Unfortunately, this deal has expired 15 September 2023.
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515°
Posted 9 September 2023
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i (16", Gen 8), Intel i5-12450H, 16GB LPDDR5, 512GB SSD, 16" WUXGA IPS, no OS
Free ·
Shared by
plewis00
Joined in 2010
52
21,949
About this deal
This deal is expired. Here are some options that might interest you:
Nice big screen Lenovo back on offer here with 12th gen i5-12450H (4P+4E), 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 16" WUXGA 16:10 IPS display and backlit keyboard. Graphics is UHD but 48 EUs so mid-tier for integrated, Iris is 80/96 EUs - might be ok for light and older games. You can get it cheaper if you drop to 8GB but wouldn't recommend it as it's soldered LPDDR5 and the £40 saving not worth it imo. Few cheap upgrades:
+£9 change to WiFi 6E from WiFi 6 (normal 6 is fine, the 6E is better if your hardware supports it but will cause driver issues during initial setup as Win11 doesn't recognise it)
+£9 increase to 4 cell 75.4Wh battery (from the 3 cell 56.6Wh - about 33% more battery runtime)
+£18 change to 100W slim USB C charger (faster charging, also good for other devices)
No OS included but we have done this over and over on this site and good guide put together by the.fat.cat - can't link due to how he spells his name.
Found it: hotukdeals.com/com…799
Choice of Cloud Grey or Abyss Blue (looks amazing and quite unique). Description says metal base but not sure, non-Pro IdeaPads usually have metal lids and strong plastic bases and palmrests.
Display doesn't specify gamut but suspect it is 45% NTSC/60% sRGB, it is 300 nits so quite bright and honestly, it is perfectly adequate at this price point - unless you have it side-by-side with other better panels I don't think you will mind too much.
Don't forget your Lenovo Rewards for a bit of extra saving as well as your Quidco/TCB links.
+£9 change to WiFi 6E from WiFi 6 (normal 6 is fine, the 6E is better if your hardware supports it but will cause driver issues during initial setup as Win11 doesn't recognise it)
+£9 increase to 4 cell 75.4Wh battery (from the 3 cell 56.6Wh - about 33% more battery runtime)
+£18 change to 100W slim USB C charger (faster charging, also good for other devices)
No OS included but we have done this over and over on this site and good guide put together by the.fat.cat - can't link due to how he spells his name.
Found it: hotukdeals.com/com…799
Choice of Cloud Grey or Abyss Blue (looks amazing and quite unique). Description says metal base but not sure, non-Pro IdeaPads usually have metal lids and strong plastic bases and palmrests.
Display doesn't specify gamut but suspect it is 45% NTSC/60% sRGB, it is 300 nits so quite bright and honestly, it is perfectly adequate at this price point - unless you have it side-by-side with other better panels I don't think you will mind too much.
Don't forget your Lenovo Rewards for a bit of extra saving as well as your Quidco/TCB links.
More details at Community Updates
Edited by plewis00, 9 September 2023
80 Comments
sorted byIf the driver page is wrong let me know and I'll edit it -
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 (if it's a different driver page link below and I'll edit it)-
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 (it should be Intel AX211), 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)
I get my Win 10/11 Pro keys here (have done for a long time), they work for both 10/11 Pro (you can also use them to upgrade from Home to Pro but it's a bit more complicated than simply activating the new key) -
pixelcodes.com/pro…hop
Use code AKS50 to half the price, there will be a processing fee added but it's still just over £1 and they always work for me and never get disabled.
Buy it on the day you want to activate it.
They sometimes bump the price up to £4 when I direct traffic their way, lol.
Keys can be bought for similar prices elsewhere though.
plewis, if you'd rather I didn't post this let me know and I'll remove it. (edited)
Sorry the gargantuan 16 inch screen will just not work for me.
ps. link to the fat cat doesn't work.
As I mentioned above though, this is a pretty poor laptop anyway in terms of practicality, unless you really need the extra bit of screen. Note - this is an old 12th gen, and the "H" processor is in my view inferior to the 1240p which is more efficient - therefore cooler and less power usage - and the 1240p has better gfx. (edited)
Good for weightlifters or people who don't want a mobile computer.
Heat.
Direct link:
hotukdeals.com/com…799 (edited)
Thanks
hotukdeals.com/dea…725 (edited)