Lenovo IdeaPad 5 14-inch laptop – $589.00 at Walmart
(roughly £450)
This Lenovo device is the cheapest AMD Ryzen 8-core laptop on the market by far, undercutting all the competition. For your money, you also get a 14-inch full HD IPS screen, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD – check it out.
Lenovo no longer lists the AMD Ryzen-powered IdeaPad 5 on its own site, and we don’t know why. Fortunately, the laptop is still available at Walmart – and at a seriously affordable price too.
On paper, the IdeaPad 5 (model numbers 81YM0060US, 81YM005YUS or 81YM0061US) has a lot going for it. With a rock-bottom price, the machine significantly undercuts the previous cheapest AMD Ryzen 8-core laptop.
What do you get for your money? A choice of three colours, a 14-inch full HD IPS display, an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U CPU, 8GB of DDR4 memory (soldered), a 256GB PCIe SSD and a 57WHr battery that should last up to 14 hours.
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.
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.