Lenovo Thinkpad Edge S430

[Hades]

I'm looking for a laptop as a possible desktop replacement while still being fairly portable. I also have a requirement for it to have a displayport output to drive a Dell 30" monitor. The Lenovo S430 appears to tick nearly all of the boxes:

I7 processor (unfortunately only a dual core)
Up to 16gb RAM
Thunderbolt (which allows for displayport)
HDMI (so dual monitor possible with displayport above)
Optical drive (so can have an SSD for boot/OS and use an adapter here for a second larger drive)
14" matte display at 1600x900 (just about spot on for me)

Unfortunately the I7 is only dual core and it only has integrated Intel 4000 graphics but with a bit of ingenuity I may be able to hook up an eGPU through the Thunderbolt port.

So my questions...

1) dies anyone have any experience of this laptop and what are your opinions of it if you have?

2) Assuming I can rig up an eGPU then is the dual core I7 likely to be a bottleneck for gaming?

The primary use of the machine will be general use and development with gaming nut being the priority but it's always very nice to have.

 

[Mercutio]

Have a dig around on notebookreview's forums. There's definitely going to be threads about using egpu's with that laptop.
I know for sure there is a (currently beta hardware) thunderbolt to PCIe bridge board in existence for eGPU based shenanigans.

 

[Hades]

Thanks. I believe the TH05 thunderbolt adapter was pulled due to pressure from Intel as it doesn't conform to the thunderbolt standard although I'm hoping an official version will be released this year.

 

[Mercutio]

Thanks. I believe the TH05 thunderbolt adapter was pulled due to pressure from Intel as it doesn't conform to the thunderbolt standard although I'm hoping an official version will be released this year.

You and me both

My next full system will be a nice laptop with a decent mobile GPU and something extra meaty waiting to mate with it via a thunderbolt bridge board back home