Lenovo IdeaPad S145 (Intel Core i3 variant)

Lenovo Ideapad s145 (Intel Core i3 variant) - Full Review with Pros and Cons

The Lenovo Ideapad s145 is Lenovo’s offering to the budget office and daily use home laptops. The USP of these laptops is that they offer a great value at a very low price. These laptops are adored by office users and students.

This is the review of the models which is available around 30000, the one with i3 processors.

Looking for the review of the i5 model ? – click here

Lenovo ideapad S145 Best laptops under 40000

Build and Quality

The build of the Ideapad s145 is decent considering its price point. The polycarbonate body feels well made but the glossy finished plastic on the top panel and the interior deck makes it look cheap and is not very grippy. Also, there is a bit of flex in the keyboard deck as well. All around the design is okay but a matt finish is always welcome. It is 1.85 kgs which is not that heavy.

Ports, I/O and Connectivity

The majority of ports are to the right of the machine which is comfortable for a right handed mouse user. The ports include AC power in port, HDMI, a headphone jack, full size SD card reader, a USB A 2.0 and a couple of USB A 3.0 ports. There is no type c port though. Overall the port selection is good considering the target demographic.

Maintenance

The RAM and storage is upgradable which is a good thing considering maximum models have just 4 GB RAM and a SSD would really help improve the speed in this device if you don’t get the model with an SSD The service of Lenovo is decent. But the components used in this laptop are usually available and repairs won’t be any difficult.

Input Devices

KeyboardThe keyboard layout in this machine is good, there is a number pad with specific media controls as well. The keystrokes are decent , they may feel a little mushy but you will get used to it quite easily. 

TouchpadThis laptop doesn’t use windows precision driver in its touchpad usage which is a disappointment, the acceleration is a bit hickey, the surface is not that smooth and may feel sticky at times but the buttons are tactile and have a satisfactory click to them. A purchase of an external mouse is recommended if you are getting this device.

Display

The display on the ideapad is okay at best. The 1080p panel is not bright and is not colour accurate. The contrast is low and viewing angles are okay. The matt finfish makes the text look grainy if viewed off axis. But the display is pretty usable for document writing, excel usage or watching some content here and there but definitely not for colour accurate work like photoshop or video editing.

Performance

Performance on the ideapad s145 with Intel core i3 is decent at best, Daily tasks like using word or excel is handled pretty good but as soon as you open up chrome and open more than 5 tabs the 4GB RAM starts showing its limitations so we would highly recommend getting the variant with 8GB RAM or upgrade the RAM as soon as you get the laptop.

Also get a model with an SSD or if you are getting the variant with 1 TB HDD install a sata 3 SSD yourself as working with only the HDD is very sluggish and getting only the OS into the SSD shows huge improvements in loading speeds so a SSD is highly recommended. 

The graphics are done by the integrated graphics and can play some e sports titles like CS GO but high end gaming can’t be done on this machine.

Storage

There are variants with 1 TB HDD or a 256 GB SSD, getting the SSD mode is highly recommended since it gives significant improvement in performance. If you are getting the HDD model then just get a sata3 SSD installed and transfer the OS to the OS to get s decent performance.

Speakers

Speakers on the device are okay. They include two 1.5 watt speaker units. The speakers lack base but have decent mids and highs. The speaker support Dolby Audio and are decently loud which gets the job done.

Battery Life

Battery life in this device is okay at best. The battery is a 35 Whr unit which gives around 4.5 hours of battery and requires an evening top up everyday at moderate usage. The charger brick included in the box has the adapter unit integrated in the socket assembly which helps in portability.

Lenovo IdeaPad S145 (Intel Core i3 varient)

4.3

roductivity performance

4.0/10

Gaming performance

4.0/10

Display

4.5/10

Battery life

4.5/10

Build & Design

4.5/10

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