The Flip’s battery life is good but not elite. Ten and a
half hours is, on its own, a pretty good result. You’ll get
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it’s not a weakness. If you’re a true road warrior and
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want to consider one of the more enduring alternatives.
The IdeaPad Flex 5 14 is the only option that is in a
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others represent a modest improvement.
A SOLID ALL-ROUNDER CONVERTIBLE
The Asus VivoBook Flip is a good budget convertible
with no major weak points. The build is compact and
lightweight, it has a healthy selection of ports and a nice
screen, and battery life is decent. The performance, in
particular, is a strong suit, thanks to the Ryzen 7 chip,
which tops the Ryzen 5 and Intel alternatives in
machines around the same price.
That said, those things don’t make it a great budget
convertible. The build is solid enough on the exterior,
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the keyboard is so-so. The battery life is merely okay, as
well. These are the aspects that remind you this is an
inexpensive laptop, but the same doesn’t apply to all
machines in this tier. Compared to the designs of the
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 and the HP Envy x360 13
(2020), the Asus is not as impressive. It does get extra
points for performance, but at the end of the day, the
IdeaPad Flex 5 14 is a superior laptop overall for $100
less and retains its Editors’ Choice. Still, if you’re
concerned with raw CPU performance above all, the
VivoBook Flip 14 has plenty of charm inside its shell.
MATTHEW BUZZI
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE (^) I OCTOER 2020
The build is
compact and
lightweight, it
has a healthy
selection of
ports and a
nice screen,
and battery life
is decent.