Review on Lenovo Display Processor GeForce 82JW0012US by Greg Mahoney

I've had many ThinkPad and Lenovo laptops over the years and lately I haven't been very happy with their build or overall quality. When I was shopping for laptops last year, I actually strayed from my usual ThinkPad upgrade path and went down the path of the HP Envy 15 (which is a decent laptop in its own right). When I unboxed it, I felt like an absolute monster. It's not shocking that a gaming laptop is heavy, but it feels REALLY heavy and the lip that runs behind the screen doesn't help it feel big. But on the other hand, it was also RELIABLE. Not a single creaking can be heard. Not a single point on the chassis that seemed to flex a bit. As far as plastic laptops go, it's as close to the tank as I've seen. When you first open it, you're presented with the usual Windows walkthrough and a grumpy McAfee window. However, I was happy to see that apart from McAfee, there was nothing else in the malware space. Of course you get the Lenovo Vantage, but it's actually very useful for driver updates and if you want to change keyboard lighting effects - and you will, because it comes out of the box with the keyboard in attraction mode most of the time. Do nothing. Aside from installing Windows updates and restarting, I enabled 3DMark and PCMark 10 and let them do their thing. The results were surprising to say the least (see photos for more info). This laptop outperformed my Envy with 2060 GPU, 32 GB and Hynix NVMe drive in almost every area. The display is nice and bright and I was surprised that it registers as 10-bit color at 165Hz. Windows says it can stream HDR video but can't use HDR or WCG. The viewing angles are good, but nothing like a gaming laptop that costs a few hundred dollars more. I wouldn't mind if the display could get a little brighter. Out of the box it runs at maximum brightness, and after a few hours I was hoping to bump it up a notch or two. Overall, the keyboard makes a solid impression. Despite the looks of the keyboard, it's not as good as a ThinkPad, but it definitely doesn't feel cheap, and I'd probably say it feels better than most keyboards. I'm not the biggest fan of the offset that comes with the full number pad, but I understand there's not much you can do on a 15" case. I think the speakers are ok. They're loud, but probably not what I'd normally expect from something marketed as a gaming laptop. There's almost no bass to speak of, a lot of midrange confusion, and spatial audio doesn't seem to change much. While the Legion 5 looks impressive on paper and specs, the sound definitely falls short. Getting to the inside of the system is relatively easy. On the underside are 10 standard Phillips screws with a touch of blue Loctite Material. Removing the bottom should be done with a tool as there are LOTS of clips firmly attaching it to the upper case. Inside is a solid heat pipe cooling system. In the tests I ran against my Envy, this is the Case works for almost 11 C is hotter, which is to be expected given the use of the vapor chamber e in Envy. Despite the arrangement of the heat pipes, the underside doesn't get very hot. However, the fans get LOUD when you press them in performance mode. Once inside, you get an extra NVMe slot under a metal grille on the left and NVMe and wireless card on the right, which come pre-installed and look interchangeable. Underneath the large metal square are two beautiful SO-DIMM slots. Why Lenovo insists on soldered RAM in many of its models (including high-end ThinkPads) is beyond me, but it was really nice to see that you can add more memory if you want. The screen above the RAM is showing, but I highly recommend using the corner peek tool on the image I've added to this one. There you can gain a small advantage without clicking on vulnerable components. The battery also seems to be relatively easy to change. All in all, the price of Revain is barely in the four figures at the time of writing. Lenovo includes one year of on-site service, and you can get up to three years of accidental damage coverage and still get what I paid for the HP Envy 15 I was talking about. (Of course, the Envy has a better screen and cooling, but nothing more than a fingerprint scanner.) And for this price point, you get a lot of bang for the buck. Personal note: My experience with Lenovo so far hasn't been great, especially when it comes to promises. I had a next business day contract which took them a week to confirm my request and that was pre COVID. So praise with caution. In terms of value for money, this is an excellent laptop. But if I had one with dead pixels or some other issue I would trade it in for the Revain and do my best not to contact Lenovo for any reason.