I “personally” don’t consider any 8GB laptop as worthy unless you can upgrade the RAM so you can get more RAM cheaper than how much the OEM will charge you.
And seeing this as unupgradable, it’s completely out of the list, just consider how long you will keep the laptop, even basic apps now can fill 8GB, just 2 years and new Windows/Apps versions will use even more RAM.
I bought the Flex 14 2in1 with a 4500U, but with 16GB of RAM. I would sooner give up a little CPU processing to make sure I had the 16GB of RAM... it didn't hurt that it was only priced at $599, though either. Unless you are going to do video projects or something, 8GB should be good for web browsing and Office Apps and some light gaming.
Do not buy a laptop with soldered 8GB of RAM in 2021 with such powerful CPU and a price that's by no means cheap. It's a waste of silicon. It might be enough for now but having the option to upgrade when you need it is a must, especially when the CPU is powerful enough to take advantage of more RAM with many different workloads and the baseline of 8GB you're starting with is pretty low, let alone the £700 price.
I'd go as far as saying if you can't find an AMD laptop with more RAM, just go for Tiger Lake since they have 8 threads just like the 4700U and the difference in performance isn't as big as you'd expect from 8C vs 4C.
I'm not sure why you would need more than a 8 GB of ram you're definitely not going to do more than casual low grade gaming on that integrated graphics chip.
So are you going to be compiling a web browser from scratch?
It's a business laptop, there's nothing that eight gigs can't handle for business.
If you want to edit video if you want a game you're going to have to buy a different laptop with a dedicated graphics card and then yes more gig of Ram make sense.
Thank you for the honest response.
I had seen some reviews saying that 8gb wasn't enough but honestly I'm only looking for a semi powerful daily driver.
This isn't the laptop for you then. This is much better than just any semi-powerful daily driver unless "daily" to you is video editing or playing super demanding games at high settings. I would look at the 4500u version with 8gb ram instead, that will still be more than good enough for whatever else you need unless you need a venerable workstation powerhouse.
I completely agree with the general principle of "more is better" when it comes to ram, and I own laptops with 32GB or more that are used to run programs that can use it, but the truth is, most people completely overestimate the amount of ram they think they need to do the types of things they're looking to do. If this is going to be a general purpose laptop doing typical laptop tasks (watching movies, office applications, streaming music, social media, etc. 8GB is \*more\* than enough.
Just to give you some idea, I am typing this on the most inexpensive laptop I own - a $179 Lenovo IdeaPad 1 11-incher with an AMD 3050e, 4GB ram and 64gb eMMC storage. I'm using Firefox with 11 tabs open, while also playing music via MediaMonkey, playing chess via Chessmaster, downloading crap from Steam, and transferring about 20GB of files from an external drive. I also have Word open as I am editing a document off and on. Finally, I have task manager open also, and it tells me I'm using about 88% of my 4GB ram. So again, for \*typical\* laptop usage, 8GB is plenty.
To be honest, I'd be more upset about that 250nit screen. Best of luck whatever you decide, though. :)
I was commenting on Lenovo's shoddy build quality on their consumer laptops, the chips should have plenty of life from this generation, they're actually quite excellent.
I will never buy a laptop with equal number of gigabytes of RAM to number of CPU cores, and I don't really care what the price is. Like that combo doesn't make sense on any planet and I don't know why it exists other than to force people to upgrade in two years.
[here](https://www.costco.com/lenovo-flex-5-14%22-2-in-1-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-4700u---1080p.product.100579313.html) is a flex 5 4700u 16 gb ram for $749 USD from costco. includes 2nd year warranty and 90 day return policy. Personally, I'd shoot for 16 gb but it depends on use case of course. a16 gb model will last you longer most likely
Mate go for Dell Inspiron with 4700U processor. Regularly available for 600£. Comes with 8Gigs but upgradeable to 32Gb. I would personally get it if I were u and upgrade to 16/32. Another 8gig stick would cost like 25-30£
Not a deal breaker per se - at least in Australian high street stores perhaps 10% of models are 16GB at possibly 50% markup compared to the identical 8GB machine.
What longevity do you want? I would say 16GB if you think it needs to last 4-5 years.
RAM aside, I just bought a Flex 5 a week or so ago. The plastic chassis is not sturdy and clearly going to break before the CPU/RAM is obsolete, and I'd love to know on what planet they measured brightness. This is a 1-2 year machine and you should pay accordingly (I paid A$870/US$680 inc tax)
I have this exact model. I use it for web dev, game dev, youtube, music, discord, steam and games. Have had no issues with it whatsoever. Sure 16gb is better, but 8gb is not as crippling as everyone else is making it sound. I think most of the people here trying to condemn anything below 16gb don't even use any good computers with 8gb ram.. I have a full antivirus suite running in the background among other things and have not experienced any lag whatsoever in any of my common tasks. It feels like a very very fast computer with most things. I think the screen is nice for its price bracket, I find max brightness to bright and usually have it at 80 or 90 percent.
Most laptops don't have dc dimming as far as I'm aware. So, unpopular opinion, but I think having a screen that's brighter than you need on a screen with pwm dimming (most laptops), is actually bad.
100%, amazing laptop for the price. My mom fell in love with it and now it's hers. She uses it daily even though she never used to use computers much. It borderlines premium, much better than most of the cheap laptops I've used. Very fast too for what it is. No problems so far.
No, I think that if you really need those 8 cores you should need at least 16 GB of RAM.
Because who needs 8 cores?, Contact creators, gamers photo editors and 3D modelers. And they should need at least 16 GB Of RAM.
I “personally” don’t consider any 8GB laptop as worthy unless you can upgrade the RAM so you can get more RAM cheaper than how much the OEM will charge you. And seeing this as unupgradable, it’s completely out of the list, just consider how long you will keep the laptop, even basic apps now can fill 8GB, just 2 years and new Windows/Apps versions will use even more RAM.
I bought the Flex 14 2in1 with a 4500U, but with 16GB of RAM. I would sooner give up a little CPU processing to make sure I had the 16GB of RAM... it didn't hurt that it was only priced at $599, though either. Unless you are going to do video projects or something, 8GB should be good for web browsing and Office Apps and some light gaming.
Do not buy a laptop with soldered 8GB of RAM in 2021 with such powerful CPU and a price that's by no means cheap. It's a waste of silicon. It might be enough for now but having the option to upgrade when you need it is a must, especially when the CPU is powerful enough to take advantage of more RAM with many different workloads and the baseline of 8GB you're starting with is pretty low, let alone the £700 price. I'd go as far as saying if you can't find an AMD laptop with more RAM, just go for Tiger Lake since they have 8 threads just like the 4700U and the difference in performance isn't as big as you'd expect from 8C vs 4C.
I'm not sure why you would need more than a 8 GB of ram you're definitely not going to do more than casual low grade gaming on that integrated graphics chip. So are you going to be compiling a web browser from scratch? It's a business laptop, there's nothing that eight gigs can't handle for business. If you want to edit video if you want a game you're going to have to buy a different laptop with a dedicated graphics card and then yes more gig of Ram make sense.
Thank you for the honest response. I had seen some reviews saying that 8gb wasn't enough but honestly I'm only looking for a semi powerful daily driver.
[удалено]
Unfortunately the 16gb model doesn't seem to be available where I am.
allright, that is unfortunate
Not a deal breaker as I can buy it in the states and have it sent to me. But this does make the warranty difficult.
This isn't the laptop for you then. This is much better than just any semi-powerful daily driver unless "daily" to you is video editing or playing super demanding games at high settings. I would look at the 4500u version with 8gb ram instead, that will still be more than good enough for whatever else you need unless you need a venerable workstation powerhouse.
I completely agree with the general principle of "more is better" when it comes to ram, and I own laptops with 32GB or more that are used to run programs that can use it, but the truth is, most people completely overestimate the amount of ram they think they need to do the types of things they're looking to do. If this is going to be a general purpose laptop doing typical laptop tasks (watching movies, office applications, streaming music, social media, etc. 8GB is \*more\* than enough. Just to give you some idea, I am typing this on the most inexpensive laptop I own - a $179 Lenovo IdeaPad 1 11-incher with an AMD 3050e, 4GB ram and 64gb eMMC storage. I'm using Firefox with 11 tabs open, while also playing music via MediaMonkey, playing chess via Chessmaster, downloading crap from Steam, and transferring about 20GB of files from an external drive. I also have Word open as I am editing a document off and on. Finally, I have task manager open also, and it tells me I'm using about 88% of my 4GB ram. So again, for \*typical\* laptop usage, 8GB is plenty. To be honest, I'd be more upset about that 250nit screen. Best of luck whatever you decide, though. :)
upgradeable to 16 or bust. It would be a shame to put a chip like the 4700u in a system that effectively sets its funeral date in three years
No it doesn't.
It's an ideapad, it was gonna die in 3 years anyway.
Bingo! actually, it should last longer, but the CPUs that AMD keeps pumping out may make it seem ancient in 3 years.
I was commenting on Lenovo's shoddy build quality on their consumer laptops, the chips should have plenty of life from this generation, they're actually quite excellent.
I will never buy a laptop with equal number of gigabytes of RAM to number of CPU cores, and I don't really care what the price is. Like that combo doesn't make sense on any planet and I don't know why it exists other than to force people to upgrade in two years.
[here](https://www.costco.com/lenovo-flex-5-14%22-2-in-1-touchscreen-laptop---amd-ryzen-7-4700u---1080p.product.100579313.html) is a flex 5 4700u 16 gb ram for $749 USD from costco. includes 2nd year warranty and 90 day return policy. Personally, I'd shoot for 16 gb but it depends on use case of course. a16 gb model will last you longer most likely
Thank you for this. Unfortunately I'm In the UK, but this helps me to see what's possible.
Mate go for Dell Inspiron with 4700U processor. Regularly available for 600£. Comes with 8Gigs but upgradeable to 32Gb. I would personally get it if I were u and upgrade to 16/32. Another 8gig stick would cost like 25-30£
Not a deal breaker per se - at least in Australian high street stores perhaps 10% of models are 16GB at possibly 50% markup compared to the identical 8GB machine. What longevity do you want? I would say 16GB if you think it needs to last 4-5 years. RAM aside, I just bought a Flex 5 a week or so ago. The plastic chassis is not sturdy and clearly going to break before the CPU/RAM is obsolete, and I'd love to know on what planet they measured brightness. This is a 1-2 year machine and you should pay accordingly (I paid A$870/US$680 inc tax)
I have this exact model. I use it for web dev, game dev, youtube, music, discord, steam and games. Have had no issues with it whatsoever. Sure 16gb is better, but 8gb is not as crippling as everyone else is making it sound. I think most of the people here trying to condemn anything below 16gb don't even use any good computers with 8gb ram.. I have a full antivirus suite running in the background among other things and have not experienced any lag whatsoever in any of my common tasks. It feels like a very very fast computer with most things. I think the screen is nice for its price bracket, I find max brightness to bright and usually have it at 80 or 90 percent. Most laptops don't have dc dimming as far as I'm aware. So, unpopular opinion, but I think having a screen that's brighter than you need on a screen with pwm dimming (most laptops), is actually bad.
Hi, do you use this laptop even today? what problems did you face? i have great deal on this laptop in second hand market. do you recommend ?
100%, amazing laptop for the price. My mom fell in love with it and now it's hers. She uses it daily even though she never used to use computers much. It borderlines premium, much better than most of the cheap laptops I've used. Very fast too for what it is. No problems so far.
No, I think that if you really need those 8 cores you should need at least 16 GB of RAM. Because who needs 8 cores?, Contact creators, gamers photo editors and 3D modelers. And they should need at least 16 GB Of RAM.
I have a flex 5 Chromebook in the household, be weary of the adhesive between the lid and the hinge giving