$379 Lenovo 330s i3 8130u 1TB 1080 Full HD

[Hippy]

$379 Lenovo 15.6" IdeaPad 330s Laptop - B&H

This is the best deal I've found on an 8th Gen i-Series laptop with a 1080 HD screen.
It's pretty light for a 15.6" laptop concidering it has a 2.5" spinner. 3.96 lb / 1.8 kg.
If you swap to a SSD you can drop a few ounces.

Lenovo 330s-15IKB 81F5000BSUS

• 2.2 GHz Intel Core i3-8130U Dual-Core
• 6GB DDR4 (2GB stick + 4GB on board)
• 1TB 5400 rpm HDD (It has an NMVe slot)
• 15.6" FHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz IPS Display (not bad it's Matte IPS which I prefer. I'm not a gamer so refresh rate doesn't really matter to me.)
• Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620

My Upgrades
Corsair Force MP510 M.2 2280 960GB NVMe
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-force-mp510-960gb/p/N82E16820236477
Lenovo DW1560 WiFi Card. I got mine for $40 on amazon. Unfortunately it's no longer available from the seller I bought it from. I've seen them for $40-$60 on ebay.

Total I'm into it.
$379 Laptop
$125 960GB NVMe
$40 WiFi Card
= $544 Not bad for a 15.4" i3-8130u with almost 2TB total storage.

I'll probaby upgrade the 2GB stick to a (16GB appox $60-70) for a total of 20GB and maybe swap the HDD for a 1TB SSD.

It boots pretty fast approx 10 seconds to load clover and Mojave.

I'm not done with my hack yet. This is my first laptop ad I have a lot to learn.

What I have working so far.
GFX
WiFI - BT
iMessage
Brightness in Sys Prefs. Not hot keys
Audio
KB
Camera
SD Card Reader

WIP
TrackPad
Sleep / wake
Battery Status

 

[swill62]

This is good info to know. I also have this notebook and bought the 480GB version of the MP510 which is single sided.
But now we know that the double sided 960GB version also installs OK. So you didn't have to use any kind of spacer?
It just plugs in no problem? My posts on the Lenovo forum: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/154629

 

[Hippy]

No spacer needed. It just slides right in. My 330s didn't come with a screw on the MB. I had to borrow one of the screws from the battery until my WiFi card came in the mail. Luckily the WiFi came with an extra screw. I'm sure I could find a screw online but it's pain.

I was hoping to be able to thermal paste a thin heat sink to the top of the NVMe but there isn't enough room. I've bought four of the 960GB MP510s for different hacks. IMO it's the best NVMe for the money.

FYI It also fits in the Lenevo Yoga c930 which I really like. It has a few minor drawbacks though.

• The 4K screen has some light bleed.
• The plastic case doesn't have the solid feel of a MBP.
• The track pad is ok. It's small and not as responsive as a MBP. I prefer the TP from 2010 13" MBP to the Levovo. I've yet to find a track pad nearly as nice as mac's. IMO it's worth the $80-129 (retail) to buy a magic trackpad 2 for it. Even the MTP 1 is much nicer than Lenovo's. You can get them used on ebay $25-50.
• Sound is amazing on windows but it is really disappointing on the mac side. I really hope some is able to get the full dolby sound output of the soundbar working on macOS.
• No SD card reader.
• The finger print scanner doesn't work. Since apple's biometrics are hardware based I doubt a scanner would work on any hackintosh.
• Battery is o.k. I still have to figure out power management.

I haven't really put it through its paces yet but so far everything else great.

• Touch Screen is crisp 4K @60Hz, fairly bright, slim bezel.
• Full Screen rotation for tablet mode. (I would like hinge tighter for touch screen)
• Active stylus w/ induction charging stores in laptop. (pressure sensitivity is windows only)
• Compact and light. About the size as a 13" MBP but has a larger touch screen.
• Cool and quite.
• Full size usb-a and 2 usb-c ports. Would be nice is it had a usb-c port on both sides.
• Keyboard - large backlight letters, with comfortable feel.
• Soundbar hinge genius... great in windows. Would kick ass if it was completely hacked for macOS. I wounder if there is a way to patch the SSDTs for macOS to reconize the sound bar as an external source and utilize windows drivers.

It's not perfect, but as close as I was going to get for the money I was willing to spend.
Navaria has an amazing guide for an almost golden build.

 

[swill62]

I don't care about Mac OS or Windows. I use Manjaro Linux daily and occasionally LinuxMint and Lubuntu.
I just found this site via Googling for the MP510 on Ideapad.
The Ideapad 330S seems to work fine with any Linux distro I've installed on it, so far.

 

[paulydaturk]

I use one of these daily for work, and it's a great laptop, but to this point I haven't checked under the hood, so to speak. You mean to tell me this thing will take a NVMe? That's a game changer. Now I'm tempted to get one for personal use and make a hackbook. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[Hippy]

Yep. It takes and NVMe no problem. (Mine didn't come with the screw holds the NVMe it place but it has the slot.) It's a nice little machine for the price. Let me know what you decide to upgrade if you pick one up.

 

[Hippy]

It has 6 gigs of ram. 4gb onboard and a 2 gig stick. Apparently Lenovo had some 2 gig sticks laying around and need some to stick them. Who makes 2 gig sticks anymore? Lenevo specs that the 330s max out at 10gb of ram. I've seen post of people are dropping 16gb sticks in. If there is a good enough BF deal I'll probably try out a 16gb stick.