Lenovo Creator 7i Laptop

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I'm in the market for a laptop capable enough of smoothly processing Lightroom when I am away from home. Dismayed at the price of some of the Dell and HP competition, I stumbled across this from Lenovo:

https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-yo...gb-ssd-15-6-inch-full-hd-green-khaki/p5199637

The specs look good, and you would be paying £1.5k+ for an equivalent from Dell or HP (these latter do have a more premium look to them to be fair). There are no in-depth reviews online for this model that I can find, but nothing seems out of order except for the low Nits of the screen - 300. The competitors are in the 400s. Any thoughts on this laptop? Hoping to check it out in person once the UK lockdown is over :-(.
 
You can smoothly run Lightroom on a low spec laptop, slower processors mean bulk actions take longer but in general editing most things are powerful enough to run smoothly.

The most important thing, I think, is a good screen and that laptop only has 1080p resolution which on a 15" isn't enough.
 
From memory I think Lenovo has some relation to IBM, I have one of their tablets (quite old now) and it was fine.

That processor is more than enough, it gets double the score of my i7 and mine powers through LR, PS etc with ease. It may be worth checking for a decent and cheaper i5 which could free up budget for a higher resolution screen? Just a thought.
 
my rationale for going with a 1080p screen is that it is not my main computer. My Desktop set up will have a BenQ 4k monitor. And I feel I could probably live with HD when I am travelling. The brightness of the monitor bothers me most, and after a bit more research I see the laptop hasn't got a touch screen. My missus has one, and once you've used one, it is hard to go back. On the plus side it has legacy USB 3.0 slots which all my peripherals have, and a full size SD card reader, so need for adapters.
 
That processor is more than enough, it gets double the score of my i7 and mine powers through LR, PS etc with ease. It may be worth checking for a decent and cheaper i5 which could free up budget for a higher resolution screen? Just a thought.

It's a good thought, but an i5 with 4k is hard to find. Certainly not on the Curry's website.
 
It's a good thought, but an i5 with 4k is hard to find. Certainly not on the Curry's website.

I was having another wee think about this and wondering if 4k is really necessary on a 15" screen? I'm sure I've read that is zaps more battery life as well but I don't know for sure. Brightness for me would be important as I like to use my laptop outside when away, I think my laptop is probably 300 nit or less (just checked and its 220 nits :oops: :$) but is this measurement as important as the actual screen quality?

There's a good ASUS one on SCAN here which is also 300 nits and might be a touch cheaper than the Lenovo.

Or go big with an extra 2" link
 
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I'm in the market for a laptop capable enough of smoothly processing Lightroom when I am away from home. Dismayed at the price of some of the Dell and HP competition, I stumbled across this from Lenovo:

https://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-yo...gb-ssd-15-6-inch-full-hd-green-khaki/p5199637

The specs look good, and you would be paying £1.5k+ for an equivalent from Dell or HP (these latter do have a more premium look to them to be fair). There are no in-depth reviews online for this model that I can find, but nothing seems out of order except for the low Nits of the screen - 300. The competitors are in the 400s. Any thoughts on this laptop? Hoping to check it out in person once the UK lockdown is over :-(.
Just in case you’ve not seen Dell have 15% selected XPS laptops for Black Friday. Worth a look as it could bring a similar spec XPS13 down towards the same ballpark price.
 
I'd be having a look at the new Macbook's using the new M1 chip.

Macbook Pro, 13" screen, 16GB Ram, 512TB SSD. £1699.

Or, does it need to be laptop ?

Mac Mini with new chip, top spec is 16GB, 2TB SSD, £1699.

Dougie.
 
Another point is that a 15” laptop isn’t particularly portable, a 13” with a 1440p screen would be good (4K at that size isn’t necessary, or even useful).

I use Mac and a second hand MacBook Pro would be ideal, or even one of the new ones with Apple silicon, which look mighty impressive. Even if you’re not impressed by the cherry picked benchmarks, the added battery life is worth it on its own.
 
I was having another wee think about this and wondering if 4k is really necessary on a 15" screen? I'm sure I've read that is zaps more battery life as well but I don't know for sure. Brightness for me would be important as I like to use my laptop outside when away, I think my laptop is probably 300 nit or less (just checked and its 220 nits :oops: :$) but is this measurement as important as the actual screen quality?

There's a good ASUS one on SCAN here which is also 300 nits and might be a touch cheaper than the Lenovo.

Or go big with an extra 2" link
Thanks for the suggestions. 15" is my target. 13 is too small for editing IMHO and 17 not comfortable as a laptop. The Asus has good specs, but no SD card reader or touch screen, and plasticky build according to one review. I think I will need to up my budget a little to get what I want.
 
Just in case you’ve not seen Dell have 15% selected XPS laptops for Black Friday. Worth a look as it could bring a similar spec XPS13 down towards the same ballpark price.
I have. I would prefer 15", and they are still very dear. Curry's have this highly specced machine for £1699 (down from £1999) too - hmm.

This HP, ticks the same boxes for £1499. Otherwise anything else remotely close to the Lenovo price comes with only 8gb RAM which I don't think is enough. Hoping for Black Friday offers.
 
I believe that when IBM withdrew from selling their own brand laptops Lenovo took over and continued to manufacture them. The build quality was always very high, keyboards that could tolerate continuous use on a business environment etc.

I used Lenovo laptops for work over many years and found them to be well made and extremely reliable. The screens were never very impressive but that is probably because we used a business model made for reliability rather than high quality displays.
 
I am myself looking on and off at lenovo laptops - this one in particular https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gamin...tUKDeals~Discount+Code~47868~Pepper+Deals+Ltd (£100 topcashback - but expect to spend all that and more on RAM and bigger SSD)
I much prefer AMD tech now, and all round it looks reasonable and can be considered portable if it was absolutely necessary. It's just too heavy and bulky. I don't expect screen to be all that good, and certainly not well calibrated. Case is plastic. Worst case scenario it may prove to be noisy too. I'm not too sure about resale values - nothing makes sense anymore on ebay.
The likes of HP spectre x360 demonstrate clearly what proper laptops should be like and you have to pay a few hundred extra for it.

I may end up going desktop route vs desktop replacement cheap laptop, and maybe get an ultra portable next year.

believe that when IBM withdrew from selling their own brand laptops Lenovo took over and continued to manufacture them

IBM sold their consumer PC business to Lenovo a long while ago. I never liked their design language to be honest but they always had some following.

I'd be having a look at the new Macbook's using the new M1 chip.

Macbook Pro, 13" screen, 16GB Ram, 512TB SSD. £1699.

{Lack of} Ports make it an unacceptable proposition for any serious work with external display.

Mac Mini with new chip, top spec is 16GB, 2TB SSD, £1699.

Base spec if you absolutely must and flog it by May next year. £800 for an SSD that most don't need is a daylight robbery. Get externals.
 
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OK, the Lenovo looks fine. 1080p on 15" is ok for images, and 100% RGB is also ideal. A less bright screen is not a disadvantage, since you'll just have to turn it down less for editing. Touch screen is a daft idea for image editing: all those finger marks.

15" is about the sweet spot for editing on a laptop that's got to be mobile. Just one thing I'd check is whether there's space in the case for a second drive - I find it useful to have 1 fast drive (1tb SSD) and a second storage drive (2TB HDD). This only has 512gb so unless you plan to move images frequently it will need more space.
 
Touch screen is a daft idea for image editing: all those finger marks.
Ha - not for image editing, but I like to use it when browsing etc.

I find it useful to have 1 fast drive (1tb SSD) and a second storage drive (2TB HDD). This only has 512gb so unless you plan to move images frequently it will need more space.
My plan is to move photos to my desktop when back at home, so I have one main repository, which I back up, so the 1/2 Gb is fine.

You get what you pay for clearly. At the moment it is a matter of £300 between a slightly sub optimal (for me) Lenovo, and an HP which ticks the boxes. Hoping Black Friday throws up more options.
 
This thread has helped me immensely. After further thought, given I only plan to be using the laptop in anger maybe 10 weeks in a year, there is no point going for any bling. Subject to post lockdown touch and feel, I think I will go for the Lenovo. No need for adapters for the ports is surprisingly stress relieving. From what I hear 300 Nits should just about be OK.

Thanks all.
 
This thread has helped me immensely. After further thought, given I only plan to be using the laptop in anger maybe 10 weeks in a year, there is no point going for any bling. Subject to post lockdown touch and feel, I think I will go for the Lenovo. No need for adapters for the ports is surprisingly stress relieving. From what I hear 300 Nits should just about be OK.

Thanks all.

Please report back your experience with the screen once you get it.
 
This thread has helped me immensely. After further thought, given I only plan to be using the laptop in anger maybe 10 weeks in a year, there is no point going for any bling. Subject to post lockdown touch and feel, I think I will go for the Lenovo. No need for adapters for the ports is surprisingly stress relieving. From what I hear 300 Nits should just about be OK.

Thanks all.

Sounds sensible to me this. If my HP has no issues then that Lenovo should fly.
 
I've had two Lenovo laptops the second bought this year as a second 'desktop' after the first 10 year old one started to become a little slow as a main PC which it had inadvertently become. I didn't start out to buy the same make again but it just proved the best compromise for the money at the time and so far 6 months in I'm still happy with it.
 
I've had two Lenovo laptops the second bought this year as a second 'desktop' after the first 10 year old one started to become a little slow as a main PC which it had inadvertently become. I didn't start out to buy the same make again but it just proved the best compromise for the money at the time and so far 6 months in I'm still happy with it.

Just wondering, do you mean slow as in just not powerful enough for today's demands or do you mean actually slowed down due to having a HDD or something?
 
Please report back your experience with the screen once you get it.

Quick report back. When I tried to buy about a month ago, I couldn't find the Lenovo available anywhere for love nor money. In the end I took a bit of a risk and bought a refurbished HP (equivalent in spec) for the same price as the Lenovo (saving £300). Reliable firm, and 1 year guarantee. It came as new from what I could see. Just right for my needs.
 
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