The Lenovo Flex 5 14 is a versatile 2-in-1 laptop with a lower midrange price, offering decent performance for general use and light gaming with its AMD Ryzen 7 processor and integrated Vega 8 graphics. Its 14-inch touchscreen display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1200 resolution is suitable for everyday tasks, and the included stylus makes it a good choice for note-taking or drawing. With a weight of 3.42 pounds and a battery life of around 11.5 hours, it's also quite portable, making it a strong contender for students or professionals who need to work on the go.
On the other hand, the MSI Raider 18 HX is a high-end gaming laptop with a price to match. It boasts a powerful Intel i9-14900HX processor and a top-tier Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU, which deliver exceptional performance for gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning tasks. The large 18-inch Mini LED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 3840 x 2400 resolution is ideal for immersive gaming experiences and detailed visual work. However, its size and weight of nearly 8 pounds significantly reduce its portability, and it has a much shorter battery life of about 9 hours, making it more suitable for stationary use.
In summary, if you prioritize portability, versatility, and value for money for general use and light creative work, the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is the better choice. However, if you're looking for a powerhouse machine specifically for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning, and you don't mind being tethered to a desk, the MSI Raider 18 HX's superior performance capabilities justify its higher price point. 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 MSI Raider 18 HX
Very good for general use
Best in class for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Excellent for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Very good speakers
Key differences
General Use
7.7/10
8.8/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
277.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
11.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
9.0 Hours
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
8.3/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
5.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is very good for general use, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
9.0/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent for gaming and AI, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
7.0/10
9.6/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.7/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The MSI Raider 18 HX is best in class for engineering and design, while the Lenovo Flex 5 14 is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.6/10
9.1/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
The MSI Raider 18 HX is excellent 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
8.8/10
6.9/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
7.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The MSI Raider 18 HX 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
9.4/10
14.0in
SIZE
18.0in
1920 x 1200
RESOLUTION
3840 x 2400
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
Mini LED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
277.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
1000.0 nits
The MSI Raider 18 HX has a better screen than the Lenovo Flex 5 14 for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
11.5 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has 11.5 hours of battery life. The MSI Raider 18 HX has 9 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
Poor
14.0in
SIZE
18.0in
3.4 lbs
WEIGHT
7.9 lbs
0.7in
THICKNESS
1.2in
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has very good portability, while the MSI Raider 18 HX has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Cost
$950
$3,999
$0
$1,000
$2,000
$3,000
$4,000
The Lenovo Flex 5 14 has a price of $950 and the MSI Raider 18 HX costs $3,999.
"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."
Get a great deal on the Lenovo Flex 5 14 or the MSI Raider 18 HX
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 MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
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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