Lenovo Ideapad s340-15: Review

The Lenovo IdeaPad S430 is thinner and crisper than last year’s IdeaPad 330S. It also has a longer battery life and a physical cover for the webcam. The Lenovo IdeaPad S340-15 is a great budget laptop that provides a respectable level of flair and functionality for its low price. An excellent selection of ports, a comfortable keyboard, and a lengthy battery life are all included. The slow graphics are the biggest drawback.

Lenovo Ideapad s340-15 Specifications

Pros

• Easy on the wallet
• Sleek design
• Battery life is okay
• Comfy keyboard
• It has a good body and a design that will last.

Cons

• Murky display and inferior viewing angles
• Graphics that don’t perform as expectation

Overall Design

When we think of Lenovo, we think of those black, boxy laptops called ThinkPads. On the other hand, the Lenovo IdeaPad S340-15 manages to keep its stylish look. The chassis is the same as the IdeaPad S540 but thinner. The laptop is made of aluminum and plastic, and in terms of style, it has a bezel-less screen, which is the latest trend. The laptop’s Platinum Gray case is simple and attractive, with a flat lid and a small Lenovo logo space on the side. You can also get the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 in Onyx Black and Abyss Blue. The laptop’s lid can also stand up to heavy bending.

Performance

Our review unit had an Intel Core i5-8265U CPU and graphics that were built in. The 8GB of system RAM came in the form of a 4GB DDR4 chip soldered to the motherboard and a 4GB DDR4 SODIMM card that could be removed. This meant that future upgrades could only go up to 12GB, which is understandable.

Rather than a PCIe NVMe solid-state drive, a 1TB WDC hard drive spinning at 5,400 rpm took care of storage. This is not very forgivable. This configuration looks disappointing on paper, especially since you can get all this and more from Asus for Rs 43,990. Its hard drive is about sixteen times slower than the two VivoBooks on the same test.

Battery

The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 has a three-cell, 52.5Wh lithium-ion polymer battery that can’t be removed. For a laptop of this price, this is a beefy battery. Our review unit lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes on our standard battery test. That’s 24 minutes more than the score for the Asus VivoBook S431. The IdeaPad S431 couldn’t beat the VivoBook X403, which has a 72Wh battery pack and can run for 6 hours and 16 minutes.

Still, it’s a good enough score. On the run, with a slightly heavier load (full brightness, installing a few apps, downloading files, etc.), the charge dropped from 100 percent to 45 percent in the same three-hour period. It took about an hour and a half to charge from 30% to 100%.

Unit for storing

It is possible to store up to 2 terabytes worth of data. The amount of storage space it offers is sufficient for a laptop that costs this much. The laptop also includes a 4-in-1 SD card reader that may be utilized to store more information and is included as standard equipment.

Those who require a great deal of room to store various items might find the SD card storage option handy. I put a 512GB SSD device through its paces, which should be sufficient for most users. You can retain many images, songs, videos, games, and other items with 512 GB of storage space.

The keypad and keyboard

The keyboard on the IdeaPad S340 is the same as on the IdeaPad 330S. This is a good thing since the keyboard on the IdeaPad 330S wasn’t bad, to begin with. The keys have a lot of resistance but could use a little more movement. They could also use more “clickiness” because they are soft. Still, they work well for long emails and documents; you won’t make too many mistakes as you type. Also, there are two levels of backlighting for when you need to type in the dark. In short, the IdeaPad S340 has a keyboard that isn’t too bad.

Conclusion

The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is nearly identical to the IdeaPad 330S, albeit with a few notable improvements. Among the enhancements include:

• A more aesthetically pleasing design (including a more compact frame).
• A privacy shutter for the webcam.
• Increased battery life.

When we first saw the Lenovo IdeaPad S340, we knew the company had made one of the best budget laptops available. It’s reasonably priced, stylish, and practical: it has an excellent keyboard, numerous connectors, and a lengthy battery life. Performance is limited to simple tasks. However, more robust versions of this laptop are available if needed. As with many budget laptops, the display is the biggest letdown.

This review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 should prove helpful. Please take a few moments out of your day to post a comment on the Itechguides Community Forum if you found the review helpful. At the Itechguides Community Forum, you may share your thoughts on this product with other users.