Joined on 06/07/02
Good Hardware, needs tweaking to be great
Pros: Fast. Awesome bang for your buck hardware wise. Better specs than most machines in this price range. Doesn't suffer from the same heat issues of other slim gaming laptops. Very good speakers for a laptop. Upgrades are limited but as long as you're careful, they don't void the warranty.
Cons: -Stock screen suffers from very poor color reproduction and text was somewhat blurry. The only good thing about it is that it's a TN panel with pretty decent response time. -Stock 1TB hard drive is painfully slow and loaded with bloatware. Luckily it doesn't effect games once they're loaded. -Limited ports, only one display out (hdmi) -Keyboard is slightly smaller than standard and not as rugged as other thinkpad keyboards.
Overall Review: With a few pretty simple tweaks and upgrades, this laptop is easily the best in its class. 1. Upgrade the screen. This is the top complaint about this laptop. For about $80 you can ditch the TN panel and get a some very good IPS panels. Popular replacements are the AU Optronics B156HAN01.2 and Samsung LTN156HL01-102. There are videos on youtube that show how to do the upgrade, it's very easy and only takes about 10 mins. 2. Upgrade to an SSD. This is the second biggest complaint about this laptop. The stock hard drive is painfully slow for a gaming machine. With 500GB SSD's going for less than $220, it's a no brainer and makes this machine scream. 3. Install the stock Nvidia drivers. Lenovo is slow to release new drivers and the pre-installed ones have some issues with color. Search google for instructions on how to install the stock Nvidia drivers... it's worth it.
Very Poor Experience
Pros: Good FPS when it works. I bought this card because it has dual DVI connectors and works with both of my monitors...
Cons: Have just installed the card with the newest Catalyst drivers. In the last 3 hours my computer has blue screened twice and CS:GO has crashed every time I ran it. I moved from a Radeon 6750 that didn't BSOD on me once in the last year. This is disappointing.
Overall Review: I wish XFX would do a recall on cards like this that seem to suffer from so many issues.
Slick little barebone system, would recommend
Overall Review: This is a great little mini PC and runs excellently with my Ryzen 4700G. It's very easy to take apart and setup. I ended up swapping out the stock cooler it comes with for a Noctua NH-L9a which keeps my temps below 30c at idle and in the low 50's under full load. The stock cooler was a little loud and ran about 15-20c hotter than the Noctua. I also ended up swapping out the supplied AC wireless adapter for Intel's new AX adapter but other than that, my only complaints are the lack of USB ports on the back (seriously, who needs a VGA port in 2021?) and faint coil whine when you turn the unit on.
Decent for the price
Overall Review: This is a decent case for the price with a nice color, though I was hoping for a smaller Micro ATX case and it's a lot bigger than it looks in the pictures. Airflow from the front of the case is virtually non-existent, so I put exhaust fans at the top and run intake from the back. This actually works pretty well and keeps my CPU (Ryzen 5800X) temps low. It should be mentioned that 165mm coolers do not work in this case, they're too big. I ended up going with the Noctua 120mm cooler (NH12) which just barely leaves a couple millimeters of clearance from the glass side panel. Speaking of the panel, it's very easy to remove, so be careful when opening the case because it's held on with a few slide-on hinges and a magnet. Overall, I probably wouldn't buy this case again, but for the money, if you want something that looks cool, it's not a bad deal.
Great RAM - Samsung Chips - Ryzen Compatible
Pros: Got this ram running at 3200mhz on my Asus X470 ITX mobo. Fast, stable. Great stuff.
Cons: Took a little tinkering with the motherboard settings to get everything working right.
Great RAM
Pros: Fast. Low Latency. Zero compatibility issues. G.Skill Reliability.
Cons: None
Overall Review: Worked perfectly as a drop in for my Lenovo Y50.