Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Heck, dollar for dollar this is the GAMING rig to beat. Item of Note: There IS a 2.5” hard drive caddy/cable with this model. Also the 2nd M.2 slot does show up if you put a NVME in there (not sure about SATA m.2 as I didn’t have one to test). It is standard 80mm size, same as the main slot, and seems to have extra room above/below it so I believe something double sided would fit, as would something with a SMALL heatsink on top (like say the Adata Swordfish one). Screen: Most of the other gaming laptops in the $750-1100 range have dim ~250 nit screens with awful <50% color gamuts. This one, 300nit rated (~330 actual based on reviews) 144hz and 100% srgb. It is striking, you won’t find a screen like this in this price range elsewhere. Power: Then you have a 8c/16t 4800H processor, which netted just under 4700 on Cinebench R20 in Performance Mode. For reference, my desktop running a Ryzen 3700X 8c/16t scores between 4600 and 4800 depending on background software and performance settings. Memory: The ram is ideal, 3200mhz, 16gb, you don’t want any less because that’s the lower limit for gaming and productivity, and you don’t want any more because each 8gb is about 3watts of power consumption. Not sure if it supports 32gb, I can’t see 16gb being the limit but the Lenovo Support responders in Q&A here seem to think it is. Battery.: It would be nice if they had any prebuilt options with the 80wh version, but they don’t, and I took a star off for that. Most of us would gladly pay an extra $50+ for that option. And I don’t feel like waiting 5+ weeks (2 months? 3?) for a custom one just to get it. That being said, with proper settings this 60wh can be sufficient. *Quiet Mode (fn+q until power led turns blue) *Battery Save mode on (click on battery icon, slide all the way to left) *Hybrid Mode on (this is ESSENTIAL, it shuts off the dedicated graphics card when not needed) *In Advanced Power Settings, adjust all of the AMD, Wireless, etc settings to their most ‘battery saving’ option Doing all that I’m getting over 5 hours browsing the internet, longer if I have the internet open and am mostly working in excel or word (ie: normal school work/reports for office/etc). For instance, editting this review in the Amazon window, 4.1 hours remaining w/ 55% (7.5 hours total est). 7-8 hours watching Youtube @720p in Edge. Brightness at whatever battery saver drops it to when it’s on high to begin with. I intend on trying to swap in an 80wh when the parts are available. Build quality: The fit/finish and overall feel of the unit hits above its price point. The keyboard is exceptional for productivity, aside from the slightly cramped numpad. The touchpad is responsive. The rear I/O ports are great for desktop duty. But lets be real, Lenovo doesn’t exactly have a great reputation when it comes to customer service and turnaround times for repairs. None of the laptop manufacturers do though really, save Apple. My last Lenovo, a Y700, lasted over 5 years. I figure, get it, do some stress testing on the processor/GPU (Cinebench, Furmark), watch some movies and do some white/black backgrounds to check for dead pixels, and cross your fingers. To extend warranty through them is $50/100/175 for 1/2/3 extra years respectively, I personally am planning at least the $50 for an extra year. Heat: There is one drawback, this thing gets hot. I was expecting better thermals as I tested out a Legion 5 with the 4600H + 1650ti combo a while back. I would say this one runs ~5c average hotter across the board, and will spike to 95-100C+ if you’re doing something intense like Cinebench or Flight Sim 2020. In Flight Sim, average CPU temps over a 20 min flight were ~76c, CPU Die avg was ~85C. Temps are lower playing less demanding games, and even normally demanding games like AC Origins CPU avg was low 70’s, so not terrible. I spent some time looking into this, and apparently these hopped up gaming laptops hitting 90-100C is ‘okay’, even if I don’t really like or trust it. Also, the only option I know of that actually runs cooler than this with similar hardware is the Omen 15 AMD, so if temps are a priority may want to check that platform out. The Asus Tuf’s are as hot if not hotter, and the Dell G5 SE is a small portable sun. However, you do get something for this heat, the aforementioned Cinebench scores blow the competition out of the water, I still can’t believe it’s on par with my desktop processor. Final Thoughts: This thing runs warm, looks good (if you like the aesthetic), has a phenomenal spec sheet for the price, and has best in class screen for a non special-order low-mid budget prebuilt. Would recommend, with the one slight caveat regarding heat.