Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Review: The Best Laptop Under $1,000

Laptops are supposed to be getting more expensive this year. Supply chain shortages and general inflation, which affects nearly everything we buy, have caused prices to rise.

Then comes along the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x, an unsuspecting laptop that masterfully balances its features, price, and quality. If this laptop were $400 more, I'd still say it's a decent deal. At $850, it's a straight-up MacBook Air killer and one of the best laptops you can buy.

The look of this laptop isn't necessarily unique. A basic silver chassis with some of the Lenovo-isms we've come to expect, including the reverse notch on the lid that houses the webcam. But the screen size is really interesting. It's a 15.3-inch screen, which slots in between the typical 14- and 16-inch display options on Windows laptops. But it's the perfect antidote to the 15-inch MacBook Air, a laptop that's $400 more expensive. That's despite coming with the same 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.

But one of the positive things with the 15.3-inch screen is that Lenovo didn't try to squeeze in a number pad. No, no. Just a standard keyboard layout with a centered touchpad and an adequate amount of room for your wrists. And yet, this also doesn't feel like an overly large laptop. The width and depth dimensions are nearly identical to the 15-inch MacBook Air, and it's only about 0.16 inches thicker. It's definitely a backpackable and travel-worthy device.

And here's where the remaining compromises are surprisingly few and far in-between. One of the first things I test with budget laptops is the touchpad. Cheap Windows laptops have notoriously awful touchpads, and it's one of the important parts of a laptop that can't be spelled out in the specs. I'm happy to report that the IdeaPad Slim 5x has a better tracking surface than most other laptops at this price. Performance is far better than on the HP OmniBook 3 or OmniBook 5. It's certainly more responsive than the Asus Vivobook 14. I'd say it's more or less on par with the Dell 14 Plus from last year, though that laptop has received a price increase in recent months. The sound of the click is my only real complaint about the IdeaPad Slim 5x's touchpad. It's too loud. I'll take a responsive surface over a quiet click any day, but if you work in an office with coworkers, they might get annoyed by it.

I was also surprised by how the speakers sounded. They didn't blow me away, but compared to the average set of speakers on an average Windows laptop at this price, they're impressive. Of course, even a 13-inch MacBook Air sounds undoubtedly fuller and bassie