Review on Lenovo Ideapad I5 9300H Processor 81LK00HDUS by Satish Tegan

Why did I buy this? I was looking for a laptop that I can use for work and travel, but that can also give me some gaming time when I'm on the go. Budget wasn't really an issue, but I wanted to make sure I was getting the best bang for my buck. I don't run heavy work applications on it, just work with email, excel, general browsing, etc. I'm not a competitive gamer so getting that extra millisecond of response time wasn't a problem, but I wanted something that could compete with current games and most of the games that will be released in the next few years. What else did I consider/compare? The GPU - GTX 1650 - is an amazing thing, most comparisons have been to the old (but still capable) 1050i and other variants. I wanted the latest I could get for the price. So that was the yardstick of my search. Processor - 9th gen i5 - I really wanted a 9th gen i7 but most who had it only had a 1050 series graphics card and as I said above that's what I really appreciated more . A NOTICE. Lenovo makes a version of this with Gen 9 i7, it's not available on Revain (at the time of writing). It's available for about $180 more than this unit on Lenovo's website (on sale for $270 at an ATM) but comes with a smaller SSD. I know it's easier to replace an SSD than a GPU (basically impossible on a laptop like this), but due to the cost difference and not having to add an SSD once I get it, I went that route not struck . NOTE: Benchmarks on the 9th gen i5 and i7 were very close in most tests, although it's a good idea to check your future purchase, it didn't seem like a sufficient difference (4 cores, 8 threads on 5 vs 6 cores, 12 threads). 7) to encourage me to spend more. A NOTICE. This laptop model may be exclusive to Revain as I couldn't find it on the Lenovo website. Monitor update - 60Hz - this was difficult for me, there are some laptops. who have a 9th gen i7, 16GB RAM and a 1650 graphics card with a 144hz monitor (and there is a difference, just watch some youtube videos) but that cost difference was about $450 Dollar. In terms of the games I play (I'll talk about that in a moment), the look and feel of the product, I just couldn't put down the extra cost. RAM - 8GB - The docs show you can upgrade a single 8GB plugged into 16GB. 16GB of DDR4 costs about $70. If I jump into a game that's causing performance issues, I'm okay with that upgrade cost. A NOTICE. Lenovo says you should use authorized technology to upgrade your RAM/SSD or you could void your warranty. . Not sure if this is legal due to the right to self-repair, but I've done enough not to worry, your views/values on this differ from mine. 512GB SSD - I really wanted an SSD, the download speeds etc. are totally worth it. 512 means I can comfortably host 6+ recent modern games. I'm fine with that now. It has an additional 2.5" bay for another SSD (I got 1TB from my old laptop. So when I get to the point where I need it, it won't cost me anything extra, obviously your experience will improve differ from mine in it) Additional costs ). The extra bay is convenient because you don't need to restart the operating system etc., you can just add a drive and increase the storage capacity. The RAM upgrade note above also applies here. Appearance - as I mentioned, I'll be using it for work too, it's the same discrete "gaming" laptop I've seen. I didn't want flashy lights or game brand logos on the cover. I can play; I don't have to and don't want to show that off in my daily work with customers. Keyboard Backlight - has 3 settings, off, low, high. I'm playing in a fairly dark room and the low settings were ideal for allowing me to see without blinding my peripheral vision. Heat is not a noisy laptop (fan); I've been gaming on laptops for 10 years now and have had a few jet engines. Looks like none of them are. It heats up, but it's okay not to burn yourself. Battery life - I haven't fully tested it yet (will update when I do) but in economy mode (not using a 1650 graphics card) it looks like it lasts more than 5 hours, the description says 9 hours, but I doubt it's more than enough if I can't connect. Working and gaming with the 1650 I would get about 2 hours. The bloating - surprisingly it didn't have much that I needed to remove. MacAfee and Lenovo, that's all. What games do I play on it? ) Overwatch - ultra settings no problem. As I play and test more games I will update this…. 9/29/19 EDIT - Borderlands 3 - 30 FPS on Ultra, back to average and more than good for my average gamer requirements. Basically everything that was done before 2018 can be run at maximum without any problems. Most newer games (2019 versions) run fine on medium/high settings. I could probably raise his attitude. What about highlight/bleed reports? Knock on wood, I haven't seen any bleeding around the edges on darker games, or maybe I just didn't notice. Monitor backlight/darkness, again, I haven't experienced this and I hope I won't. I understand that everyone has defects and % DOA of the product. I think everyone's mileage will be different.