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Lenovo IdeaPad S540 with Ryzen 7 4800U 16GB RAM 512GB SSD $1359 Shipped @ Lenovo Education Store

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UPDATE 16/09/2020 ETA Jan/2021, so the deal is dead.
I've been trying to source a Ryzen 7 4800U laptop for a while and just found this available on the Lenovo website.
The cheapest laptop with Ryzen 4800U CPU in Australia not to mention it ticks all the boxes for a great laptop, at least spec wise.
13.3 inch QHD screen 2560*1600 at 300 nits, 100% sRGB
16GB of ram
512GB SSD
light weight 1.2kg
56Wh battery (easy 14 hr+ use time based on reviews)
The mighty Ryzen 7 4800U
Most importantly, it's currently in stock with lenovo
You need a student account to access the $1359 price or it's $1799. Still way cheaper than the Slim 7 in Harvey Norman to access the 4800U CPU.

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closed Comments

  • +9

    This has the latest Intel CPU in it :P

    • +4

      Haha yeah. I wanted a 4800U laptop so badly after the Intel lunch event. I believe this 4800U CPU will take Intel another year to catch up.

      • The benchmarks where interesting from Intel, it will be good to see the new generation of both CPUs go head to head.

  • +3

    Good price for great internals and screen. I feel like there would be one major flaw like catches fire or something :p

    • Are you from Intel xD

    • -3

      Since it's an ideapad technically it's part of Lenovo's budget oriented lineup so it may not be built the same standard as a thinkpad.

      • +3

        Ideapad are their consumer oriented range. Ideapad itself are not considered budget oriented, but there are different ranges within the ideapad line. S540 would be considered mid range.

  • -2

    Eh I want a FHD+ display, why the heck would they put 4K on 1600p on a 13"

    • +7

      that's not 4k

  • Ryzen Intel i7 4800U

    Fixed for you OP. Don't confuse intel with the imitator!

  • +5

    For those that are interested in this laptop there is a comprehensive review between the AMD 4800u chassis, versus the Intel based chassis. One of the main benefits of this laptop is that you can actually configure the TDP manually in BIOS between 12.5W, 15W and 25W. The 4800u still kills it at 12.5w, whilst extending productivity battery life. The other benefit of this laptop is that the cooling is designed for 35w TDP, so in performance mode the 4800u can actually perform better without throttling over extended periods of time. The chassis is also solid Aluminium vs what is out there at this price point.

    https://next.lab501.ro/notebook/english-lenovo-ideapad-s540-…

  • years go by and I am still wondering why would people want hi res panels in tiny laptops

    side by side with a 1080p panel you will have to literally shove it in your face to see the difference

    maybe that's how you like it but mind you, it's not good for your posture. also you're paying with battery life to calculate all those pixels. plus an odd scaling issue thrown in for a good measure

    hi res panels belong in large monitors 27 inch and up, where you can set scaling to 100% and forget it exists

    • It's a QHD 16:10 screen, not UHD. Please have a look at the review I posted earlier.

      https://next.lab501.ro/notebook/english-lenovo-ideapad-s540-…

      The reviewer obtains 8.24hrs battery life at the default 15w TDP and 13.1hrs at 12.5 TDP in productivity applications.

      • +1

        so? you still have scaling to deal with, and you're wasting CPU/GPU to show those extra pixels.

        1080p on 15 inch laptop with 100% scaling is good. on 14 inch is acceptable. on 13.3 a bit challenging.
        QHD with 100% scaling on 15 inch laptop is challenging already. so welcome to scaling with QHD on 13.3 incher.

  • Damn! Just bought a Ryzen 4500U 14" Ideapad. Paid $815 net of cashback, though.

    • +3

      That was a great deal for a good laptop. This is a good deal for a great laptop.

  • +1

    No fingerprint reader? What an oversight!

    • Unless you specifically need a fingerprint reader, it has a 720p HD IR Camera + TOF 3D for Windows Hello and other verification.

      • +1

        I'm a little hesitant about face recog. Not that Facebook and Google don't already know exactly who I am, but do I really need yet another large corporation to have me on file?

  • I have spent 3 months trying to get this supplied from China (ETA 17Sep).

    I hope everybody enjoys receiving their amazing laptop with very little effort!

    • Does Lenovo provide global warranty?

      • Only on specific products. You need to look up the serial number per device.

  • Is 300nits enough with a glossy screen?

    • +1

      I'm currently using a laptop with 300 nits screen and I normally use it with less than 50% brightness.
      Of course, 400 nits or more is always better but most of the current AMD laptops have 220nits screens with 45% coverage.
      This screen, even not the best in class, at least can match the Intel laptops' offering. QHD, 16:10 ratio, good colour coverage, can't really ask more.

      • Is your screen glossy tho? I find a matte vs glossy finish makes a huge difference as to high bright the screen needs to be.

        • +2

          Good question. No, it's a convertible so it's a Gorilla screen. Based on reviews it seems fine for this laptop. I'll have to see it myself after my unit arrives.
          Sometimes the listed specs are not that accurate. A lot of screens with claimed 300 nits are measured to be 280 nits, and a further drop to 250nits after colour calibration. While some 300 nits screens are measured 340, 380 nits.

          • @[Deactivated]: Nice. I spend alot of time on trains and the glare from the sun coming in through the window can cause problems. Probably not much of an issue if you are usually inside

      • If you are looking for and AMD based laptop with a 400 to 1000 nits, 13" touch, Gorilla Glass screen. The HP ProBook 435 G7 might be an option.

        https://h20386.www2.hp.com/AustraliaStore/Merch/Product.aspx…

        It's $2148 retail price for the 1000 nits version with a 4700u. If you have a HP Corporate account, it comes down to about $1800.

        • Yeah, I almost bought this one but I just can't go past the look of this laptop especially the airport runway chin.

  • +1

    Ticks all my boxes except for the 13" screen size. All the better specced not gaming laptops seem to be smaller screen sizes. I already have an iPad with a 10" screen, prefer my laptop to be 15.6"

    • My thoughts exactly. I wish I could find this exact thing with a 15" or even a 14" screen. Well, a discrete graphics card, even a MX250 would be nice too, but that's just pushing it.

      • +1

        4800U's integrated graphics card can push out the same performance as the mx250.

  • Does anyone got the Unidays 10% discount to work on top of this price ?

    • There are no Lenovo discounts on the Unidays website at the moment.

  • Can I play dota 2 on this?

    • Yeah, 1080p medium shouldn't be a problem. However, wait for the intel 11th Gen range if you care about gaming.

      • +1

        Will wait and see. Considering all that has been seen so far in detail is from Intel. In the presentation they mentioned the AMD 4800u more then their own product. Also if you look at the footnotes of the presentation they really tried their best to put AMD in a bad light vs their new 11 gen range.

        In regards to the 4800u. You should get

        Dota 2 1080p Vulkan Best Looking Preset AVG FPS 52~

        Dota 2 1080p Vulkan Fastest Preset AVG FPS 120~

  • Which one would be better? This one or IdeaPad E14 - I7 10510u 16gb 2gb gc 512gb. Mostly work/uni related use. Some audio/video auditing but not much and almost no gaming.

    • +1

      Avoid the 14nm++++++++ CPUs at all cost.

    • +1

      The Ryzen 4800u CPU is much faster and more power efficient then the i7 10510u. The 4800u with TDP configurations of 15w and 25W is up there in terms of performance with the 45W i9-10980HK (Which is Intel's fastest mobile processor at the moment). I have attached a review which indicates the performance below. The 4800u is up to 170% faster then the fastest Intel i7-10710u processor, depending on the application.

      https://www.techspot.com/review/2096-amd-ryzen-4800u/

      • +2

        It's strange that Intel is claiming that their 11th Gen CPUs are 25% faster than their 10th Gen in single-core performance. The 11th Gen CPUs are still 4-core.
        So if we say the Intel 10th Gen CPUs have a performance mark of 100, then the 11th Gen is around 125.
        The Ryzen 4800U according to this review has 2.2 times of the performance of the best Intel10th Gen CPU under the same TDP. So the 4800U has the performance mark of 220.
        So the question is why Intel is also claiming that the 11th Gen CPUs can have twice the performance of 4800U?

        • If you look at the "Notices and Disclaimers" for Intel's Tiger Lake launch, you will see the tests were conducted by Principled Technologies. They don't have a very good reputation since the infamous whitepaper comparing with Ryzen in 2018, where the testing methods were found to be very flawed.

          https://www.techpowerup.com/248427/principled-technologies-r…

  • +1

    Checked shipping date after ordering on Wednesday. Says "expected to ship" on 31st Dec 2020. Beware.

    • +1

      Can you talk to Lenovo's sales rep to confirm the ETA? Maybe it's a system error?
      I ordered one yesterday so I can't see the ETA yet. On the website, they are saying 6-9 days shipping. When I placed the order yesterday the sales rep also confirmed with me the 6-9 days shipping time is correct.

      • +3

        Mine has updated to shipping October 1st. I did order it before the OP posted on Ozbargain though.

  • Thank you people. S540 it is then.
    It states ships in 4-5 weeks now.

  • Anyone managed to get a better price via Live Chat ? Now that the base model with the 4600U is discounted to $1179 (vs $1209 on the edu portal) on the main Lenovo website itself.

    • I'm planning to cancel my order as it says the ETA is next year. I'll probably order one from China and get it forwarded. The price is only around $900 in China plus shipping. I can probably lock one in under $1000.

      • 900 AUD in China where ? The lowest price on JD is 5499 Yuan which is 1102 AUD + taxes (GST 10% which is charged at source by JD or the shipper by DHL or wholever does the clearance) with no warranty + shipping charges of at least $50-$60. The local price if 1400 odd with a 2 year onsite warranty seemed great.

  • Is everyone else getting a January 2021 Shipping Date?

    • Yes, Jan delivery date. I'm so disappointed as when I placed the order the page says ship in 6 to 9 days.

      • Have you tried to give them a call to confirm yet?

        • I called and made and enquiry, to confrim the date. Will know in about 2 days but I also will be cancelling order if its that long.

      • +1

        Thanks for your email.

        This is Batrisha from Lenovo.

        As checked with my internal for the shipping date, the ETA provided is the dummy ETA.

        Website showing for 4-5 weeks to be ship. Kindly check for the ETA early next week as it will be refresh and updated accordingly.

        Email from Lenovo

        • Did you get an update on your ETA?

      • Have you gotten an updated ETA since then? I was just about to order one and the rep said even though it's gone back to a ships in 10-15 days ETA, the likely factory-door ETA he said is likely 4-5 weeks. But you guys ordered a while ago now and have been getting Jan predictions

  • Ordered on the 9th. Was due to arrive end of September. Now showing up arriving January. Did any one take a screen grab showing the ships in 6-9 days?

  • As mentioned before I ordered mine before this deal got posted on Ozbargain. My order has already shipped and is estimated to arrive before the end of the month according to Lenovo and courier tracking.

    • Jealous, could I ask when did you make the order? I made mine on 10 Sept

      • Just ordered about 1hr before the deal was posted on Ozbargain.

  • +1

    Mine came today, it's pretty great. Contrast is weird out of the box (lord knows who thought it was a good decision) but you can fix it by disabling Vari-Bright in the AMD Radeon settings. Otherwise no complaints.

    • I thinking about getting one too but cant decide between the Yoga slim 7 and the S540. How is the touchpad; similar to a macbook?

      • Haven't really used a Macbook touchpad all that much but to me it's pretty nice. Haven't had any issues with mistouches and it's very smooth and gestures work well.
        I've done a fair bit of looking into the Slim 7 vs s540, and availability aside my understanding is:
        Slim 7 has a better keyboard because it has more travel and it has better gaming performance due to the faster memory. (Worth noting I'm pretty happy with the keyboard as well, it has nice feedback despite the shorter travel.) Slim 7 has slightly better battery life due to the 1080p screen and better I/O.
        The s540 has a better screen, 16:10 vs 16:9 and is more compact feeling as a result. Build quality is largely a wash but apparently the s540 is a bit more rigid, particularly the hinge.

        If you game and are happy to wait for whenver the Slim 7 is in stock, I would go with that. Otherwise really just preference regarding size and 16:10 vs 16:9.

        • How long did it take to get to you if you don't mind me asking? Shipping time has dropped back to 10-15 days vs 8 weeks or whatever it was at its worst

          • +1

            @alex-a: Ordered 8PM 08/09/20, shipped out 14/09/20, got to me in Sydney the morning of 21/09/20. Came from China btw not from an Australian warehouse.

  • +1

    Thanks for the post - nice screen, build and power in a slim 13" laptop to replace my 8 year old VAIO.

    I just purchased the 4800U/16GB version on the edu store for $1359 - shipping ETA below. I also got the dock which I think will really help (HDMI) given the lack of ports.

    edit: shipping details were for the dock :|

    Very detailed review on the laptop posted above (but note that it only has 8GB with the 4800U) here

    Not a lot out there on the laptop…. Here are a few other links with discussion for those interested:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/ilcw5n/lenovo_ideap…
    https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/gm2rpq/lenovo_ideapa…
    https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDLaptops/comments/gxab80/uk_accor…
    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-s-13-inch-IdeaPad-S540-…

  • To those who got this. How's the build quality and battery life? Does it have backlit kb?

    • +2

      I ordered on the day the deal was posted and it arrived in late-Sep I think. The chassis is aluminum which is light and sturdy. You can flip the lip easily with one hand. The battery lasts pretty long even with a QHD screen, and you can set the CPU speed using the Lenovo Vantage to Performance/Intelligent/Battery-saving. Backlit KB with two brightness settings. Only complaint is lack of I/O but I have made do with a USB-C hub. Otherwise Ryzen 7+ 16GB means you will have no issues doing any office, surfing and light gaming (I am getting 100FPS on League for example).

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