Lenovo Yoga 530 | Flex 14 2-in-1 review | Is this the perfect budget student laptop?

hi I’m Gideon from tehnology mancom then
a novo yoga 5:30 or flex 14 in the u.s.
is a 2 in 1 laptop spilling with
features starting around four hundred
pounds or four hundred dollars there are
a number of models in the range but I’m
looking at the entry-level configuration
with a Pentium Gold processor and the
standard 1366 by 768 so-called HD screen
rather than the full HD screen but it’s
more expensive counterparts even this
base model has a 14 inch touch screen
display 128 gigabytes SSD storage for
gigabytes of RAM a 360 degree hinge that
provides no less than for usage
scenarios fast charging a full size HDMI
port 3 years B 3 ports including one
modern type C port an HD webcam and up
to 10 hours of battery life it sounds
like it could be the perfect everyday
laptop and together with support for the
optional the Nova active pen this could
also be an ideal student laptop so let’s
take a look inside the utilitarian
packaging you get the laptop itself in a
65 watt charger there is no supply to
use a manual but should you require one
the Novo do at least offer one to
download the left side of the laptop has
a charging port a full size HDMI

port
and a USB 3.1 port which supports
charging even when the laptop is off a
USB 3.1 type C port and a combo
headphone microphone jack the right side
has a Kensington security slot another
USB 3.1 port an SD card slot the power
button and a reset switch that you’ll
need a paper clip to activate I wish
more laptops had this it can be
sometimes tricky getting to the bias or
Recovery Options easily in Windows 10
USB ports are all Gen 1 or USB 3.0 so
support a maximum of five gigabits per
second not the 10 gigabits per second of
the latest gen 2 that’s still plenty
quick enough for most accessories you’ll
plug in for the time being the SD card
slot is useful but limited to slow USB 2
speeds
opening the lid reveals a chiclet star
keyboard with no backlight and there’s
no room for a number pad there’s a
decent sized trackpad 105 millimeters by
70 millimeters there’s no fingerprint
reader on this base model but that as
well as a backlit keyboard can be found
on models higher up in the range first
impressions of the build quality are
good it looks more expensive than it is
when it’s metal colored plastic lid and
base with what looks like a brushed
aluminium keyboard surround it measures
328 millimeters by 229 millimeters and
it’s fairly slim at around 18
millimeters at its thickest point it
weighs very acceptable 1545 grams when
you first power on the laptop you need
finish off the windows 10 install as is
the norm this goes fairly quickly thanks
to the SSD there’s not too much junk
where I uninstalled McAfee letting the
built-in free Windows Defender take its
place if you need additional protection
I usually install malwarebytes there’s
also some of the Novo software that I’m
keeping for the time being there’s a
chunky bezel over 25 millimeters wide
along the bottom of the 14 inch display
this narrows to less than 10 millimeters
around the rest of the screen 720p HD
webcam sits at the top of the display
the keyboard feels nice with only a
small amount of flex just in the middle
there’s not a huge amount of travel on
the keys but I got used to it quite
quickly the trackpad is smooth and
responsive
there’s no rattling and if you choose to
click rather than tap it clicks feel
positive 360 degree hinge allows the
laptop to operate in an additional three
modes along with the standard laptop
mode you can rotate it but Yong Turner
and 70 degrees and rest it on the
keyboard for theater mode this is
intended when there’s little need for
interaction with the screen like
watching a film for instance I was a bit
concerned that using this mode would
scuff up the keyboard and surrounding
palm rest the keyboard and touchpad are
automatically disabled as soon as you go
past 190 degrees the first time you do
this windows will prompt you to enable
tablet mode which you can opt to be the
persistent setting if you need to switch
tablet mode on and off just swipe him
from the right and tap on tablet mode
the touchscreen responds well to
gestures if you rotate the screen all
the way around to tablet mode so it lays
flat on the back of the laptop you can
use a laptop as an oversized tablet auto
rotate also turns on once you rotate
past 190 degrees you can also use the
laptop in portrait orientation and all
these additional modes just by rotating
the laptop although it makes most sense
in tablet mode the final 10 mode is
meant to be for presentations where you
need to interact with the screen at
least a little bit that would be a nice
mode to use with the optional stylus
– I found this the most useful mode
besides a notebook mode the hinge does a
good job of supporting the laptop
whatever angle you choose and it just
feels a natural way to interact with the
touchscreen this size it does take up
quite a bit of room and the web counts
position in the bottom of the screen is
not ideal it is awkward switching
between modes and definitely requires
two hands with a hinge is sturdy and it
does make the laptop very versatile it
also has the advantage of making the
laptop a little more robust the hinge
mechanism is often the weakest point of
a laptop particularly on an entry-level
laptop the fact that this hinge is
designed to go past the usual 120
degrees means that potential weakness
has overcome so long as you’re careful
the 1366 by 768 screen is a standard TN
panel compared to the full HD IPS panels
on the more expensive models if you are
used to the sharp display of your
smartphone or tablet you may be
disappointed but it’s perfectly adequate
for everyday use viewing angles aren’t
great and together with its reflective
finish you will find yourself adjusting
the laptop or your position regularly as
you move around the various
configurations using an X right I 1
display Pro Monitor calibrator
I measured a maximum brightness of 235
Candela per square meter which is a
little blow the spec 250 Candela per
square meter
I found it fine for general use and it
was just about usable outside on a
bright day with careful placement this
is not a laptop aimed at photographers
but I calibrated the screen again using
the i1 display Pro to attempt to get the
most accurate color as possible from the
screen there was a notable improvement
reducing the blue color can’t
significantly the screen also looked
less washed out I measured the color
accuracy or Delta II of the screen Delta
is a metric for understanding how the
human eye perceives color difference
with the value of less than 1 being not
perceptible to the human eye and a value
between 1 and 2 being barely perceptible
I measured an average Delta ray of 2.8
which is not too bad
and a vast improvement over the nine
point nine four I got the full
calibration
only 57% of the sRGB color space was
covered the spectrum of colors that most
devices conform to from phones to TVs to
monitors this is a low result but again
for general use the display is more than
adequate and the variation in brightness
across the screen was minimal passing
and final uniformity test battery life
was good and I didn’t manage to get 9
hours 30 minutes of very light use for
the screen at 75% brightness of course
with heavy usage watching videos or
playing games for instance this will be
much reduced charging the integrated 45
watt hour battery with a 65 watt 20 volt
3.25 out and fast charger provides two
hours of light usage with only 15
minutes of charge and a 1 hour charge
brings an empty battery up to 80% a full
charge takes just over 2 hours
the charging LED lights amber while
charging until the battery reaches 80%
charge and then turns white the power
button has a surround the LED which
indicates the state of the battery going
from white to amber when charged drops
below 20% the dual core Pentium Gold 4 4
1 5 new seventh generation processor
runs at 2.3 gigahertz the gold signifies
the addition of hyper-threading to
provide for virtual cause making it more
in line with an i3 processor just with
slightly less cache it also has 4
gigabytes of the latest ddr4 memory
running at to 133 megahertz together the
fast nvme
128 gigabyte SSD drive the laptop was
fine if we than I was expecting you do
need to make sure you adjust the power
mode slider to best performance to get
the most out of the laptop at the slight
expense of battery life using crystal
disk mark I measured the read speed of
the SSD at an impressive 1,800 megabytes
per second that’s more than 10 times
faster than mechanical hard drive and
almost four times faster than a standard
SSD write speeds were still very good
around eight hundred thirty eight
megabytes per second boot time to the
windows login screen was around eight
second then it woke up from sleep in a
couple of seconds usually by the time
I’d fumble to open the lid running the
geek bench for benchmark gave
respectable scores the single core score
of two six ninety two and the multi-core
score of five one two three helped along
by the hyper-threading as a comparison
my 2012 MacBook Pro with an i5 processor
and eight gigabytes of RAM
it’s called 301 five and five seven
eight seven four those same tests the
compute graphics test with the
integrated Intel HD 610 scored eleven
seventy six over since five six seventy
seven the MacBook Pro with its intel HD
4000 integrated graphics the internal
fans only come on when the laptop has
been used intensively and we’re pretty
quiet this is certainly no gaming
machine but you could play less
intensive games if you wished for
tonight did run with all settings at
their minimum and it was just about
playable but the framerate often dropped
to single figures when the scene got
more complex
you could run Photoshop and even
Premiere Pro a push but I wouldn’t buy
this laptop if you needed to use these
regularly overall as pleased with the
performance when you consider its
intended use and cost if you’re happy
tinkering it’s possible to upgrade the
RAM an SSD or replace the battery the
Novo provide a detailed hardware repair
manual which I’ll link down below if you
want to see me doing an upgrade in an
upcoming video please let me know in the
comments the dual array microphones
either side of the webcam do a good job
of recording audio and there are two –
what Harman stereo speakers at the
bottom in front of the laptop or
conveniently the back top in theater
mode sound is good for laptop speakers
there’s little Bay’s for you can hear
the separation and there’s decent volume
there’s even a Dolby audio app to adjust
in EQ the best experience you’ll need
headphones to listen to the following
sound test
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
finally there’s 802 11 AC Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth 4.1 I had no issues with
connectivity the Wi-Fi connection was
decent around the house the very average
Sky Rooter I didn’t quite get the
download speed in my iPhone 10 but I
could still stream YouTube videos quite
happily and the furthest points in the
house then Lenovo yoga 530 or flex 14 is
available from around 400 pounds or $400
all the way up to over 700 pounds or
$700 the higher models face much stiffer
competition but I found this entry-level
model far more interesting if you can
find the next model up with a 1080p IPS
screen there not much more I probably go
for that the screen on this model is
still fine for everyday use it’s a
versatile laptop and even if you rarely
use it three other modes there there if
you need them Windows 10 is more usable
for touch than it’s ever been and with
the optional stylus I’m sure it’d be
even better
although I wasn’t able to get the active
pen in time for this review the big
question is whether you need the touch
screen and the various modes if you
don’t you can get an Intel i3 machine
with double the RAM and a full HD screen
for around the same price but for
writing documents browsing the web and
watching YouTube videos I found this an
enjoyable laptop to use and definitely
want to consider it would particularly
suit a student with its versatility
lightweight and budget price if you have
this laptop or a similar model what do
you think of it if there’s a laptop
you’d like me to take a look at please
let me know down below and as always if
you have any questions please ask I read
every comment and I’ll do my best to
respond I do hope you found this video
useful please like the video if you did
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[Music]
you

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