Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 vs HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4:Better Is...........

 W.A.Khan,                                                                                                                                               Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14                                                                                                                           The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 is inexpensive for a fourth-gen Core i5 laptop, with a good keyboard and touch pad, and excellent battery life.The 14", 1366 x 768 TN panel with 10 points of multi-touch is decent for this price range. It has reasonably good colors, decent contrast and is responsive to touch. Viewing angles are good for a non-IPS panel, and we never had to fiddle with the display tilt to make things readable.The 128GB SSD is pre-partitioned into a C: drive and D: drive. The D: drive is about 25GB, and roughly 100GB C: drive only has about 45GB free when you take the system out of the box. This begs the question: Why bother with a data drive? While you can argue that the 25GB data drive is safe if you ever need to reinstall Windows 8, it's still a smallish data partition that could be replaced by a 32GB SD card.After continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi on 40 percent brightness, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 lasted 7 hours and 38 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test. That's more than enough to outlast the 6:28 thin-and-light average. The 300-degree hinge gives you a second kiosk mode, if you want.
But, Because the hinge doesn't go back a full 360 degrees, it's not as useful as tabletlike hybrids. The largely plastic body doesn't have that premium IdeaPad feel.
The bottom line: Lenovo tries something new with the semi-hybrid IdeaPad Flex 14. The fold-back hinge is of dubious practical use, as it doesn't fold all the way down into a tablet, but if you pick the right configuration, this is still a good, inexpensive Core i5 laptop, even without the gimmicks.                               Specifications
ProcessorIntel 4th gen Core i5 4200U / 1.6 GHz ( Dual-Core )
RAM installed size8 GB
Hard Drive128 GB
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type14 in
Max Resolution1366 x 768
Graphics ProcessorIntel HD 4400
Weight4.4 lbs                                                                                                                                              Price $999                                                                                                                                          VS                                                                                                                                                            HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4                                                                                                            The HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 has a nice array of ports, including a cleverly designed 10/100 Ethernet port that expands when you push the cable in but stays within Ultrabook height specs when closed.HP's Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is an attractive ultrabook with a respectable mix of components for its price, a responsive touch screen, and a backlit keyboard.
But, The Envy TouchSmart 4 isn't very configurable, so you can't make it too much more powerful than it already is. It's on the heavy side for an "ultrabook" (if you consider 4.5 pounds heavy). Its touch pad is jumpy at default settings.
The bottom line: The HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is a good gateway to the Windows 8 experience with a responsive touch screen in a traditional laptop body.                                                                           Specifications
Release date11/1/12
ProcessorIntel 3rd Gen Core i5
Memory4 GB
Hard Drive500 GB
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8
Display Type14 in
Max Resolution1366 X 768                                                                                                                         Price;$850.00