diff --git a/pl_examples/__init__.py b/pl_examples/__init__.py
index e69de29bb2d1d..d7cec9fc1bc3a 100644
--- a/pl_examples/__init__.py
+++ b/pl_examples/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import os
+
+from pytorch_lightning.utilities import _module_available
+
+EXAMPLES_ROOT = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+PACKAGE_ROOT = os.path.dirname(EXAMPLES_ROOT)
+DATASETS_PATH = os.path.join(PACKAGE_ROOT, 'Datasets')
+
+TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE = _module_available("torchvision")
+DALI_AVAILABLE = _module_available("nvidia.dali")
diff --git a/pl_examples/basic_examples/autoencoder.py b/pl_examples/basic_examples/autoencoder.py
index eb6403aaa2364..58a117a648458 100644
--- a/pl_examples/basic_examples/autoencoder.py
+++ b/pl_examples/basic_examples/autoencoder.py
@@ -13,17 +13,20 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
+
 import torch
-from torch import nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
+from torch import nn
 from torch.utils.data import DataLoader
-import pytorch_lightning as pl
 from torch.utils.data import random_split
 
-try:
+import pytorch_lightning as pl
+from pl_examples import TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE
+
+if TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE:
     from torchvision.datasets.mnist import MNIST
     from torchvision import transforms
-except ModuleNotFoundError:
+else:
     from tests.base.datasets import MNIST
 
 
diff --git a/pl_examples/basic_examples/image_classifier.py b/pl_examples/basic_examples/backbone_image_classifier.py
similarity index 92%
rename from pl_examples/basic_examples/image_classifier.py
rename to pl_examples/basic_examples/backbone_image_classifier.py
index 0968525e41197..91a8481de7fd9 100644
--- a/pl_examples/basic_examples/image_classifier.py
+++ b/pl_examples/basic_examples/backbone_image_classifier.py
@@ -15,14 +15,16 @@
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 
 import torch
-import pytorch_lightning as pl
 from torch.nn import functional as F
 from torch.utils.data import DataLoader, random_split
 
-try:
+import pytorch_lightning as pl
+from pl_examples import DATASETS_PATH, TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE
+
+if TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE:
     from torchvision.datasets.mnist import MNIST
     from torchvision import transforms
-except Exception as e:
+else:
     from tests.base.datasets import MNIST
 
 
@@ -96,8 +98,8 @@ def cli_main():
     # ------------
     # data
     # ------------
-    dataset = MNIST('', train=True, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
-    mnist_test = MNIST('', train=False, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
+    dataset = MNIST(DATASETS_PATH, train=True, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
+    mnist_test = MNIST(DATASETS_PATH, train=False, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
     mnist_train, mnist_val = random_split(dataset, [55000, 5000])
 
     train_loader = DataLoader(mnist_train, batch_size=args.batch_size)
diff --git a/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier_dali.py b/pl_examples/basic_examples/dali_image_classifier.py
similarity index 96%
rename from pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier_dali.py
rename to pl_examples/basic_examples/dali_image_classifier.py
index 649198053a01b..0a39f1cb9a9ae 100644
--- a/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier_dali.py
+++ b/pl_examples/basic_examples/dali_image_classifier.py
@@ -22,21 +22,21 @@
 from torch.utils.data import random_split
 
 import pytorch_lightning as pl
+from pl_examples import TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE, DALI_AVAILABLE
 
-try:
+if TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE:
     from torchvision.datasets.mnist import MNIST
     from torchvision import transforms
-except Exception:
+else:
     from tests.base.datasets import MNIST
 
-try:
+if DALI_AVAILABLE:
     import nvidia.dali.ops as ops
-    import nvidia.dali.types as types
     from nvidia.dali.pipeline import Pipeline
     from nvidia.dali.plugin.pytorch import DALIClassificationIterator
-except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError):
+else:
     warn('NVIDIA DALI is not available')
-    ops, types, Pipeline, DALIClassificationIterator = ..., ..., ABC, ABC
+    ops, Pipeline, DALIClassificationIterator = ..., ABC, ABC
 
 
 class ExternalMNISTInputIterator(object):
@@ -152,6 +152,9 @@ def add_model_specific_args(parent_parser):
 
 
 def cli_main():
+    if not DALI_AVAILABLE:
+        return
+
     pl.seed_everything(1234)
 
     # ------------
diff --git a/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_datamodule.py b/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_datamodule.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..eb1415cf8b981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_datamodule.py
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+# Copyright The PyTorch Lightning team.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from typing import Optional
+
+from torch.utils.data import DataLoader, random_split
+
+from pl_examples import DATASETS_PATH, TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE
+from pytorch_lightning import LightningDataModule
+
+if TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE:
+    from torchvision import transforms as transform_lib
+    from torchvision.datasets import MNIST
+else:
+    from tests.base.datasets import MNIST
+
+
+class MNISTDataModule(LightningDataModule):
+    """
+    Standard MNIST, train, val, test splits and transforms
+    """
+
+    name = "mnist"
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        data_dir: str = DATASETS_PATH,
+        val_split: int = 5000,
+        num_workers: int = 16,
+        normalize: bool = False,
+        seed: int = 42,
+        batch_size: int = 32,
+        *args,
+        **kwargs,
+    ):
+        """
+        Args:
+            data_dir: where to save/load the data
+            val_split: how many of the training images to use for the validation split
+            num_workers: how many workers to use for loading data
+            normalize: If true applies image normalize
+        """
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        self.dims = (1, 28, 28)
+        self.data_dir = data_dir
+        self.val_split = val_split
+        self.num_workers = num_workers
+        self.normalize = normalize
+        self.seed = seed
+        self.batch_size = batch_size
+        self.dataset_train = ...
+        self.dataset_val = ...
+        self.test_transforms = self.default_transforms
+
+    @property
+    def num_classes(self):
+        return 10
+
+    def prepare_data(self):
+        """Saves MNIST files to `data_dir`"""
+        MNIST(self.data_dir, train=True, download=True)
+        MNIST(self.data_dir, train=False, download=True)
+
+    def setup(self, stage: Optional[str] = None):
+        """Split the train and valid dataset"""
+        extra = dict(transform=self.default_transforms) if self.default_transforms else {}
+        dataset = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=True, download=False, **extra)
+        train_length = len(dataset)
+        self.dataset_train, self.dataset_val = random_split(dataset, [train_length - self.val_split, self.val_split])
+
+    def train_dataloader(self):
+        """MNIST train set removes a subset to use for validation"""
+        loader = DataLoader(
+            self.dataset_train,
+            batch_size=self.batch_size,
+            shuffle=True,
+            num_workers=self.num_workers,
+            drop_last=True,
+            pin_memory=True,
+        )
+        return loader
+
+    def val_dataloader(self):
+        """MNIST val set uses a subset of the training set for validation"""
+        loader = DataLoader(
+            self.dataset_val,
+            batch_size=self.batch_size,
+            shuffle=False,
+            num_workers=self.num_workers,
+            drop_last=True,
+            pin_memory=True,
+        )
+        return loader
+
+    def test_dataloader(self):
+        """MNIST test set uses the test split"""
+        extra = dict(transform=self.test_transforms) if self.test_transforms else {}
+        dataset = MNIST(self.data_dir, train=False, download=False, **extra)
+        loader = DataLoader(
+            dataset,
+            batch_size=self.batch_size,
+            shuffle=False,
+            num_workers=self.num_workers,
+            drop_last=True,
+            pin_memory=True,
+        )
+        return loader
+
+    @property
+    def default_transforms(self):
+        if not TORCHVISION_AVAILABLE:
+            return None
+        if self.normalize:
+            mnist_transforms = transform_lib.Compose(
+                [transform_lib.ToTensor(), transform_lib.Normalize(mean=(0.5,), std=(0.5,))]
+            )
+        else:
+            mnist_transforms = transform_lib.ToTensor()
+
+        return mnist_transforms
diff --git a/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier.py b/pl_examples/basic_examples/simple_image_classifier.py
similarity index 76%
rename from pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier.py
rename to pl_examples/basic_examples/simple_image_classifier.py
index 2d0dcd2bd2573..371b62fbb9dca 100644
--- a/pl_examples/basic_examples/mnist_classifier.py
+++ b/pl_examples/basic_examples/simple_image_classifier.py
@@ -11,19 +11,15 @@
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
+
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
+from pprint import pprint
 
 import torch
-from torch.utils.data import random_split, DataLoader
-
-import pytorch_lightning as pl
 from torch.nn import functional as F
 
-try:
-    from torchvision.datasets.mnist import MNIST
-    from torchvision import transforms
-except Exception as e:
-    from tests.base.datasets import MNIST
+import pytorch_lightning as pl
+from pl_examples.basic_examples.mnist_datamodule import MNISTDataModule
 
 
 class LitClassifier(pl.LightningModule):
@@ -76,21 +72,15 @@ def cli_main():
     # args
     # ------------
     parser = ArgumentParser()
-    parser.add_argument('--batch_size', default=32, type=int)
     parser = pl.Trainer.add_argparse_args(parser)
     parser = LitClassifier.add_model_specific_args(parser)
+    parser = MNISTDataModule.add_argparse_args(parser)
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     # ------------
     # data
     # ------------
-    dataset = MNIST('', train=True, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
-    mnist_test = MNIST('', train=False, download=True, transform=transforms.ToTensor())
-    mnist_train, mnist_val = random_split(dataset, [55000, 5000])
-
-    train_loader = DataLoader(mnist_train, batch_size=args.batch_size)
-    val_loader = DataLoader(mnist_val, batch_size=args.batch_size)
-    test_loader = DataLoader(mnist_test, batch_size=args.batch_size)
+    dm = MNISTDataModule.from_argparse_args(args)
 
     # ------------
     # model
@@ -101,12 +91,13 @@ def cli_main():
     # training
     # ------------
     trainer = pl.Trainer.from_argparse_args(args)
-    trainer.fit(model, train_loader, val_loader)
+    trainer.fit(model, datamodule=dm)
 
     # ------------
     # testing
     # ------------
-    result = trainer.test(test_dataloaders=test_loader)
+    result = trainer.test(datamodule=dm)
+    pprint(result)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/pl_examples/test_examples.py b/pl_examples/test_examples.py
index 013d49b8c9baa..3b9613a132030 100644
--- a/pl_examples/test_examples.py
+++ b/pl_examples/test_examples.py
@@ -5,12 +5,7 @@
 import pytest
 import torch
 
-try:
-    from nvidia.dali import ops, types, pipeline, plugin
-except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError):
-    DALI_AVAILABLE = False
-else:
-    DALI_AVAILABLE = True
+from pl_examples import DALI_AVAILABLE
 
 ARGS_DEFAULT = """
 --max_epochs 1 \
@@ -38,8 +33,8 @@
 
 # ToDo: fix this failing example
 # @pytest.mark.parametrize('import_cli', [
-#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.mnist_classifier',
-#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.image_classifier',
+#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.simple_image_classifier',
+#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.backbone_image_classifier',
 #     'pl_examples.basic_examples.autoencoder',
 # ])
 # @pytest.mark.skipif(torch.cuda.device_count() < 2, reason="test requires multi-GPU machine")
@@ -54,8 +49,8 @@
 
 # ToDo: fix this failing example
 # @pytest.mark.parametrize('import_cli', [
-#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.mnist_classifier',
-#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.image_classifier',
+#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.simple_image_classifier',
+#     'pl_examples.basic_examples.backbone_image_classifier',
 #     'pl_examples.basic_examples.autoencoder',
 # ])
 # @pytest.mark.skipif(torch.cuda.device_count() < 2, reason="test requires multi-GPU machine")
@@ -69,8 +64,8 @@
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('import_cli', [
-    'pl_examples.basic_examples.mnist_classifier',
-    'pl_examples.basic_examples.image_classifier',
+    'pl_examples.basic_examples.simple_image_classifier',
+    'pl_examples.basic_examples.backbone_image_classifier',
     'pl_examples.basic_examples.autoencoder',
 ])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('cli_args', [ARGS_DEFAULT])
@@ -87,7 +82,7 @@ def test_examples_cpu(import_cli, cli_args):
 @pytest.mark.skipif(platform.system() != 'Linux', reason='Only applies to Linux platform.')
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('cli_args', [ARGS_GPU])
 def test_examples_mnist_dali(cli_args):
-    from pl_examples.basic_examples.mnist_classifier_dali import cli_main
+    from pl_examples.basic_examples.dali_image_classifier import cli_main
 
     with mock.patch("argparse._sys.argv", ["any.py"] + cli_args.strip().split()):
         cli_main()
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/__init__.py b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/__init__.py
index 7075c790c60d9..46dde20aa906e 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/__init__.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/__init__.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 """General utilities"""
+import importlib
 from enum import Enum
 
 import numpy
@@ -21,13 +22,26 @@
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.distributed import rank_zero_only, rank_zero_warn, rank_zero_info
 from pytorch_lightning.utilities.parsing import AttributeDict, flatten_dict, is_picklable
 
-try:
-    from apex import amp
-except ImportError:
-    APEX_AVAILABLE = False
-else:
-    APEX_AVAILABLE = True
 
+def _module_available(module_path: str) -> bool:
+    """Testing if given module is avalaible in your env
+
+    >>> _module_available('system')
+    True
+    >>> _module_available('bla.bla')
+    False
+    """
+    mods = module_path.split('.')
+    assert mods, 'nothing given to test'
+    # it has to be tested as per partets
+    for i in range(1, len(mods)):
+        module_path = '.'.join(mods[:i])
+        if importlib.util.find_spec(module_path) is None:
+            return False
+    return True
+
+
+APEX_AVAILABLE = _module_available("apex.amp")
 NATIVE_AMP_AVALAIBLE = hasattr(torch.cuda, "amp") and hasattr(torch.cuda.amp, "autocast")
 
 FLOAT16_EPSILON = numpy.finfo(numpy.float16).eps