Max CPU load
In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.
Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.
| AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS (45W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14″) | 4.2 GHz @ 90°C @ 54W | 3.93 GHz @ 98°C @ 45W | 3.44 GHz @ 94°C @ 32W |
The official base clock of the AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS is 4.3 GHz. The IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 struggles to maintain these frequencies even in short loads. Also, the chip gets toasty when it’s stressed at max. The overall performance isn’t bad at all, but the Ryzen 5 CPU is capable of higher clocks and benchmark results if the thermal system is more potent.
Comfort during full load
The cooling fan produces an average amount of noise in “Performance” mode when the processor is doing the heavy lifting. In this case, the keyboard feels warm to the touch but it’s not scorching hot which allows you to use the laptop comfortably.
The “Adaptive power mode” offers slightly reduced clocks and noise levels, compared to the “Performance” preset.
100% CPU stress “Performance”
100% CPU stress “Adaptive Power”Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Best Power Efficiency setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 140 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 57Wh battery pack lasts around 11 hours of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the “Best Power Efficiency” preset in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu and select the “Battery Saver” mode in the Lenovo Vantage app.
For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.
Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance
To open this machine, you have to undo four Torx-head screws. Pry the top two corners or the zones behind the hinges with a thin prying tool to open a gap. Then, pry the sides and the front, the back should be last.
Here’s how the bottom panel looks on the inside.
This notebook has a 57Wh battery. To remove it, unplug the connector from the motherboard and undo the 3 Phillips-head screws that keep the unit in place. The capacity is enough for around 11 hours of video playback.
All devices are configured with soldered 16GB of LPDDR5x-6400MHz RAM in dual-channel mode.
For storage upgrades, you get just one M.2 slot for 2242 Gen 4 SSDs. There is a thermal pad below the NVMe.
The cooling has one large fan, two heat pipes, one heat sink, and a heat spreader.
Verdict
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14″) is a good alternative to the more expensive Yoga 7 devices. The build quality remains pretty good as well as the comfort under full loads. Yes, the fan isn’t too noisy and the keyboard isn’t hot to the touch. Speaking of which, the board is suitable for long hours of typing and the touchpad will do the job for normal usage.
The 14″ 16:10 IPS Touch display LEN140WUXGA (LEN9125) is appropriate for work or home tasks because the panel is PWM-free and it has good viewing angles. The color coverage is low and if you want to use the laptop for content creation, the optional OLED display is a better choice.
Our notebook is with an AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS. The machine feels fast and responsive, the NVMe is also snappy. Still, the CPU can’t maintain its official base clock and the processor temperature is always high. It looks like Lenovo tuned this laptop for comfort, not for maximum performance.
If you pop the bottom panel, the only thing that you can do is to change the Wi-Fi card or the short 2242 Gen 4 NVMe. All machines rely on a 16GB LPDDR5x RAM. This amount of memory seems fine for now but it’s not future-proof at all. On the bright side, the port selection is good, especially for the price class – two Type-C ports and two normal Type-As plus a MicroSD card reader. Not bad at all!
The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 (14″, Gen 9) is a fairly-priced transformer that boats long battery life, good build quality, adequate port selections, and a good amount of goodies such as a privacy shutter and a fingerprint reader.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-5-2-in-1-14-gen-9/
Pros
- Good build quality
- Compact and light (17.9 mm profile + 1.60 kg)
- Fair price
- The fan isn’t too noisy during full CPU loads in “Performance” mode
- Comfortable viewing angles (LEN9125)
- 307 nits max brightness (LEN9125)
- Good audio quality
- Type-C charging
- Web camera with a privacy shutter
- Four USB ports and a MicroSD card reader
- Snappy NVMe (512GB SK Hynix HFS512GEJ4X112N)
- The keyboard with an optional backlight is suitable for typing
- Fingerprint reader, self-healing BIOS, fTPM 2.0 + fast charging
- 360-degree hinge that supports laptop, tent, stand, and tablet modes
- Optional Lenovo Pen
Cons
- Soldered memory and just one 2242 M.2 slot
- The CPU can’t maintain its official base clock
- Low sRGB coverage (LEN9125)
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