Great laptop for the specs and price. I bought one at this price last year and it's still running great - no issues at all.
The specs make it great for heavy workloads like running VMs, editing videos or photos, or just heavy multi-tasking. I personally use it to run 3 VMs at a time while still being able to use Microsoft Office products and Chrome in the background.
Referee: $10 off 1st purchase.
Referrer: $10/$20/$30 off $100/$150/$250 Spend.
Seems unreal price for a 4k, 16gb, 17, 512 nvme laptop with touch screen. I would get a PD-USB C battery bank if the battery life is a bit underwhelming.
Guess you got lucky mate. Some people sharing bad experience in below comments.
Can get well over 12 hours on youtube/netflix.
In regards to word processing I get around 10 hours.
I havent used any graphic intensive programs and I always have it on the least power hungry mode.
In short the battery life is really great.
EDIT* Just noticed this is the 4k version… I have the 1080p version. I would probably remove 3-4 hours off the above for 4k….
I haven't stress tested it but it's currently saying 64% (4hr 41min) on the "better performance" power plan.
I think the longest I've used it for a stretch was 4 hours running VMs which is pretty CPU intensive, and I didn't need to charge it at the end.
My son has had the 720 since Dec 2017 but we opted for the 1080 screen and I5 .
Reasons being were better battery life , cheaper screen replacement and initial cost . He is still getting about 9 hours or 2 days of school use . School use requires reasonably high screen brightness in a well lit classroom .
The reviews I read stated the 4K screen was amazing but you paid for it in battery life .
It has been quite durable as it has been dropped a couple of times and carted to and from school on busses and trains .
I'd buy him another . I think we paid less than $1300 at the time and the I5 was a gen 8 with 4 cores .
I have the 4k version of this and barely get 2 hours of light use. I've had it nearly two years. It drives me mad.
With regards to the rest of the laptop it looks great but is very unwieldy compared to my X1 Carbon which is a joy to carry around and use.
A pen included?
I don't think this comes with the pen. I think the top model does.
I bought my pen off amazon but hardly ever use it. Touch/pen just isnt that great on windows.
What applications/workflow were you using the pen for?
Mine came with a pen included, but probably best to just confirm via eBay message just to be sure before placing your order.
Wow. Is it that good to justify $1.5K for a refurb?
Have one, and wouldn't recommend buying it.
Has display and sound issues, which I have yet to resolve. For example, once you set the brightness, it sometimes get stuck on that, and the only solution is to restart. Sound drivers fail from time to time when the computer is connected to another device (TV). Otherwise, it's a pretty good setup, but for me, these two issues can't be overlooked. Unfortunately.
Aside from that, it lasts around 5 hours when running on 4k display.
The refurb I got from grays only had 1 cycle on it and didnt have much screen on time. To me it was basically brand new (with no box)..
How to tell for sure how many cycles and how much total screen on time?
Guess you got lucky mate. Some people sharing bad experience in the comments.
In the lenovo software it shows you the amount of cycles.
I forget where but in Windows you can also find other info about its use.
I did have a dodgy Bluetooth card with mine. But it got fixed pretty quick.
Seems like I got a bit lucky!
Don't know about you guys, but I got this last week and I think it's one of the best deals around?
https://www.pcbyte.com.au/msi-ps42-8rc-034au-14-fhd-8th-gen-…
Brand new.. battery life is around 11hrs with better battery + throttle stop -100mv and surfing. Ram and SSD is user replaceable down the line and comes with 1050 which is rare on a 14inch 1.2kg form factor..
Is the screen touch enabled ?
I disagree. It's got GTX 1050 (without ti) and processor is only i7 8550U (U means under powered for laptop).
I got a 15" FHD Lenovo Legion GTX 1050 (without ti) and processor i7 8750H with 16GB ram and 128SSD + 2TB SATA for $1132
Nice specs, but from what I see, it's 2.4kg? that's a back breaker and not the intended audience that would have gone for the Yoga 920.
The comparison is with the MSI spec link in the parent comment for a gaming machine. Not intended to be compared with Yoga.
@badonde: Well depends on individual preference. Save a few hundred $$$ and get to lift a KG extra everyday. Some people pay money to buy gym membership to do just that.. ;-)
@badonde: The deal has ended now. I am interested in this deal as well.
If there are any reps about and they want to make a sale I will absolutely buy the system that bigbadboogieman got.
Where do I sign Lenovo Reps?
@lammi
The biggest issue with the MSI one and the one posted is the CPU - i7-8550U, which is actually Kaby Lake Refresh (so it is more like gen 7.5) and it shows.
It cannot even beat a true 8th gen i5 in the U series (i.e. i5-8259U):
i7-8550U (Kaby Lake R) vs i5-8259U (Coffee Lake)
@bigbadboogieman
As for the H series beating U series - it is true at multi-core level, but if you compared to an i7 U series true 8th gen released later, the U series CPU could potentially beat it at single core level:
i7-8750H (Coffee Lake) vs i7-8559U (Coffee Lake)
Obviously, with the H series CPU having more cores and more threads, when multi-threaded, H series does crush the U series. Userbenchmark does weight single core performance quite heavily for effective speed rating (I don't agree with that because if you are opting for i7, surely multi-core is more important).
It is a mess as you cannot just look at the numbers. Think about it (i5) 8259U being newer than (i7) 8550U and beats it.
@netsurfer: Good to know about 8559U. I am very happy with the responsiveness of 8750H in day to day average use and light gaming.
@bigbadboogieman: 8750H is 31% faster than 8559U multi-core/threaded. That's significant speed boost (8750H beats a desktop i5 Coffee Lake CPU in multi-core so it is a true i7 unlike 8559u). Good price for the laptop you've got.
@netsurfer: @netsurfer
Totally agree!! it doesn't beat it, and yes, it's slightly more outdated, but in my experience, most of the U series gets throttled much earlier than their stated turbo speeds anyway. Anyhow! in order to get the latest and greatest U series chips, would have opted for a much more expensive system, which would easily cost over $2k :(
hence, I just thought that this MSI has the best of all things considered.
- recent gen CPU,
- upgradeable ram and SSD
- 1050 dedicated
- 1.2kg
- sufficient ports
- good price new.
Quite hard to find these specs anywhere else really..
LaMMi
@lammi: The issue is actually price vs performance. In today's standard, it is more like i5 U series CPU (again, it cannot beat a true 8th gen Coffee Lake U series CPU).
I'm sorry, but i7-8550u is really below par. It barely beats i5-8250U (which is also a Kaby Lake R)
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs…
The main point is actual the intel dirty marketing trick. It shouldn't be named 8550u. I want to highlight you need to be careful when buying intel CPUs especially when looking at intel 8 series laptop CPUs (some may actually behave like a 7th gen CPU).
As for that laptop, you ARE paying for those extras and another issue with 7th gen vs 8th gen is the wifi+bluetooth. The 8th gen, assuming it has a proper intel wifi chip in it, would have the 160Hz 5GHz band, as well as bluetooth 5. Some 8th gen U series devices are all USB 3.1 gen 2 (USB-A) ports + USB-C/Thunderbolt 3. If I am spending 1000+, I would try to go for a proper 8th gen CPU.
True, the MSI laptop has decent number of ports, but honestly USB 3.1 gen 1 on USB-C? That's just disappointing, MSI might as well change them to USB-A ports. And, the 4K@30Hz HDMI port… sigh… That's !@#@! (another cost cutting). I hope the HDMI 4K@30Hz is a typo, surely with nVidia 1050 in there, it should be 4K@60Hz.
A difference of 1.2KG is a backbreaker?
@bigbadboogieman: Not a backbreaker but it's a laptop so people would want to carry it around. People who would buy these laptops might be uni students who want a light laptop that could play games. 2.4kg compared to 1.2kg + books adds up when carrying around for 2-4 hours a day in a bag.
Guess its preference, GTX 1050 isn't exactly very powerful anyway so an i5 8550u shouldn't be bottle-necking it.
Although i don't personally think Iammi's laptop is a great deal, I think what you're paying more for is the portability which if its important to you would make it an a alright deal.
@xoom: Well everyone has their opinion and I respect that. Back then I had a choice of going with a 15" ThinkPad which was 1.8KG total, lower powered in comparison and higher in $$$. Lenovo Legion was and still is a monster in power when compared and was lower in $$$ albeit the difference of 600gms. I don't mind weight because my car carries it.
I've got one of these at the same price and store. It's scratched up (not minor in screen and chassis) and had hardware issues (keyboard, random reboots, fan reverberating) and it's going back. It's got stickers galore, including a hideous warranty void sticker. I'm not sure the couple of hundred difference with a new unit is worth it. If you search for this model in eBay, you can get it new for 1800. Also the warranty is from them, and Lenovo won't support it. My unit is a NZ unit that can't be registered here neither can I get an extended warranty.
I have sent one back last week. Same model
Sorry to hear that! I hope the return and refund were easy. Did you buy anything else?
Yeah I have done it twice. Got full refund both times
Who paid for return shipping?
GraysOnline
I have ordered one of these in the past and returned it, they physically scratch the serial number off the metal case and put an ugly warranty void if removed sticker on one of the screw holes. I thought it was misleading that they advertise it as manufacturer refurbished.
This - they are not refurbished, just cleaned for resale.
Bought a couple for work, had to return them for screen issues - they did a refund easily enough, but as far as i'm concerned, this is false advertising and I will avoid them in future
As mentioned, serial numbers were scratched off, but it's still visible in the bios so they're not that cluey. Serial number check on Lenovo website says no warranty.
refurbished.. Gray's.. I would say not worth it.
if you have this kind of money to spend on an ultrabook, look at Dell Outlet. there are Inspiron 13 7000, there are XPS 13 (both covered by 1 year warranty), there are Latitude 12 and 13 class 5000 and 7000 (those are covered by 3 year pro warranty), that would give me a peace of mind.
yes specs might be lower than this, but specs isn't everything. i5-8250u and i7-8550u are both highly optimised mid-range performers, you will never notice the difference unless you are constantly crunching numbers and if you are, you won't be buying a laptop with either of those. so getting a laptop with i5-8250u is not much of a downgrade from i7-8550u. also 4k screen vs FullHD.. on a windows laptop there is little benefit, unless you are editing 4k video, and if you are, you'll be buying a 15 inch laptop at least. also, you pay for 4k out of your pocket and with battery life, too. and you will have scaling problems if you do certain things
tl.dr. 1500 is a lot to drop on a unknown quality refurbished device with unknown warranty, whatever the specs may be. my professional grade laptop was purchased for less than that, brand new with 3 year warranty for comparison.
Thanks for the great reply. What did you end up buying?
Dell Precision 3530
This might be just for my unit. I got one in dec 2017.
6 months later, have to send back for repair as the laptop wouldn't power up after going into sleep mode. Fixed and returned.
14 months later, same problem. Fixed and return but this time the sound has problem. Both speakers and earphone. Send back for repair again and was told that the part need 6 weeks to arrive. Still waiting for part as of now.
But when it is working, it is working very well.
I brought from HN and had the product care, so not sure who is doing the repair.
I got the 1080p version last year when they had 20% off + 10% flybuys points.
Minor scratches on the bottom near the feet
Battery was new/near new, 70WHr had 0% wear.
Came with the pen
Never had any issue, but with tweaking the temps and battery life were substantially better.
SSD is replaceable, but hard for ordinary user as you have to dismantle the motherboard. There's about 10+ ribbon cables you have to disconnect.
Battery and WIFI is easily replaced. Changed it out to a Intel 9560 so I can get APT-X with my Sony headphones.
I've had Dell 9560, 9570, 9360 and they all have their own problems. I would a Dell from outlet is about the same risk level.
Shitty Killer Wifi that's soldered to the board
Latency LPC issue
Audio issues
FYI The Good Guys Commercial has the newer Lenovo Yoga C930 for sale at $1659, but it has the i5 CPU and a 1080p screen.
(repost as the last attempt had a bad link).
A far better deal (IMO) would be the Lenovo Yoga 730 for $880 (after 20% off). 8th gen i5, 256 SSD, 8GB RAM, 1080p touchscreen, 13.3 inch screen.
I bought one from Grays in the last sale and found it really good.
not bad.
bought yoga 920 last year keyboard is not as good as thinkpad.
I bought a similar model from Graysonline (1080p FHD display instead of 4k) and I'm very happy with it. Battery life is amazing, I get over 10 hours easily. Thermals good, fans quiet and rarely on, screen looks great, keyboard is great, 2 thunderbolt Usb-C and 1 USB-A ports are perfect for me. The 360 degree hinge and touch screen are also surprisingly more useful than I initially thought. My particular model had a tiny scratch on the side, but everything else was perfect. Also came with the pen which was a nice surprise. I would recommend searching for a FHD model though, it will be cheaper and have better battery life.
I bought the 4K model with all the top specs from Grays. I absolutely agree with everything you said, although I have no regrets I wish the battery lasted a little longer on the 4K version. I get about 6 hours use.
Like with all refurbs you take a risk but mine had some markings around the rubber feet and that was it. Now I’m praying I haven’t cursed myself
I think i got this (sans pen). Battery life is amazing on the 1080p. Does your fans turn on for a bit when you first boot up?
The brightness of the screen is a bit low so I have to put it up higher usually.
Honestly my fans don't turn on at all, maybe a little bit with software updates? When I first got it the fans were often turning on randomly so I undervolted my CPU and GPU and changed some BIOS setting so that the fan is always set to minimal. After that, it's been perfectly quiet and cool
This is a fantastic price for a great laptop. I was a Yoga 900 owner for 2 years and the 920 is significantly better. Battery life is super. For what it is worth I bought refurbished Yoga 920 from Grays Online last year in October and it was as good as new, not a single sratch. The price was $2199 for the ITB model. The only complaint I would have is that the pen didn't come with the AAAA batery and there is supposed to be a nib removing tool in the package which wasn't there either.
Yoga has a problem with the hinge. If it is stuck out of warranty, you will be charged over $600 to fix it by Lenovo. Just be aware of it or you want to buy extended warranty.
![[Refurbished] Lenovo Yoga 920 13.9" 4K UHD Touch Display/i7-8550U/16GB/512GB NVMe SSD $1499 Delivered @ GraysOnline eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/42/454842.jpg?h=02a3022a)
Any ozb can review the Battery life ?