Unfortunately, this deal has expired 1 June 2023.
*
2299°
Posted 27 May 2023
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i 14, Core i5-13420H (Raptor Lake), 16GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD, 14" WUXGA 300 nits, No OS - £396 with code @ Lenovo Direct
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plewis00
Joined in 2010
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21,761
About this deal
This deal is expired. Here are some options that might interest you:
Retailers are extending their return policies for Christmas: Full List of Shops Extending Returns Policies for Christmas
I wasn't going to get time to post this but wanted to share it for those who missed out last time round.
The delivered price is £396. To do this, you must:
- remove the OS (add your own, install Windows, Linux, etc.)
- leave the RAM at 16GB
- leave the SSD at 512GB, do not change it to 1TB, it says £0, it is not
- switch the camera to 'FHD with Dual Microphone'
- choose the colour you want
- switch the WiFi to Wi-Fi 6E 11AX (2x2) & Bluetooth® 5.1
I highly recommend paying a bit more at £423 and adding:
- 1080P FHD RGB/IR Hybrid with Dual Microphone +£10 (Windows Hello camera)
- Backlit, Storm Grey - English (UK) +£10 (backlit keyboard)
- 100W USB-C Slim 90% PCC AC Adapter Black (3pin) - UK +£10 (faster and more flexible charger)
- (NEW) 14" 2.2K (2240 x 1400), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 300 nits panel +£60
I don't think you will beat this spec for under £400. The CPU alone is extremely fast, only slight let down is non Iris Xe graphics (it's UHD with 48 EUs) but you can't have it all. The display is surprisingly good despite the listed specs. The body is nice and durable plastic with an aluminium alloy lid. I don't think it's worth paying more for the i7 with OLED - the OLED is clearly better but you are stepping into the realm of better grade machines. The 2.2K IPS display is probably a good middle compromise. No Thunderbolt or USB4 support. Battery is 56.6Whr so middle of the road but should get you a good few hours depending on workload.
If you choose to install Windows: make sure you have a mouse and flash drive handy - the touchpad will not work with the built-in drivers until Updates are done and you will need to install wireless drivers by hand - you will likely need to bypass Windows 11 forced internet connectivity with the 'OOBE\BypassNRO' command as none of the network devices are available on clean install.
Don't forget TCB or Quidco on this!
This explanation of how to install Windows by The.Fat.Cat should be pinned or mentioned - lots of effort went into this!
hotukdeals.com/com…547
PSREF documentation/specs:
psref.lenovo.com/sys…pdf
Deal is back on, new code is FLASHSALE2 and is automatically applied.
Lenovo have added some extra options, there is now also a new 2.2K panel with 100% sRGB coverage for +£60 (£54 w/discount).
The delivered price is £396. To do this, you must:
- remove the OS (add your own, install Windows, Linux, etc.)
- leave the RAM at 16GB
- leave the SSD at 512GB, do not change it to 1TB, it says £0, it is not
- switch the camera to 'FHD with Dual Microphone'
- choose the colour you want
- switch the WiFi to Wi-Fi 6E 11AX (2x2) & Bluetooth® 5.1
I highly recommend paying a bit more at £423 and adding:
- 1080P FHD RGB/IR Hybrid with Dual Microphone +£10 (Windows Hello camera)
- Backlit, Storm Grey - English (UK) +£10 (backlit keyboard)
- 100W USB-C Slim 90% PCC AC Adapter Black (3pin) - UK +£10 (faster and more flexible charger)
- (NEW) 14" 2.2K (2240 x 1400), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 300 nits panel +£60
I don't think you will beat this spec for under £400. The CPU alone is extremely fast, only slight let down is non Iris Xe graphics (it's UHD with 48 EUs) but you can't have it all. The display is surprisingly good despite the listed specs. The body is nice and durable plastic with an aluminium alloy lid. I don't think it's worth paying more for the i7 with OLED - the OLED is clearly better but you are stepping into the realm of better grade machines. The 2.2K IPS display is probably a good middle compromise. No Thunderbolt or USB4 support. Battery is 56.6Whr so middle of the road but should get you a good few hours depending on workload.
If you choose to install Windows: make sure you have a mouse and flash drive handy - the touchpad will not work with the built-in drivers until Updates are done and you will need to install wireless drivers by hand - you will likely need to bypass Windows 11 forced internet connectivity with the 'OOBE\BypassNRO' command as none of the network devices are available on clean install.
Don't forget TCB or Quidco on this!
This explanation of how to install Windows by The.Fat.Cat should be pinned or mentioned - lots of effort went into this!
hotukdeals.com/com…547
PSREF documentation/specs:
psref.lenovo.com/sys…pdf
Deal is back on, new code is FLASHSALE2 and is automatically applied.
Lenovo have added some extra options, there is now also a new 2.2K panel with 100% sRGB coverage for +£60 (£54 w/discount).
More details at
Community Updates
Edited by a community support team member, 1 June 2023
601 Comments
sorted byPeople will miss it as it's on page 1 so may as well post it here too -
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Installing Windows is the easy bit, it's sorting out the drivers that is a bit of a faff.
So, here goes...
You need to create Windows 11 installation media from the Microsoft site which you put on a USB flash drive 8GB or higher, preferrably USB3, a USB2 drive will be MUCH slower -
microsoft.com/sof…s11
On your current laptop/PC/etc, plug in a spare USB flash drive, go to the above page and download and run the installation media program.
Select 'Create installation media'.
You want the drop down menu's to say 'English (United Kingdom)' and 'Windows 11'.
Click next, it'll be on 'USB flash drive', click next and select your USB stick from the dropdown menu, and continue from there.
If you use your own anti-virus software instead of Windows built in, you might need to disable it if the program errors out when trying to create the installation media. If so just disable it and turn it back on once it's completed.
Now you might need a spare mouse, wired or wireless with a receiver should work. This is because Windows may not have the mouse drivers due to it being such a new laptop (it might, but no guarantee).
Plug the flash drive with the installation media into the laptop and power on, if there's no OS is should boot straight from the USB drive.
If not, restart it and hit F9 a few times while it starts up, you should then get the option to boot from the USB drive.
Just follow the on screen instructions to install Windows, it's simple enough.
It will ask you to select a drive to install on, if you're doing it on this laptop with a single new drive, just select the drive that's there and click next.
Thanks to plewis for reminding me about this bit -
During the Windows install you may get an “Oops, you’ve lost internet connection” or “Let’s connect you to a network” page.
If this happens, pres “Shift + F10” to open the command prompt.
In the commend prompt box type OOBE\BYPASSNRO and press Enter.
The laptop will restart and the setup will start again.
Now you should have a button to click in the bottom Right where it says 'I don't have Internet'.
Click that, and then 'Continue with limited setup'.
You can then create a local account and continue to follow the on-screen instructions.
When you get to the point where it asks for the license key, click the skip button and finish the Windows setup.
Now, this is where you will probablt have a bit of faffing around (as plewis has mentioned a couple of times on this deal).
You'll need wifi to update Windows, install all your drivers and then activate using your key.
There's a good chance Windows will not have the wifi drivers for that laptop.
If it doesn't, you'll need to download the wifi driver on another internet enabled device, stick it on a USB stick (you can use the one with Windows on, it's no longer needed) and transfer to the laptop.
The drivers are here -
pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/…LAN
You'll have to select the driver that matches the wifi option you chose when configuring the system before buying.
Once you've downloaded the driver and stuck it on a USB drive, transfer to the laptop and run the installer.
If you can't quite figure that out which driver you need, download them all try them on the laptop one at a time until one works (not a great thing to do, but if that's your last option, not much choice).
EDIT: plewis mentioned in another comment that the driver you need is the Intel AX211, but that may be if you selected that wifi adapter in the configuration before buying.
If you happen to have an old basic USB wireless dongle, that may be quicker and easier than the above as Windows should already have the drivers (they're useful to have anyway and can be picked up from Amazon for less than £10).
If all goes according to plan, you should now be able to connect to the internet.
That's the worse of it done.
Now you have wifi, run Windows Update. Download and install all the updates. Reboot the laptop and run Windows update again. Repeat until there are no more updates.
You might have to set up your password/pin/log into your Microsoft acc sometime during this process.
Once you're all update, you can now activate Windows with your key, as shown here -
Now you should be activated and all is good in the world....wait, don't stop reading yet!
You need to install all the other drivers needed for your laptop, the easiest way is probably by using Lenovo's 'Vantage' software which you can get here -
apps.microsoft.com/sto…tab
Alternatively, you can use the 'Scan now' option from the driver and support page -
pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/…ds/
Are all your drivers installed now? Try the touchpad, bluetooth, webcam, etc to make sure it's all working fine (it should be).
NOW you're done.
If that doesn't sound like fun, you could just buy the laptop with Windows pre-installed.
P.S.
Yes, I did just sit here typing all that out.
I really need to get a life. (edited)
It will cost around 500 ?
Any other deals in same range. I need a reliable laptop mostly for browsing and maintaining E-Portfolio and research.
I have second gen intel HP for last 9 years 😃
A tip for installing and getting drivers missing drivers is to use a USB ethernet adapter - they generally have pretty good driver support during the install process.
psref.lenovo.com/sys…pdf
The best way to set this up with Windows 11 I found is to use the BypassNRO command and get the drivers from the website on another machine when you get to the desktop. The touchpad drivers also don’t come included, so get a USB mouse or something if you can. I didn’t have a USB Ethernet adapter here but most people won’t own them anyway.
Anyway, I bought one myself and for work out of my own pocket, which I wouldn’t do if it’s no good!
I guess the cost of living is making the prices come down to where they are more pleasing.
Still think this industry is always overpriced.
Sub £400 for this kind of spec is unheard of imo. Easily a £500-550 machine.
Great find
softwarepal.co.uk/pro…on/ (edited)
From hitting the power button to reaching the login screen; Can you test it please? (edited)
Cant resist.
I take it it won't be capable of doing any video editing on something like davinci due to lacking a dedicated graphics card.
I had a quick google and found the details for this CPU -
Version 8 (Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, Alder Lake, Raptor Lake)The Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, Alder Lake & Raptor Lake microarchitectures implementation adds VP9 12-bit & 12-bit 4:4:4 hardware decoding and HEVC 12-bit 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 hardware decoding.
Gen12 Xe will also support native AV1 decode, which includes 10-bit 4:2:0 16K stills and 10-bit 4:2:0 8K, 4K and 2K video. Hardware encoding for VP8 was dropped and hardware decoding is only available on Tiger Lake.
Lots of decoding.
Encoding? Not so much... (edited)
Thanks
As gutsu mentions, OEM licenses, which is what you get with PC's/laptops that come with WIndows pre-installed, can only be used on one machine (specifically one motherboard which is explained below).
This may not always be the case as you can sometimes specify you want a retail license when you buy your machine, but if you didin't specify it or they didn't state it in the details, you likely don't have it.
The Windows license key is now stored in the BIOS of your motherbaord. That's why if you ever need to re-install Windows 10/11, you'll find you don't need to enter the Windows license key the second time or any time after, it's already in the BIOS and Windows already knows it's registered.
So, one of two things will happen if you try to clone your OS to this laptops SSD.
A) It will work just fine, will boot up and work but you will now be using an un-registered version of Windows as there is no license key in your BIOS for Windows to find.
If that were the case, you can just buy a new key and register it.
or
B) It will simply refuse to boot into Windows, giving you an error message of some kind because the OS you have cloned has an activated licesne and Windows can't see the key in your new BIOS on the laptop, or because the drivers in the cloned OS are causing conflicts with the hardware on the new laptop.
You're better off just backing up your apps and data, installing Windows on the new laptop yourself, then transferring the backup to the new laptop. (edited)
Processor: 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-13420H Processor (E-cores up to 3.40 GHz P-cores up to 4.60 GHz)
Operating System: No Operating Systemselected upgrade
Operating System Language: No Operating System Languageselected upgrade
Microsoft Productivity Software: No Microsoft Officeselected upgrade
Memory: 16 GB LPDDR5-5200MHz (Soldered)
Solid State Drive: 1 TB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe Gen4 TLCselected upgrade
Display: 14" 2.2K (2240 x 1400), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 300 nits, Narrow Bezelselected upgrade
Graphic Card: Integrated Graphics
Camera: 1080P FHD RGB/IR Hybrid with Dual Microphone
Color: Cloud Grey
Fingerprint Reader: No
Keyboard: Backlit, Storm Grey - English (UK)selected upgrade
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E 11AX (2x2) & Bluetooth® 5.1selected upgrade
Palmrest: Al
Battery: 3 cell, 56.6Wh
Power Cord: 100W USB-C Slim 90% PCC 3pin AC Adapter - UKselected upgrade
Adobe Elements: No Adobe Elements
Adobe Acrobat: No Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Cloud: No Adobe Creative Cloud
Security Software: No Security Software
Warranty: 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
So, here goes...
You need to create Windows 11 installation media from the Microsoft site which you put on a USB flash drive 8GB or higher, preferrably USB3, a USB2 drive will be MUCH slower -
microsoft.com/sof…s11
On your current laptop/PC/etc, plug in a spare USB flash drive, go to the above page and download and run the installation media program.
Select 'Create installation media'.
You want the drop down menu's to say 'English (United Kingdom)' and 'Windows 11'.
Click next, it'll be on 'USB flash drive', click next and select your USB stick from the dropdown menu, and continue from there.
If you use your own anti-virus software instead of Windows built in, you might need to disable it if the program errors out when trying to create the installation media. If so just disable it and turn it back on once it's completed.
Now you might need a spare mouse, wired or wireless with a receiver should work. This is because Windows may not have the mouse drivers due to it being such a new laptop (it might, but no guarantee).
Plug the flash drive with the installation media into the laptop and power on, if there's no OS is should boot straight from the USB drive.
If not, restart it and hit F9 a few times while it starts up, you should then get the option to boot from the USB drive.
Just follow the on screen instructions to install Windows, it's simple enough.
It will ask you to select a drive to install on, if you're doing it on this laptop with a single new drive, just select the drive that's there and click next.
Thanks to plewis for reminding me about this bit -
During the Windows install you may get an “Oops, you’ve lost internet connection” or “Let’s connect you to a network” page.
If this happens, pres “Shift + F10” to open the command prompt.
In the commend prompt box type OOBE\BYPASSNRO and press Enter.
The laptop will restart and the setup will start again.
Now you should have a button to click in the bottom Right where it says 'I don't have Internet'.
Click that, and then 'Continue with limited setup'.
You can then create a local account and continue to follow the on-screen instructions.
When you get to the point where it asks for the license key, click the skip button and finish the Windows setup.
Now, this is where you will probablt have a bit of faffing around (as plewis has mentioned a couple of times on this deal).
You'll need wifi to update Windows, install all your drivers and then activate using your key.
There's a good chance Windows will not have the wifi drivers for that laptop.
If it doesn't, you'll need to download the wifi driver on another internet enabled device, stick it on a USB stick (you can use the one with Windows on, it's no longer needed) and transfer to the laptop.
The drivers are here -
pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/…ent?name=Networking: Wireless LAN
You'll have to select the driver that matches the wifi option you chose when configuring the system before buying.
Once you've downloaded the driver and stuck it on a USB drive, transfer to the laptop and run the installer.
If you can't quite figure that out which driver you need, download them all try them on the laptop one at a time until one works (not a great thing to do, but if that's your last option, not much choice).
EDIT: plewis mentioned in another comment that the driver you need is the Intel AX211, but that may be if you selected that wifi adapter in the configuration before buying.
If you happen to have an old basic USB wireless dongle, that may be quicker and easier than the above as Windows should already have the drivers (they're useful to have anyway and can be picked up from Amazon for less than £10).
If all goes according to plan, you should now be able to connect to the internet.
That's the worse of it done.
Now you have wifi, run Windows Update. Download and install all the updates. Reboot the laptop and run Windows update again. Repeat until there are no more updates.
You might have to set up your password/pin/log into your Microsoft acc sometime during this process.
Once you're all update, you can now activate Windows with your key, as shown here -
[image]
Now you should be activated and all is good in the world....wait, don't stop reading yet!
You need to install all the other drivers needed for your laptop, the easiest way is probably by using Lenovo's 'Vantage' software which you can get here -
apps.microsoft.com/sto…4MV?hl=en-us&gl=us&activetab=pivot:overviewtab
Alternatively, you can use the 'Scan now' option from the driver and support page -
pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/…ds/
Are all your drivers installed now? Try the touchpad, bluetooth, webcam, etc to make sure it's all working fine (it should be).
NOW you're done.
If that doesn't sound like fun, you could just buy the laptop with Windows pre-installed.
I missed the name of person who posted all steps so credit goes to him (edited)
Can any other members chime in?
Any problems with this laptop?
It's also a 13th Gen i5 with 16GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD and decent 14.0" IPS display regardless of what the original price was. (edited)
U series is the right way to go. 15W for the win, majority of people wont notice a difference. (edited)
If you think you can get a U-series powered laptop for this price with similar specs and quality, please post it.