At only $599 at Walmart (even outside of Black Friday), the Lenovo IdeaPad 5 is probably one of the best value for money laptops you never heard of when it comes to sheer performance for your hard-earned money.
(If you do not live in the US, check the deals we have listed at the end of this article)
You won't actually find a new (non-refurbished) desktop computer that will match it in terms of raw compute performance. That's because it houses an 8-core/8-thread AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor.
Not only is this the one of the fastest laptop processors on the market, it is also a very capable rival to desktop processors found in computers that retail in the same price bracket.
What else do you get for your money? Well, the IdeaPad 5 comes in a choice of three colours (depending on stock), a 14-inch full HD IPS display, 8GB of DDR4 memory (soldered), a 256GB PCIe SSD and a 57WHr battery that should last up to 14 hours.
What it demonstrates is that, unless you have a very specific use case for a desktop PC (e.g. you require a lot of ports or expansion capabilities), a laptop - despite having far more features - usually ends up costing less. Thank the laws of demand and supply and economies of scale for that.
- Check out our list of the best laptops for developers out there
- We've built a list of the best business tablets around
- Here's our list of the best business computers right now
The processor has eight threads and seven GPU cores with a base clock speed of 2GHz, 12MB cache and a default TDP of only 15W. The graphics subsystem is not too shabby either, thanks to the integrated Vega GPU - great for anyone looking for a business laptop or mobile workstation.
A fingerprint reader is integrated with the power button and there's a privacy shutter to block the webcam when it's not in use. Small features like this could be a boon for small businesses and professionals looking for a powerful laptop that takes security seriously.
It is a shame, however, that it doesn’t include Windows 10 Pro, but you can always upgrade from Windows 10 Home (albeit at a cost). Connectivity and expansion capabilities include an SD card reader, audio connector, HDMI port, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, two USB ports and a USB Type-C that provides power as well.
- Here's our list of the best laptops for video editing
Bear in mind
- If this product is unavailable in your region, you may need to use a specialist parcel forwarding service to take advantage of the deal
- If you've managed to get hold of a cheaper product with equivalent specifications, in stock and brand new, let us know and we'll tip our hat to you.
