We’re still in the thick of a pandemic but life goes on and if you’re an employee who’s now working from home or a student who’s about to embark on a home school setup, you’ll need a computer. Now a desktop is good if you already have it, but with everyone being at home, you might not be in a quiet room always, so you’ll need to be a bit more mobile. That’s where a laptop comes in.
The beauty of a laptop is that you’re not fixed to a single space so if you don’t have a permanent office or study room, you can move around the house to find that quiet place you need when working or studying. That said, a lot of you may still be in the market for a new laptop. Lenovo is bringing an entire lineup dedicated to offering the perfect user-experience especially for people that want performance in a truly slim and portable form factor but still have that aura of elegance.
In celebration of Lenovo’s extended LSS (Lenovo Summer Sale), we’re in Wave 3 now, there are some nice new models we wanted to focus on and share with you what’s hot, what’s not and which ones will fit your needs.
SERIES DIFFERENTIATION
Lenovo IdeaPad – IdeaPad is Lenovo’s offering for a general audience. It has sub-series but in a general sense, the IdeaPad series is aimed at folks that particularly want a more traditional laptop that features pretty much what everyone expects from a laptop. The IdeaPad series spans solutions for all user needs including light office use, all the way to some heavy computing.
Lenovo Yoga – The Yoga series from Lenovo is exactly what the name suggests: flexible. Along with being super-slim and compact, Lenovo Yoga laptops offer elegance and versatility as well as flexibility so users, especially creatives, have the option of using their device in the most comfortable way. Whether it’s with the keyboard, a pen, or even as a tablet, there’s always the option for all occasions.
Lenovo Legion – Featuring a mix of traditional Lenovo elegance and functional aesthetics, Lenovo’s Legion brand is the gaming brand to look out for if you want a non-gaudy, stereotypical gaming laptop. Sure, there’s RGB but Lenovo has cut back on the black colors and the sharp corners and edges that define much of the gaming market today. Legion brings a classy, elegant design that belies monstrous performance complimented by decent cooling. Legion specs are all about performance and regardless if you’re gaming or doing work, Legion gets the job done.
CHOOSING YOUR LENOVO
For this list, we’ll be looking at the products included in the Lenovo Summer Sale Wave 3. Not only will you get a reliable laptop, you also get some nice freebies. You can get up to Php20,000 worth of premium items just by availing select participating products from participating dealers. Some of the premium items you can get are Herschel bags and Lenovo accessories.
LSS Wave 3 includes a good range of products spanning plenty of IdeaPads and Yoga models. As mentioned above, the distinction primarily here is form but if you choose performance over portability, both the Yoga and IdeaPad series offer a nice variation. There are a lot of options and options are always good.
SPECIFICATIONS AND WHAT THEY MEAN
Explaining each and every component and what they do is something I’d love to go into detail in this article but that would derail us from our main topic. Still, here’s a quick guide in letting you know which is which and how to determine if you need something or not.
- Processor – The processor is the brain of the computer and it’s usually the first spec that people refer to when talking about a powerful system like a laptop. Tasks like browsing the web, doing your emails, word processing, and modules for business apps usually don’t require much CPU power. With Intel CPUs, the naming may sound technical but the Core series model usually tells us how a product stacks.
A Core i9 will be a top-end product which is good for heavy tasks and a Core i7 should be a decent all-rounder. This goes the same for a Core i5, and anything lower is decent for entry tasks.
The CPU affects performance the most so if you’re just typing, you won’t experience the difference between a Core i9 and a Core i5 but when it comes to rendering a video project, a more powerful CPU can shave hours off rendering.
- RAM/Memory – To make sense of computer memory the easiest way possible, the principle of memory or RAM is this simple: the more memory you have, the more tasks your computer can do at the same time.
You’ve probably seen the memes online. An app like Google Chrome, despite being light on the CPU, can eat so much memory. The same goes for any application. If you have an image-editing software open with a large resolution file while you’re browsing and you have a lot of tabs open, you may start to feel some slowdown.
More RAM is simply better and it is easily upgradable.
- Graphics – This gets complicated because there’s a lot at play here and speaking of play, games are usually what people attribute to when talking about graphics. We wanted to focus more on the work and study products for this article but Lenovo does offer some gaming options in Wave 3 of LSS.
Simply put, if your laptop has a discrete graphics card, it should be able to deliver better graphics performance when handling GPU tasks such as video playback, graphics acceleration, and of course, games.
Integrated solutions are more than capable of handling 4K video playback and GPU acceleration on productivity software and on compatible applications, even GPU accelerated rendering via the integrated graphics.
- SSD Storage – We’ll just skip hard drives altogether. SSDs have made laptops their home and I highly urge everyone to choose SSDs over hard drives when buying laptops. SSDs give the benefits of faster performance overall, giving your system a more snappy feel by loading applications faster and opening your files faster. SSDs also have no moving parts and use so little power, it barely affects your battery life.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to our recommendations. If you still have questions, feel free to drop a comment and let us know.
Browsing, Email, Light word processing and general office use
For light usage, depending on what you do and how you do it, it affects actual preferences. If you’re just at home doing typing work, any model would do but if you have a hard time seeing, a larger screen should be a consideration. Opting for an IdeaPad Flex 5 (9WPH/9XPH) as a general budget option is a good start. Not only do you get decent specs which are good enough for a lot of tasks, you also have a unique model that can offer a tablet-like experience which is great for creative people.
If you need to go occasionally to the office and don’t want to lug around a traditional laptop especially if you’re biking to work, a Lenovo Yoga C640 is a compact option that you can easily take with you in a smaller bag.
Spreadsheet and Business Apps
For workers who are on a work-from-home arrangement and whose companies use web-based or client-based applications to interface with the company system, as well as email apps and word processing and spreadsheet like Excel, you’re better off with something with beefier specs.
The IdeaPad Flex 5 (2PPH) model is well-rounded with the added benefits of that versatile screen. If you’re doing occasional Zoom calls or video call meetings, that flexible stand works wonders.
For a more robust option, the Yoga S740 and its various models offer great overall productivity performance while offering great versatility when it comes to portability.
Mobile Workstation
For the power user that demands performance in a take-anywhere body, the Lenovo Yoga S740 (17PH) variant featuring the Intel Core i9-9980H offers the most CPU power amongst the LSS Wave 3 stack. If you use professional applications or multimedia software, this is your option right here.
The Yoga C940 and Yoga S940 also provide a more modern variant for a power system.
All models provide Thunderbolt capabilities, allowing you to access data on faster Thunderbolt drives and letting you work without storage or display constraints.
College Life and Gaming
For the university kids looking for a versatile laptop that’s not only powerful and compact but also capable of playing some games, the GTX1650-equipped Yoga S740 is high on the recommendation lists. Its 16GB of memory and 1TB hard drive provides enough space for research files as well as video presentations and that GTX1650 not only helps in GPU accelerated apps, it also gives a nice break from school life by providing an escape through gaming.
Conclusion
Those are just the quick recommendations that we can do. The Lenovo Summer Sale Wave 3 also includes some nice options for portable-seekers like the Yoga S730 and IdeaPad S540 among others. There’s no similar perfect suggestion for everyone and if you feel some of the products we mentioned don’t fit you, drop us a line in the comment section so we can help you out. Regardless of the line, all of Lenovo’s devices feature innovations that allow the company to provide a complete smarter technology experience and enable more people and businesses to unlock their potential, even in the middle of a global pandemic. Lenovo’s vast portfolio of smart devices (PCs, tablets, AR/VR, smartphones), software, and services provides users access to better opportunities, greater connectivity, and the ability to transcend limits, which make Lenovo the industry’s most prolific end-to-end global technology organization.
As a laptop owner, you shouldn’t be restricted by the constraints of a desktop and that freedom should be tailored to you. Lenovo has a wide range of products and while it’s easy to come up with this list, we know there are still people out there who can’t figure it out. If you’re still not sure, the best advice we can give is to buy what you can afford. It’s better to have a system that’s there when you need it than still thinking about if you want to buy it.
To make that choice easier, Lenovo is extending its Lenovo Summer Sale until July 31, 2020. Over Php40,000 worth of premium items are in store for people who choose Lenovo.
Customers buying Lenovo products from June 1 to July 31, 2020 are entitled to premium gifts from Lenovo.
- Yoga C Series and S Series buyers will receive Php41,710 worth of premium items:
- Herschel Trade Luggage (worth Php12,990)
- Herschel Little America Backpack (worth Php6,490)
- Lenovo 14,000mAh Laptop Powerbank (worth Php4,995)
- Yoga mouse (worth Php2,995)
- Lenovo B210 Backpack (worth Php2,995)
- Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 Lifetime License (worth Php6,995)
- Lenovo 7” Tab E7 3G (Worth Php4,250)
- IdeaPad Slim 5i buyers will receive Php20,475 worth of premium items:
- Herschel Little America Backpack (worth Php6,490)
- Lenovo B210 Backpack (worth Php2,995)
- Lenovo 65W Travel Adapter (worth Php3,995)
- Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 Lifetime License (worth Php6,995)
To avail of these gifts, customers should fill out the form in the link below and submit it with a valid ID and copy of the invoice for their Lenovo purchase:
https://www.bit.ly/LenovoSummerSalePromo2020
Customers may claim their gifts up to 60 days since the date of purchase. Take note that the Lenovo B210 backpack and MS Office license will be bundled together with the unit. The Herschel Trade luggage and Little America backpack, Yoga Mouse, Lenovo laptop powerbank, and travel adapter will be delivered by Lenovo Philippines. Deliveries may take up to 90 days due to government restrictions on GCQ and ECQ. Delivery is free of charge.
Each invoice is only valid for claiming one promo. Once claimed, you cannot claim another and it cannot be claimed by the reseller/retailer on behalf of the customer. To get your hands on the Lenovo devices, buy them at VillMan Computers, Silicon Valley, PC Express, Complink, Gigahertz, Octagon, and Abenson.
With that out of the way, we wish everyone the best of health and stay safe.