Lenovo i5 Gaming Chromebook review: A solid machine for cloud gaming

Andrew Romero | Dec 13 2022 - 12:07 pm PT

Chromebooks have certainly made their mark for those who need productivity on the go without all the prowess of an energy-sucking laptop. It seems though, that the tables have turned, and the era of gaming Chromebooks is here, starting with the impressive Lenovo i5 Gaming Chromebook.

The draw of a gaming Chromebook

Now, it’s no secret that the recipe for a good Chromebook is one that doesn’t rely on heavy-hitting specifications. In fact, most Chromebooks run so well and have such a good battery life because of the low-impact components within them.

And while most gaming relies on high-end graphics hardware, the subset that is cloud gaming defies that rule, making it incredibly easy to have a good gaming experience with hardware that doesn’t perform astonishingly well on its own.

With that, a gaming Chromebook is more than possible. Instead of relying on its own power, all a good Chromebook needs is a solid internet connection, a crisp high-resolution display, and comfortable peripherals. As long as those needs are met, a Chromebook can be a reliable gaming computer with just about any cloud gaming service.

Display

The Lenovo i5 Gaming Chromebook isn’t small by any means. Coming in at 16 inches, the i5 packs a gorgeous WQXGA 2460 x 1600 screen. Of course, the panel is built for clarity in every game you play. With that, it’s capable of up to 120Hz, allowing for up to 120 frames per second and lending to casual and competitive games alike.

In practice, the Lenovo Ideapad’s screen is just absolutely gorgeous. It’s an IPS panel, so there’s no glare to worry about. With that, games look fantastic in detail and quality when playing. Of course, that’ll greatly depend on the service you use with the Chromebook. For instance, if you use GeForce Now’s 3080 tier, you’ll get up to the native resolution at 120fps, which matches the capabilities perfectly.

Of course, streaming services like Amazon Luna and Xbox Cloud Gaming can only get up to 1080p, even with native apps. Eventually, those services are likely to up streaming quality, so even if you use them, the Chromebook wouldn’t be considered a bad investment.

One interesting thing I did notice was the picture quality when streaming dark content. Sometimes it can be difficult to see darker areas in-game, depending on what I’m playing. For instance, exploring caves in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order can be difficult, though messing with the game’s HDR settings does help. For most games, there’s an option to change brightness with ease, which will relieve that issue.

Hardware

Beyond the screen, the Lenovo Gaming Chromebook houses an Intel i5 processor paired with 8GB of RAM. Since the Chromebook doesn’t need to pack a huge punch in graphics, the Intel UHD Graphics system does its job perfectly and lets whatever cloud gaming service you subscribe to do all of the heavy lifting.

On the right side, there is a 3.2 USB-C port next to a USB-A cutout. That USB-C port can be used for charging or data transfer, much like the one on the other side, which is also a 3.2 USB-C port. Both are also DisplayPort 1.4. There is also another 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A port on the left, as well as a microSD card slot and headphone jack. Additionally, the Lenovo Ideapad i5 has a 1080p webcam with a privacy shutter built-in.

Of course, as far as the footprint goes, the Ideapad isn’t small, seeing as it has a 16-inch display. Even with that, the Chromebook is relatively light and thin, which makes it great for toting around for on-the-go sessions, so long as you have a solid connection.

Peripherals

While, more often than not, I’m playing games I can use a controller with, this Chromebook has one of the better keyboards I’ve used in a while. The keys have a 1.5mm travel, which is perfect for a laptop. There’s just enough travel to give good feedback while not tiring your fingers out. For gaming, the 100% antighosting comes into play often and really nails down the input time.

General typing is lovely and using the keys for most games is just the same. With that, the Lenovo 16″ Chromebook has RGB lights underneath. In Chrome OS, you can change the color of the keys between a few different colors, including letting it auto-generate based on your wallpaper.

The trackpad, however, is a different story. In truth, I don’t like it very much. The material it’s made of makes it hard to get a smooth movement out of the cursor. On top of that, the trackpad sometimes misses your input, making selecting items on the screen difficult to do. In order to click, you need to apply a little too much pressure. That extra pressure makes it difficult to click and drag as well.

Fortunately, I’m willing to let the trackpad slide a little bit for one reason. When using the Chromebook for its main purpose — gaming — I never use the trackpad. Rather, I connect a mouse, wired or not. In this case, as long as the keys on the keyboard work well and feel right, I take no issue.

Performance & battery life

To reiterate, the performance you’ll get out of the Lenovo Ideapad i5 Chromebook will greatly depend on your internet connection and the service you’re using. With GeForce Now or Amazon Luna, you’re looking at a high-end experience. It helps that those apps are preinstalled on the Ideapad out of the box.

When not gaming, the Chromebook doesn’t miss a beat. Just about any app you’d use on ChromeOS runs like a dream. In fact, I don’t recall the 5i stuttering at all during my entire testing period. Some apps are limited to 60Hz, though it’s not something I would consider an issue outside of playing heavier games.

To add to the overall performance of the Lenovo Ideapad, the battery life is absolutely tremendous, as expected from a Chromebook in general. Chrome OS has a built-in feature that allows you to see the estimated battery time remaining, and every time I glanced at that estimate in testing, I was truly shocked.

I could play a heavy game through GFN for around three hours before I hit 80% left. Beyond that, general use such as writing or sending emails does practically nothing to the battery. Of course, actual slightly intensive tasks will drain it, such as video calling or playing local games from the Google Play Store, though that wasn’t much of an issue for me.

In all, the Lenovo Ideapad i5 Gaming Chromebook really hits the nail on the head. The hardware is right where it needs to be — sans trackpad — and the display really makes whatever game you’re playing stand out. Of course, a gaming Chromebook is going to run you a little more money than a productivity-centric device. The Lenovo Ideapad Chromebook comes in at $599, which admittedly isn’t cheap. Even with that being the case, it’s still much less expensive given the quality of the gaming experience I got out of it in comparison to full-on gaming laptops.

So long as you know you’ll likely have to sign up for a cloud gaming service, the $599 price tag is a reasonable price point in our opinion. For a Chromebook, the Lenovo i5 Gaming Chromebook really knocks a lot of the competition out of the water.