UPDATE: to clear up any confusion please note that the Flex range is Lenovo's budget range which most of the comments on this thread inadvertently relate to. However this machine is a "Pro" machine which is known as the Lenovo Edge 15 in the States. The spec and build quality (aluminium chassis) is better (it's a mid range machine) and it also gets much better reviews than standard Flex machines.
I've been after a Flex 2 15 for a while, but reviews have been a bit mixed, so I set myself a budget of £400 for an i5-4210u/Nvidia 820m version (yes, very optimistic). Anyway, that hasn't materialised, but I've just found the Pro version (aluminium case, i5-5200u 2.2ghz (turbos to 2.7ghz), Nvidia 840m) for £499.99 delivered from PC World. I think that's a stonking price for the Pro version considering it's currently being sold by Lenovo direct for £699. Anyway, I bought mine from PC World's ebay outlet store because I had a 10% off Paypal code (so I paid £450), but £499 for this is brilliant.
PLEASE READ: You will find a lot of opinions on this thread about this laptop. However, it is worth noting that not a single one (as at 11:30am) is about this actual model which is an upgraded version so you might want to take that into consideration.
This machine is known as the Lenovo Edge 15 in the States and these are the reviews that are most relevant if you're trying to gauge the specs/quality of this particular machine.
Type 2 in 1
Operating system Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
SPECIFICATION
Processor - Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor
- Dual-core
- 2.2 GHz/ 3.7 GHz with TurboBoost
- 3 MB cache
Memory (RAM) 8 GB DDR3L (16 GB maximum installable RAM)
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GT 840M (2 GB DDR3)
Storage - 1 TB SSHD, 5400 rpm
SCREEN
Screen size 15.6"
Screen type IPS
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Touchscreen 10-point touchscreen
CONNECTIVTY
Wireless 802.11 b/g/n
Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
USB - USB 3.0 x 1
- USB 2.0 x 2
Video interface HDMI x 1
Audio interface 3.5 mm jack
MEDIA
Optical disc drive No
Memory card reader 2-in-1 memory card reader
SOUND
Sound Dolby Home Theater
Speakers Integrated stereo speakers
FEATURES
Camera Integrated 1.0 MP webcam
Microphone Yes
Mouse / trackpad Multitouch trackpad
Keyboard Backlit AccuType keyboard with numeric keypad
Security features Kensington security lock slot
Other features Voice control
POWER
Battery type 4-cell 45WH Lithium-ion polymer
Battery life Up to 8 hours
GENERAL
Colour Black
Box contents - Lenovo Flex 2 Pro 15.6" 2 in 1
- AC power adapter
- User manual
Dimensions 19.9 x 282 x 276 mm (H x W x D)
Weight 2.3 kg
Manufacturer’s guarantee 1 year
Software included - McAfee
- Lenovo Companion
- Lenovo Support
- Lenovo Veriface Pro
- Lenovo One-Key Recovery
- Amazon Kindle Metro
- Zinio Metro
- Evernote Metro
- Lenovo Camera Man
- Lenovo Photo Master
- Lenovo Phone Manager
- Lenovo SHAREit
- Lenovo Recommends
Update: Just got it a couple of hours ago, going through windows update.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Keyboard adequate but individual keys feel quite wobbly, as is normal with the 'chiclet' style. Nothing I can't get used to. Beats the utterly awful Toshiba laptops I've looked at recently but I prefer the HP way of doing things.
- Backlit keys present and correct.
- Metal case is marvellous. MUCH better than the budget Flex 2 Non-Pro which flexes altogether too much, including when you try to type on it. Slidy on my laptop tray though, so I'll be sticking some rubber feet on it.
- Specs as advertised. Not yet getting the good of the 8 gig SSD cache since I'm still on first boot waiting for updates.
- 2 partitions (visible anyway). One giant one, another 25 gig one for drivers and lenovo bundled crap. Means you can delete all their bundled rubbish and bring it back if you accidentally find you need something.
- Trackpad is on the left, in line with the spacebar. I'm not fond of this and every manufacturer seems to be doing it.
- Both sets of graphics hardware seem to be running at once. Looking into setting up a profile to disable Nvidia's discrete hardware to save battery. It might already be doing this.
- Windows 8.1. If I can downgrade to 7 and keep a little of the touchscreen functionality I will. Otherwise onward to 10! Or I'll use classic shell or one of the paid-for things stardock make.
- Still on software, there's a lot of rubbish waiting to pop up on you, including McAfee which waits ten minutes after boot to hock its wares at you. I dunno how they still have so much traction in the home and business world being that their former CEO spent the latter few years hopped up on bath salts and spouting crazy.
- Tent mode is a massive gimmick as far as I'm concerned, but if it gets me a stronger hinge (which it does) then have at it!
- I don't care for touchscreens, but it works fine.
- Numberpad! My previous laptop didn't have one. I missed it.
All in all it feels like value for money, which I didn't expect to be saying about a Lenovo product.
benjammin316
17 Jun 153#94
first 15min impressions, built well, amazing screen, backlit keyboard, whisper quiet, works really well when in "bent mode" or w/e it's called, super precise touch screen!
Just going to install steam, and the windows 10 preview so I can stream xbox one games to it
Alfresco
16 Jun 153#71
The flex is the lenovo budget range and the edge (flex pro in the uk) is their mid range laptop. So this might be a better machine and a better deal than what a lot of people think.
I don't think anyone's expecting to do any heavy gaming with a laptop like this but it is nice to have a laptop that can handle modern games at all, which this can, just not at 1080p
Latest comments (318)
Duke__Nukem
8 Mar 17#318
Thanks - you dont remember which driver do you?
buddn07
8 Mar 171#317
I had the same issue. I downloaded whocrashed, and it found a driver issue that I was having I believe.
Duke__Nukem
8 Mar 17#316
Hi Lenovo Flex owners. Been using this laptop happily on Windows 10 since the deal, but recently it freezes when Windows loads about 80% of the time. It then gives a screen saying DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION before resetting and trying again. Eventually it will boot into Windows and work fine.
I have googled around and tried the most common fix of updating the SSD driver, but hasnt helped.
Wondered if this was related to a windows update and a particular piece of hardware in this laptop. Anyone else having the same issue? TIA
drachers
18 Jan 17#315
Nice work guys. Other than being a bit annoyed that this laptop only has wireless N it has worked OK.
little_rock
18 Jan 17#314
found it going thru privacy douchebag settings!! raahh!
thx
buddn07
18 Jan 17#313
It's working fine on mine. Does it work with other apps, eg Google Duo or the Camera app? Do you have the latest drivers installed from the Lenovo website?
little_rock
17 Jan 17#312
Guys, has anyone got current skype working with their flex pro? my webcam wont work on it?
little_rock
1 Nov 15#311
thx @heathergreen!
heathergreen1
9 Oct 15#310
Hi Little Rock. To be honest, I think the battery conversation thingy is a bit of a gimmick (I don't think there's a lot of evidence to suggest that it significantly extends battery life) so I don't bother with it. I haven't actually bothered to measure sure it, but I get a fair few hours on a full charge - somewhere between 4 and 6. :wink:
little_rock
9 Oct 15#309
tell you somet else, I love this machine but the battery is dreadful on it - because it only sits at 60% for batt conservation when you go to use it you only have an hour or so usage off the mains. bah!
drachers
1 Sep 15#308
Additionally, the intel driver does that weird "adaptive brightness" dance aside from windows own adaptive brightness. Which is really annoyingly difficult to turn off. I ended up randomly deleting intel display driver files till it stopped doing it. Display driver control panel now broken though!
Worth the risk. Can't do photoshop / lightroom stuff if the brightness keeps changing while you're trying to edit photos.
little_rock
1 Sep 15#307
anyone figga how to get this damnscreen brighter? on max brightness it is just useable.
i read somewhere someone did a bios brightness adjustment oon another lenovo rig...
drachers
3 Aug 15#306
Having no problems in Firefox v39. BUT:
I noticed the entire operating system is all-over slower unless you go into "Users" and set yourself up as a local account instead of a Microsoft account. Makes bootup faster as well since it doesn't have to worry about checking network connection and phoning home to the mothership before showing you a login screen. Plus you can still add your hotmail/gmail/whatever addresses for notifications access, so won't affect much except Cortana voice search thingy.
little_rock
3 Aug 15#305
any W10 upgraders notice that w10 switched off or massively reduced the efficacy of the touch screen in browser usage?
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#304
If it helps anyone else, the activation is snowed under. Keep trying and eventually it will activate.
If you do a clean install post upgrading, do not enter a product key. Skip all the steps asking for a key and once you are in windows it is already activated.
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#303
Im now activated on a clean install.
Windows update seemed to take care of most of the lenovo drivers. Trackpad was playing up but the update sorted it.
In device manager the only exclamation mark I have is:
PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller.
Any ideas?
vzx3t1
29 Jul 15#302
Does anyone know how to disable/turn-off the on-screen keyboard on one of these Lenovo laptops? I am going round in circles and Lenovo support don't seem to be of any help!
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#301
I also made note of mine, however windows 10 NEEDS to be run as an update. Once done you can clean install.
I went back to 8.1 which triggered the download which is now installing. Once done ill clean install.
My machine failed the first time, but I'm currently "preparing for installation".
buddn07
29 Jul 15#298
As I understand it, you need to upgrade initially, and once that's complete you can make a recovery drive that enables you to perform a clean install straight to Windows 10.
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#297
Looks like im going back to windows 8 and trying to get 10 via the update process
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#296
Balls:
You upgraded to Windows 10 but didn't have a previous version or the correct edition of Windows installed (error 0xC004F061)
If you see error 0xC004F061 when you try to activate Windows 10, it means one of the following:
•You're using a product key to upgrade to Windows 10 but no previous version of Windows was installed on your PC. To update, you need to have Windows 8 or Windows 7 already on your PC.
If you formatted or replaced your hard drive, you won't be able to use a product key to update to Windows 10. You'll need to install your previous version of Windows, then reinstall Windows 10.
Duke__Nukem
29 Jul 15#295
Im now on windows 10!
Downloaded the ISO rather than waiting for windows update.
My product key hasnt carried over and windows 10 isnt accepting the one i jotted down. Is the key on a sticker somewhere?
Alfresco
17 Jul 15#294
Ahhh, I bet it's sooooooo nice and clean. I can't wait to clean install windows. Never done it with win8 though so putting it off for now until i get a good deal on an SSD. Feel free to keep updating the thread with all the steps and fixes :wink:
Duke__Nukem
17 Jul 15#293
I used a crucial bx100 250gb. Crucial list the flex pro on their website and show which drives are compatible. Updated the bios to latest firmware first. The ssd already had latest firmware on.
drachers
17 Jul 15#292
Cheers for the info!
I'll give it a whirl when I find one of the 500ish gig SSDs affordable enough.
Which Crucial drive did you get? Confirmed working drive controllers are a golden piece of info if the mainboard has been proven to complain at some models.
Duke__Nukem
17 Jul 15#291
Thanks for the quick reply. Good to see people still following this as so little other information out there.
Just used the microsoft tool which downloads and burns the iso to USB all for you. Very easy.
I found I had to update the trackpad driver and also have a couple of other exclamation marks in device manager which i am investigating now. Not too worried as just messing around until windows 10 released.
drachers
17 Jul 15#290
Very few. Even Transition, which you imagine would be 100% necessary for auto screen rotation, seems to be optional. Concrete info on the Lenovo apps is wildly variable, every page comes up with something that contradicts the last one.
Lenovo OKO might be useful, being that you can use it to toggle "conservation mode" if you spend a lot of time plugged in, making the battery last longer as years go by.
I figure I could do without even the function keys (volume, brightness) so when I do my SSD dance I'll be leaving that out too.
Where did you get the clean Windows 8.1 install from?
Duke__Nukem
17 Jul 15#289
Well I have gone ahead and replaced the HDD with a Crucial 250GB SSD. Also put a clean install of windows 8.1 on.
Seems to be working fine so far.
Are any of the Lenovo drivers/programs necessary or recommended?
Duke__Nukem
17 Jul 15#288
Is noone else putting an SSD in? Some people on Lenovo forums having compatibility problems with certain SSD brands, but this is on the non-pro version.
Duke__Nukem
13 Jul 15#287
Does anyone have a video or guide to getting the covers off and removing the HDD?
heathergreen1
10 Jul 15#286
I said that I although I was happy with the machine overall and could live with the screen "problem", it's still a fault and they should either replace it or offer me a discount. 10% kerching! :wink:
heathergreen1
10 Jul 15#285
Right, the driver appears to be broadcom 802.11n network adapter version 6.30.223.102 and you can download it here. It's the 5th option down the list. :smiley:
glenndog25
10 Jul 15#284
I know .. i am gutted! Hopefully they get more in! :disappointed:
evildrneil
10 Jul 15#283
O.O.S. :disappointed:
glenndog25
9 Jul 151#282
Heather what did you say to get the 10% off?lol
heathergreen1
9 Jul 151#281
Hmm, not at home at the moment, so can't look. I'll have a look in the morning and get back to you if no one else responds in the meantime. :wink:
heathergreen1
9 Jul 15#280
I had a tiny bit in one corner so I complained - that got me another 10% off... :wink:
glenndog25
9 Jul 15#279
Went to buy one after work today. Out of stock ...gutted
MikeT27
9 Jul 15#278
I've got slight backlight bleed that is noticeable at full brightness. Not perfect but not so bad as to ruin the screen. Alters when you put pressure on screen so perhaps it's a problem with the screen housing flexing and in a bad case distorting.
I am trying to get windows 7 pro installed on it so it auto upgrades to windows 10 pro as I use remote desktop extensively from WHS2011.
Alfresco
9 Jul 15#277
Hi little_rock. You should have the driver on your system as they should all be the same. Have you followed my instructions from comment 200 exactly?
little_rock
9 Jul 15#276
Hi HG, I searched but saw no microsoft driver? do you know the name of it please so i can search the intrawebz for it please?
glenndog25
9 Jul 15#275
see those that got one and had the backlight bleed... how bad was it? what should a look for? :smiley:
Mada06
8 Jul 151#274
I stand corrected, cheers!
buddn07
8 Jul 152#273
Rub your hands over the whole thing... make it all look greasy :wink:
The finger prints won't stand out then! :smile:
heathergreen1
8 Jul 151#272
Sadly not, the qualifying Flex machine has part number 59422749 which is a standard Flex machine. Now that would have been the icing on the cake! :wink:
wow loving this rig! but heavans to bets it shows me up as being a greasy fingered oik. any ideas how to keep damn thing clean, am washing hands every time before using like some sort of ocd behaviour!
danips
7 Jul 15#269
Hello, I just received mine this morning. Everything perfect so far, but has anyone been able to configure the WiFi in Linux/Ubuntu?
drachers
7 Jul 152#268
Update: It's breathtaking how little user feedback there is on this model besides this thread. The Edge 15 (US edition) doesn't have the same spec available as the Flex 2 Pro here, which is probably why these deals came up in the first place - people in the eurozone were unable to differentiate model types so just went for the cheaper similar-specced non-Pro with the terrible chassis. So Lenovo messed up marketing, and we get a decent spec lappy for £200 under the asking.
The only thing thing I miss from this device is the DVD drive from the non-Pro - that would allow for ripping that out and inserting an SSD in an HD caddy, retaining the 1TB SSHD.
Random additional note: Mass Effect 3 runs pretty well on this thing! But on first run it defaults to 800x600 and the mouse is offset and very hard to accurately select stuff. Try and navigate to the Display options via the Extras menu using the arrow keys to set it to 1080p. Runs around 30fps in more explodey and physics heavy firefights, 45-60fps elsewhere.
heathergreen1
6 Jul 151#267
Hi Vital. Alfresco kindly worked out a fix for the problem you're having as follows:
"Go to device manager and click "network adapters" right click on the "broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter" and click "properties" then check for driver updates but select "brows from my computer" then "let me pick form a list of device drivers from my computer". You'll then see there's a driver from broadcom (which seems to be the default) and one from Microsoft (which seems to fix the problem)."
VitalViper
6 Jul 15#266
Lovely laptop, received mine friday last week and it has been great (no backlight bleed or noisy fan, very quiet).
The only problem I have found is that the wireless seems to be patchy, connection is great most of the time but it seems to lag/drop every few minutes or so which is quite annoying when trying to watch a livestream or play a game.
Has anyone else experienced this? (sorry for not reading through all 14 pages :smirk:)
little_rock
5 Jul 15#265
for anyone worried about superfsh heres the link to the removal tool..
Really appreciate your help. Core temp is usually around 35 degrees. CPU usage very low most the time. Memory is about 27%
suckjinchoi
5 Jul 15#263
Got mine last Friday but had to return coz had a backlight bleed problems. Should I order a new one or go for dell one?
buddn07
5 Jul 151#262
Yup. I removed pretty much anything that wasn't Intel, Microsoft or Realtek. I've installed quite a bit since, but it's still running quietly.
dt_matthews
5 Jul 151#261
there isnt anything covering the fan vent is there?
what is task manager reporting for cpu load?
you can install CoreTemp (or similar utilities) to see what the thermals are up to, should let you see the source of the problem
little_rock
5 Jul 15#260
How do I know if it has superfish...
Duke__Nukem
5 Jul 15#259
Bit cooler today but can still hear the fan blasting away all the time :disappointed:
dt_matthews
4 Jul 15#258
Download an iso and put it on a USB pen.
Assuming you are using a uefi partition, format the pen drive as fat32 not ntfs.
James708
4 Jul 15#257
What's the best way to re-install windows on this? Just noticed mine came with SuperFish.
heathergreen1
4 Jul 15#256
I received the Windows 10 update icon automatically this morning. :smiley:
little_rock
3 Jul 15#255
Not yet removed anything from it yet. Might wait till W10 like others more wise than I
Alfresco
3 Jul 152#254
Any fan will create some noise, but the current weather we've been having will be a factor as to why you're noticing it. If ambient room temps are up to 30° it won't take much for the fans to kick in. Running programs in the background will only add to the load on the CPU so definitely getting rid of all the bloatware will help.
little_rock
3 Jul 15#253
anyone else finding onekey optimiser fails to update every time it tries to connect?
Duke__Nukem
3 Jul 15#252
Thanks. Did you remove all the bloatware?
jaydeeuk1
3 Jul 15#251
The i5 was OOS everywhere :wink:
I liked the look of the flex, and I reserved a replacement at Mansfield but I decided that battery life will probably be more important to me than GPU, most games I have will either play fine on the intel 5500 gpu, or will need something more powerful than the 840m so I'll just use steam streaming.
little_rock
3 Jul 151#250
Mine is as quiet as a sleeping ninja.
buddn07
3 Jul 15#249
Out of curiosity, what made you go for the i7 over the i5? There doesn't appear to be much of a difference benchmark wise. Can you tell the difference in real world use?
buddn07
3 Jul 15#248
Mine is ninja silent! I thought for a while it was a fan-less machine!
jaydeeuk1
3 Jul 15#247
If mine was just a whirr I could have lived with it, mine sounded like my hubsan quadcopter at 100% power!
Seems quite a common issue with these flex machines unfortunately.
Duke__Nukem
3 Jul 15#246
Could anyone else comment on their fan noise? I am aware of mine being on all the time - a gentle background whirr. Coming from using a silent ultrabook its really bugging me. Would like to know if it is normal or not.
jaydeeuk1
3 Jul 15#245
If PC world let me, I'll try the replacement in store, otherwise I'll just get the hp spectre x360. Only minus point on that is the 4gb ram which is non upgradable, so as someone who debugs databases and websites I may need to host my test databases elsewhere. The other alternative was the asus zenbook but I doubt the core m will have the power I need when running the more complex sql queries.
heathergreen1
2 Jul 15#244
Ah, commiserations, my friend. It should be whisper quiet! Hope you get sorted out quickly!
jaydeeuk1
2 Jul 15#243
Picked up mine this evening, went for the i7..... and its going straight back in the morning.
The fan making an incredibly loud high pitched whine. Im sat next to a hp dl320e 1u server and those of you will know how loud that is, well i can this over the top of it!
Reserved last one in mansfield so a bit of a trek. Issue is i bought a load of vouchers from morrisons so im stuck now buyimg something from pc world.
Serves me right trying to be clever. Knowing pc world its going to be a fight getting a replacement, so wish me luck.
VitalViper
2 Jul 15#242
Thank you, I figured it out eventually and although there aren't any direct reviews from what I can see from the American ones this looks pretty good!
heathergreen1
2 Jul 15#241
Cheers m'dear, but just wondering whether you meant to post this on the Dell laptop thread?
So, if you need 4k screen and more ram, get the Dell for £100 more.
If not, get the Lenovo - and that's if you're in the market for spending this sort of money for this spec of laptop.
Much as I love the banter and trolling and chat on this site, there is always the same pattern of someone posting a deal for something and some else immediately posting that you can get a lesser spec deal for less money (who'd have guessed?)
And then the inevitable rage from both sides.
I know people mean well and are just trying to save others wasting money on unnecessary specs etc. But the whole thing gets a bit tiring..
Having said that. If you can sift through the nonsense, there's a lot of great people and info here.
Cheers
buddn07
2 Jul 152#239
My Review:
Cracking laptop for the money. My 4 year old desktop is now sitting there in silence whist I work away on this machine!
drachers
2 Jul 15#238
Sticky subject, this. Whilst the laptop is basically the american model (Lenovo Edge 15), the specs as reviewed vary wildly due to Lenovo making a model just for sale at Best Buy.
PCMag AND Laptopmag had the same review model which didn't seem to have a discrete graphics card, just the on-chip intel graphics 4400. Slightly slower processor, no hybrid SSHD, less RAM, etc etc etc. The only real comparables are the nice chassis and the screen.
There is another one on sale in the US which has an i7 and the Nvidia 840M, which is a bit closer to our spec.
heathergreen1
2 Jul 151#237
You need to search for "Lenovo Edge 15". It doesn't get a lot of reviews here, but the same machine is on sale in the States and searching for "Lenovo Edge 15" will bring up a fair few. :wink:
VitalViper
2 Jul 15#236
I went ahead and bought this yesterday as my gf's laptop is slowly falling apart and dying a slow and painful death but... has anyone seen any reviews for this specific model? I can only find the non-pro version reviewed anywhere.
dt_matthews
2 Jul 15#235
Could be worth requesting a mod (if they aren't the same motherboard) , assuming they are both phoenix bios obv
Looks like it's for the vanilla Flex 15. If it shares a main board in common with the Pro it'll probably work, otherwise noooooope.
buddn07
1 Jul 15#232
There isn't a setting in the BIOS for it, that's the problem.
dt_matthews
1 Jul 15#231
NumLock will be set as per the BIOS setting once Windows 8(.1) has processed the login.
Alfresco
1 Jul 15#230
The num lock turning off is a Windows 8 thing. Our windows 8.1 work machines all boot with num lock on, so I know there is a fix within windows. Doesn't seem as simple as it should be though.
buddn07
1 Jul 15#229
That worked, thanks. Annoyingly, there isn't an option to boot with NUM Lock on!
FYI, I deleted Lenovo Transition and mine still rotates automatically when turning it into "Tent Mode".
little_rock
30 Jun 151#224
Holy crap this thing is beautiful! downloading the wifi driver now...
what other bloat should I be killing?
Alfresco to little_rock
30 Jun 15#228
The newer driver doesn't help. You need to enable the Microsoft driver as explained in post 200. You also want to delete or disable all lenovo products that aren't drivers that auto launch on start up but make sure you don't delete "lenovo transition" as that's for the auto screen rotation. There is also a pre boot protection option that you can turn off in the start up menu that greatly speeds up boot times if turned off.
Does anyone have any idea how to boot into the bios on this machine? It's really annoying me that Num Lock isn't on by default on boot.
disquatic to buddn07
30 Jun 15#226
Turn it off, stick a pin in the little hole on the left edge to the right of the sd card slot... menu comes up.
little_rock
30 Jun 15#225
guys do not have the windows 10 upgrade icon on my task bar - as per the how to upgrade page on microsoft...ny ideas howto force the issue?
thx
Duke__Nukem
30 Jun 151#223
Also received mine today. Very impressed so far.
Cant believe all the bloatware! I will be going straight to a clean install of windows 10 on a SSD. Does anyone have a guide to removing the case and hard drive? Assume this will invaidate warranty?
buddn07
30 Jun 151#218
Received my laptop today and I'm really pleased with it!
No screen bleed, and the thing absolutely flies!
The only downside side is the ridiculous amount of bloatware that comes with it! I've been in installing and restarting for the last 2 hours!
heathergreen1 to buddn07
30 Jun 15#219
Glad to hear it's a good 'un! Yeah, the bloat's annoying - haven't completely deleted all of it yet - thought I'd wait for the Windows 10 update first and do it all at once. My son downloaded a beta copy of it and it's must faster than 8.1.
heathergreen1 to buddn07
30 Jun 15#220
PS, don't think I could ever look at another screen that wasn't full HD again. :wink:
drachers to buddn07
30 Jun 15#221
Yeah, Windows 8.1 is bad enough, but at least you can neuter that with Classic Shell and removing the various gotchas with the edges and corners of the screen popping up useless additional menus.
The Lenovo bundle is really hard going, but I left a lot of it in just in case I accidentally kill the touchscreen driver or something. Once Windows 10 is out, I'm migrating to a new SSD with the cleanest OS install known to humanity. THE GOODNESS.
Additional software annoyance: Reviews complain about the speakers on this box. However, when I go into the Dolby application and take it off "voice" mode and turn up the compressor and other handy helpers everything sounds OK. Unfortunately the Dolby thing re-enables "voice" EQ randomly in the background, making everything sound poo again. I think the reviews are picking this up. The speakers are fine, it's the audio software that's messed up, even after updating.
drachers
30 Jun 15#217
Ah, it's a pity the touchpad is annoying you. I think it's just the way it's put together, another replacement might still be the same. Pop instore to your local and try a few others out.
If you need a notebook with a *really* well engineered casing, I would recommend either the aforementioned Macbook Air, the Dell XPS 13, or the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. Spoiler: They're really expensive.
droops
30 Jun 15#216
I have used Mac Book with clickable touchpad however when you just tap/double tap it does not make any noise whatsoever as it is fixed to body on the edges. Does anyone else have similar issue? I never use clicking on touchpad as tapping is much quicker however it is very annoying when it does make a noice any time i tap on it.
Thank you.
droops
29 Jun 15#214
Does anyone have problems with track pad while tapping rather than pressing on it? Mine sounds like it is loose. I have returned it and the second one has the same problem. Am I being really picky? Even if I am it is very irritating.
drachers to droops
30 Jun 151#215
When tapping gently, not pressing, mine makes a slight rattle, like it doesn't quite fit the slot it was designed for. Initially I thought, damn, this thing is a bit wrongly machined.
Further investigation revealed the following:
Turns out it's a clickpad too, like on the macbook air etc. If you press it down instead of lightly tapping it the whole pad clicks in for a left click event. If you press with two fingers you get a right cllick. On top of having dedicated left/right buttons as well, that's three ways you have to use it including "gentle" taps. So the loose feeling when you're using it more gently is because it has that ability to click the whole pad down in place like a macbook.
Lenovo would say it's a feature, not a bug. I'm inclined to agree even if I don't like touchpads at all anyway and tend to use wireless mice where possible. Hell, i don't even like touchscreens on laptops.
Edit: As I haven't used a laptop touchpad in a while I went back to my old laptop for a comparison. I like that the new Lenovo lets you use the area where the "mouse buttons" are for movement if you're not clicking. Also, I like that the edges of the touchpad area are really really clearly defined with a nice silver edge, as my old laptop had a SLIGHTLY different texture on the touchpad than the rest of the case and I would find myself going off the reservation.
Alfresco
29 Jun 151#213
It's a really well balanced machine and I doubt you'll find better at this price point for a while. I haven't used it enough to pass final judgement but it really is a nice piece of kit. If £500 is your budget I couldn't recommend anything else over this.
heathergreen1
29 Jun 15#212
I'm very happy with mine. Great build quality and excellent spec for the money. Had a few teething troubles with wifi but it was completely sorted out by changing the driver (thanks again Alfresco). Drachers and Alfresco have had some good results playing games on it so there's not much to dislike. I know that at least one person had a bit of backlight bleed and returned it but he was trying to get his hands on another one when we last heard from him. As far as I can tell the majority of them are fine. All in all, I have no problems recommending it. :wink:
drachers
29 Jun 15#211
Backlight bleed for some folks, but I didn't get that - however the screen isn't as bright as I would like. 1080p though!
I'd say YAY. It feels more like a full desktop replacement and not too many compromises. The hard drive is an SSHD with 8 gig cache, so boot times are miraculously fast, but in general use it goes like a "traditional" slow drive. Worth budgeting the £60 for at least a 256GB-ish SSD. Apparently the machine is really easy to pop open to replace stuff with.
glenndog25
29 Jun 15#210
So folks i see these are back in stock!... would yous say YAY or NAY??? :smiley: I mind seeing some comments about the screen lighting/burn and stuff
Alfresco
28 Jun 151#209
Yep, that seems to be the fix. The updated driver disn't help so still had to switch to the Microsoft one. Still doesn't have the best wifi range but at least it doesn't lose the connection all the time.
drachers
28 Jun 151#207
Update: MUCH earlier in the thread someone was making disparaging comments about the GPU. Rather than accept that at face value, I decided to report back. So here's what I tested so far:
Portal 2: Pretty smooth. Occasionally does that Source engine "sound echo" when trying to load new stuff. SSD will fix that. Runs happily at 1080p with most of the effects up. I tend to leave anti-aliasing off on low spec cards though.
League of Legends: Solid 60fps at all times. No issues. Load times slow due to no SSD (it's always had long load times anyway).
Assassin's Creed 2: Runs lovely. Most effects maxed. Yes, it's old, but it was mentioned by name as a thing that would punch this card in the nuts. It does not.
Batman: Arkham Asylum: Need to be careful with the physx effects, but otherwise runs fine. The built in benchmark is handy for testing different settings if you like. Still great after all these years. Still to try Batman: Arkham City.
Borderlands: 45 frames per second at medium settings, needs a bit of tweaking to your preference but runs acceptably at 1080p. Haven't tried Borderlands 2 yet, it has additional physics stuff that might put some strain on the chippery.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Highly optimised, smooth as glass at 1080p, no issues except at obnoxiously high settings (i.e. lots of AA). If this is your thing, buy the lappy with confidence.
You're not playing GTA 5 on this thing, though. I mean, I'll try it later for giggles, but it's really not going to cope. Just Cause 2 will play well, so that can bring your open world fix.
EDIT: Apparently people on Youtube have gotten it working well on the 840M. I MUST TRY THIS. Dunno how they're capturing it, I guess intel quicksync or something to play and capture using the intel and nvidia chipset at the same time.
Alfresco to drachers
28 Jun 151#208
It'll play GTA5 fine with settings turned down. It really isn't a very demanding game unless you turn all the details right up. If you set the resolution to 720p you'd even get away with some nice details, which you might as well do if when playing on a 15" screen.
heathergreen1
28 Jun 151#206
I've tried your fix which seems to have fixed the problem completely. Hasn't dropped since (several hours now). Cheers muchly!
Hoping it's a fix. WiFi isn't dropping out the same but still have patchy signal so going to look into it further. Don't want to have to return it but bad WiFi on a laptop makes it pretty useless.
heathergreen1
27 Jun 151#202
Not at home this evening, but it sounds like you're sorted anyway. :smiley: Thanks very much for the info though!
Picard123
27 Jun 15#199
I wonder if we'll see this in the UK and at what price?
From Newegg. Not touch screen, not 1080p and not IPS. Slightly newer GPU but the specs are the same as this without the decent build quality. Judging by the RRP of $659.99 it would probably be around £499-£599 in the UK.
Alfresco
27 Jun 152#200
Can you post a link to the driver you used? I cleaned nearly all bloatware including Macafee as well as making sure everything was up to date right out of the box. The wifi issue seems to be whenever the signal drops below full strength. I think i've found a fix today but it was difficult to find, so if you still have problems this has worked so far for me. Go to device manager and "network adapters" right click on the "broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter" and click "properties" then check for driver updates but select "brows from my computer" then "let me pick form a list of device drivers from my computer". You'll then see there's a driver from broadcom (which seems to be the default) and one from Microsoft (which seems to fix the problem).
little_rock
27 Jun 151#198
Oh great. Thought id got rid of the dropout curse after the hp pavilion.
bleaurgh.
In other news tho am looking forward to getting your Windows 10 for this machine. Seen a side by side comparison and 8 looks pants up against 10!
Anyone else having trouble with this laptops wifi connection?
heathergreen1 to Alfresco
27 Jun 151#197
Hi Alfresco, yes, I've been having trouble with the wifi dropping in and out, but I think I've fixed it. I got rid of MacAfee and updated the wifi drivers from Lenovo's website. So far, so good. :smiley:
Picard123
27 Jun 15#195
Just seen you can get a Dell from their Outlet Shop with a similar spec for £400. Only downer is that it's 17" and 1600x900.
Inspiron 17 - 5749
Inspiron 17 - 5749
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-5200U (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz) with 2 GB nVidia GeForce 840M
Windows® 8.1
8 GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory (1x8GB)
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
17.3 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)
Back Up Media Not Included
Windows® 8.1 (64 Bit) English
Dell Wireless-N 1705 + Bluetooth 4.0
LCD back cover for Non-Touch Screen-Silver
Battery: Primary 4-cell 40W/HR
Internal English Keyboard
little_rock
26 Jun 15#194
Oops I got delivery wonder how long it'll take! Better check
badumtish
26 Jun 151#193
Great news, just ordered mine too and should be ready for collection on Monday. Looking forward to getting it and having a play!
Mada06
26 Jun 151#192
Back in stock, just ordered one.
Thanks op!
little_rock
26 Jun 151#191
Roger that HG!
buddn07
26 Jun 151#187
Just as I'd given up hope and started shopping round for something else, this is back in stop.
I've just ordered mine, so sitting like an eager kid on Christmas eve waiting for delivery now!
heathergreen1 to buddn07
26 Jun 15#190
Great news! Let us know what you think of it when it arrives. :wink:
little_rock
26 Jun 151#189
Awesome! Just bagged an i5 for 499 plus quidco so minus £25!!
Looks like the non-pro. Key differences: It's got a DVD drive, the pro doesn't. Also, the Nvidia graphics are an 820M instead of an 840M (not really worth the effort, might as well just use the intel integrated graphics). Weirdly, it has one more USB port than the pro as well. The hard drive is not a hybrid SSD, just a normal 1TB which shouldn't be too much of a problem as the SSHD in the other one just helps boot times mostly.
It all comes down to the build quality though. Having had a look at the Flex 2 non-pro in the shop it was pretty flimsy and not something you would expect to last you three or more years as I hope this one does. Had I attempted to type this post on the non-pro I would already have thrown the thing across the room due to the terrible keyboard. Only Toshiba do worse keyboards.
drachers
23 Jun 151#182
I checked at 11 minutes past the lightning deal and they seemed to already have gone! Someone thinks they were good value anyway.
heathergreen1
23 Jun 15#181
Great spot and price but given how badly this thread was savaged by the standard Flex owners, I'm not sure I'd take the chance. That said, if it does turn out to be flawed at least it's easily sent back to Amazon.
Never tried to link a link before, dunno if it'll get filtered out. If this IS the more plasticky Flex 2 normal edition, £560 might still be worth it if you don't type much.
drachers
23 Jun 15#178
Heads up, an i7 version of this appears to be going on sale via Amazon lightning deals at 4pm today. Of note because the spec appears to be the 256GB SSD edition, 16GB RAM and 4GB edition of the 840M (pointless I know). 700 quid at the moment but should drop to 600 or less.
Doesn't identify as the "pro" chassis which is concerning. If it's a vanilla Flex even with the better spec I wouldn't risk it, everything folk said about the build quality on that thing is true.
little_rock to drachers
23 Jun 15#179
Awesome info! is there a link available yet per chance? would be great if amazon made it more competitive!
oddballjamie
22 Jun 15#177
Totally agree with the fingerprints.
drachers
22 Jun 151#176
OK, we're a few days on. Still consider the laptop a proper desktop replacement with a build quality and keyboard that beats the normal Flex 15 in every way. The included Nvidia 840M is about 1/5 of the speed of my main PC's 660Ti. The integrated intel graphics are about half that speed again. I'd say they could probably have sprung for something a little beefier to justify the space the discrete graphics take up in the case, as the intel graphics are fine for most stuff.
I think this thing's going to fly when I finally spring for a nice 512 gig SSD for it.
Not pleased with Lenovo's bundleware, but when I take the windows 10 update I'll chose the "nuke from orbit" option to ensure it's obliterated, then take my chances getting the right driver set for the touchscreen.
ALSO. The finish on the thing makes it a fingerprint magnet. Keep a lens cleaning cloth nearby.
But anyway. IT GOOD. BUY THING.
Ozziecane
22 Jun 151#173
I don think it's worth an extra 100 for the i7 when someone has said already that there isn't much difference in everyday use and for £600 there are more laptops to choose from which could be a better choice to get
oddballjamie to Ozziecane
22 Jun 15#175
My i7 worked out to £700 -£5 Quidco -£30 O2 Priority -57p a litre off fuel at Morrisons (Max is 100l but I'll probably get about 70l) so another -£40, I also got £5 cashback from Lloyds for spending £40+.
£20 more for an i7 and more ram for the graphics card in all. Bargain.
Alfresco
22 Jun 15#174
Received mine today. Can't comment on battery life just yet but it seems I've been fortunate to get one without any noticeable backlight bleed at all.
As for the i7, this i5 version is a really good deal as it's hard to find such a decent spec machine with good build quality (aluminium chassis, 1080p touch screen, back-lit keyboard, dedicated GPU etc) for sub £500. £100 more for a minor CPU upgrade is just taking into a price point where you expect many of those things anyway. Having said that, while the i7 doesn't seem like as great a deal, I think it's still a lot of laptop for £599.99, and you'd be hard pushed to find a better machine for the price.
little_rock
22 Jun 15#172
list of choices*
little_rock
22 Jun 15#171
Would love an i7 owner to speak up if they can?!
an etra 100 is a new ball game and a bunch more lappies come into the choices
buddn07
22 Jun 15#170
Can anyone who has bought this laptop comment on the battery life they're getting?
little_rock
22 Jun 15#165
is the i7 worth the extra £100?
JamieF101 to little_rock
22 Jun 15#166
I'm wondering the same thing myself. I don't understand how the original price of the i7 was cheaper than the original price of the i5?!
TL/DR: "But even so, the long story here is fairly simple: the Intel Core i7-5500U is not significantly faster in any way than the Core i5-5200U processor. And the difference between them is barely noticeable in daily use."
oddballjamie
19 Jun 15#160
Quick update.
The one I bought yesterday has terrible backlight bleed along the top.
Managed to reserve another just after midnight luckily and swapped it after work today.
They let me test the new one in store before exchanging, so ask to boot it before purchase as it seems to be a common fault. Otherwise the laptop is awesome!
Btw Picard have you seen the Cube gamers laptop on offer?
benjammin316 to oddballjamie
22 Jun 15#168
Ah interesting to see it wasn't just me
badumtish
22 Jun 15#167
I was very interested in buying the i5 only to be told by PC World that they didn't know if they'd be getting any further stock. Now I'm debating getting the i7 instead. Anybody got any further views/comments on the deal for the i7 machine?
I'm surprised nobody has posted a deal for the i7 specced machine as a separate deal yet!
oddballjamie
21 Jun 15#164
i7 in stock online now.
disquatic
20 Jun 15#163
Bad backlight bleed bottom left and upper middle right. Mine's going back - otherwise it's absolutely great value for money - the spec, the keyboard, build (other than backlight bleed of course). Shame that so many seem to have this fault - perhaps they just expect people to accept it.
buddn07
20 Jun 15#162
I checked at 00:02. No luck.
buddn07
19 Jun 151#158
Just phoned my local store to be told that they've got one in stock, then to be phoned back to be told that it had already been reserved.
Hopes dashed!
Guess I'll have to keep hitting the F5 button on the website! :smile:
oddballjamie to buddn07
19 Jun 15#161
Remove the store from your comment and check at midnight.
kwl147
19 Jun 151#159
Hot just for the effort the OP put in with the description.
heathergreen1
19 Jun 152#157
Lol. Yeah, I know what you mean. I can live with lightbleeds, but if I had to suffer a dead pixel I'd need sedating every time I looked at it. :wink:
benjammin316
19 Jun 151#156
I couldn't have lived with it, and it would have been the first thing I'd see when turning it on, like a dead pixel. Hopefully the money will be back in my account tomorrow and I can check online availability again!
heathergreen1
19 Jun 15#155
I completely understand that it would bother you - we all have stuff we can and can't live with - but if it had been me, I think I might have been tempted to contact them and squeeze a discount rather than return it. Almost every screen I own has some degree of light bleed.
glenndog25
19 Jun 15#151
Went in to buy it also - out of stock again nightmare! Hope they get them back in now ... benjamin... are you getting the same laptop again? just a new one because of the bleed?
heathergreen1 to glenndog25
19 Jun 15#152
I think they're in stock in store. Have you tried ringing up your local?
benjammin316 to glenndog25
19 Jun 15#154
I would have got the same one again, but there were none in stock, just online, so I shall have to wait for the refund to get back to me and then re purchase again. Shame, I wanted to mess about with the Xbox streaming this weekend. I'll have another look about see what else is on offer, as the screen bleed issue annoyed me.
glenndog25
19 Jun 151#153
I haven't yet heather no... i will try get a shout in today after work though fingers crossed they have them! :smiley: Thanks a lot
buddn07
19 Jun 15#150
Finally decided to bite the bullet this morning, and they're out of stock :disappointed:
I'll try my local store tomorrow, but I'm not holding out much hope.
markpomeroy
19 Jun 151#149
Mine is definitely arriving at my local store today. Phew!
Has anyone who has got it got any more review comments? Any more screen bleed problems found?
oddballjamie
19 Jun 15#148
100 litre limit, something for nothing though.
Picard123
18 Jun 151#147
57p off a litre of petrol? I'm turning up at Morrisons tomorrow with a fleet of tankers! :smile:
oddballjamie
18 Jun 152#146
Just picked up the i7 version instore. £5 Quidco, £30 O2 Priority and 57p off a litre of fuel at Morrisons. :smiley:
Not as cheap as the i5 but still good price.
markpomeroy
18 Jun 15#145
Well! Just received this from Currys Customer Services:
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your email dated 17th June 2015. I would have liked to have spoken to you on the phone, however, I was unable to locate a contact number for you.
I am sorry the Lenovo notebook went out of gone out of stock. Further stock has been requested from Lenovo, but there is not a confirmed intake date as of yet.
I would recommend checking our website each weekend for more of these machines. As soon as the stock arrives, our website will be updated to reflect this.
Thank you for taking the time to contact KNOWHOW™.
Kind regards,
David Jones
The KNOWHOW™ Team
However my order has not been officially cancelled, so my fingers are crossed!
disquatic
18 Jun 15#144
Awesome, glad you got one - now I don't have to feel guilty about getting the "last" one. :smiley:
MattMus6
18 Jun 151#143
Out of Stock - again - so wanted one but a little short on cash at the mo' sigh
Picard123
18 Jun 15#142
Thanks. I would love to say it's amazing in every way but there are pros and cons IMO, and I can only call it as a I see it!
I used to own one of the original IBM Thinkpad laptops and the keyboards on those were brilliant - the best I've ever used. I even bought one for my desktop. However, since Lenovo took over they've done away with them presumably to save on cost. The original ones had 'scissor' action mechanisms under the keys which made them great to type on, whereas the Lenovo Acutype ones just have a rubber dimple under them which seem to make them less accurate unless you're being very deliberate in pressing down on the key (and the rubber dimple) from above.
Fair enough. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.
Picard123
18 Jun 15#140
It was the Flex Pro / Edge, i7 version with metal lid selling for £599, which is presumably the same as the i5 version apart from the CPU.
Picard123
18 Jun 15#137
I went past PC World today so popped in to have a closer look at one of these out of curiosity....
Not for me I'm afraid for 2 main reasons:-
1. The keyboard is quite poor. It doesn't actually bounce in the middle but the typing action isn't very good and each key needs very definite key presses for the key to register. Touch typing was much slower as a result (I can normally hit ~ 80wpm on a good keyboard but on this I'd say it's more like 50-60wpm without errors). This seems to be the case with a lot of low/mid range Lenovos. Their 'AccuType' keyboards seem to be anything but accurate. I agree with the poster earlier in the thread who was critical of the keyboards on these. Trackpad was also poor.
2. The screen is 'okay' but no more than that. Colours were pretty dull and slightly washed out. They had this machine next to a Yoga 2 and the difference was like night and day. The colours on the Yoga 2 were bright and really 'popped' out from the screen, a bit like an AMOLED display, whereas the colours on this were much duller in comparison even with brightness on maximum. It wasn't terrible but I'd say the display quality was no more than average - better than TN but some way away from the best IPS screens. The screen is also very reflective - the shop lights caught in the screen made you want to constantly move your head to avoid the reflection. You'd have to use this in a room with no direct lighting shining on the screen.
3. Not really a deal breaker as such but the machine is quite heavy. Feels very weighty when you pick it up.
I do a lot of document work, so the keyboard would be a deal breaker for me. By way of comparison, I had a go on the Asus Transformer 11.6" convertible laptop and the keyboard / typing action was significantly better. If you don't do a lot of typing and are planning to use it as a desk based machine and with a bit of casual gaming, then it's a reasonable deal for what you get, but I don't think it's a stand out machine. For my money, I'd rather pay more for something like an Asus N550JK and/or less for an 11.6" machine if I needed portability.
heathergreen1 to Picard123
18 Jun 15#139
The keyboard is poor? I think you've been looking at the standard Flex. I type in excess of 100wpm (it's been my job for 25 years) and I can easily get up to those speeds on this keyboard. There is plenty of springback. I also do an enormous amount of document work.
The screen is gorgeous, but then perhaps you're used to very high quality, very expensive laptops?
The weight of it feels great to me, but then it's amazing how so many people will pick up exactly the same item and have a hundred different things to say about it.
By the way, I'm sitting in a room with direct lighting.
drachers
18 Jun 153#138
Update: Just got it a couple of hours ago, going through windows update.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Keyboard adequate but individual keys feel quite wobbly, as is normal with the 'chiclet' style. Nothing I can't get used to. Beats the utterly awful Toshiba laptops I've looked at recently but I prefer the HP way of doing things.
- Backlit keys present and correct.
- Metal case is marvellous. MUCH better than the budget Flex 2 Non-Pro which flexes altogether too much, including when you try to type on it. Slidy on my laptop tray though, so I'll be sticking some rubber feet on it.
- Specs as advertised. Not yet getting the good of the 8 gig SSD cache since I'm still on first boot waiting for updates.
- 2 partitions (visible anyway). One giant one, another 25 gig one for drivers and lenovo bundled crap. Means you can delete all their bundled rubbish and bring it back if you accidentally find you need something.
- Trackpad is on the left, in line with the spacebar. I'm not fond of this and every manufacturer seems to be doing it.
- Both sets of graphics hardware seem to be running at once. Looking into setting up a profile to disable Nvidia's discrete hardware to save battery. It might already be doing this.
- Windows 8.1. If I can downgrade to 7 and keep a little of the touchscreen functionality I will. Otherwise onward to 10! Or I'll use classic shell or one of the paid-for things stardock make.
- Still on software, there's a lot of rubbish waiting to pop up on you, including McAfee which waits ten minutes after boot to hock its wares at you. I dunno how they still have so much traction in the home and business world being that their former CEO spent the latter few years hopped up on bath salts and spouting crazy.
- Tent mode is a massive gimmick as far as I'm concerned, but if it gets me a stronger hinge (which it does) then have at it!
- I don't care for touchscreens, but it works fine.
- Numberpad! My previous laptop didn't have one. I missed it.
All in all it feels like value for money, which I didn't expect to be saying about a Lenovo product.
benjammin316
18 Jun 15#136
Well, unfortunately, after installing Windows 10, and restarting the laptop, I noticed some screen bleeding on the left hand side of the screen (on black pictures there is a light shining through) Hard to explain, but there were a few spots around the edge. I took it back today instore and got a refund as none were available in the area, so I will await a refund and grab another one.
Everyone have a quick check when you get yours, there's no reason any other units would be effected, but worth a look.
urgh, and it was a great machine too. Ah well, I shall await a refund!
heathergreen1
18 Jun 15#135
Anyone else received theirs yet?
heathergreen1
18 Jun 15#134
Nothing so far!
Ozziecane
18 Jun 15#133
Comment
That's great and I know, is there anything you don't like yet?
heathergreen1
18 Jun 15#132
It boots up very quickly and has downloaded and installed all the Windows updates really quickly. I think the hybrid drive makes quite a bit of difference to speed. It's obviously not going to be as fast as an SSD but it's quick enough!
heathergreen1
18 Jun 151#129
Well, mine arrived half an hour ago and first impressions are fantastic! Alfresco - the keyboard is absolutely lovely - I can't imagine why you wouldn't be pleased with it! The screen (quality and touch) is sensational! No problems with the touchpad either - seems to work perfectly well. Speakers are pretty good - plenty of volume. Chassis is aluminium and very sturdy. Nice looking machine too.
Ozziecane to heathergreen1
18 Jun 15#131
Comment
Is there any bad points yet? How's the performance, is it fast?
heathergreen1
18 Jun 15#130
This is an interesting review because it shows you just how easy it is to upgrade if you decided do so at some point in the future.
This machine ticks all the boxes. The only thing I'm unsure on, is the spacebar and trackpad being offset to the left vs dead center.
Alfresco to buddn07
18 Jun 15#128
It's central to the Keyboard so right under your thumbs while typing. They are offset because its a full sized keyboard with num pad to the right. If it was in the middle you would be resting your right hand on it while typing. All laptops with a number pad are the same.
jazzyb88
18 Jun 15#127
One last tip...With my Flex 2-14, I noticed the fan would always kick in around 35c...which is not really that high considering CPUs are rated a lot higher than that, as I imagine most components will be. So I downloaded a utility called Notebook Fan Control and created my own profile just for the Flex 2-14, using one of the other Lenovo ones.
I've adjusted it so the fan kicks in at 45c and 10% increases to the speed for every 5c above that. Now the notebook is virtually silent all the time, not that it was bad before, but always nice to have silence (especially when you go down the SSD route!) :smiley:
neal
18 Jun 15#126
One on Amazon warehouse Intel Core i7-4510U, 1 TB HDD, 8 GB RAM £521.99 on Prime, has scratches on base though.
Ozziecane
18 Jun 15#124
Yes it is a different level of performance with better CPU, GPU, has disc drive and like what you said but the Lenovo has some better features such as more space (1tb) better battery life, lighter, thinner, touch screen, 2 in 1 and etc. when it comes to noise level or heat than I'm not sure which is better but this is why I kinda feel like I could save money and get this laptop but not sure.
Yeah it's on ebuyer which has it for a decent price
Picard123
18 Jun 15#123
The Asus is on a whole different level of performance. Memory bandwidth and throughput is key for graphical performance. You're talking DDR5 v DDR3 and a 128bit memory bus v 64bit here.
I'd say the best thing to do is get a clean copy of Windows from Microsoft's site and load that instead. That way you can be sure there will be no Superfish but also no bloatware to be uninstalling. At the same time, make sure UEFI mode is enabled before installing as it will enable quicker boot times as well as a more secure boot environment.
markpomeroy
18 Jun 151#121
Thanks! Just ordered!
DSEyers
18 Jun 15#120
Any good for Minecraft hunger. Games? On oldier i7 pc there is lagging with graphics turned down with 152mb Internet and 16gb ram. Dell Inspiring 1747...
Mr Showbiz
18 Jun 151#119
Back in stock.
disquatic
17 Jun 151#118
Sorry! :disappointed: That sort of thing usually happens TO me, so I really do apologise that it was maybe me that bagged the last one.
Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#117
That's what I was thinking, thanks I will keep looking around just in case
Amongst other benefits, the CPU in the Asus has more cores and is quite a lot more powerful, but will use more power. Graphically the 860m is also a pretty big step up from the 840m.
If you just want a laptop for general use, occasional gaming and basic amateur video editing etc. this Lenovo is very decent. If you are using the laptop as your main PC for professional editing and regular gaming the Asus is really in a different league in terms of performance.
disquatic
17 Jun 151#113
Heat added, and ordered. Unfortunately no great Paypal deals so just 5.25% TCB and 1% AMEX for me! :wink:
markpomeroy to disquatic
17 Jun 15#114
Looks like you got the last one and I was just about to buy!
Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#112
I couldn't post a link but this is the specs... Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ Quad Core Processor
15.6" Full HD Screen
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
8GB DDR3 RAM
750GB 7200RPM HDD
DVD Rewriter
Dedicated GeForce GTX 860M 2GB Graphics
USB3 | Bluetooth | HDMI | DisplayPort
Integrated Bang & Olufsen Speakers
Backlit Keyboard
G551JM-DM197H
749.99
Yes it's a gaming laptop but is it worth the extra cash? I would use the laptop for pretty much everyone including general use, video editing work and some lightish gaming etc
Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#110
Would someone help me please I can't decide and would like some help and what would you pick? Either this laptop or the Asus g551 I know it cost more but I was thinking maybe I could save 250 as the Asus g551 is 750. I know the Asus has higher specs but is it worth extra 250?
Alfresco to Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#111
Have you got a link to the Asus? Also what are you going to be using the laptop for? Isn't the G551 a "gaming laptop"?
At a glance the Asus has a slightly better CPU but:
Doesn't have dedicated graphics.
Doesn't have Bluetooth.
Only has a 720p screen.
Has a smaller HDD.
Only a 2 cell Battery.
Is bigger, heavier and much thicker.
Is made of plastic.
blue22
17 Jun 152#107
Well, the Asus doesnt have a dedicated graphics card, no full hd, regular hdd versus hybrid sshd, no IPS screen so at least on paper the Lenovo is a far better laptop.
* Forgot to mention Lenovo has backlit keyboard and better battery.
Cheers for the feedback. Because i do a lot of typing and use a mechanical keyboard on my desktop, It was just the question mark on the quality of the keyboard that was concerning me. Ordered now :smiley:
This deal should have a lot more heat. I've seen far worse spec laptops get more heat for a similar price. Crazy of Lenovo to name the "Edge" the "Flex Pro" in the UK when the Flex is a budget machine. I think a lot of the early comments about the Flex will have put people off the machine. Might be worth updating the Title to include "Edge" as well as point out the confusion in the first line of the OP.
Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#104
Have you found any bad points yet?
heathergreen1
17 Jun 15#103
Not there there then! Nice. :smiley:
benjammin316
17 Jun 15#102
What's that? :laughing:
heathergreen1
17 Jun 15#101
Any sign of the Superfish?
Alfresco
17 Jun 151#100
i5, 8gb ram, 1080p ips touch screen, backlit keyboard, 1tb hdd and dedicated 840m gpu for under £500 is a very good deal. Decent build quality aluminum chassis makes it a great deal. Might be time to replace my current lappy.
glenndog25
17 Jun 15#98
Is it good then Benjamin? Did you order in store or online? Any d.c codes ?
benjammin316 to glenndog25
17 Jun 15#99
Just finishing installing windows 10, I ordered for delivery, yesterday, paid just under a fiver for delivery today. No discount codes unfortunately!
I'll be able to say more later after I've had a play on it, the windows 10 update takes a while
benjammin316
17 Jun 152#97
No, very sturdy, feels like the Base is aluminium that the keys sit on, no give at all
benjammin316
17 Jun 153#94
first 15min impressions, built well, amazing screen, backlit keyboard, whisper quiet, works really well when in "bent mode" or w/e it's called, super precise touch screen!
Just going to install steam, and the windows 10 preview so I can stream xbox one games to it
Alfresco to benjammin316
17 Jun 15#95
How does the keyboard feel to type on? Is there much flex in the middle?
heathergreen1 to benjammin316
17 Jun 15#96
You're saying all the right things so far! :smiley:
Ozziecane
17 Jun 15#93
Yeah I would like to know how this laptop is like as well tempted to get this laptop or pay more money to get the Asus g551
heathergreen1
17 Jun 15#92
Nothing like the anticipation of a new lappie! Looking forward to finding out what you think of it! :wink:
benjammin316
17 Jun 15#91
It's arrived :sunglasses:
2hrs until I can have a play :(:laughing:
Picard123
17 Jun 15#90
Nobody doing any serious video encoding or graphical rendering work would buy something like this. Have a look at the benches for Premier Pro CC and CS5 for example:
The performance of the desktop parts are on a whole different level. I'd be amazed if there was any dual core ULV mobile part in the top 1000.
If you really must do video editing work on a 15.6" laptop (and I'm not sure why you would over a significantly more powerful desktop with 24" screen etc), then something like this would be a better bet for £599 - at least you get a full fat, quad core i7 and 12gb ram.
It just appeared on my account. If you have it you can see the details just under the main blue box on the listing. It'll say something like "learn how to get this for x amount". I can't remember exactly what it says because I've used the promotional code so it's disappeared from my account. I think it'll show up if you scour through your account page. :smiley:
Just a waste of money going for that i7 since it's still a ULV processor and still only dual core and the whole machine is still being held back by the 840m.
psiron
17 Jun 151#85
I ordered the i7 15.6 version this on the Amazon lightening deal for £550.00. I also have the pentium version of the flex 2 14 which I fitted an evo ssd. Screen bleed in bad on them, keyboard is bouncy but that's not too bad. The battery however is shocking, 2 hours if your a heavy user. I sent the i7 back and kept the pentium as I only paid £200 from Amazon-warehouse. I will try to buy the flex 3 version as I think it will fix some issues. 1080 screens are nice, except for corner bleeds.
markpomeroy
17 Jun 151#84
Seriously tempted by this. I currently have a late 2011 version of the 13" Macbook Pro and am looking to upgrade.
Also, if you buy via Currys (http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-flex-2-pro-15-6-2-in-1-black-10106837-pdt.html) then Topcashback are currently offering 5.25% cashback, which is about £26.
buddn07
17 Jun 15#80
Could someone who owns the Pro model tell me if this has a backlit keyboard? Macs have had them since 2007, and this is a deal breaker for me. I don't understand why Windows machines are so slow on the uptake of it?!
heathergreen1 to buddn07
17 Jun 15#82
Can't tell you for sure until mine turns up but it is in the description so I'm expecting it to have one. :smiley:
andrisan10
17 Jun 151#81
got one too, thank you. I was after a yoga 360 that bends all the way but this will do.
longback2
17 Jun 15#79
can get the i7 version with 4gb GPU for £599, cheaper than amazon warehouse
heathergreen1
17 Jun 15#78
A bit of processor info if anyone's interested. :smiley: Performance is not far off the Haswell i7 apparently.
Mine will be here by 5 this evening, I'll report back :man:
jdolliver77
17 Jun 151#75
ordered with 10% PayPal voucher! cheers. great price at £450!
djdope to jdolliver77
17 Jun 15#76
Looks like you got the last one
jazzyb88
17 Jun 151#73
Having recently bought a Flex 2-14 off Amazon Warehouse Deals, personally, I couldn't be happier with it. I have the i3 version and find it quick enough for my needs - no gaming, but plays 1080p smoothly with no lag. As I bought it 'used', I had no problem opening it up to upgrade the RAM and put in an SSD. The machine flies - boots Win 8.1 in ~10 seconds!
For me the keyboard is fine and upgrading was quite easy too, but it will void the warranty.
damadgeruk to jazzyb88
17 Jun 15#74
Another happy flex 2-14 user here though I purchased the pentium 3558 for £246 from Amazon warehouse. Ssd installed already, also booting in 10 secs(Yes, cold boot). Keyboard and build fine for me, not as good as some of my more expensive hardware but nowhere near as expensive either.
drachers
17 Jun 151#72
OK. Purchased. Saw reviews of the properly-named Lenovo Edge 15 and saw they'd made it much less flimsy than the vanilla Flex 2. Still a question mark over the keyboard quality, so we'll see. PC World seem to be good about returns in any case.
I mostly use Steam In-Home Streaming for stuff at home (using powerline network etc), and it'll happily do that from a bigger desktop PC. In fact, I successfully did so on my older Intel B960/Graphics 2000 laptop albeit at 720p. It looks odd playing GTA 5 on a potato.
Arrives on Thursday for pickup instore.
Alfresco
16 Jun 153#71
The flex is the lenovo budget range and the edge (flex pro in the uk) is their mid range laptop. So this might be a better machine and a better deal than what a lot of people think.
I don't think anyone's expecting to do any heavy gaming with a laptop like this but it is nice to have a laptop that can handle modern games at all, which this can, just not at 1080p
Picard123
16 Jun 15#70
It's a nice machine at a reasonable price.
oddballjamie
16 Jun 151#68
Heather let us know how you get on with it. I've been after a decent 1080p laptop for using Adobe CC and Excel on the sofa and movies in bed, looks good for the cash.
I have no interest in playing games on it, that's what my PS4 is for.
heathergreen1 to oddballjamie
16 Jun 15#69
No worries. Will do. Mine's got a delivery date at some point before Friday. Hopefully it'll turn up a bit sooner, but I won't forget to let you know if it's a good 'un or not. :smiley:
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#67
BTW, thank you very much for saying it's "a nice machine at a reasonable price".
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#66
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Picard123
16 Jun 15#65
LOL. You've seriously got a sense of humour failure! :laughing:
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#64
Zzzzzzz ad infinitum.
Picard123
16 Jun 15#63
Yawn? Is that because you're playing Assassin's Creed on your 840m and waiting for the frame rates to catch up? :laughing:
mhhbizz
16 Jun 15#62
i have flex 2 14". keyboard is horrible. wish i could return them. but specwise and performance, they are ok.
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#61
Yawn...
Picard123
16 Jun 15#60
Like I said earlier, you must be talking about older or less demanding games. Skyrim would work, but why buy a 1080p panel to run it at 1366 x 768?
intranix
16 Jun 15#59
Had one of these... sent it back. Screen simply was not bright enough to use anywhere other than a darkened room. The combination of the glass front and low brightness made it unusable for me.
Picard123
16 Jun 15#58
But what you're saying doesn't jive. Look at the performance of these games with medium detail settings at x768
This is a 840m with a more powerful i7 than the one in this thread - it's the 840m that clearly bottlenecks the system.
An even more powerful i7:
eda123
16 Jun 15#40
Bought one of these late last year, paid £400 in total including cashback and quidco but really wish I hadn't. Good spec but build quality is really bad, had a 5 year old acer before and the build quality was vastly superior to this.
Lid wobbles, bits fall off, a screw fell off the other day, put it back and then found I had to tighten 6 other screws that were loose?
Just hoping it lasts a few years but would never buy one again - avoid even if you pay more for something else!!!
NowaSilversurfer to eda123
16 Jun 15#57
The build quality from all laptop vendors is getting worse; I currently have a 17" DELL Core2Duo Precision M90, a 17" i7 Samsung RF711 and the Lenovo i5 Flex2. They are progressively more flimsy as time goes on. Buyers want higher specs, less weight but with lower cost & without using materials such as carbon fibre or titanium they are going to continue to produce less durable products. I have had laptops from work (I worked for IBM) since they first were made & the build quality just isn't there now unless you pay up to £2k .
eda123
16 Jun 152#37
Forgot to mention keyboard, its awful - flexes and doesn't register all key strokes!
hugekebab to eda123
16 Jun 15#56
See, this guy has the same problem as me. Careful people. It's a real problem.
hugekebab
16 Jun 15#55
Model is lenovo flex2-14 20404. I don't think it's the pro, bu tI'm not sure why the keyboard wouldn't be different on the pro...from the picture I'mi looking at, the keyboard looks identical apart from that one looks to have a number pad also, but it was the 14 inch model.
Anyway, fair warning, the keyboard may or may not be ropey, just letting everyone know.
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#54
Take it somewhere else Picard123 because I'm not rising to the **** you talk like so many others do.
hugekebab
16 Jun 15#53
Oh, maybe I didn't post it in the end...I dunno. Anyway, the keyboard's ****!
Either that or you're using it to play old / less demanding games like WoW....
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#51
Trolling again my friend. If you read the thread properly you'd realise that's not what I'm saying at all.
Picard123
16 Jun 15#50
If you're talking about games released within the last 2 years at medium detail settings at native 1080p resolution, then I'm afraid that you're talking out of your ass.
5Rivers79
16 Jun 15#28
How will this fair for video editing? Thanks
heathergreen1 to 5Rivers79
16 Jun 15#49
It will do it but I think you'd fair better with a more powerful processor. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure, video editing is not my thing. Hopefully someone else can oblige?
Hard to find any reviews or even sellers for this model. Doesn't seem to exist anywhere but Currys and Lenovo's websites. Could only find these from REEVOO.
philomene
16 Jun 15#43
Anyone know how the hybrid drive in these performs? Having been completely won over by the added speed that SSD brings even to laptops with those lower powered mobile CPUs I think I'd rate speed over capacity in laptops generally... does the hybrid thing (and what size is it? 8GB?) bring much extra speed over a regular HD?
eda123
16 Jun 151#38
standard I think - pretty similiar specs but quality is just so bad and it'll bee built the same won't it?
heathergreen1 to eda123
16 Jun 15#42
No, I honestly don't think it will be, but I'll let you know when mine turns up. :smiley:
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#41
I get that but I'm happy playing at 720p which is why I think it's fine for most games at medium settings. If someone wants to play at 1080p then, sure, it's not going to be a fabulous experience. I think the value of it lies in the fact that it's a touchscreen, it's full HD, and perfectly capable of playing games fairly well if you're not expecting to max everything out. :smiley:
Alfresco
16 Jun 15#39
I have the same GPU in a DELL and he's right about the settings at 1080p. My DELL has a 720p screen and can play modern games at medium to high settings and gets mostly stable frame rates above 30fps, but if i try to play on a 1080p monitor/TV it takes a big hit. If you scroll down to the game benchmarks on the link you provided you can see that 1080p cripples the fps on most games. 840m does provide decent performance for casual gaming and this is a well balanced laptop that isn't really designed for it. Playing at 720p on a 15" monitor is fine anyway so best to turn the res down and details up.
eda123
16 Jun 151#35
Bought one of these late last year, paid £400 in total including cashback and quidco but really wish I hadn't. Good spec but build quality is really bad, had a 5 year old acer before and the build quality was vastly superior to this.
Lid wobbles, bits fall off, a screw fell off the other day, put it back and then found I had to tighten 6 other screws that were loose?
Just hoping it lasts a few years but would never buy one again - avoid even if you pay more for something else!!!
heathergreen1 to eda123
16 Jun 151#36
Are you talking about the Pro model or the standard one? Sigh...
MrPuddington
16 Jun 15#34
Why is everybody using the U CPUs into full sized laptops? They are typically underpowered for real work - not at all like the i5 CPUs for laptops.
vik1
16 Jun 15#33
Lenovo naming conventions confuse me!
Anyone know if this is the one with a digitiser pen? Or which one that is called nowadays?
hugekebab
16 Jun 151#30
Warning guys, don't buy this laptop, the keyboard is horrific. you will be typing and find letters don't register while you type. It basically makes the thing unusable. I posted a deal on it before cus i got one for my missus, but have to say, in retrospect it was not worth buying because of the keyboard issue.
heathergreen1 to hugekebab
16 Jun 15#31
Are you talking about the standard model or the Pro model?
Deedie to hugekebab
16 Jun 151#32
I cant see your previous deal posted in your deals list
heathergreen1
16 Jun 15#29
I disagree with you and maintain that most games are fine at medium settings. You have your opinion and I have mine.
This is a fantastic price for the spec. Best deal on a laptop I've seen in a long time.
jackvdbuk
16 Jun 15#24
does anyone know when the broadwell chips will start to be in laptops?
considering this and might have a play in PCW before i purchase
Picard123 to jackvdbuk
16 Jun 15#26
This is a Broadwell chip.
Picard123
16 Jun 15#25
Sure - for older games and less demanding ones released a few years ago.
You're not running Witcher 3 for example on this at medium in 1080p or even many games released this year and last year. Scroll down to "Game Benchmarks" in the link below - none of those are going to run fluidly at medium in 1080p. A 64bit memory bus, weaker shader performance and DDR3 are real performance killers for anything graphically demanding.
Medium settings are perfect attainable across a range of games. Agreed that it definitely isn't made for Crysis or BF4, but then you wouldn't expect to pay £499 for something that will play those games smoothly at high settings.
benjammin316
16 Jun 151#22
Like most console games
Picard123
16 Jun 15#21
Not current games. You're looking at low settings with this, or even dropping down to x768 in some demanding games. 840m is not a gaming GPU.
Poor spongey keyboard and trackpad according to the reviews but otherwise a nice machine at a reasonable price.
drachers
16 Jun 15#18
Firstly: I've been looking at laptops for weeks, and this one eats almost everything alive on specs alone.
However, there's some mentions of the hinge/keyboard being problematic, and the general build quality being subpar. Keep your packaging together when you purchase to make taking it back easier if you get a bad 'un. And baby it if you want to get a few years out of it.
I'm sorely tempted to get one, but worried about the dedicated graphics causing components to fail from overheating five minutes after the warranty expires, assuming Lenovo went cheap on the thermal management as well as everything else.
heathergreen1 to drachers
16 Jun 151#20
Remember that this is the Pro model which will be better build quality just because it's aluminium. I've seen a fair few reviews testifying to that assumption. :smiley:
NowaSilversurfer
16 Jun 15#19
I have a Flex 2 14 with i5 processor and Intel HD graphics. I cannot comment about its gaming performance but I can comment about the build quality & upgradability. It seems well made, the keyboard is bouncy in the centre but I have no problems using it. The screen quality is good, there is a bit of backlight bleed around the edges (noticeable with the black Lenovo boot screen. Ugrading is a problem as it will invalidate your warranty if you want to upgrade memory or the HDD. The Lenovo support website has a hardware maintenance manual which you can download which explains how to take it apart. Mine was assembled in Jan 2015 but it still had traces of the spyware despite what Lenovo claim. I created a bootable USB install of Windows 8.1 from Microsoft website & reformatted the HDD to remove all the Lenovo bloat & then installed a clean Win 8.1 image with drivers downloaded from Lenovo website.
littletime
16 Jun 15#17
It doesn't have that dodgy spyware on does it? I know they promised to mend their wicked ways but this might be older stock.
robcrazee
16 Jun 15#16
Does anyone own this and could tell me what the build quality / upgrade ability is like as the pictures show no access to drives / memory at bottom of laptop. Guessing is a ibm / lenovo under the keyboard job :smile:.
codeb1
16 Jun 15#15
Thanks for posting. I've been looking at an Asus TP550LA as I was looking at keeping the use of having optical drive but now wondering if I'm best just getting one without and buying a portable optical drive instead. any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
jmax1
16 Jun 15#14
Any reviews available for this laptop? I've seen a couple decent ones on Amazon albeit for the 4th gen Intel model
longback2
16 Jun 15#13
yes, the amazon one has an i7 and 4gb in the GPU, wondered if it would make a big difference
longback2
16 Jun 15#10
gaming wise would this give much of an advantage? I would love to play bf4 on the go as close to ps4 standard as possible, read a few forums, mixed opinions
benjammin316 to longback2
16 Jun 151#12
Like OP said to me, make sure you read reviews of the right one, as the ones I was looking at had a different graphics card in etc
Oh yes, apologies. I just punched it into google and was reading reviews. Looks like a nice bit of kit
benjammin316
16 Jun 151#2
Nice, few pence difference on Amazon too.
Looking for a device to stream Xbox games too, thanks for posting. I was waiting to see if any info on the new Surface Tablet would come to light, but nothing yet and I think maybe a fully fledged laptop may be better
heathergreen1 to benjammin316
16 Jun 151#3
Pretty sure that the Amazon version is the standard version (non aluminium, 4210u processor and 820m graphics). This is a much better deal. :smiley:
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
I've been after a Flex 2 15 for a while, but reviews have been a bit mixed, so I set myself a budget of £400 for an i5-4210u/Nvidia 820m version (yes, very optimistic). Anyway, that hasn't materialised, but I've just found the Pro version (aluminium case, i5-5200u 2.2ghz (turbos to 2.7ghz), Nvidia 840m) for £499.99 delivered from PC World. I think that's a stonking price for the Pro version considering it's currently being sold by Lenovo direct for £699. Anyway, I bought mine from PC World's ebay outlet store because I had a 10% off Paypal code (so I paid £450), but £499 for this is brilliant.
PLEASE READ: You will find a lot of opinions on this thread about this laptop. However, it is worth noting that not a single one (as at 11:30am) is about this actual model which is an upgraded version so you might want to take that into consideration.
This machine is known as the Lenovo Edge 15 in the States and these are the reviews that are most relevant if you're trying to gauge the specs/quality of this particular machine.
Type 2 in 1
Operating system Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
SPECIFICATION
Processor - Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor
- Dual-core
- 2.2 GHz/ 3.7 GHz with TurboBoost
- 3 MB cache
Memory (RAM) 8 GB DDR3L (16 GB maximum installable RAM)
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GT 840M (2 GB DDR3)
Storage - 1 TB SSHD, 5400 rpm
SCREEN
Screen size 15.6"
Screen type IPS
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Touchscreen 10-point touchscreen
CONNECTIVTY
Wireless 802.11 b/g/n
Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
USB - USB 3.0 x 1
- USB 2.0 x 2
Video interface HDMI x 1
Audio interface 3.5 mm jack
MEDIA
Optical disc drive No
Memory card reader 2-in-1 memory card reader
SOUND
Sound Dolby Home Theater
Speakers Integrated stereo speakers
FEATURES
Camera Integrated 1.0 MP webcam
Microphone Yes
Mouse / trackpad Multitouch trackpad
Keyboard Backlit AccuType keyboard with numeric keypad
Security features Kensington security lock slot
Other features Voice control
POWER
Battery type 4-cell 45WH Lithium-ion polymer
Battery life Up to 8 hours
GENERAL
Colour Black
Box contents - Lenovo Flex 2 Pro 15.6" 2 in 1
- AC power adapter
- User manual
Dimensions 19.9 x 282 x 276 mm (H x W x D)
Weight 2.3 kg
Manufacturer’s guarantee 1 year
Software included - McAfee
- Lenovo Companion
- Lenovo Support
- Lenovo Veriface Pro
- Lenovo One-Key Recovery
- Amazon Kindle Metro
- Zinio Metro
- Evernote Metro
- Lenovo Camera Man
- Lenovo Photo Master
- Lenovo Phone Manager
- Lenovo SHAREit
- Lenovo Recommends
Top comments
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Keyboard adequate but individual keys feel quite wobbly, as is normal with the 'chiclet' style. Nothing I can't get used to. Beats the utterly awful Toshiba laptops I've looked at recently but I prefer the HP way of doing things.
- Backlit keys present and correct.
- Metal case is marvellous. MUCH better than the budget Flex 2 Non-Pro which flexes altogether too much, including when you try to type on it. Slidy on my laptop tray though, so I'll be sticking some rubber feet on it.
- Specs as advertised. Not yet getting the good of the 8 gig SSD cache since I'm still on first boot waiting for updates.
- 2 partitions (visible anyway). One giant one, another 25 gig one for drivers and lenovo bundled crap. Means you can delete all their bundled rubbish and bring it back if you accidentally find you need something.
- Trackpad is on the left, in line with the spacebar. I'm not fond of this and every manufacturer seems to be doing it.
- Both sets of graphics hardware seem to be running at once. Looking into setting up a profile to disable Nvidia's discrete hardware to save battery. It might already be doing this.
- Windows 8.1. If I can downgrade to 7 and keep a little of the touchscreen functionality I will. Otherwise onward to 10! Or I'll use classic shell or one of the paid-for things stardock make.
- Still on software, there's a lot of rubbish waiting to pop up on you, including McAfee which waits ten minutes after boot to hock its wares at you. I dunno how they still have so much traction in the home and business world being that their former CEO spent the latter few years hopped up on bath salts and spouting crazy.
- Tent mode is a massive gimmick as far as I'm concerned, but if it gets me a stronger hinge (which it does) then have at it!
- I don't care for touchscreens, but it works fine.
- Numberpad! My previous laptop didn't have one. I missed it.
All in all it feels like value for money, which I didn't expect to be saying about a Lenovo product.
Just going to install steam, and the windows 10 preview so I can stream xbox one games to it
I don't think anyone's expecting to do any heavy gaming with a laptop like this but it is nice to have a laptop that can handle modern games at all, which this can, just not at 1080p
Latest comments (318)
I have googled around and tried the most common fix of updating the SSD driver, but hasnt helped.
Wondered if this was related to a windows update and a particular piece of hardware in this laptop. Anyone else having the same issue? TIA
thx
Worth the risk. Can't do photoshop / lightroom stuff if the brightness keeps changing while you're trying to edit photos.
i read somewhere someone did a bios brightness adjustment oon another lenovo rig...
I noticed the entire operating system is all-over slower unless you go into "Users" and set yourself up as a local account instead of a Microsoft account. Makes bootup faster as well since it doesn't have to worry about checking network connection and phoning home to the mothership before showing you a login screen. Plus you can still add your hotmail/gmail/whatever addresses for notifications access, so won't affect much except Cortana voice search thingy.
If you do a clean install post upgrading, do not enter a product key. Skip all the steps asking for a key and once you are in windows it is already activated.
Windows update seemed to take care of most of the lenovo drivers. Trackpad was playing up but the update sorted it.
In device manager the only exclamation mark I have is:
PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller.
Any ideas?
I went back to 8.1 which triggered the download which is now installing. Once done ill clean install.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
I took a note of mine just in case of future silliness.
http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/28/how-to-force-windows-to-start-downloading-the-windows-10-update-files/
My machine failed the first time, but I'm currently "preparing for installation".
You upgraded to Windows 10 but didn't have a previous version or the correct edition of Windows installed (error 0xC004F061)
If you see error 0xC004F061 when you try to activate Windows 10, it means one of the following:
•You're using a product key to upgrade to Windows 10 but no previous version of Windows was installed on your PC. To update, you need to have Windows 8 or Windows 7 already on your PC.
If you formatted or replaced your hard drive, you won't be able to use a product key to update to Windows 10. You'll need to install your previous version of Windows, then reinstall Windows 10.
Downloaded the ISO rather than waiting for windows update.
My product key hasnt carried over and windows 10 isnt accepting the one i jotted down. Is the key on a sticker somewhere?
I'll give it a whirl when I find one of the 500ish gig SSDs affordable enough.
Which Crucial drive did you get? Confirmed working drive controllers are a golden piece of info if the mainboard has been proven to complain at some models.
Just used the microsoft tool which downloads and burns the iso to USB all for you. Very easy.
I found I had to update the trackpad driver and also have a couple of other exclamation marks in device manager which i am investigating now. Not too worried as just messing around until windows 10 released.
Lenovo OKO might be useful, being that you can use it to toggle "conservation mode" if you spend a lot of time plugged in, making the battery last longer as years go by.
I figure I could do without even the function keys (volume, brightness) so when I do my SSD dance I'll be leaving that out too.
Where did you get the clean Windows 8.1 install from?
Seems to be working fine so far.
Are any of the Lenovo drivers/programs necessary or recommended?
I am trying to get windows 7 pro installed on it so it auto upgrades to windows 10 pro as I use remote desktop extensively from WHS2011.
The finger prints won't stand out then! :smile:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/get-up-100-100-cashback-when-purchasing-a-qualifying-lenovo-laptop-2241249
The only thing thing I miss from this device is the DVD drive from the non-Pro - that would allow for ripping that out and inserting an SSD in an HD caddy, retaining the 1TB SSHD.
Random additional note: Mass Effect 3 runs pretty well on this thing! But on first run it defaults to 800x600 and the mouse is offset and very hard to accurately select stuff. Try and navigate to the Display options via the Extras menu using the arrow keys to set it to 1080p. Runs around 30fps in more explodey and physics heavy firefights, 45-60fps elsewhere.
"Go to device manager and click "network adapters" right click on the "broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter" and click "properties" then check for driver updates but select "brows from my computer" then "let me pick form a list of device drivers from my computer". You'll then see there's a driver from broadcom (which seems to be the default) and one from Microsoft (which seems to fix the problem)."
The only problem I have found is that the wireless seems to be patchy, connection is great most of the time but it seems to lag/drop every few minutes or so which is quite annoying when trying to watch a livestream or play a game.
Has anyone else experienced this? (sorry for not reading through all 14 pages :smirk:)
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/superfish_uninstall
what is task manager reporting for cpu load?
you can install CoreTemp (or similar utilities) to see what the thermals are up to, should let you see the source of the problem
Assuming you are using a uefi partition, format the pen drive as fat32 not ntfs.
I liked the look of the flex, and I reserved a replacement at Mansfield but I decided that battery life will probably be more important to me than GPU, most games I have will either play fine on the intel 5500 gpu, or will need something more powerful than the 840m so I'll just use steam streaming.
Seems quite a common issue with these flex machines unfortunately.
The fan making an incredibly loud high pitched whine. Im sat next to a hp dl320e 1u server and those of you will know how loud that is, well i can this over the top of it!
Reserved last one in mansfield so a bit of a trek. Issue is i bought a load of vouchers from morrisons so im stuck now buyimg something from pc world.
Serves me right trying to be clever. Knowing pc world its going to be a fight getting a replacement, so wish me luck.
This laptop is a great buy for the specs:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lenovo-flex-2-15-pro-version-lenovo-edge-15-full-hd-touchscreen-laptop-i5-5200u-2227674
(thanks op for that info)
Someone has posted a code (see below) to get the Dell laptop this thread is about for £100 less = £599
So, if you need 4k screen and more ram, get the Dell for £100 more.
If not, get the Lenovo - and that's if you're in the market for spending this sort of money for this spec of laptop.
Much as I love the banter and trolling and chat on this site, there is always the same pattern of someone posting a deal for something and some else immediately posting that you can get a lesser spec deal for less money (who'd have guessed?)
And then the inevitable rage from both sides.
I know people mean well and are just trying to save others wasting money on unnecessary specs etc. But the whole thing gets a bit tiring..
Having said that. If you can sift through the nonsense, there's a lot of great people and info here.
Cheers
Cracking laptop for the money. My 4 year old desktop is now sitting there in silence whist I work away on this machine!
PCMag AND Laptopmag had the same review model which didn't seem to have a discrete graphics card, just the on-chip intel graphics 4400. Slightly slower processor, no hybrid SSHD, less RAM, etc etc etc. The only real comparables are the nice chassis and the screen.
There is another one on sale in the US which has an i7 and the Nvidia 840M, which is a bit closer to our spec.
has anyone seen any reviews for this specific model? I can only find the non-pro version reviewed anywhere.
Anyway, it looks like some peeps have unlocked it if you are brave enough to flash a hacked BIOS:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Request-for-enabling-BIOS-options-on-Lenovo-Flex-15
Looks like it's for the vanilla Flex 15. If it shares a main board in common with the Pro it'll probably work, otherwise noooooope.
FYI, I deleted Lenovo Transition and mine still rotates automatically when turning it into "Tent Mode".
what other bloat should I be killing?
thx
Cant believe all the bloatware! I will be going straight to a clean install of windows 10 on a SSD. Does anyone have a guide to removing the case and hard drive? Assume this will invaidate warranty?
No screen bleed, and the thing absolutely flies!
The only downside side is the ridiculous amount of bloatware that comes with it! I've been in installing and restarting for the last 2 hours!
The Lenovo bundle is really hard going, but I left a lot of it in just in case I accidentally kill the touchscreen driver or something. Once Windows 10 is out, I'm migrating to a new SSD with the cleanest OS install known to humanity. THE GOODNESS.
Additional software annoyance: Reviews complain about the speakers on this box. However, when I go into the Dolby application and take it off "voice" mode and turn up the compressor and other handy helpers everything sounds OK. Unfortunately the Dolby thing re-enables "voice" EQ randomly in the background, making everything sound poo again. I think the reviews are picking this up. The speakers are fine, it's the audio software that's messed up, even after updating.
If you need a notebook with a *really* well engineered casing, I would recommend either the aforementioned Macbook Air, the Dell XPS 13, or the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. Spoiler: They're really expensive.
I have used Mac Book with clickable touchpad however when you just tap/double tap it does not make any noise whatsoever as it is fixed to body on the edges. Does anyone else have similar issue? I never use clicking on touchpad as tapping is much quicker however it is very annoying when it does make a noice any time i tap on it.
Thank you.
Further investigation revealed the following:
Turns out it's a clickpad too, like on the macbook air etc. If you press it down instead of lightly tapping it the whole pad clicks in for a left click event. If you press with two fingers you get a right cllick. On top of having dedicated left/right buttons as well, that's three ways you have to use it including "gentle" taps. So the loose feeling when you're using it more gently is because it has that ability to click the whole pad down in place like a macbook.
Lenovo would say it's a feature, not a bug. I'm inclined to agree even if I don't like touchpads at all anyway and tend to use wireless mice where possible. Hell, i don't even like touchscreens on laptops.
Edit: As I haven't used a laptop touchpad in a while I went back to my old laptop for a comparison. I like that the new Lenovo lets you use the area where the "mouse buttons" are for movement if you're not clicking. Also, I like that the edges of the touchpad area are really really clearly defined with a nice silver edge, as my old laptop had a SLIGHTLY different texture on the touchpad than the rest of the case and I would find myself going off the reservation.
I'd say YAY. It feels more like a full desktop replacement and not too many compromises. The hard drive is an SSHD with 8 gig cache, so boot times are miraculously fast, but in general use it goes like a "traditional" slow drive. Worth budgeting the £60 for at least a 256GB-ish SSD. Apparently the machine is really easy to pop open to replace stuff with.
Portal 2: Pretty smooth. Occasionally does that Source engine "sound echo" when trying to load new stuff. SSD will fix that. Runs happily at 1080p with most of the effects up. I tend to leave anti-aliasing off on low spec cards though.
League of Legends: Solid 60fps at all times. No issues. Load times slow due to no SSD (it's always had long load times anyway).
Assassin's Creed 2: Runs lovely. Most effects maxed. Yes, it's old, but it was mentioned by name as a thing that would punch this card in the nuts. It does not.
Batman: Arkham Asylum: Need to be careful with the physx effects, but otherwise runs fine. The built in benchmark is handy for testing different settings if you like. Still great after all these years. Still to try Batman: Arkham City.
Borderlands: 45 frames per second at medium settings, needs a bit of tweaking to your preference but runs acceptably at 1080p. Haven't tried Borderlands 2 yet, it has additional physics stuff that might put some strain on the chippery.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Highly optimised, smooth as glass at 1080p, no issues except at obnoxiously high settings (i.e. lots of AA). If this is your thing, buy the lappy with confidence.
You're not playing GTA 5 on this thing, though. I mean, I'll try it later for giggles, but it's really not going to cope. Just Cause 2 will play well, so that can bring your open world fix.
EDIT: Apparently people on Youtube have gotten it working well on the 840M. I MUST TRY THIS. Dunno how they're capturing it, I guess intel quicksync or something to play and capture using the intel and nvidia chipset at the same time.
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/flex-series/flex-2-pro-15-laptop-lenovo/downloads/DS101177
Acer E5-573G 15.6″ gaming laptop with I5-5200U CPU, Nvidia GT 940M, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSHD for $470!
http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/acer-e5-553g-940m/
bleaurgh.
In other news tho am looking forward to getting your Windows 10 for this machine. Seen a side by side comparison and 8 looks pants up against 10!
https://youtu.be/rvgcFGfZD5Q
Inspiron 17 - 5749
Inspiron 17 - 5749
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-5200U (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz) with 2 GB nVidia GeForce 840M
Windows® 8.1
8 GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory (1x8GB)
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
8X DVD+/- RW Drive
17.3 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD+ resolution (1600 x 900)
Back Up Media Not Included
Windows® 8.1 (64 Bit) English
Dell Wireless-N 1705 + Bluetooth 4.0
LCD back cover for Non-Touch Screen-Silver
Battery: Primary 4-cell 40W/HR
Internal English Keyboard
Thanks op!
I've just ordered mine, so sitting like an eager kid on Christmas eve waiting for delivery now!
Happy as larry!
now my kids can have my 2 crappy old laptops!
https://lenovo-offers.com/pages/laptopcashback/qualifying
http://www.technopieces.com/lenovo-flex-2-156-multimode-touchscreen-convertible-i5-4210u-8gb-1tb-windows-81-56279-p.asp
It all comes down to the build quality though. Having had a look at the Flex 2 non-pro in the shop it was pretty flimsy and not something you would expect to last you three or more years as I hope this one does. Had I attempted to type this post on the non-pro I would already have thrown the thing across the room due to the terrible keyboard. Only Toshiba do worse keyboards.
Never tried to link a link before, dunno if it'll get filtered out. If this IS the more plasticky Flex 2 normal edition, £560 might still be worth it if you don't type much.
Doesn't identify as the "pro" chassis which is concerning. If it's a vanilla Flex even with the better spec I wouldn't risk it, everything folk said about the build quality on that thing is true.
I think this thing's going to fly when I finally spring for a nice 512 gig SSD for it.
Not pleased with Lenovo's bundleware, but when I take the windows 10 update I'll chose the "nuke from orbit" option to ensure it's obliterated, then take my chances getting the right driver set for the touchscreen.
ALSO. The finish on the thing makes it a fingerprint magnet. Keep a lens cleaning cloth nearby.
But anyway. IT GOOD. BUY THING.
£20 more for an i7 and more ram for the graphics card in all. Bargain.
As for the i7, this i5 version is a really good deal as it's hard to find such a decent spec machine with good build quality (aluminium chassis, 1080p touch screen, back-lit keyboard, dedicated GPU etc) for sub £500. £100 more for a minor CPU upgrade is just taking into a price point where you expect many of those things anyway. Having said that, while the i7 doesn't seem like as great a deal, I think it's still a lot of laptop for £599.99, and you'd be hard pushed to find a better machine for the price.
an etra 100 is a new ball game and a bunch more lappies come into the choices
http://www.ultrabookreview.com/6135-intel-core-i5-5200u-i7-5500u/
TL/DR: "But even so, the long story here is fairly simple: the Intel Core i7-5500U is not significantly faster in any way than the Core i5-5200U processor. And the difference between them is barely noticeable in daily use."
The one I bought yesterday has terrible backlight bleed along the top.
Managed to reserve another just after midnight luckily and swapped it after work today.
They let me test the new one in store before exchanging, so ask to boot it before purchase as it seems to be a common fault. Otherwise the laptop is awesome!
Btw Picard have you seen the Cube gamers laptop on offer?
I'm surprised nobody has posted a deal for the i7 specced machine as a separate deal yet!
Hopes dashed!
Guess I'll have to keep hitting the F5 button on the website! :smile:
I'll try my local store tomorrow, but I'm not holding out much hope.
Has anyone who has got it got any more review comments? Any more screen bleed problems found?
Not as cheap as the i5 but still good price.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your email dated 17th June 2015. I would have liked to have spoken to you on the phone, however, I was unable to locate a contact number for you.
I am sorry the Lenovo notebook went out of gone out of stock. Further stock has been requested from Lenovo, but there is not a confirmed intake date as of yet.
I would recommend checking our website each weekend for more of these machines. As soon as the stock arrives, our website will be updated to reflect this.
Thank you for taking the time to contact KNOWHOW™.
Kind regards,
David Jones
The KNOWHOW™ Team
However my order has not been officially cancelled, so my fingers are crossed!
I used to own one of the original IBM Thinkpad laptops and the keyboards on those were brilliant - the best I've ever used. I even bought one for my desktop. However, since Lenovo took over they've done away with them presumably to save on cost. The original ones had 'scissor' action mechanisms under the keys which made them great to type on, whereas the Lenovo Acutype ones just have a rubber dimple under them which seem to make them less accurate unless you're being very deliberate in pressing down on the key (and the rubber dimple) from above.
Original: https://youtu.be/EU-iMa4WbZw?t=4m36s
Lenovo: https://youtu.be/cxi07L4S5kE?t=1m28s
Not for me I'm afraid for 2 main reasons:-
1. The keyboard is quite poor. It doesn't actually bounce in the middle but the typing action isn't very good and each key needs very definite key presses for the key to register. Touch typing was much slower as a result (I can normally hit ~ 80wpm on a good keyboard but on this I'd say it's more like 50-60wpm without errors). This seems to be the case with a lot of low/mid range Lenovos. Their 'AccuType' keyboards seem to be anything but accurate. I agree with the poster earlier in the thread who was critical of the keyboards on these. Trackpad was also poor.
2. The screen is 'okay' but no more than that. Colours were pretty dull and slightly washed out. They had this machine next to a Yoga 2 and the difference was like night and day. The colours on the Yoga 2 were bright and really 'popped' out from the screen, a bit like an AMOLED display, whereas the colours on this were much duller in comparison even with brightness on maximum. It wasn't terrible but I'd say the display quality was no more than average - better than TN but some way away from the best IPS screens. The screen is also very reflective - the shop lights caught in the screen made you want to constantly move your head to avoid the reflection. You'd have to use this in a room with no direct lighting shining on the screen.
3. Not really a deal breaker as such but the machine is quite heavy. Feels very weighty when you pick it up.
I do a lot of document work, so the keyboard would be a deal breaker for me. By way of comparison, I had a go on the Asus Transformer 11.6" convertible laptop and the keyboard / typing action was significantly better. If you don't do a lot of typing and are planning to use it as a desk based machine and with a bit of casual gaming, then it's a reasonable deal for what you get, but I don't think it's a stand out machine. For my money, I'd rather pay more for something like an Asus N550JK and/or less for an 11.6" machine if I needed portability.
The screen is gorgeous, but then perhaps you're used to very high quality, very expensive laptops?
The weight of it feels great to me, but then it's amazing how so many people will pick up exactly the same item and have a hundred different things to say about it.
By the way, I'm sitting in a room with direct lighting.
THE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Keyboard adequate but individual keys feel quite wobbly, as is normal with the 'chiclet' style. Nothing I can't get used to. Beats the utterly awful Toshiba laptops I've looked at recently but I prefer the HP way of doing things.
- Backlit keys present and correct.
- Metal case is marvellous. MUCH better than the budget Flex 2 Non-Pro which flexes altogether too much, including when you try to type on it. Slidy on my laptop tray though, so I'll be sticking some rubber feet on it.
- Specs as advertised. Not yet getting the good of the 8 gig SSD cache since I'm still on first boot waiting for updates.
- 2 partitions (visible anyway). One giant one, another 25 gig one for drivers and lenovo bundled crap. Means you can delete all their bundled rubbish and bring it back if you accidentally find you need something.
- Trackpad is on the left, in line with the spacebar. I'm not fond of this and every manufacturer seems to be doing it.
- Both sets of graphics hardware seem to be running at once. Looking into setting up a profile to disable Nvidia's discrete hardware to save battery. It might already be doing this.
- Windows 8.1. If I can downgrade to 7 and keep a little of the touchscreen functionality I will. Otherwise onward to 10! Or I'll use classic shell or one of the paid-for things stardock make.
- Still on software, there's a lot of rubbish waiting to pop up on you, including McAfee which waits ten minutes after boot to hock its wares at you. I dunno how they still have so much traction in the home and business world being that their former CEO spent the latter few years hopped up on bath salts and spouting crazy.
- Tent mode is a massive gimmick as far as I'm concerned, but if it gets me a stronger hinge (which it does) then have at it!
- I don't care for touchscreens, but it works fine.
- Numberpad! My previous laptop didn't have one. I missed it.
All in all it feels like value for money, which I didn't expect to be saying about a Lenovo product.
Everyone have a quick check when you get yours, there's no reason any other units would be effected, but worth a look.
urgh, and it was a great machine too. Ah well, I shall await a refund!
That's great and I know, is there anything you don't like yet?
Is there any bad points yet? How's the performance, is it fast?
http://betanews.com/2014/12/15/lenovo-edge-15-a-great-laptop-just-in-time-for-christmas-review/
I've adjusted it so the fan kicks in at 45c and 10% increases to the speed for every 5c above that. Now the notebook is virtually silent all the time, not that it was bad before, but always nice to have silence (especially when you go down the SSD route!) :smiley:
Yeah it's on ebuyer which has it for a decent price
Which retailer is selling it for £750?
Edit: just noticed it's Ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/696590-asus-g551jm-gaming-laptop-g551jm-dm197h
If you just want a laptop for general use, occasional gaming and basic amateur video editing etc. this Lenovo is very decent. If you are using the laptop as your main PC for professional editing and regular gaming the Asus is really in a different league in terms of performance.
15.6" Full HD Screen
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
8GB DDR3 RAM
750GB 7200RPM HDD
DVD Rewriter
Dedicated GeForce GTX 860M 2GB Graphics
USB3 | Bluetooth | HDMI | DisplayPort
Integrated Bang & Olufsen Speakers
Backlit Keyboard
G551JM-DM197H
749.99
Yes it's a gaming laptop but is it worth the extra cash? I would use the laptop for pretty much everyone including general use, video editing work and some lightish gaming etc
Doesn't have dedicated graphics.
Doesn't have Bluetooth.
Only has a 720p screen.
Has a smaller HDD.
Only a 2 cell Battery.
Is bigger, heavier and much thicker.
Is made of plastic.
* Forgot to mention Lenovo has backlit keyboard and better battery.
prefer Lenovo over asus as a manufacturer, but anyone got an opinion?
This deal should have a lot more heat. I've seen far worse spec laptops get more heat for a similar price. Crazy of Lenovo to name the "Edge" the "Flex Pro" in the UK when the Flex is a budget machine. I think a lot of the early comments about the Flex will have put people off the machine. Might be worth updating the Title to include "Edge" as well as point out the confusion in the first line of the OP.
I'll be able to say more later after I've had a play on it, the windows 10 update takes a while
Just going to install steam, and the windows 10 preview so I can stream xbox one games to it
2hrs until I can have a play :(:laughing:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/cpu-charts-2015/-31-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC,3722.html
http://ppbm5.com/DB-PPBM5-2.php
The performance of the desktop parts are on a whole different level. I'd be amazed if there was any dual core ULV mobile part in the top 1000.
If you really must do video editing work on a 15.6" laptop (and I'm not sure why you would over a significantly more powerful desktop with 24" screen etc), then something like this would be a better bet for £599 - at least you get a full fat, quad core i7 and 12gb ram.
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/9S7-16GD11-1464-MSI-CX61-2PF-1464UK_1723738.html
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LENOVO-Flex-2-Pro-15-6-Convertible-Touchscreen-Laptop-Black-8GB-RAM-New-/121658423828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c53683a14
Also, if you buy via Currys (http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-flex-2-pro-15-6-2-in-1-black-10106837-pdt.html) then Topcashback are currently offering 5.25% cashback, which is about £26.
http://www.ultrabookreview.com/6146-intel-core-i5-5200u/
For me the keyboard is fine and upgrading was quite easy too, but it will void the warranty.
I mostly use Steam In-Home Streaming for stuff at home (using powerline network etc), and it'll happily do that from a bigger desktop PC. In fact, I successfully did so on my older Intel B960/Graphics 2000 laptop albeit at 720p. It looks odd playing GTA 5 on a potato.
Arrives on Thursday for pickup instore.
I don't think anyone's expecting to do any heavy gaming with a laptop like this but it is nice to have a laptop that can handle modern games at all, which this can, just not at 1080p
I have no interest in playing games on it, that's what my PS4 is for.
Like I said earlier, you must be talking about older or less demanding games. Skyrim would work, but why buy a 1080p panel to run it at 1366 x 768?
This is a 840m with a more powerful i7 than the one in this thread - it's the 840m that clearly bottlenecks the system.
An even more powerful i7:
Lid wobbles, bits fall off, a screw fell off the other day, put it back and then found I had to tighten 6 other screws that were loose?
Just hoping it lasts a few years but would never buy one again - avoid even if you pay more for something else!!!
Anyway, fair warning, the keyboard may or may not be ropey, just letting everyone know.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?34837-GeForce-GT-840M-or-GTX-850M
Either that or you're using it to play old / less demanding games like WoW....
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2475942,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2475942,00.asp
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/lenovo-flex-15-dual-mode-laptop-goes-pro-with-lenovo-edge-15-1263959
Lid wobbles, bits fall off, a screw fell off the other day, put it back and then found I had to tighten 6 other screws that were loose?
Just hoping it lasts a few years but would never buy one again - avoid even if you pay more for something else!!!
Anyone know if this is the one with a digitiser pen? Or which one that is called nowadays?
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-840M.105681.0.html
considering this and might have a play in PCW before i purchase
You're not running Witcher 3 for example on this at medium in 1080p or even many games released this year and last year. Scroll down to "Game Benchmarks" in the link below - none of those are going to run fluidly at medium in 1080p. A 64bit memory bus, weaker shader performance and DDR3 are real performance killers for anything graphically demanding.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-840M.105681.0.html
Poor spongey keyboard and trackpad according to the reviews but otherwise a nice machine at a reasonable price.
However, there's some mentions of the hinge/keyboard being problematic, and the general build quality being subpar. Keep your packaging together when you purchase to make taking it back easier if you get a bad 'un. And baby it if you want to get a few years out of it.
I'm sorely tempted to get one, but worried about the dedicated graphics causing components to fail from overheating five minutes after the warranty expires, assuming Lenovo went cheap on the thermal management as well as everything else.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-840M.105681.0.html
Looking for a device to stream Xbox games too, thanks for posting. I was waiting to see if any info on the new Surface Tablet would come to light, but nothing yet and I think maybe a fully fledged laptop may be better