Lenovo Flex 14 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop, 14 Inch FHD Touchscreen Display, AMD Ryzen 5 3500U Processor, 12GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, Windows 10, 81SS000DUS, Black, Pen Included

**GNU/Linux distribution notes at the end of this review.A very nice laptop and it feels premium. The material is mostly plastic but I appreciate that for the reduced weight. This is my first Ryzen machine, and I am mainly using it to run a Citrix environment (cloud-based VM). Today will be the first full 8+-hour day using it. The power brick is not excessively huge. About the width and height of a standard post-it note, and 1" thick. The cable is over 5' (my measuring tape only goes to 60") closer to 6'. It has a barrel connector so unfortunately, it is not easily replaceable with a USB C cable (next model, pretty please?)The keyboard is backlit, which is nice for the darker surrounding often found in my home office. Typing is okay, but there is a noticeably shorter key travel than other laptops/Chromebooks I have used. I'm getting used to it, but like with any new keyboard, there will be a small learning curve. I keep missing the home row and using the Caps Lock as the A key for some reason. I'm using it on a small folding table at the moment so that could be the reason.The screen is nice, it is a 16:9 full HD screen, and for me, I prefer 16:9 to the new standard of 2:3 (more of a square). It is not bright though. Not at all. Even with the curtains open, there are times when I am still trying to get more brightness out of this display. It's not unusable, but forget trying to use it outdoors.The touch is fine and works. I did not buy this to use as a tablet though but Windows 10 has some processing going on in the background that makes it easy to hit small buttons in applications without being terribly accurate. The pen is interesting to me as it is roughly the size of a real pen [*cough* Samsung*cough*] which makes it easier to draw/write without immediately cramping my hand.The Dolby Audio on the speakers leaves a lot to be desired. Some tweaking was needed to get the overblown sounds to subside. During the initial setup, it was hard to listen to. Turning Dolby Audio off though somehow reduces the speaker volume by 2/3... Not the actual volume percentage, but the actual sound. Dolby is using some sort of gain control so 20% volume sounds more like 40%.4k video on YouTube looks great and only dropped 3 frames in a 2:44 video (Borderlands 3 FL4K FTW!) but that could have been from me trying to make it full-screen. I have not tried any games yet, but I did install Diablo 3, and World of Warcraft Classic. If anyone is interested, I will update this when I try them.With the Vega graphics, there is an automatic 2GB reduction in RAM availability. Couple this with the 8GB model and you are left with 6GB to run Windows 10 and any applications. Budget for the 12 GB model unless you are A) skilled with laptop hardware, and B) don’t care about the warranty. I’ve seen the tear-downs, and there is an open RAM slot. I usually don’t tear open electronics until a year after I own it (unless there is a reason to do so).The WiFi issue that is detailed on the 8GB model is non-existent for me. I feel like I may be more qualified to test that as Citrix requires a constant network connection and gives an immediate alert if connectivity drops for more than a couple seconds. No issues here, running the latest Windows updates.Overall I’m happy with this laptop, It is much lighter than my 15” Acer Predator and looks a lot more professional when traveling for work.EDIT 8/31/2020: I've been experimenting with GNU/Linux/Ubuntu distributions and I have a small list of what is NOT working with no additional modifications/installs. All of the images were flashed via Etcher (with verification) onto a PNY Elite Turbo Attache 4 and ran in live mode (no install).Tails OS 4.10 - I was not able to connect a Bluetooth mouse (only Bluetooth device I had available) and it did not appear to allow Bluetooth to remain on after moving to another settings screen. The dual mapped function keys worked for brightness and sound.Debian 10.5.0 (Cinnamon) - I was not able to see any network, or even manually connect to one. The brightness function keys (F11 and F12) display the icon as if it is changing the display brightness, but the actual brightness of the display remains at 100%Linux Mint 20 (Cinnamon) - Probably the most compatible distribution with this laptop without any additional modifications. My Bluetooth mouse connected without issue (MUCH quicker than on Windows) and the dual mapped FN keys work as expected with the exception of the built-in webcam disable (F8)

Disclaimer: I am a serious computer geek and a bit of a snob when it comes to tech. Still, this laptop is awesome!!Rating: 5 Stars (because 4.8 isn't an option and 4 is too few for this thing)Model: 12 GB RAM; Ryzen 5 3500UPros:> That price! (Unmatched in performance in this price range!)> Ryzen 5 3500U performs better than the Intel Core i5-8250U.> Vega 8 graphics are fairly capable.> Backlit keyboard is nice and a pleasure to type on> Light and portable> Great port selection.> 12 GB of RAM is sufficient for most daily tasks. (Expandable to 20 GB if your the warranty voiding type)> Decent sound for its class> Comes with a pen that works very well with the software> Great touchscreenCons:> Can't charge via USB-C (Lenovo! Please do this for the next model!!)> Screen brightness is sufficient, but not suitable for outdoor use.> Pen stores very awkwardly (Lenovo! You can really do better!)> McAfee preinstalled, and it resists being uninstalled. (You actually need to download their uninstaller to do it. IMHO its more of a virus than an antivirus.)> Battery life is definitely OK. Its not a super long lasting battery but I seem to get 5 hours out of it at a time (in balanced mode and dimming the brightness a bit - honestly, you get what you pay for.My take: I bought this laptop for graduate school. I wanted something I could use to take written notes as well as use to do all my assignments. It needed to be portable, fairly lightweight, all while not compromising on performance. This laptop fit my needs on paper. Now, after using it (practically daily) for a month, I can say its a pleasure to use. It boots up in seconds (like less than 20), and has a lightning fast fingerprint sensor. My other laptop is a Thinkpad X1 Extreme, which I intended to be a powerhouse (32 GB RAM, i7-8850H, 4K, GTX-1080Ti Max-Q). Honestly, this laptop puts my "powerhouse" to shame in many ways. The Flex 14 boots up QUICKER, has less graphical errors when switching between desktops, and has a brighter back-light on its keyboard. Of course the Flex 14 can't run a virtual lab environment comprising of 4 machines like my Thinkpad Extreme, but it sure can run 2 VMs simultaneously (at least on the 12 GB RAM config). This laptop is SO good for the price I'm honestly shocked that it is not listed in the best laptops of 2019 list on YouTube or Google - its really a great find. Thank you Amazon!TLDR: This laptop is amazing. If you're a student, someone who seeks a 2 in 1 experience, a person who doesn't want to pay $800+ for a laptop and needs something portable yet powerful enough to get actual work done, this is the laptop for you.