A desktop-replacement that's also a tablet-replacement? That's what you get with a 15.6-inch convertible 2-in-1, a system designed to be used as a laptop almost all the time but able to fold its screen back to become a tablet - one too heavy and bulky to hold in your hands, but useful in your lap for occasional Netflix viewing or (if the manufacturer supplies a pen or stylus) sketching. Lenovo, which started the convertible craze with its first Yoga in 2012, now joins the plus-sized aisle with the IdeaPad Flex 5-1570 which offers a handsome design while undercutting most of its peers' prices.

Nice Sound, Sharp Screen
The 5-1570 has two speakers near its front corners that produce above-average sound. An MP3 of "The Time Warp" easily filled a room, with Richard O'Brien's famous vocals surging into the foreground. Dolby Audio software provides presets for music, movies, games, and speech, and a dynamic or auto-adjust setting.
The only things that limit the screen's viewing angles are reflections from its glossy surface. The side bezels are slim, though not as vanishingly thin as the XPS 15's; the top bezel is taller, to make room for a webcam that captures adequate images with good lighting but somewhat soft details.

The display offers good brightness and contrast as long as you stick to the top couple of backlight settings - the 50 percent brightness setting we use for our video-playback battery test, normally at least somewhat visible, looked pitch black. Otherwise, the screen's a winner, with fresh colors and crisp details at full HD resolution. The 4K option would be tempting for image and video editing, but arguably too fine for touch-screen and stylus input.