This was posted 1 year 8 months 8 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 (16" WQXGA IPS, 120Hz, AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, 16GB Ram, 512GB SSD) $1436 Delivered @ Lenovo NZ

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Hi guys, here is my another laptop recommendation/deal.

The previous LG UltraPC I bought was pretty good, but it does not charge via its 'full featured' usb-c port, and I don't want to carry the power adapter around (battery easily lasts one day mixed usage though).

This model is using the newest Ryzen 7x35HS(6nm) CPU that just released this month, unlike the 7x30U(7nm) you found in all new laptops on the market, 7x35HS has better onboard graphic card and increased default TDP and is using DDR5 ram (7x30U is ddr4). But sadly, it is still Zen3 not Zen4, Zen4 7x4x(4nm) still not on the market yet. Even not Zen4 it still kicks intel's a** on CPU and onboard graphic when at the same power consumption level.

Key Features that make it worth the price compare current NZ laptop market

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen5 7535HS($1436.00) or Ryzen7 7735HS($1666.00)
  • Ram: DDR5 6400MHz 16GB or 32GB(only available for 7735HS and not worth it unless your work need more ram)
  • SSD: PCIe Gen4 TLC 512GB or 1TB(Not worth it, just buy M2 SSD from other seller and replace it)
  • Display: 2560x1600 120Hz IPS 100% sRGB 350nits
  • Camera: with IR that supports Windows Hello
  • Keyboard: with backlit
  • Wifi: Remember select the wifi 6E which is a free upgrade(not sure why it is free consider they charge $460 to replace a 512gb ssd to 1tb)
  • Battery: 75Wh
  • Power Adapter: 100W USB-C

Cons:

  • Non-touch screen
  • Soldered ram, no empty slot
  • Single M2 slot(almost every 16" laptop has 2 slots)
  • 6-9 days to ship

Other notes
I purchased the 7735HS + Wifi6E + 2 years warrenty + 2 years battery replacement (might not useful for most people, but I had a HP laptop battery bloated and it is only $21 more) total $1773.24.

There is a "Sign up to receive 10% off* your first purchase" at bottom of website not sure if it works, I did not receive the code after half a hour but maybe someone is with better luck.

Lenovo also has a lot other models with newest CPU for sale at very good price: https://www.lenovo.com/nz/en/d/deals/laptops-2-in-1-sale/

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closed Comments

  • Too bad the screens not touch :(

  • +1

    May qualify for 3.5% cashback

    https://www.kiwiwallet.co.nz/lenovo

    I would also talk to live chat about the 10% off code as they may be able to generate one for you

    • 10% off offer only works on SKUs not discounted onsite, worthless

  • I got this for my wee'n for high school and the onboard graphics are a bag of shite. Wish I'd got him something with discrete gpu that was a tad bigger as it goes in a big backpack anyway.

    • They've always been shit compared to dgpu, but make sure the power settings are dialled up and driver's up to date. It'd probably be ideal for running something like GeforceNow or Xbox Cloud streaming if they're trying to play games though.

    • There won't be much magic in onboard GPU due to the size of its die. But the 660M/680M gpu in this model is more than enough for daily use(and maybe some non-AAA games).
      There will be new models with 4050 GPU soon which will be excellent in performance and battery life.

      Here is a R23 score for unreleased Zen4 compare to Apple and Intel at different power consumption level if anyone interested, it is in Chinese but all matters is the rows are for model and columns for wattage:
      https://imgur.com/a/WC1cx86

  • I noticed you can upgrade to the Wifi 6E card for free? Any reason not to?

    • +1

      I haven't received the laptop yet not sure what chip it is used. But I guess the Wifi6 might be the very common Intel AX200 and wifi6e might be AMD's RZ608(MediaTek MT7921K) that used on some new AMD motherboards.

      One reason not to select RZ608 is the driver does not include in windows setup files at the moment so if you re-install windows make sure you have the driver ready.

      • Thanks Hibino, great info to have!

        Damn, that makes it a tough choice, because I did notice people complaining about the MediaTek wifi chips in the past, think it's a safer bet to go with the intel? I noticed you went for the 6E - i presume it also showed as a "free" option for you as well?

        • +1

          Yes, it is a free upgrade and I actually wrote in the description of this deal.
          I found few newest Asus ROG and Gigabyte Aorus high-end motherboard switched to this MTK chip I think it might be safe here since even AMD rebranded this chip as AMD's own wifi 6e solution. It will be a PCIe card and can be replaced easily anyway.
          But still, I haven't got the laptop on hand so can not confirm which chip it shipped with yet.

        • +1

          Having a few motherboards with AMD's RZ608(MediaTek MT7921K) never had any issues,

          Best to get the Wifi 6E, if you're not happy with it can always take it out and sell it and grab this:

          Color: AX210 005 Version
          https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005004359247049.html?gateway…

          I've sold off Wifi 5 cards at the same price i got my 6e for, so incurred no loses except a bit of time

  • $1339 on student store.

    • Too late :-(

  • +1

    A quick update, I found the product spec ref and it seems this 2023 version ideapad pro 5 is different from previous years(there is a bump on front facing camera), and the spec says there are 2 M2 slots for SSD.
    Also there is nowhere mentioned low temperature soldering in the specs which caused lots failure for previous models.
    https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_Pro…

    Update:
    Yes there are two M.2 slots, one above the battery like old models and one besides the battery which is new:
    https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/ideapad_5_5…

    • Awesome, I just ordered! I got the same spec as you but didn't get the sealed battery replacement and got 3 years onsite/courier but managed to get them down to $1658 with the 7735HS processor

      • +1

        The 2nd M2 slot is 2242(half of normal 2280, most SSD are 2280) format, better than nothing but not good enough.
        In the maintenance manual above(2nd link), the wifi card has a part number "T99H245" and I googled it which is the RZ608.
        My order shows up a shipping date 26/04, I guess they are very serious about the '6 - 9 working days' estimate.

        • Just received mine today. It comes with the 2242 SSD preinstalled. Luckily, I had already purchased a Crucial P3 Plus 2280 and got that installed easily. Downloaded the Mediatek Wifi6e driver and all working OK. Laptop is decent.

          • +1

            @NovaAlpha: My one still on the way :-(

            Nice they used the 2242, much more choice of the 2nd SSD now

            • @Hibino: I got my one the day before, the packaging was a little lacklustre compared to when dell sent me an XPS but I guess Idea Pad's aren't their "top range" stuff.

              The Laptop itself is beautiful, very fast - great screen. Sound is a bit bass-less but that's to be expected, get a decent headset or bluetooth speaker will suffice. Battery life seems solid so far, getting around 7 hours on full although i'll be running the Lenovo Vantage battery conservation mode to keep max charge around 80% for battery longevity.

              • +1

                @denverthedinosaur: I Just got mine today. The packing does feel very cheap but the laptop itself is very solid. Much heavier than I thought consider it is almost same size as the LG one.

                The machine's manufacture date printed as 24/04/2023. The Wifi 6E card on my machine is a realtek 8852ce, not sure why it is different from others.
                Here is the wifi driver link if anyone want to reinstall the windows, the file contains both Mediatek & Realtek drivers:
                https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/nz/en/products/laptops-and-netb…

                • @Hibino: Mine shows the same MFG date actually, i've also got the same iteration of realtek card as you - is that a good thing? :D

                  • @denverthedinosaur: Not too sure, but haven't had any problem with the wifi card so far

                    • @Hibino: me neither. Btw do you have any recommendations on a powerbank that could charge this thing up?

                      • +1

                        @denverthedinosaur: I use the original 100W one and another 65W usb-c charger from a chromebook which also works fine. Windows will show a notice say the laptop can be charged faster but 65W dosen't seem to be slow to me. I think any 65W+ USB-C charger will work.

                        • @Hibino: 65W aint gonna cut it if you use a dock with monitors connected to it. At my work, the dock they provide is 65W and it isn't enough to power the laptop. It'll actually complain about a power surge on my laptop.

                          I ended up getting a 135W dock and that powered everything just fine. Other than that, I have a 245W GaN charger that charges multiple devices.

                          Also, unrelated but it's a good idea to go to the BIOS and set the memory for the integrated graphics to use 512MB instead of 2GB. I imagine this laptop is gonna be used by most people for just office work and so it doesn't make sense to allocate 2GB of memory as hardware reserved memory.

                          • @NovaAlpha: Thank you. I guess I am not pushing the laptop hard enough :-(

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