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ThinkPad E480 / 14" FHD / i7-8550U / 256GB SSD / 8GB RAM / RX550 GPU / $987 Shipped (Add Wireless KB/Mouse $1, Case $1) @ Lenovo

1030
CASHREWARDS
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A great price on this nicely spec'd ThinkPad. Apply coupon CASHREWARDS at checkout for the discount. Call Lenovo's telesales number on 1300 557 073 (until 5:30pm weekdays) with any questions. Ends 11:59pm AEST Thursday, unless sold out or withdrawn prior. Enjoy :)

  • Intel Gen8 i7-8550U Quad Core CPU
  • 14" FHD IPS (1920 x 1080)
  • 256GB SSD M.2 PCIe
  • 8.0GB DDR4 SODIMM 2400MHz
  • AMD RX550 2GB GPU
  • 1x USBC3.0, 2x USB3.1, 1x USB2.0, HDMI, MicroSD, RJ45
  • 329mm x 242mm x 19.9mm (1.75kg)

Click here for 10% cashback via Cashrewards. Ensure last click before purchase is from this link.

Please note the cashback rate of 10% is valid only until 11:59PM AEST May 7.

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closed Comments

  • Any chance of a discount on Lenovo L380 Yoga or Lenovo L390 Yoga?

    • Is it good? I am thinking of Dell XPS 13 4K 2019 or Macbook Pro.

      • +3

        Decide between Windows/Linux/Hackintosh v MacOS first. Then make your choice.

      • +3

        The XPS13 is an excellent machine, but don't go for the 4K screen, it's not worth it on a 13" screen. The FHD screen is just as good and you get a better battery life out of it. I bought the 4K, returned it and have been loving the FHD. Save your money, save your battery.

      • +2

        Don't forget to check out the Huawei Matebooks too. The matebook 13, 14 and X pro are amazing value. I'm hoping to get the 14 but still waiting on Australian release date info. The X pro 2019 is available I believe from the Microsoft Store

  • Hi TA
    Any good deals ir cdeos for the Roborock s50 or equivalent

  • Good spec for the price

    • The coupon should be type in capital letters.

  • Cant see price of 987

    • Apply coupon CASHREWARDS at checkout for the discount.

  • +1

    Does anyone know how the E-series compare with the famous T-series?

    Would it be better to get a brand new E-series or a second-hand T-series with similar specs?

    • +9

      I suggest you wait for a proper 2019 model or 2018 models to drop in price. This one uses 2017 components.

      i7-8550U (Kaby Lake Refresh) cannot beat i5 Coffee Lake (i5-8259u)
      USB 3.1 ports are USB 3.1 gen 1 ports (basically USB 3.0 renamed to USB 3.1 gen 1)
      Bluetooth is 4.2, not 5
      No intel latest wifi chip, which supports 160Hz channel on 5Ghz

      If you believe this is a bargain price and have realistic expectation (this CPU is i5 at best in today's standard), then this one is fine. Not a fan of second hand items and getting a second hand 2017 T-series laptop doesn't feel good.

      • There is no coffee lake t series! Are you replying to the post or talking about some other laptop?

        • I was replying to kzl on "or a second-hand T-series with similar specs".

          As for lack of Cofee Lake based laptops, that's part of the issue isn't it? Why laptop makers continue to sell Kaby Lake R based products? The chipset used for those CPUs is dated and also PC laptop makers really don't want to show Apple that they really can do better in every area. Maybe it is to due to cost…

          Mobile phones are already moving to Wifi 6, Bluetooth 5. Apple went with Coffee Lake last year so why PC are lagging behind? My thinking was with PC, we get better parts. I use both Mac and PC, but at least for PC parts I bought this year so far, I made sure they are not lagging behind Apple devices I bought last year. While I don't agree with the way intel did NGFF wifi in the 8th gen, but cannot really complain spending $19 gives you Bluetooth 5 and 160Hz 5Ghz wifi (obviously you need a proper 8th gen chipset).

          You can spin it any way you like, but 2017 tech is still 2017 tech.

      • What do you mean by second hand items?

        These products are new.

        While it might not be using the latest tech (arguably - as the latest xps's still use this cpu, and not using coffee lake yet), ddr4, NVME ssd, dedicated GPU(while not amazing, still usable and better than hd620) and 14" under 2kg seems pretty decent to me :)

        • +2

          What do you mean by second hand items?

          kzl: Would it be better to get a brand new E-series or a second-hand T-series with similar specs?

    • I bought one (e490) and kinda regretted it

      1) Fingerprint reader sucks, doesnt work after couple days
      2) outside platic is a dirt magnet
      3) Cant easily play my oneplus 4k 60fps videos, no hardware acceleration (got the one with igpu)

  • How good is RX550 vs MX150?

  • Great price especially with KB/Mouse and Case.

  • +1

    can i play league of legends and fortnite with this?

    • Yes

  • +12

    Specs look good on paper but poor cooling solution results in a heavily throttled performance after short usage. GPU can't operate at even mediocre levels when reaching 70° this fast in this build and is probably even outperformed by an MX150. Plus its SSD is apparently more comparable to SATA speedwise even though it's stating a NVMe connection. I've been looking at E480 and its successor E490 for quite a while but decided against it because the specs can't seem perform at a desirable level and thus its otherwise sufficient GPU is wasted. It promises a lot but can't hold up to it sadly.

    • +1

      This is really disappointing to read. I posted a Surface deal yesterday which I was ready to purchase, deal then expired. Now made the decision to buy this, and now holding back against buying again…

    • Do you think an XPS13 with same specs would out perform this?

      • +2

        I'm fairly certain the current gen XPS 13's all have Intel graphics. They are too light / thin to have dedicated AMD GPU's.

        they do have Thunderbolt, so it is possible to turn them into gaming machines provided you are okay with spending the extra $500~600 on a external GPU setup.

        If you want a budget gaming laptop you can take a look at the Dell G3 or G5 series, the deal I posted a while back is still obtainable. GTX 1060 will outperform the RX550 GPU by a significant margin.
        https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/449711

        Just use PMUM20 coupon code instead.

        • By performance, I should have clarified, definitely did not mean gaming. I was referring to batch editing of photos (specifically in adobe lightroom).

          The G series laptops monitor lets me down, otherwise would have jumped on it.

          The thinkpad IPS Panel seems a bit better.

          I'm worried that with this, while editing and tabbing through photos, I will start to see CPU/Hard Drive/Some video throttling… Any comments on this?

          • @Tech and cars: well yeah, if you are a photographer than the primary focus is the display and color accuracy, CPU and hard drive performance is actually not terribly important. In the $1400~1600 price point all the ultrabooks you look at have very similar specifications, usually a low voltage Core i7 and fast NVME based storage.

            If you are buying a Dell XPS 13 all of the models they are selling have similar CPU performance to this Lenovo, with the Dell XPS 15 offering you the higher voltage variants with 6-core / 12 threads. It's just a toss-up between between portability and speed.

            Don't buy the Lenovo E-series or Dell G-series if you want colour accurate work.

            • @scrimshaw: @scrimshaw - thanks so much for your response. Good to know the e-series is not the best for colour accurate work. I thought it would be, being an IPS panel.

      • +2

        I would second what scrimshaw posted about XPS 13. Even a dedicated GPU as poorly implemented as E480's RX550 should and would outperform an Intel Graphics like the widely used 620. The questions is what you're looking for right now:

        If you're looking for a laptop capable of decent gaming you should look at 15" size as you get the same or better specs for significantly less. And you have a much bigger selection as well.

        If it's portability you're looking for e.g. low weight and small size you'll mostly be stuck with a MX150 GPU, which is good enough for med. settings on older games. Though there're two different models circulating of the MX150 with one performing up to 20% weaker than the other. Only way to find out is to check detailed reviews unfortunately.

        Last but not least if you're after build quality people are going nuts over XPS. I only got my hands on one recently and they definetely look and feel better but their prices are so jacked up in comparison to other same specs laptops that I could hardly justify buying one myself.

        Maybe you're in the same position as me, looking for a <14"/<2kg laptop with a dedicated GPU. So far I've come across Lenovo E490, Asus Zenbook UX430UN (albeit refurbished) and MSI PS42 - I've yet to decide.

        • https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-XPS-15-9570-Laptop-Intel-i5…

          This seems to hit the mark at roughly $1680?

          • +1

            @Tech and cars: What are your main requirements?

            Batch photo processing, how many in a batch? How big per photo? 24 mega pixels or more like 50?

            Form factor. Will you move around a lot? Is weight a big factor?

            Any video editing apps you use a lot? Gaming, if required, what games?

            Is 4K to external display a must?

            Do you have a desktop PC?

          • +1

            @Tech and cars: Quick heads up that the current Ebay discount code is capped at $300, bringing it down to "only" $1800.

          • +1

            @Tech and cars: If your main usage is Adobe Lightroom, GTX1050 does provide a significant advantage over intel's integrated GPU:

            https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Lightroom-Classic…

            Even if you double the 1060 result for 1050, it still beats HD 630 by 8.5 times. That's not something a slightly faster CPU can achieve. That gap widens as the photos get larger.

            Also check out the following (it's for photoshop CC, but still worth a quick read):

            https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2018…

            Sharpen, resize, GPU does offer a big boost. Blur, the difference is much less (I really doubt blur is a key factor). Resize - GPU really shines.

            P.S. I assume you are using the latest version of Lightroom CC. Some laptops offer the use of both intel GPU (to save power) and nVidia GPU. So, do make sure the nVidia GPU is in use when doing batch image processing.

            That said, the 8th gen CPUs are still a bit hard to judge. You would think a H series CPU would beat the U series, given that they are the same family (Coffee Lake), but i5-8259U came out ahead (though only just):

            https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-8300H-vs…

            Despite i5-8259U has Iris Plus Graphics 655, which is 65% faster than HD 630, it is still nowhere near GTX 1050.

            • @netsurfer: @netsurfer - thank you for the detailed response. Good to know the GPU plays a big part.

    • +2

      and is probably even outperformed by an MX150.

      Unless you get NVIDIA's secret underclocked version that a lot of laptops are now getting without any way to distinguish at purchase ;)

  • How does it compare to the 585 that’s on sale?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/454628

    Sorry quite noob at this. I’ve checked gpu cpu stats on the benchmark website for comparison, and aside from the portability issue (14 inch vs 15.6 inch) and extra storage drive space…is there much other difference? Please chime in!

    • +1

      I've commented here (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/7231923/redir) regarding the similar specced newer E490 vs E585. The i7 here will out perform the Ryzen 2500U but not significantly. My opinion stays that the intel range E series doesn't worth $200+ more than the AMD Ryzen device, unless the extra battery life (which is negated by the discrete graphics) and better intel WiFi performance is critical for you.

      • That makes sense. Thanks. What about the dedicated gpu?

        • +1

          I'd expect the discrete RX550 to perform ~1.5-2X better than the integrated Vega 8, for a while, and then when throttling kicks in, it'll more realistically be in the 1.1-1.6X range depending on games. So it'll depend on what you are expecting to play/how you want to game.

          The current range of AMD discrete mobility graphics really just don't quite hold up well to nVidia's range in both performance and efficiency (as much as I want AMD to do well to increase the competitiveness in the industry). I see that if you want all-rounder performance (higher than intel level graphics), on a not-high budget, only game casually on low settings (and not the heavy AAA titles), then AMD Ryzen. If you want to do any more demanding gaming, go for a laptop with nVidia discrete graphics.

          There will be limitations in terms of gaming in a ultraportable form factor in the budget space.

          • @zrmx: To add to this and as a general tip for your search I would suggest to look for laptops with a NVIDIA MX150 which appears to be the most common and suitable GPU for laptops in this price range. It still offers a significant performance boost over integrated graphics and cooling is mostly efficient enough to prevent strong throtteling like on this one's RX550.
            Just beware that there are 2 different versions of MX150 with one clocking 20% less performance than the full fletched one. It's hard to find out which one is used so always look for detailed reviews, as the weaker variant is more common.

            • @dingi123: Yea I'm aware of the MX150, and as you mentioned, there is a lower performing variant and it is very common in 14" and below devices. It is at 940MX/MX130 level of performance, which is actually similar to Ryzen Mobile's integrated Vega level of performance. Hence depending on the price point, the lower performing MX150 variant actually doesn't provide any benefit over the integrated Vega, and negates the power saving aspect of an Intel CPU (which is what it had been paired with, as there have been no AMD APU/CPU device with MX150 so far).

              Ultraportables with the higher performing MX150 is generally in the >$900 price range for non-second hand devices with decent spec (8+GB RAM, 250+GB SSD storage), if not more often >$1100. It becomes a different pricing category vs <$900. From $1100, you start getting availabilities for good enough devices with discrete graphics that gives better experience (for gaming).

              I agree with your comments above, although there is always a pricing context to be considered (so far I'm interpreting it as <$900 or <$1000, considering, the effective prices of the two devices mentioned).

  • Hi TA, any deals on Thinkpad T-series laptops?

  • +1

    I had 1 of these used it for 3 weeks overseas i had problems with the wireless dropping out constantly and i also had a dead pixel on the screen i wasn't really impressed with the build quality felt cheap and flimsy

    On the upside dealing with lenovo was very easy and they offeredme a refund / new product without any issue so customer service is great i opted to take the refund

  • Is this the one that had a bios update that crippled the RX550's performance?

    • Yes, that's the one.
      Although to be fair there's not much to be crippled if the GPU can only perform at it's best for a few minutes before getting too hot, anyway. It's a hardware design flaw which they tried to fix/mask with a software solution.

  • I have the same model but with 16GB of Ram. I do not recommend this laptop because of poor battery performance. Battery do not hold charge even for 4 hours at moderate use. (No game, no movie. Just MS word and Adobe illustrator). Pretty much shame for a laptop that is just 8 months old.

    • +1

      Its battery is only 45Wh.

      My XPS 15 has 97Wh and I get roughly double that at light use, so it's about right.

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