Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15"
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15"
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GENERAL USE: Good—7.3/10
GAMING/AI: Fair—6.1/10
ENG/DESIGN: Fair—6.7/10
SOFTWARE DEV: Good—7.2/10
CONTENT CREATION: Good—7.3/10
PORTABILITY: Good—7.7/10
BATTERY: Good—7.1/10
OVERALL SCREEN QUALITY: Fair—6.5/10
OVERALL PERFORMANCE: Fair—6.9/10
SIZE: 15.6"
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" is a budget-friendly laptop with an Intel i5 processor and integrated graphics, suitable for everyday tasks and light productivity. It comes with a 512GB storage drive and 8GB of RAM, a combination that offers a decent balance for general use. The 15.6-inch IPS display offers clear images at a standard 1920 x 1080 resolution, but it isn't touchscreen. The battery life is modest, making it more suited for use where charging options are accessible. Weighing 3.59 pounds and measuring 0.78 inches thick, it's relatively portable but might feel bulky compared to ultrabooks. It includes a numeric keypad, backlit keyboard, and a good variety of ports including USB-C and HDMI. The IdeaPad 3 is not designed for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, or machine learning tasks, but it's a good match for more straightforward engineering software. Overall, this laptop is a good choice for students or home office use where high performance is not a critical requirement. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Evaluation
Pros
- Solid build quality
- Good portability
- Decent general use performance
- Backlit keyboard and number pad
- Ample storage capacity
Cons
- Moderate battery life
- Average display for color work
- Not ideal for 3D/machine learning tasks
- No hardware ray tracing or DLSS support
Ratings by Category
Operating Noise:4.9
PerfectRec’s Operating Noise Score is based on fan noise measurements. Laptops with a fanless design, such as Macbooks, receive the maximum score.
Portability:4.3
PerfectRec’s portability rating takes into account the volume and thickness of the laptop as well as its weight.
General Use:4.1
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" is suitable for general use primarily because it features a capable Intel i5 processor and adequate RAM, ensuring that it can handle everyday computing tasks efficiently. It also offers a high-quality IPS display for clear images and good color reproduction, and it strikes a balance between portability and battery life, making it a practical choice for users who need a reliable laptop for work, study, or entertainment.
Software Development:4.1
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software development.
In addition to a strong emphasis on overall performance, this score also places very high importance on screen quality. Heat management, storage, keyboard and speaker quality are also incorporated, with fan noise rounding out this score.
Content Creation:4.1
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, and video editing work.
In addition to a strong emphasis on overall performance, this score also places very high importance on screen quality. Heat management, storage, keyboard and speaker quality are also incorporated, with fan noise rounding out this score.
Battery Life:4.1
PerfectRec’s Battery Life rating is based on hours of battery life in typical usage scenarios.
Engineering & Design:3.7
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has an Intel i5 CPU and integrated Iris Xe graphics, which provide modest performance suitable for some engineering and design tasks but may struggle with more demanding software. Its IPS screen offers decent color coverage and sharpness, but professionals requiring high color accuracy might find the coverage in DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces limited; additionally, its portability is rated good, but other characteristics like the keyboard and speaker quality are just fair, which may affect overall user experience during extended use.
General Use Screen Quality:3.6
The general use screen score is based on the screen technology, contrast ratio, resolution, brightness, color gamut and color accuracy. This score does not take into account specialized display features for specific use cases, such as high refresh rate for gaming.
Build Quality:3.5
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, chassis rigidity, and overall reliability. Our assessment of build quality includes many details that are difficult to quantify. Our laptop experts use their best judgment to produce the final score.
Keyboard Quality:3.5
The Keyboard Quality score is based on the PerfectRec experts’ assessment of tactile feedback, typing comfort, keyboard reliability and typing noise.
Gaming & AI:3.2
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15" has an Iris Xe GPU integrated with its main processor, which is decent for light gaming and 3D tasks but not as powerful as dedicated gaming GPUs. Additionally, while the screen quality is good with an IPS panel, the refresh rate is standard at 60Hz, which may not provide as smooth visuals as higher refresh rates found in gaming-oriented laptops.
Full Specs
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
| Price | $643 | ||
Release Date | April 1, 2022 | ||
Overall Dimensions | 14.1'' x 9.3'' x 0.78'' | ||
Weight | 3.59 lbs | ||
Width | 14.14" | ||
Depth | 9.31" | ||
INTERNAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Processor | Intel i5-1235U | ||
RAM | 8 GB | ||
DDR Memory Version | 4 | ||
RAM Slots | 1 | ||
Storage | 512 GB | ||
BATTERY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Battery Life | 6.5 Hours | ||
Battery Capacity | 45 Wh | ||
SCREEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Diagonal Size | 15.6" | ||
Display Technology | IPS | ||
Resolution | 1920 x 1080 | ||
Refresh Rate | 60Hz | ||
Display Brightness | 312 nits | ||
RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Build Quality Score  | 6.5/10 | ||
Portability Score | 7.8/10 | ||
Gaming Laptop Appearance | No | ||
Premium Business Laptop | No | ||
Fan Noise Score | 9.5/10 | ||
HARDWARE FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Keyboard Quality Score | 6.5/10 | ||
Speaker Quality Score | 6.5/10 | ||
Webcam | 720p | ||
Fingerprint Reader | Yes | ||
Backlit Keyboard | Yes | ||
Number Pad | Yes | ||
CONNECTIVITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
USB Type-A | 2 | ||
USB-C ports | 1 | ||
USB-C Charging | Yes | ||
Display Outputs | 2 | ||
Thunderbolt Ports | 0 | ||
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NotebookCheck
Sascha Mölck | February 2023
"The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is an enduring office notebook with a powerful Ryzen APU. Lenovo's office all-rounder easily handles office and internet applications as well as modest games - the Ryzen 5 5625U APU and 16 GB of RAM make this possible. The CPU and GPU can work at consistently high clock rates. The emission values are okay, but the noise emissions should be lower under medium to full load. The relatively light notebook (approx. 1.6 kg) achieves practical battery runtimes of about 10 to 11 hours."
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