Yes, Amazon Prime The day is next week (see our list of early deals), but Amazon is not the only company running sales right now. Lenovo is selling its ThinkBook laptops with the option to download an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor and AMD’s integrated Radeon 680M graphics for well under $ 1,000, something we have not seen before.
Lenovo’s ThinkBook 13S Gen 4 features the 6000 Series Ryzen 7 chip, 16 gigabytes of RAM (soldered), a 512-GB SSD plus a 13-inch IPS screen for $ 862 ($ 209 discount). To see this discount at checkout, enter two promotional codes: SUPER THINK JULY and BFIJTHINKOFFER.
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Why we like the ThinkBook 13S
Photo: Lenovo
The ThinkBook line, Lenovo’s cheaper alternative to its iconic ThinkPads, looks a bit like a Dell XPS or MacBook, but it beats both when it comes to ports. You get a USB-C 4.0 port (which acts as a charging port), a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, a USB-A port, an HDMI 2.0 port and a headphone jack. There is also a fingerprint reader.
We have not tested this particular model, but we liked last year’s version (we tested it with the Intel chip). The Ryzen 7 chip inside Gen 4 is AMD’s most powerful laptop option and should be able to handle everything you throw at it. It lacks a discreet graphics card, but the integrated Radeon 680M graphics are ample for most (if you’re looking for a video editing realm, look elsewhere). AMD’s 6000 series Ryzen chips are also known for their improved battery life. Lenovo claims 11 hours, but that’s under ideal conditions; expect eight to nine hours.
The keyboard is on the flat side, closer to the experience of a MacBook than a ThinkPad, but still quite comfortable to type on. The laptop is about the size of a MacBook Air, so it’s pretty easy to carry. The only place this ThinkBook cuts corners is the screen, which is a 13-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 pixel anti-reflective IPS panel. It’s not the brightest with 300 nits, but I still prefer a lower resolution anti-reflective panel over a shiny higher resolution panel, and the 16:10 screen ratio gives you some extra vertical screen space.
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