The first 5G laptop goes on sale in the US, but is it a good deal? (On sale!)

Update: June 18, 2020: The Lenovo Flex 5G is now on sale through Verizon. The full retail price is $1,399.99, or you can make monthly payments of $58.33 for 24 months. Check it out at the link below.

Lenovo introduced the Flex 5G (A.K.A the Yoga 5G) at CES this year. The Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered laptop is now going on sale in the US through Verizon. Lenovo has also partnered with international carriers like EE in the UK, Sunrise in Switzerland, and CMCC in china to provide 5G connectivity to the 2-in-1 laptop.

First to market as a 5G laptop, the Lenovo Flex 5G retains the familiar flexible, thin, and light form factor of Yoga notebooks of the past. It weighs just 1.3kgs and features narrow bezels surrounding its 14-inch FHD IPS touch display.

At its core, the Lenovo Flex 5G houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform which is a dedicated PC processor and not just a reworked smartphone chip. It’s clocked at 2.84GHz and gets eight Kryo 495 CPU cores.

This is paired with the Adreno 680 GPU, 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and up to 512GB UFS 3.0 storage.

The laptop can support both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G connectivity. However, in the US, it’ll work on Verizon’s Ultra Wideband network which is essentially another name for mmWave 5G.

Related: What to look for in your perfect 5G plan and network

Elsewhere, the Lenovo Flex gets a SIM card slot, 2 USB-C ports, and a headphone/mic port. You also get a handy button on the side of the laptop that lets you activate Airplane mode quickly, adding to its mobile phone-like appeal. There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the keyboard deck and a 720p camera above the display with a ThinkShutter privacy cover.

Lenovo Flex 5G: Price and availability

The Lenovo Flex 5G is now on sale through the My Verizon app and on Verizon’s website. You can buy it for $1,399 upfront or $58.33/month for 24 months through Verizon’s payment plan. That’s exactly the same price as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra for which you get a full-fledge laptop and a free one-year subscription for Microsoft 365 Personal.

In the laptop segment, the Flex 5G is almost the same price as the 13-inch Macbook Air, and a bit pricier than the new Dell XPS 15.

Verizon has announced a brand new 5G plan for those buying the Lenovo Flex 5G. It starts at $30/month for existing customers and $90/month for new subscribers. In this, you get unlimited access to Verizon’s 5G cellular network, 5G hotspots, and 4K streaming. When on Verizon 4G, you get 15GB of high-speed 4G data, 15GB of hotspot data, and unlimited HD-quality streaming at 720p.

In addition, Verizon will also be seeking add-on accessories for the Lenovo Flex on its platform. These include a $99.99 Lenovo USB-C 7-in-1 hub, a $50 compact sleeve, and more.