Lenovo Erazer X700 Gaming PC Review: Is It As Fast As It Looks?

[Gilchrist]

FYI, Lenovo is owned by the communist government of the People's Republic of China, that's why the US government doesn't purchase them.

 

[Haravikk]

Personally I think the case is a bit on the ugly side, it also doesn't seem like the design is particularly functional, though I didn't see mention of front airflow in the article.

Internally it doesn't look much better as cable routing is an absolute mess, and my favourite tip now in system building is to always route cables as cleanly as possible; I've seen several degrees difference in temperatures simply by routing all cables to the sides to create a nice big, uninterrupted space through a case. I know you can get fans with good static pressure, but why make them work harder than they have to?

I'm also bewildered by the expansion bay layout; that card reader is a waste of the 3.5" bay, as you can get case panels with integrated card-readers, a drop in one is more for the user who later decides they need a card reader, it shouldn't be used by a manufacturer, that's just lazy. Also, putting a single hard-drive in a 5.25" bay is a waste as well unless the drive runs especially hot. Personally I'd rather they moved the card reader, and opted for a single 2.5" hybrid drive, as it's cheaper, generally as good and in the 3.5" bay it will run nice and cool. This also would free up the rest of the 5.25" bays for use as proper through airflow with nice big intake fans.

I dunno, it just seems like they haven't really designed the case for performance use at all, and just squashed components in and slapped a fancy, but not that attractive, exterior onto it. Not that the components are bad when you account for the premium of a pre made product versus self-build, but it just seems very half-assed to me.

 

[Christopher Shaffer]

You had me at "Lenovo". Seriously, though, guys, this is a great practical joke. I mean, a little early for April Fools, but hilarious none the less.

I mean, "Lenovo gaming"? Come on.

 

[lunyone]

Here you go Lenovo. Make something like this below and we then can take you more seriously than what you offered for ~$2k (I included Monitor, OS, Keyboard, & Mouse):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K60 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1789.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 22:16 EST-0500)

* I'd probably get the R9 290 WHEN the coolers are NOT OEM versions! Other than that, this would be WAAAAY better than their crap for ~$2k!

 

[Kevin Morrison]

For the price they are charging for this I could almost build two equally as powerful systems and I would even be able to install top quality hardware rather than the second rate crap they are putting into this over priced system!

 

[cypeq]

Why do these companies insist on using tacky cases?

Seems like 13 Year old boy is target demographic for +2k PC. I say fire your marketing department.

 

[boxfetish]

Could it be any uglier. Geesh.

 

[boxfetish]

Could it be any uglier. Geesh.

 

[fanchiuho]

Wow look at that wiring mess...

 

[g-unit1111]

FYI, Lenovo is owned by the communist government of the People's Republic of China, that's why the US government doesn't purchase them.

I don't think that is entirely true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo#Ownership

 

[LukeMaBoy]

I recently built my own PC very similer to this. I have an AMD FX-6300, and a Samsung 840 EVO (Which is better), in my build I used G.SKILL Ripjaws X 16GB 1600MHz (Which is better), and I used a HD 7950 OC (Which what I've read so far is a tad bit better then the HD 8950 bullshit). This build only cost me around $1000.

Other then those changes, not including the PSU and case, It's basically the same. It beat me in the CPU aspect, but I would rather have this build with a FX-6300, then spend another $1300 on an i7.

 

[tinmann]

Fast as it looks? It looks like an older Dell on the inside. Top mounted non-modular psu, no cable management, the mini-atx motherboard that looks cheap, the ram cooling solution looks cheap, the insides are not painted and the placement of the cpu cooler is all wrong or is the motherboard made upside down? A full tower that won't accommodate an e-atx or an atx motherboard for that matter, what were they thinking?

 

[Crashman]

Fast as it looks? It looks like an older Dell on the inside. Top mounted non-modular psu, no cable management, the mini-atx motherboard that looks cheap, the ram cooling solution looks cheap, the insides are not painted and the placement of the cpu cooler is all wrong or is the motherboard made upside down? A full tower that won't accommodate an e-atx or an atx motherboard for that matter, what were they thinking?

That is just...so wrong. To begin with it's a Micro ATX board. It has no RAM cooling, because this RAM doesn't need it. Paint is a hindrence to good thermal design and a waste of money, good cases SHOULD be plated as this one is (lest your eyes deceive you). It's not a full tower (check the back, it's a mid tower with a big face panel). It does support a full ATX board (and the article complained of it not having one). It even has enough room in front of the board for EATX, and an eighth slot.

Oh, but thanks for at least looking at it I believe if you dropped it from a an airplane beside an equally-heavy full-tower, this one would hit the ground first (air resistance). So, doesn't that mean its as fast as it looks?

 

[tinmann]

Come on Crash, I know and you know if you had $2300 to throw at a build you cold make that unit look like Nintendo wii.

 

[Crashman]

Come on Crash, I know and you know if you had $2300 to throw at a build you cold make that unit look like Nintendo wii.

I just did, check out the upcoming System Builder Marathon