The Lenovo Flex 5 offers better value with a significantly lower price and solid general use performance, making it suited for everyday tasks and some light creative work. It is lighter and boasts a marginally longer battery life, enhancing its portability. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2, while more expensive, delivers superior performance for engineering, 3D rendering, and machine learning. It features a stronger processor, advanced graphics capabilities with dedicated hardware for ray tracing, and a high-refresh-rate screen. This makes the Surface a better choice for intensive tasks, though it is heavier and has a shorter battery life compared to the Lenovo. Choose the Lenovo for general use and affordability, or the Microsoft Surface for high-end tasks and better display quality. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Lenovo Flex 5 14
Very good portability
Very good battery life
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Good overall display quality
Very good overall build quality
Very good speakers
Very good keyboard
Key differences
General Use
7.7/10
8.3/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
277.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
503.0 nits
11.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
8.0 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
8.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.5/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is very good for general use, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 is noted for its very good battery life and portability, which are essential for users who prioritize ease of movement and longer usage times without charging; however, its screen and build quality are considered fair, which could impact the overall user experience. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers very good screen and build quality, delivering a more premium feel and better viewing experience, but it has a good rather than very good portability score and shorter battery life, making it more suitable for users who value performance and screen quality over the convenience of long battery life and lightweight design.
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
7.7/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.7/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is good for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is only fair.
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has modest gaming capabilities due to its integrated graphics, catering to less demanding games, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2, equipped with a dedicated Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, excels in gaming and 3D applications, offering a more immersive experience with higher frame rates and visual fidelity.
Engineering and Design
7.0/10
8.7/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is very good for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 excels over the Lenovo Flex 5 14 for engineering and design due to a more robust CPU and GPU, significantly higher RAM, and superior screen quality, with a higher resolution, brightness, and color accuracy, essential for detailed engineering work. Portability is compromised in the Microsoft model because of its weight, while tradeoffs with the Lenovo include lower performance but better portability and potentially quieter operating noise, making it still suitable for less demanding engineering tasks.
Content Creation
7.6/10
8.4/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is very good for content creation, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.4/10
8.2/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is very good for software development, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
6.4/10
7.9/10
14.0in
SIZE
14.4in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
277.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
503.0 nits
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a better screen than the Lenovo Flex 5 14 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
When considering general use, the Lenovo Flex 5 14 has a screen that is decent due to its resolution and brightness, which makes it suitable for everyday tasks like browsing the web or working on documents, whereas the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers a higher resolution and brightness, providing a sharper and more vivid display for tasks such as photo editing or watching videos. For engineering and design, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 stands out with its superior color accuracy, offering a wider color gamut that ensures more precise color representation, which is essential for professional design work, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 falls short in this regard, making it less ideal for color-critical tasks. In terms of 3D work and gaming, both laptops offer less ideal refresh rates; however, issues with their resolutions and panel types limit their ability to deliver the smoothest and most immersive visual experience that 3D designers and gamers often seek.
Battery
11.5 Hours
8.0 Hours
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has 11.5 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has 8 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Good
14.0in
SIZE
14.4in
3.4 lbs
WEIGHT
4.4 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has very good portability, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.0/10
8.5/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has very good build quality, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$950
$3,300
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has a price of $950 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 costs $3,300.
"The highlight of the latest IdeaPad Flex 5 14 is clearly its AMD CPU. The octa-core Ryzen 7 5700U is insanely fast even when compared to the best Tiger Lake Ultrabooks in the market or even Core H CPUs in many gaming laptops. It's a lot of raw processing power for what is supposed to be a budget 14-inch convertible. If your daily workloads can benefit from extra multi-thread CPU performance, then look no further than the inexpensive AMD-powered Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14. For regular on-the-road browsing or video streaming, however, a slimmer and lighter 10th gen Core Yoga, Spectre, or XPS would be a more balanced option."
"The new Surface Laptop Studio with its foldable display is supposed to replace the old Surface Book and the overall impression is good after our review. The build quality and the materials are top-notch, the performance utilization of the two components is solid and the device does not show any major flaws in terms of display or speakers, either. The folding mechanism leaves a sold impression as well, but it remains to be seen how it will hold up over the years. The so-called presentation mode is also not ideal since it covers the whole keyboard."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo Flex 5 14 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is an American technology corporation. Microsoft is best known for their Windows operating system and Surface laptop series. The Surface Laptop is their standard notebook offering, while their Surface Go, Surface Pro, and Surface Studio are their 2-in-1/tablet offerings in order of increasing capability. Although Microsoft charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a well integrated and packaged device since Microsoft develops the Windows operating system.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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Joe Golden, Ph.D
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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