Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15 is not the thinnest or lightest laptop available, but its all-metal construction, beautiful screen, ample performance, and long battery life make it an outstanding choice for its price.
Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
Pros of Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
- Slim
- Fashionable
- All-metal design
Cons of Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
- Excellent connectivity
- Overall performance
- Screen
- Nvidia graphics are not required for every 14-inch form factor, which increases the weight
Key Particulars
- Review Price: 850 pounds
- Metal exterior only
- Core i5-7200U with 8GB of RAM
- 14-inch, 1920 x 1080, 256GB PCIe SSD with Nvidia GT 940MX GPU
- Keyboard with backlight 15.9mm thick 1.55kg
What is Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15?
Due to its excellent design, useful features, and affordable pricing, the Lenovo IdeaPad 710S ranked among the best laptops of the previous year. The IdeaPad 720S, an improved version, is now available from the firm.
Although identical in many ways—it is still a small, all-metal laptop—it has undergone several changes. There is a new, larger 14-inch screen with a smaller bezel (a 13-inch model is also available), Nvidia graphics, and a Thunderbolt connector.
This laptop is expensive, with a beginning cost of £850. It is considerably less expensive than the £1200 that the majority of high-end Ultrabooks, like the Dell XPS 13 and Microsoft Surface Laptop, command.
Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15: Features and Design
This laptop has a wonderful design and is both small and light. Its all-aluminum shell gives it a reassuringly pricey feel, and it has the weight you’d anticipate from a high-end device. The panels don’t feel as though they were hewn from solid slabs of metal, so it isn’t quite on the same level as the most expensive, but it’s nearby.
But the Lenovo falls short of premium versions in terms of size and weight. It is notably bigger and heftier, measuring 320.7 x 222.8 x 15.9mm, and weighs 1.55kg. It is still portable, but you might prefer a more robust backpack than a little messenger bag.
Again, the overall fit and finish are superb yet slightly inferior to that of more expensive devices. As an illustration, the trackpad lacks the etched glass preferred by the best laptops. To prevent vents from being blocked by your lap, most high-end laptops inhale and exhale air through the hinge. Here, however, the vents are on the bottom of the laptop.
Lenovo has added a chamfer to the corners of several of the panels, much like the Acer Swift 3. The edges here, though, don’t seem as harsh and uncomfortable in the hand as they do on that laptop.
Connectivity
Connectivity is one area where this laptop does not lack in any way. There are ports for HDMI, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, and an SD card along the right side; a second USB 3.0 port and a headphone jack are located on the left. Instead, of using the Thunderbolt connector, charging is done with a standard power adapter.
A webcam
A webcam is above the screen, a fingerprint reader is to the right of the keyboard, and the screen is 1080p. The keyboard is backlit as well.
Keyboard and trackpad for Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
The mid-range price of this laptop is reflected in both the keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard is generally very good. It has a beautiful layout, is roomy, and offers snappy, rapid key action. Although not the brightest illumination you’ll find on a laptop, it is also illuminated. Although it can’t quite match the greatest, it is generally enjoyable to text on.
Although the trackpad doesn’t have the best-etched glass surface or accurate click, it still does a wonderful job overall. Its smooth aluminum surface is comfortable in the hand, tracks precisely, and is big enough to support two-finger scrolling and gestures with wide sweeping motions.
Display for the Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
The 720S screen maintains the general trend by combining high-end and more mid-range capabilities.
The Full HD resolution is more than sufficient, and the IPS LCD panel provides outstanding overall image quality and superb viewing angles. The glossy coating and rather low maximum brightness make this laptop less effective in bright conditions, such as working outside on a sunny day, than some others.
The brightness adjustment
The brightness adjustment also struck me as strange. The brightness changed from 300 units to 100 units when it was reduced from 100% to just 80%. There isn’t much room to fine-tune the setting to a reasonable level given that the usual recommendation is that you operate at 120-150nits and that the brightness button advances in 10% increments. To reach close to our battery test level of 150 units, I ultimately had to manually enter 85% in the power choices.
Image quality on the Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15:
Maximum luminance: 297 nits
Compare 1264:1.
6449K is the color temperature.
Gamma is 2.13, Delta E is 0.15, and sRGB coverage is 88.9%.
Overall, however, it’s a pleasure to use and provides accurate enough image quality to be suitable for most of content creation tasks. Additionally, it can fold flat, which might occasionally be helpful if you need to type from an elevated position or are exhibiting something to multiple people at once.
The audio and webcam on the Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
A standard 720p, 30fps webcam has been installed in the top bezel of the 720S by Lenovo. Its visual quality is completely ordinary, with a graininess that muddies up the details. Overall, though, it manages to function in moderately low light and provides adequate detail for casual video calling and streaming.
There are two speakers on the underside of this laptop, located at the front of the device. They all work well together. For the most part, volume levels are adequate; there is no distortion even at maximum volume, and overall clarity and balance are acceptable. While there is no real bass to speak of, the tinny shrillness that plagues crappy laptop speakers is also absent.
Performance of the Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
There are two different CPU options for the 720S:
One is an Intel Core i7-7500U, and the other is an Intel Core i5-7200U. Power users will value the additional speed that the Core i7 offers. However, given that it Costs an additional £100 and all you receive in return is a grey exterior paint, the more expensive choice doesn’t immediately stand out as being the better value.
Nvidia GT 940MX graphics
The addition of Nvidia GT 940MX graphics is this laptop’s most notable and unexpected feature, aside from everything else. The performance of the 720S’s integrated graphics is increased by two to three times, while it doesn’t transform the device into a high-end gaming machine.
This means that you’ll be able to play Counterstrike:
Global Offensive and Minecraft without experiencing any lag, however, you’ll still need to play at a rather low resolution and detail setting to have a respectable frame rate.
In 3DMark:
Ice Storm, the integrated graphics of the Intel 7500U managed 51,696 points whereas the Nvidia chip scored 67,394. This, however, downplays the Nvidia chip’s speed edge. The Nvidia graphics managed 1925 points in the considerably Harder 3DMark:
Fire Strike test compared to the Intel integrate d’s meager 804 points
But it’s important to keep in mind that most customers won’t need the Nvidia GPU, which raises the price of the system. If you don’t need dedicated graphics, check with multiple vendors to see what specifications they’re offering since not all 720S models will have them.
Overall system performance
Regarding overall system performance, both CPU options are more than adequate for most of the daily work. I rarely felt as though the model I tried, which used the 7200U, was slowing me down. It received a score of 2426 on the PCMark 8 test, which is exactly in line with other laptops with comparable specifications; paying more for a non-“Pro” laptop won’t provide you any more performance.
Utilizing a quick PCIe SSD is also beneficial. This also enhances the machine’s overall feeling of speed by ensuring that boot and app loading times are as quick as possible. Even though AS SSD’s transfer speeds of 1245 MB/sec (read) and 555 MB/sec (write) aren’t the quickest SSDs available, they are noticeably faster than the more common SATA SSDs found in certain other mid-range laptops.
All in all, a laptop will undoubtedly offer the power the great majority of users require, with only the most demanding users needing more. The cooling system is also remarkably silent. Under prolonged 100% stress, it does reduce the CPU’s speed to 2.5GHz, but it does so while maintaining a relatively quiet fan noise.
Battery life for Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15
Lenovo advertises a battery life of up to 14 hours for this laptop, but in most cases, this is not feasible. Only when the laptop is idle, and the brightness is at its lowest setting will the battery survive that long. The corporation instead gives a much more realistic estimate of 8 hours for watching the video.
In contrast, this laptop outperformed the latter number in our testing. With the screen set to 150 nits (85%) brightness during testing with Power mark, utilizing a custom loop of 10 minutes of watching the video and 5 minutes of web browsing, it lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes. This is a fantastic outcome that easily puts this laptop on par with more expensive choices.
The battery was also tested by watching an hour of Netflix at the same brightness; this reduced the battery’s capacity by 10%, indicating that it will last roughly 10 hours if you only watch videos.
Is the Lenovo Idea pad 720s-15 a good investment?
This laptop is perfect for anyone who wants all the essential characteristics of a high-end, thin-and-light laptop without having to shell out the £1200+ price tag for such devices. While it can’t quite match those pricier models’ sexiness, build quality, or screen resolution, it comes close in every other way.
This is a system that can accomplish almost everything while looking fantastic, from its attractive appearance and excellent build quality, through its acceptable screen and superb keyboard, to its adequate performance and battery life.
Even if it might not be at the top of your list if portability is your primary priority, this is still a laptop that you could carry with you almost anywhere.
Verdict
The Lenovo IdeaPad 720S is not the thinnest or lightest laptop available, but its all-metal construction, beautiful screen, ample performance, and long battery life make it an outstanding choice for its price.
