For the first time in a few years, the laptop market is saturated with competitive devices ranging from entry-level, student-oriented laptops, gaming laptops, and thin lightweight and convertibles for business professionals. The sudden wide variety of laptop choices is due to the increased demand for work-from-home devices and Intel’s newly released 10th-generation Ice Lake and Comet Lake CPUs geared for Laptops.
We’ve tried and tested several of them enough for us to identify crucial features that make a good work-from-home laptop. What’s surprising is that you don’t need to spend a lot for a laptop that checks these features. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i easily fits the criteria, and possibly your budget with some extra add-ons for a competitive price. That said, here are our top picks on what features define a good work-from-home laptop.
Pixel Perfect Display
As ironic as it is, the laptop’s display is often overlooked by consumers. There’s more to it than deciding if you should go for a 13-inch, 15.6-inch, or a 17-inch screen. Color Accuracy or Quality is just as important for creative professionals, students, and business executives alike. Generally, you should look for an IPS screen to get the most vivid and accurate colors possible. Getting an IPS laptop versus a gloomy TN display is a day and night difference much like having a work cubicle and having your own office.
Moreover, what’s a good color accurate (IPS) laptop if you can’t see properly in different lighting environments? Another crucial spec for displays is its brightness. Lower end laptops tend to have a dim 250 nit display which can even damage your eyes if you don’t have sufficient room lighting. It’s ideal to have at least 300 nits of brightness similar to the IdeaPad Slim 5i – the 50-nit difference can literally be day or night.
Fast Storage
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- Lenovo Slim 5i Review 006
While we could’ve listed performance, your budget actually dictates the level of performance that you will get from your laptop but it’s worth investing a little bit more with fast storage like the SSD found in the IdeaPad Slim 5i. A minute of lag, slow loading times, and random freezes will surely disrupt your work cycle especially if you’re in the momentum of productivity.
An SSD is basically a faster type of storage than a typical hard drive – the difference can be related to going to your 30th-floor office using the elevator (SSD) or the stairs(HDD). That said, the SSD on the IdeaPad Slim 5i ─ the Samsung PM991 ─ is one of the fastest SSDs for laptops with read and write speeds up to 2,000MB/s and 1,200MB/s, respectively. Additionally, the Slim 5i can be configured with a hard drive to ensure the perfect balance between speed and size.
Decent Camera
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- Lenovo Slim 5i Review 012
Like it or not zoom meetings are a norm. Not having a good camera can limit your impact or delivery during presentations. Another overlooked spec on laptops is the webcam frankly because almost all of them are not decent enough. The Slim 5i passed the thin line in terms of camera quality. The 1MP 720p HD camera might sound last 2010 but it’s actually decent especially if you have a well-lit environment. Moreover, it has a nifty feature called the Privacy Shutter which physically disables the camera for guaranteed security.
Battery Life
Getting work done before your laptop runs out of battery is a challenge. It becomes much of a hassle when you’re in a public area with no outlets available. Battery life isn’t often talked about because its longevity depends on the type of workload. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i’s 57Wh battery might not sound impressive considering the allowed max battery capacity of 99.9Wh but we were still able to get almost 10hours during our time with it.
It’s also not about the battery capacity per se, but on how the laptop manages it and the components that eat up the battery life. Intel’s 10th generation processors are well praised for their impressive power efficiency which allowed laptop manufacturers to make laptops slimmer as the CPUs require less power and therefore output lesser heat. Moreover, a handy feature to compensate for battery life is PD charging or Power Delivery support. PD charging support is considered as a novelty feature because of the specific charger requirements to make it work. But as it gets more popular, most USB-Type C laptops now support it.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard is what usually makes or breaks a good laptop experience. Those weird mushy keystrokes and inconsistent key feel would make you go back to your crappy, slow office desktop. Lenovo’s keyboards are a good benchmark of quality. Lenovo’s signature laptop keyboard taken from the famous ThinkPad line is easily one of the best laptop keyboards available. The IdeaPad Slim 5i uses a similar, yet optimized version of the Yoga C640 we reviewed.
Bonus – WARRANTY
What good are all these claims about a good laptop if the manufacturer isn’t confident about it? While most laptops, especially budget ones come with a 1-year store warranty, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Slim 5i has three years’ worth of Premium Care warranty. The word premium is attached because of the quality service of Lenovo technicians servicing your laptop at home or picking it up themselves – A much-appreciated service especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. With technology becoming even more crucial at this time, the Premium Care warranty is a luxury that eliminates worries when it comes to repairs and assures that the device maintains its top performance. It’s in line with Lenovo’s vision of providing smarter technology for all by arming customers for any future challenges.
Lenovo Summer Sale Wave 3 Promo
Now that you know what features to look for in a laptop, how about getting something extra by choosing a good laptop such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i? For either Php 49,995 for the Intel i5 model or Php 59,995 for the Intel i7, the IdeaPad Slim 5i is bundled with Php 20,475 worth of free items.
- Herschel Little America Backpack worth P6,490
- B210 Backpack worth P2,995
- Lenovo 65w Travel Adapter worth P3,995
- MS Office Home & Student Lifetime License worth P6,995
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/LenovoSummerSalePromo2020
Where to buy Work From Home Laptops
Grant is a Financial Management graduate from UST. His passion for gadgets and tech crossed him over in the industry where he could apply his knowledge as an enthusiast and in-depth analytic skills as a Finance Major. His passion allows him to earn at the same time help Gadget Pilipinas' readers in making smart, value-based decisions and purchases with his reviews and guides.
