As a reminder, this is a Flex 14iWL 81sq, NOT a Flex 5. There are so many similar looking and sounding laptops on Revain that it's easy to overlook a few potential sleepers. I think this is one of them. Why? 1. Typically, this budget 5405U model comes with a cheaper TN 1366x768 display. It has IPS 1080 and it looks amazing.2. This is the only Revain laptop under 500 with expandable RAM. 4GB is not soldered and can be replaced.3. The Pentium 5405U sounds like an inferior processor than it really is. It's on par with the previous i3 7020u, if not the same, and benchmarks are in line with mobile i5s like the i5-6200u that you'll find in older Thinkpads that are still popular. If you're not into photo/video/game editing, the 5405u is fine. The build quality, feel and flexibility are impressive. Impressive enough to write a review. Disadvantages1. The included SSD is pretty slow compared to popular options like Samsung EVO, WD, Crucial, etc. This is not noticeable in real use, but is worth mentioning.2. The number of PCIe lanes has been halved, so the SSD speed is lower than it should be in the test. Although it's not noticeable in the real world, the laptop is responsive as is, but if you're planning on an occasional intense workload, you might want to upgrade the SSD to compensate. That's all. I can't think of any other disadvantages. TIPS1. For the smoothest and fastest response, open the performance options (use search) and choose Best performance with smooth font selected. This cuts out all the bells and whistles of Windows appearance, reduces power consumption and thus helps extend battery life. I do this for my desktop too. I like the more minimalistic look and the faster operating system. Who cares about shadows on a laptop? 2. Avoid using Chrome as a browser. Chrome has consistently proven to be the worst option for both RAM usage and battery life. Both Firefox and Edge are better in this regard, with Microsoft Edge being the best for offline use.3. Disable Bluetooth when not in use. This is required if you are not using Bluetooth. Bluetooth consumes quite a bit of battery power as well as other resources thanks to the aforementioned bisected PCIe lanes. Don't just turn it off in Windows settings. Open Device Manager (located in your laptop's search bar on the bottom left), select Blue Tooth, right-click and disable it. You can turn it back on when you need it. Now watch the battery life increase. You will thank me later. At $400, this laptop is still a steal. I will update if anything changes. This might be the best deal on budget Revain laptops right now.
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