Best Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15 2024 Review
Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15,A laptop engineered to be remarkably affordable. Enter the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15, a testament to this ethos. Priced at a wallet-friendly $329.99, and plummeting to a mere $179 during a pre-Black Friday 2022 promotion at Best Buy, it stands as a beacon of budget-conscious computing. Yet, beneath its accessible price lies a reality of constrained performance and features.
While adequate for fundamental tasks like web browsing, spreadsheet work, and document creation, the IdeaPad 1 15 struggles to justify itself beyond these rudimentary functions.
Built for the Most Budget-Conscious Buyers
Lenovo’s IdeaPad 1 series epitomizes the brand’s commitment to providing entry-level, cost-effective options for consumers. Our examination of the 15-inch variant (designated as 15ADA7) reveals it to be situated at the lower end of this lineup, retailing for under $400.
At such affordable price points, one must anticipate a departure from the standard hardware configurations typically recommended.
In the case of the IdeaPad 1 15, Intel’s Core CPUs take a backseat, making way for an AMD Athlon Silver 3050U processor, accompanied by Radeon integrated graphics and a modest 4GB of memory.
Storage follows suit in its thriftiness, with a meager 128GB of eMMC storage, forgoing the speed benefits of an SSD or the familiarity of a traditional hard drive.
Furthermore, the range of configuration choices for the IdeaPad 1 is rather limited. While there are Intel-based alternatives labelled as the “IdeaPad 1i,” the options remain sparse. Regrettably, upgrades are not viable since both the RAM and the eMMC storage are soldered directly onto the system board, leaving little room for customisation.
Lenovo is gearing up to introduce more robust models featuring Ryzen processors, as indicated in various press materials. However, at present, these Ryzen-based offerings are not featured on Lenovo’s official website. Additionally, major retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon do not appear to have these models in stock.
Remaining faithful to its plastic build, the laptop frame exhibits some degree of flexibility, although not to the extent that it compromises typing comfort. The silver hue adds a touch of sophistication, rendering the budget-friendly device suitable for various settings, from classrooms to office environments. Despite its dimensions of 0.7 by 14.2 by 9.3 inches (HWD), it maintains a relatively lightweight profile, tipping the scales at 3.53 pounds.
An Unsurprisingly Dim and Dull Display
The standout feature of this IdeaPad lies in its 15.6-inch display, although notable for its utilization of a somewhat lackluster 1,366-by-768-pixel resolution and an outdated TN panel. This pairing falls short of the sharpness and brightness standards typically associated with contemporary Windows machines.
The display, barely qualifying as HD, lacks touch support and offers constrained color reproduction, coupled with notably low contrast levels that are discernible without the aid of specialized testing equipment. When juxtaposed with its acclaimed counterpart, the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14, sporting a full HD IPS panel, this model exhibits a perceptible dip in quality, despite its larger screen size.
Despite its straightforward design and less-than-impressive array of features, the laptop does offer some appreciated additions. Notably, the webcam features a physical lens cover adorned with a conspicuous red dot. This feature ensures clear indication of camera privacy, eliminating any ambiguity when closing the cover.
Lenovo’s 15-inch chassis houses a complete keyboard alongside a condensed numeric pad featuring half-width keys. The arrangement of the arrow keys is designed to fit four buttons within the space typically allocated for three, with the up and down arrows sharing a single key well.
While functional, these design choices are not distinctive for a 15-inch system.
Although not as expansive as those found on pricier models, the touchpad maintains precision, with effective palm rejection preventing inadvertent clicks or swipes when brushing the surface.
A Passable Presentation of Ports
In terms of port selection, the IdeaPad 1 15 offers a modest variety of connections, albeit not an extensive array—each port type is represented once.
This includes one USB 2.0, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-A), one USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, one HDMI output, and one SD card slot. Additionally, there’s an audio headset jack and a power connector.
Wireless connectivity is sufficiently provided for, featuring Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 capabilities. While not cutting-edge, they effectively facilitate internet access and seamless connection to various wireless accessories.
Buyer Beware: Windows S Mode
An unanticipated challenge of navigating the budget-friendly section is encountering non-standard software variants. Take, for instance, Windows 11 S Mode—an adapted version of Windows primarily designed for students and individuals seeking enhanced protection against unauthorized software.
In S Mode, users are restricted solely to applications available in the Windows App Store, limiting their software options.
Fortunately, transitioning from S-Mode to full Windows 11 is both complimentary and relatively straightforward, with Microsoft offering clear instructions for the process.
Nonetheless, it’s a peculiar requirement for a retail-sold machine, introducing an unexpected hurdle for users.
Testing the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15: Feel the Savings
Fortunately, the hardware configuration of this test model isn’t uncommon among budget-friendly systems. For instance, the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 model 3505 we tested shares the same processor, graphics, and memory.
Similarly, Gateway’s sub-$300 15.6-Inch Ultra Slim (2022) employs an Intel Celeron processor paired with a comparable storage solution.
While it’s feasible to encounter an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU priced below $400, exemplified by the street price of Acer’s 2022 Aspire 5 (A515-45-R74Z), typically, such configurations tend to be slightly pricier.
A case in point is the Editors’ Choice Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14, which offers relatively impressive additional specifications such as 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage.
Test System Configurations
Productivity Tests
Our primary benchmark, UL’s PCMark 10, replicates a range of real-world productivity and content creation scenarios. It assesses overall performance for office-centric activities like word processing, spreadsheet management, web browsing, and video conferencing.
(For further details on our laptop testing methodology, refer to our testing procedures.)
Subsequently, we employ three benchmarks to assess the CPU, leveraging all accessible cores and threads to evaluate a PC’s capability for processor-intensive tasks. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 utilizes the Cinema 4D engine to render a intricate scene, while Primate Labs’ Geekbench 5.4 Pro simulates various popular applications, spanning from PDF rendering to machine learning algorithms.
Lastly, we utilize the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution, with lower completion times indicating superior performance.
While we don’t anticipate stellar performance from any laptop priced below $400, the IdeaPad 1 15 still falls slightly short of expectations.
For instance, in Handbrake, it doesn’t obtain the lowest score—that distinction belongs to the Gateway Ultra Slim, which takes an hour and a half to transcode a 12-minute video file. Nonetheless, the IdeaPad still requires 43 minutes for the same task, indicating its unsuitability for media editing purposes.
Even in CPU-focused tests like Cinebench and synthetic productivity benchmarks such as PCMark and Geekbench, the IdeaPad 1 15 lingers near the bottom of the rankings. Only the Gateway, with its Celeron processor, appears to be noticeably inferior in performance.
Graphics Tests
To evaluate the graphics performance of Windows PCs, we employ two DirectX 12 gaming simulations provided by UL’s 3DMark: Night Raid, designed for laptops equipped with integrated graphics and representing more modest demands, and Time Spy, tailored for gaming setups featuring discrete GPUs and presenting more rigorous challenges.
Furthermore, we conduct two assessments using the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5. These tests evaluate both low-level routines such as texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering.
The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Car Chase tests, rendered offscreen to accommodate various display resolutions, challenge graphics and compute shaders utilizing the OpenGL programming interface and hardware tessellation, respectively. Higher frames per second (fps) indicate better performance.
Graphics and Gaming Tests
The graphics performance exhibited by the IdeaPad 1 15 mirrors the lackluster results observed in the processor-based productivity tests, which is to be expected.
Given that only integrated graphics cores are responsible for handling visuals while the processor cores manage computational tasks, it’s unsurprising that a budget system like this cannot compete with a laptop equipped with a dedicated graphics processor.
Moreover, given the low-powered CPUs typically featured in budget models of this nature, our expectations remain modest. The graphics performance of the IdeaPad, while underwhelming, pales in comparison to AMD Ryzen-powered systems such as the Acer Aspire 5.
In essence, the Lenovo is designed primarily for basic web browsing and perhaps occasional YouTube viewing.
Battery and Display Tests
To assess the battery life of laptops, we conduct a test wherein we play a locally stored 720p video file (specifically, the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with the display brightness set to 50% and the audio volume at 100%.
Prior to commencing the test, we ensure that the battery is fully charged, with both Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting disabled.
To evaluate color accuracy and brightness, we employ a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor alongside dedicated software.
This allows us to measure various aspects of a laptop screen’s performance, including its color saturation, indicated as the percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can accurately represent, as well as its 50% and peak brightness levels in nits (candelas per square meter).
A notable advantage of employing low-powered components is the extended battery life resulting from reduced demands on power consumption.
Upon reviewing the battery test outcomes, we find that the IdeaPad 1 15 shines, managing to stretch its 47Wh battery to over 12 hours of continuous use.
This achievement is particularly commendable when compared to other budget systems, where inexpensive models typically struggle to surpass the 10-hour mark.
Regrettably, a significant factor contributing to this extended battery life is the display’s perceptible dimness, exacerbated by its exceptionally low native resolution.
At maximum brightness, the HD screen emits just 258 nits—however, this diminishes significantly to a mere 32 nits when adjusted to 50% brightness, as we do in our battery tests.
Achieving practical usability demands higher brightness levels, yet even when set to its maximum, visibility remains limited, particularly in bright conditions such as outdoor sunlight.
Verdict: Affordable, But Not an Excellent Value
When purchasing a budget laptop, it’s reasonable to anticipate a compromise in terms of features and refinements compared to pricier models.
Reduced performance and limited feature sets are to be expected when the price point falls below $400.
However, despite our adjusted expectations, the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15 still fails to impress.
It lags behind its competitors across all performance metrics except for battery life, a benefit largely attributed to its relatively dim, low-resolution display.
Within this price bracket, unless you chance upon a truly exceptional deal such as the Editors’ Choice Lenovo IdeaPad 3 14 (which remains our top pick for budget Windows laptops), you may find greater satisfaction exploring the realm of Chromebooks rather than sticking with Microsoft-based systems.
PROS
- Long battery life
- Sturdy plastic build
- Decent keyboard and touchpad
CONS
- Lackluster performance
- Low-resolution, low-brightness display
- Basic port selection
LENOVO IDEAPAD 1 15 SPECS
| Laptop Class | Budget |
| Processor | AMD Athlon Silver 3050U |
| Processor Speed | 2.3 GHz |
