Technologies
Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook: A Roomy Display Backed by Processing Power
A rare 16-inch, 16:10 display with an Intel Core i3 CPU makes this Lenovo Chromebook a good fit for work and play at home.

Big-screen Chromebooks began to emerge last year. The 16-inch Acer Chromebook 516 GE was released last fall as one of the first gaming-focused Chromebooks. And before that, the 17.3-inch Acer Chromebook 317 from last spring still holds the crown as the world’s biggest Chromebook. It is certainly large, but the model we tested was based on a low-end Pentium processor and, thus, underpowered — especially when held up against a gaming Chromebook. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook slots in between these two extremes. It boasts a modern, 16-inch, 16:10 display powered by a modern, 12th-generation Core i3 chip but lacks the extra hardware found on a gaming Chromebook.
What prevents the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook from being included among this new breed of gaming Chromebook? For one, its display has the standard 60Hz refresh rate rather than a speedy 120Hz for smoother motion in games. For another, it lacks an anti-ghosting keyboard that can register every keystroke, even during the most furious action in a game. What you are left with, however, is a highly capable, roomy Chromebook for home use, whether you are working from home or just need an extra laptop for browsing the web and watching shows and movies. Just don’t stray too far from a wall outlet.
Like
- Roomy 16-inch 16:10 display
- Strong, Core i3 performance
- Solid build quality
- 1080p webcam
Don’t Like
- Short battery life
- No keyboard backlighting
Our IdeaPad 5i Chromebook test model costs $550 from Lenovo but is currently discounted to $420. It costs £550 in the UK and isn’t available in Australia, but the UK price converts to AU$1,020. That pricing puts it in the midrange of the Chromebook scale, and it offers excellent value with a 12th-gen Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of local storage. The roomy, 16-inch display features a crisp, 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution with 16:10 aspect ratio and is rated for a sufficient 300 nits of brightness. And above the display resides a sharp 1080p webcam with a physical privacy shutter.
The Core i3-1215U might be a bit underpowered in a workhorse Windows laptop and have you pining for a more powerful Core i7 or even a midrange Core i5 chip. But in this Chromebook, the i3 has plenty of muscle to run Google’s lightweight ChromeOS without a hitch. Apps open quickly, and I was able to multitask with more than a dozen tabs running in Chrome without experiencing any lag.
Its 3D graphics performance is lackluster as indicated by its poor 3DMark result, but it performed well on Google’s Octane 2 benchmark, which measures its ability to run a variety of web applications. It managed to last only 5 hours and 21 minutes on our online streaming battery drain test, however, which is a great deal shorter than competing Chromebooks and a bit shocking given that the system is based on an efficient U-series Intel Core processor.


Capacious Chromebook
Despite its large, 16-inch, 16:10 display, the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook remains quite portable, weighing a reasonable 4.2 pounds. That’s nearly a pound lighter than the 5-pound, 17.3-inch Acer Chromebook 317 but slightly heavier than the 3.8-pound, 16-inch Acer Chromebook 516 GE. It might be a bit too big to carry to class each day, and the below-average battery life also keeps it from being a top pick for campus life.
Like most mainstream Chromebooks, the IdeaPad 5i features a plastic enclosure. But this one looks and feels better than the typical plastic Chromebook. The dark gray color gives it an understated, classy look. Even better is the firm feel of the plastic chassis; there is very little flex in the keyboard deck and lid protecting the display.
The display features a fine, 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio that’s taller than a traditional 16:9 widescreen display. The added vertical space means you need to scroll less through long documents and web pages. The display really feels roomy and provides ample space for multitaskers to juggle open windows. The display is rated for a sufficient 300 nits of brightness, and my own measurements confirmed that rating. The display looked washed out under direct sunlight but provided enough brightness in every indoor scenario, including a sun-drenched breakfast nook.


The display features a standard 60Hz refresh rate, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play games on it. Browser-based games ran smoothly in Chrome and looked great on the big display. The speakers produce underwhelming, muddied audio, so keep your headphones or Bluetooth speaker nearby for playing games and watching shows and movies.
Along with the modern display and modern CPU comes a modern webcam in the form of a 1080p camera. It produces a clean, well-balanced image that’s night and day compared to the image you’re likely accustomed to from a 720p webcam. The webcam also has a physical privacy shutter, which lends peace of mind when the camera isn’t in use.
Asus squeezes in a number pad that Excel jockeys and other data-entry types might enjoy, but its inclusion doesn’t ruin the rest of the keyboard. The keys feel well-spaced and offer a soft and quiet but responsive feel. The keyboard lacks backlighting, making typing more difficult than need be in a dark room. We see some budget models with a lack of keyboard backlighting but expect to see this useful feature on a mainstream model.


The IdeaPad 5i Chromebook lacks an HDMI port, but it does supply a pair of USB-C ports for your external monitor, data and power connection needs. There are also two USB-A ports for connecting a mouse or older USB devices, and you also get a microSD card slot for easy local storage expansion if you fill up the 128GB eMMC flash storage.
With its roomy display, a powerful-for-a-Chromebook Core i3 processor and an attractive, well-built chassis, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is a great pick as a WFH Chromebook or an extra family entertainment device for your home. It’s inexpensive and provides snappy performance and ample screen space for multitaskers to get you through the busiest parts of the day and watching shows and movies at night. And the full-HD webcam will allow you to appear crisp and clear to your video conference mates, too. For students trekking to class each day, however, a smaller and more portable Chromebook with longer battery life such as the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 or Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook is a better choice.
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Google Octane 2
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Online streaming battery drain test
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
System Configurations
Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook | Google Chrome OS 110.0.5481.181/Android 11; 1.2GHz Intel Core i3-1215U; 8GB RAM; 128GB SSD |
---|---|
Acer Chromebook 714 | Google Chrome OS 103.0.5060.132/Android 11; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-1235U; 8GB RAM; 256GB SSD |
Acer Chromebook 514 | Google Chrome OS 99.0.4844.57/Android 9; 2.6GHz MediaTek Kompanio 828 Octa-Core MT8192T ARM Cortex-A76/A55 Multi-Processor; 8GB RAM; 64GB SSD |
Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 Flip | Google Chrome OS 110.0.54470/Android 11;2.4GHz Intel Core i5-1135G7;8GB RAM; 256GB SSD |
Acer Chromebook 516 GE | GoogleChrome OS 110.0.54470/Android 11; 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-1240P; 8GB RAM; 256GB SSD |
Technologies
The Future’s Here: Testing Out Gemini’s Live Camera Mode
Gemini Live’s new camera mode feels like the future when it works. I put it through a stress test with my offbeat collectibles.

«I just spotted your scissors on the table, right next to the green package of pistachios. Do you see them?»
Gemini Live’s chatty new camera feature was right. My scissors were exactly where it said they were, and all I did was pass my camera in front of them at some point during a 15-minute live session of me giving the AI chatbot a tour of my apartment. Google’s been rolling out the new camera mode to all Android phones using the Gemini app for free after a two-week exclusive to Pixel 9 (including the new Pixel 9A) and Galaxy S5 smartphones. So, what exactly is this camera mode and how does it work?
When you start a live session with Gemini, you now how have the option to enable a live camera view, where you can talk to the chatbot and ask it about anything the camera sees. Not only can it identify objects, but you can also ask questions about them — and it works pretty well for the most part. In addition, you can share your screen with Gemini so it can identify things you surface on your phone’s display.
When the new camera feature popped up on my phone, I didn’t hesitate to try it out. In one of my longer tests, I turned it on and started walking through my apartment, asking Gemini what it saw. It identified some fruit, ChapStick and a few other everyday items with no problem. I was wowed when it found my scissors.
That’s because I hadn’t mentioned the scissors at all. Gemini had silently identified them somewhere along the way and then recalled the location with precision. It felt so much like the future, I had to do further testing.
My experiment with Gemini Live’s camera feature was following the lead of the demo that Google did last summer when it first showed off these live video AI capabilities. Gemini reminded the person giving the demo where they’d left their glasses, and it seemed too good to be true. But as I discovered, it was very true indeed.
Gemini Live will recognize a whole lot more than household odds and ends. Google says it’ll help you navigate a crowded train station or figure out the filling of a pastry. It can give you deeper information about artwork, like where an object originated and whether it was a limited edition piece.
It’s more than just a souped-up Google Lens. You talk with it, and it talks to you. I didn’t need to speak to Gemini in any particular way — it was as casual as any conversation. Way better than talking with the old Google Assistant that the company is quickly phasing out.
Google also released a new YouTube video for the April 2025 Pixel Drop showcasing the feature, and there’s now a dedicated page on the Google Store for it.
To get started, you can go live with Gemini, enable the camera and start talking. That’s it.
Gemini Live follows on from Google’s Project Astra, first revealed last year as possibly the company’s biggest «we’re in the future» feature, an experimental next step for generative AI capabilities, beyond your simply typing or even speaking prompts into a chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It comes as AI companies continue to dramatically increase the skills of AI tools, from video generation to raw processing power. Similar to Gemini Live, there’s Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which the iPhone maker released in a beta form late last year.
My big takeaway is that a feature like Gemini Live has the potential to change how we interact with the world around us, melding our digital and physical worlds together just by holding your camera in front of almost anything.
I put Gemini Live to a real test
The first time I tried it, Gemini was shockingly accurate when I placed a very specific gaming collectible of a stuffed rabbit in my camera’s view. The second time, I showed it to a friend in an art gallery. It identified the tortoise on a cross (don’t ask me) and immediately identified and translated the kanji right next to the tortoise, giving both of us chills and leaving us more than a little creeped out. In a good way, I think.
I got to thinking about how I could stress-test the feature. I tried to screen-record it in action, but it consistently fell apart at that task. And what if I went off the beaten path with it? I’m a huge fan of the horror genre — movies, TV shows, video games — and have countless collectibles, trinkets and what have you. How well would it do with more obscure stuff — like my horror-themed collectibles?
First, let me say that Gemini can be both absolutely incredible and ridiculously frustrating in the same round of questions. I had roughly 11 objects that I was asking Gemini to identify, and it would sometimes get worse the longer the live session ran, so I had to limit sessions to only one or two objects. My guess is that Gemini attempted to use contextual information from previously identified objects to guess new objects put in front of it, which sort of makes sense, but ultimately, neither I nor it benefited from this.
Sometimes, Gemini was just on point, easily landing the correct answers with no fuss or confusion, but this tended to happen with more recent or popular objects. For example, I was surprised when it immediately guessed one of my test objects was not only from Destiny 2, but was a limited edition from a seasonal event from last year.
At other times, Gemini would be way off the mark, and I would need to give it more hints to get into the ballpark of the right answer. And sometimes, it seemed as though Gemini was taking context from my previous live sessions to come up with answers, identifying multiple objects as coming from Silent Hill when they were not. I have a display case dedicated to the game series, so I could see why it would want to dip into that territory quickly.
Gemini can get full-on bugged out at times. On more than one occasion, Gemini misidentified one of the items as a made-up character from the unreleased Silent Hill: f game, clearly merging pieces of different titles into something that never was. The other consistent bug I experienced was when Gemini would produce an incorrect answer, and I would correct it and hint closer at the answer — or straight up give it the answer, only to have it repeat the incorrect answer as if it was a new guess. When that happened, I would close the session and start a new one, which wasn’t always helpful.
One trick I found was that some conversations did better than others. If I scrolled through my Gemini conversation list, tapped an old chat that had gotten a specific item correct, and then went live again from that chat, it would be able to identify the items without issue. While that’s not necessarily surprising, it was interesting to see that some conversations worked better than others, even if you used the same language.
Google didn’t respond to my requests for more information on how Gemini Live works.
I wanted Gemini to successfully answer my sometimes highly specific questions, so I provided plenty of hints to get there. The nudges were often helpful, but not always. Below are a series of objects I tried to get Gemini to identify and provide information about.
Technologies
Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 26, #1407
Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,407 for April 26. Hint: Fans of a certain musical group will rock out with this puzzle.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Wordle puzzle isn’t too tough. The letters are fairly common, and fans of a certain rock band might get a kick out of the answer. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.
Today’s Wordle hints
Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.
Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats
Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.
Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels
There is one vowel in today’s Wordle answer.
Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter
Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter C.
Wordle hint No. 4: Rock out
Today’s Wordle answer is the name of a legendary English rock band.
Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning
Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a violent confrontation.
TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER
Today’s Wordle answer is CLASH.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer
Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 25, No. 1406 was KNOWN.
Recent Wordle answers
April 21, No. 1402: SPATE
April 22, No. 1403: ARTSY
April 23, No. 1404: OZONE.
April 24, No. 1405: GENIE
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.
Some solid starter words to try:
ADIEU
TRAIN
CLOSE
STARE
NOISE
Technologies
T-Mobile Adds New Top 5G Plans, T-Satellite and New 5-Year Price Locks
The new top unlimited plans, Experience More and Experience Beyond, shave some costs and add data and satellite options.

Just two years after expanding its lineup of cellular plans, T-Mobile this week announced two new plans that replace its Go5G Plus and Go5G Next offerings, refreshed its prepaid Metro line and wrapped them all in a promised five-year pricing guarantee.
To convert more subscribers, the carrier is also offering up to $800 to help customers pay off phone balances when switching from another carrier.
In a briefing with CNET, Jon Friar, president of T-Mobile’s consumer group, explained why the company is revamping and simplifying its array of mobile plans. «The pain point that’s out there over the last couple of years is rising costs all around consumers,» Friar said. «For us to be able to bring more value and even lower prices on [plans like] Experience More versus our former Go5G Plus is a huge win for consumers.»
The new plans went into effect April 23.
With these changes, CNET is already hard at work updating our picks for Best T-Mobile Plans, so check back soon for our recommendations.
More Experiences to define the T-Mobile experience
The top of the new T-Mobile postpaid lineup is two new plans: Experience More and Experience Beyond.
Experience More is the next generation of the Go5G Plus plan, which has unlimited 5G and 4G LTE access and unlimited Premium Data (download speeds up to 418Mbps and upload speeds up to 31Mbps). High-speed hotspot data is bumped up to 60GB from 50GB per month. The monthly price is now $5 lower per line than Go5G Plus.
The Experience More plan also gets free T-Satellite with Starlink service (the new name for T-Mobile’s satellite feature that uses Starlink’s constellation of satellites) through the end of 2025. Although T-Satellite is still officially in beta until July, customers can continue to get free access to the beta starting now. At the start of the new year, the service will cost $10 per month, a $5 drop from T-Mobile’s originally announced pricing. T-Satellite will be open to customers of other carriers for the same pricing beginning in July.
The new top-tier plan, Experience Beyond, also comes in $5 per line cheaper than its predecessor, Go5G Next. It has 250GB of high-speed hotspot data per month, up from 50GB, and more data when you’re traveling outside the US: 30GB in Canada and Mexico (versus 15GB) and 15GB in 215 countries (up from 5GB). T-Satellite service is included in the Experience Beyond plan.
However, one small change to the Experience plans affects that pricing: Taxes and fees, previously included in the Go5G Plus and Go5G Next prices, are now broken out separately. T-Mobile recently announced that one such fee, the Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee, would increase up to 50 cents per month.
According to T-Mobile, the Experience Beyond rates and features will be «rolling out soon» for customers currently on the Go5G Next plan.
The Essentials plan is staying in the lineup at the same cost of $60 per month for a single line, the same 50GB of Premium Data and unlimited 5G and 4G LTE data. High-speed hotspot data is an optional $10 add-on, as is T-Satellite access, for $15 (both per month).
Also still in the mix is the Essentials Saver plan, an affordable option that has ranked high in CNET’s Best Cellphone Plans recommendations.
Corresponding T-Mobile plans, such as those for military, first responders and people age 55 and older are also getting refreshed with the new lineup.
T-Mobile’s plan shakeup is being driven in part by the current economic climate. Explaining the rationale behind the price reductions and the streamlined number of plans, Mike Katz, president of marketing, innovation and experience at T-Mobile told CNET, «We’re in a weird time right now where prices everywhere are going up and they’ve happened over the last several years. We felt like there was an opportunity to compete with some simplicity, but more importantly, some peace of mind for customers.»
Existing customers who want to switch to one of the new plans can do so at the same rates offered to new customers. Or, if a current plan still works for them, they can continue without changes (although keep in mind that T-Mobile earlier this year increased prices for some legacy plans).
Five years of price stability
It’s nearly impossible to think about prices these days without warily eyeing how tariffs and US economic policy will affect what we pay for things. So it’s not surprising to see carriers implement some cost stability into their plans. For instance, Verizon recently locked prices for three years on their plans.
Now, T-Mobile is building a five-year price guarantee for its T-Mobile and Metro plans. That pricing applies to talk, text and data amounts — not necessarily taxes and other fees that can fluctuate.
Given the uncertain outlook, it seems counterintuitive to lock in a longer rate. When asked about this, Katz said, «We feel like our job is to solve pain points for customers and we feel like this helps with this exact sentiment. It shifts the risk from customers to us. We’ll take the risk so they don’t have to.»
The price hold applies to new customers signing up for the plans as well as current customers switching to one. T-Mobile is offering the same deals and pricing to new and existing subscribers. Also, the five-year deal applies to pricing; it’s not a five-year plan commitment.
More money and options to encourage switchers
The promise of a five-year price guarantee is also intended to lure people from other carriers, particularly AT&T and Verizon. As further incentive, T-Mobile is offering up to $800 per line (distributed via a virtual prepaid Mastercard) to help pay off other carriers’ device contracts. This is a limited-time offer. There are also options to trade in old devices, including locked phones, to get up to four new flagship phones.
Or, if getting out of a contract isn’t an issue, T-Mobile can offer $200 in credit (up to $800 for four lines) to bring an existing number to the network.
Four new Metro prepaid plans
On the prepaid side, T-Mobile is rolling out four new Metro plans, which are also covered by the new five-year price guarantee:
• Metro Starter costs $25 per line per month for a family of four and there is no need to bring an existing number. (The cost is $105 the first month.)
• Metro Starter Plus runs $40 per month for a new phone, unlimited talk, text and 5G data when bringing an existing number. For $65 per month, new customers can get two lines and two new Samsung A15 phones. No autopay is required.
• Metro Flex Unlimited is $30 per line per month with autopay for four lines ($125 the first month) with unlimited talk, text and 5G data.
• Metro Flex Unlimited Plus costs $60 per line per month, then $35 for lines two and three and then lowers the price of the fourth line to $10 per month as more family members are added. Adding a tablet or smartwatch to an existing line costs $5. And streaming video, such as from the included Amazon Prime membership, comes through at HD quality.
See more: If you’re looking for phone plans, you may also be looking for a new cell phone. Here are CNET’s picks.
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