Lenovo Flex 7 laptop

A convertible 14" laptop that replaced my ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2021) .

What I like about it

SO CHEAP. I could have bought THREE of these for the cost of my previous laptop. I bought it for only $529.43 including tax, making it the cheapest laptop I've bought in my life. I found the deal on Reddit's Laptop Deals.

Excellent battery life. It's well known that x86 laptops have worse battery life than Apple silicon, but this laptop with its asymmetrical CPU and 59Wh battery have never actually run out of power on me. No battery anxiety!

Small size at 14". I've owned 15.6" and 16" laptops before, and they are just a little too big for many situations I'm in: small tables at coffee shops, small airplane trays, even in the car. A 14" can work in surprisingly more situations where a 16" laptop really cannot.

Has Thunderbolt 4 so I could attach an EGPU in future, which should mitigate it's biggest downside below.

Low power consumption. It uses a 65W power brick, making it easier to charge than my previous laptop that wanted 100W and simpler to find USB-C docking stations for. It's a nightmare trying to find a docking station that will charge 100W while also providing sufficient IO.

Text looks wonderful on the display. Great pixel density at 188PPI.

Physical switch on the webcam. For some shocking reason, many laptops do not have this, opting for only a light indicator to let you know if the webcam is on, but this too can be hacked. A physical switch is a rare example of something unhackable.

It has a touchscreen and is convertible, like my last laptop. I constantly use it in tent mode for a clean two display setup, and the touchscreen I use constantly, most commonly so I can hand it to people in my house to choose which food items they want delivered.

What I don't like

Performance dips. Despite excellent benchmarks of the Intel 1355U CPU, I frequently encounter moments of slowness on even mundane tasks like typing into Obsidian.

Cooling is bad. There is only one vent - at the bottom of the laptop. This easily is obstructed when using the laptop in bed.

Awful GPU. GPU is Iris XE, which is awful. Even ancient games like Starcraft 2 do not run well on it, limiting me to simple 3D or 2D games. I have seen it at over 90% utilisation when doing just desktop tasks. This is its weakest point and the one thing I want to change the most.

Only one USB-C port. Sometimes I want to charge from the right side, but I cannot.

Ergonomics. Front edge where wrist rests is a bit sharp. Also the Up and down arrow keys are a bit small and hard to press.

Touchpad. Sometimes touchpad doesn't respond if I'm using keyboard at the same time. I am generally fine to use pure touchpad on my work Macbook, but this touchpad has me often reaching for a mouse, even in bed.

Screen is only 60Hz