[Device Reviews and Information] Jupit3r:
Performance

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With tablet/ultrabook convertibles, the balance of portability and performance is always a difficult task for PC manufacturers. We want them to be as fast and able to last a full working day without the power adapter, but we don’t want extra weight and thickness.

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The review unit that I received is powered by the 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1255U processor and 8GB of dual-channel LPDDR4x memory, but Lenovo also offers other configurations for consumers to choose. To better understand where the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i stands in terms of performance, I have run some benchmarking on it and compared the results to its competitors.

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On the Geekbench 5.4.1 performance test, the IdeaPad Duet 5i scored in 1,696 single core, 7,463 in multi core, and 18,220 in OpenCL. These numbers are significantly higher than the numbers put up by the top variant of the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, and the Dell Latitude 7320 2-in-1.

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In the Cinebench R23 CPU-crunching test, the IdeaPad Duet 5i had the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 beaten again, in both single core and multi-core.

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PCMark 10 simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks. The IdeaPad Duet 5i scored 4792 in the standard PCMark 10 test, indicating that it should do well in a variety of heavy productivity tasks.

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The SSD inside the IdeaPad Duet 5i has been upgraded to PCIe4.0x4 this year, and it is a standard M.2 2242 unit, which means you can replace it any time you want to. In the CrystalDiskMark performance test, the SSD puts up some respectable numbers.

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This slate comes with the Intel Iris Xe EU96 iGPU, which is a significant improvement over Intel UHD graphics and Iris Plus iGPUs from years prior, and could even outperform some entry-level discrete graphics cards. In the graphics-focused 3DMark test, the IdeaPad Duet 5i scored 1412 in Time Spy (Graphics score: 1268), 3658 in Fire Strike (Graphics Score: 4037), and 11574 in Sky Diver (Graphics score: 12027). These results are significantly better than the numbers snatched by last year’s YOGA Duet 7, which features less GPU execution units and single-channel memory. The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 did slightly better than the IdeaPad Duet 5i in all 3DMark subtests, even though it features an older CPU and the exact same iGPU.

Productivity Workflows

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Whether it was browsing the web, video chatting with friends or working with Microsoft Office apps, the IdeaPad Duet 5i never buckled during my testing — all programs ran smoothly. The built-in Windows 11 operating system is no doubt a contributing factor to the 2-on-1’s solid performance.

Even 4K video editing, which should be challenging for the ultra-portables, was surprisingly smooth on the IdeaPad Duet 5i. But adding complex layers to a long video footage will take a lot more time on the IdeaPad Duet 5i, than on my workstation PC, which features an Nvidia RTX2060 graphics card.

Video Playback

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One area where Intel-based ultrabooks generally do better than AMD-based ultrabooks is video playback. Thanks to the impeccable video codec support of the Intel Iris Xe Graphics iGPU, the IdeaPad Duet 5i could hardware-decode most video formats up to 8K. If you have a collection of high-res movies and shows, you are in for a treat. The tablet form factor and included kickstand simply make it more convenient for media consumption than any ordinary tablet or notebook PC.

Not only was the IdeaPad Duet 5i good at decoding local video, but it was also excellent in streaming videos online, even 8K@60ps YouTube videos could play smoothly in the Chrome browser.

Gaming

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Like all 2-in-1 convertibles, the IdeaPad Duet 5i is ideal for intensive gaming. But if you are willing to run less GPU demanding titles, or switch to lower resolution and quality settings, this slate can give you a smooth ride.

League of Legends averaged 103 fps at 1080P and medium quality settings on the IdeaPad Duet 5i, even in those intensive battle scenes, it remained smooth and perfectly responsive.

Running Genshin Impact at 1920 x 1080 and medium quality settings saw an average of 34 fps, not great, but still playable. I did notice frame drops in some of the more complex scenes, but there were no real delays. After switching the quality settings to the lowest, the frame rate stayed at 60fps.

Noise, heat dissipation and stability

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The cooling fan under the hood will spin up when the IdeaPad Duet 5i’s CPU is under heavy workloads, e.g., Windows Update, compiling, rendering, or gaming. The fan itself is quiet, with only the whooshing of air being pushed through the chassis being audible. It's not loud, and there is no whine, but you will hear it. Compared to most Ultrabooks, however, I'd classify the Duet 5i as very quiet. During regular light use like web browsing, email, etc., it's almost completely silent.

The back panel of the slate could get a little hot during gaming and other intensive duties, but never to a point that it became untouchable.

The IdeaPad Duet 5i only scored 80.6% in the 3DMark Fire Strike stress test, but the benchmark requires devices to score more than 97% to pass the test. The report indicated that the CPU frequency was constantly fluctuating from its base clock to the turbo clock during the test. But in real world use, I didn’t notice any big fluctuation, as the laptop stayed fairly responsive in all intensive tasks I threw at it.

Battery life

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One of the biggest drawbacks of 2-in-1 convertibles is the battery life, as they generally last shorter than average laptops. The IdeaPad Duet 5i boasts a 50Wh 4-cell battery, which is a significant upgrade from the 42Wh battery. In our standard battery test, we set the brightness of the screen to 50%, kept WiFi and notifications on, and played a 1080P video on loop, the IdeaPad Duet 5i lasted 10 hours and 7 minutes.

In normal day-to-day mixed use, this slate noirmally lasted 6-7 hours after a full charge. But CPU-intensive duties such as video editing, benchmarking and gaming could drain the battery rather quickly.

Fortunately, the 65W portable power adaptor charges the battery quicky, a full charge normally takes aound 2 hours, and you can get a decent amount of refill during a lunch break.

Price and availability

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i was just released in China, under the name of “Xiaoxin Duet 2022”. The Chinese variant, which features an Intel Core i5-1235U, 16GB memory and 512GB SSD, is priced at RMB5,999 ($890).

By the time I finished writing this article, this model hasn’t been publicly released in other regions, and prices are also not revealed. But we can assume the IdeaPad Duet 5i be a lot cheaper than the top variant of the Surface Pro 8, or the upcoming Surface Pro 9.

Verdict

Without nifty features like the 120Hz refresh rate, or Thunderbolt 4 ports, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5i clearly isn’t trying to be the best convertible in the world, and there are certainly areas where Lenovo could have done better. However, this product does get most of the essential things right. It has a chic and ultra-thin design, a gorgeous 2.5K IPS display, a powerful processor, a fast SSD, and a beautiful backlit keyboard that can even work when detached. If you are planning on getting the best bang-for-the-buck 2-in-1 convertible, this might just be your best bet.