Lenovo Ideapad 530S review: Outstanding performance, so-so display

Lenovo's Ideapad 500 serial is intended as an upper-mid-range culling to its higher-end ThinkPads and Yogas, bringing a traditional clamshell notebook design and decent performance to go through a day's work.

I have hither the new Ideapad 530S, a 15-inch laptop that has a lot going for it. Performance is above average, the aluminum body is built well, and it's respectably thin without sacrificing ports. Sure, there are some downsides as a tradeoff for the price; allow's take a look at whether or not they're outweighed past the upsides and whether or non the Ideapad 530S is worth your money.

Impressive mid-range computing

Lenovo Ideapad 530S

Starts at almost $850

Bottom line: It's one of the meliorate mid-range laptops I've recently seen when it comes to operation and build quality.

Pros

• All-day battery life.
• Sturdy aluminum chassis.
• Not much bezel around the display.
• Fingerprint reader.
• Above-boilerplate performance.

Cons

• Fan gets loud.
• Display not very bright.
• Poor color reproduction.

What you'll love most the Lenovo Ideapad 530S

Nosotros've had the gamble to review a few different Ideapad models, and while some use a plastic chassis to cutting cost and weight, the Ideapad 530S is using a unmarried clamper of aluminum for its body. It's sturdy, there's non much flex or creaking, and polished edges forth the main chassis, fingerprint reader, and touchpad cutouts requite information technology a more premium look. It weighs 3.7 pounds (1.69 kg) — not bad for a 15-inch device — and is just 0.65 inches (sixteen.viii mm) thick. With the lid open up, the primary body's wedge shape makes it look thinner than it is.

Category	Spec
Form factor	Clamshell notebook
Brandish	15.6-inch FHD (1,920 10 1,080) IPS
Processor	8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM	8GB DDR4-2400MHz
Storage	Hynix 256GB Grand.ii PCIe SSD
Biometrics	Fingerprint reader
Battery	45Wh
Wireless	Intel Dual Band Wireless-Air-conditioning 8265 (2 10 ii) Bluetooth four.one
Ports	2 USB-A 3.ane HDMI 1.iv USB-C iii.1 SD carte du jour reader 3.5mm sound
Size	14.ane inches x 9.half dozen inches x 0.65 inches (358.nine mm x 244.9 mm ten 16.8 mm)
OS	Windows 10 Abode
Weight	From 3.vii pounds (ane.69 kg)

There'southward a good mix of ports here, including one USB-A 3.1 on either side, an SD card reader, USB-C 3.one, HDMI 1.4, and a iii.5mm audio jack, letting you connect a skillful mix of your peripherals. The 530S is using Lenovo'due south proprietary rectangular charging port — it comes with a square 65W charger that supports rapid charge — though you tin can charge through USB-C if you're in a pinch and forget your charger.

Battery life is ameliorate than expected, getting between 8 and nine hours of regular use with brightness at about lxx percent. That's plenty to get through a day's work, and so you have the option to leave the charger behind when taking the laptop abroad from the office or home. I ran some benchmark tests to pinpoint performance and came away surprised. Information technology scored iii,206 on a PCMark Abode Conventional test, placing information technology near 200 points higher than even the fifteen-inch Surface Book 2. As for the Core i5-8250U processor (CPU), it hit a single-core score of 4,001 and multi-core score of 12,724 in the Geekbench 4 test, coming close to plenty of Core i7 laptops we've tested. Finally, the 256GB Hynix PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) hit 2,566.7 MB/s read speeds and 520.5 MB/s write speeds in the sequential CrystalDiskMark test.

Lenovo's ThinkPad keyboards are arguably the all-time around, and to an extent, that translates hither. At that place's a decent amount of key travel across the board, a nice click while you work, and a soft landing when bottoming out. Using it to type for a day isn't a problem, and the large mylar touchpad only complements productivity. Information technology uses Precision drivers for total use of Windows 10 gestures, and in my feel works without flaw. To the right of the touchpad, set into the palm rest but out of the style when typing, is a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello. In testing, it logged me in near as fast equally possible.

What you'll hate about the Lenovo Ideapad 530S

The review model I tested costs nigh $850, and after seeing the bully operation you sort of know there'southward a trade-off somewhere. Like a lot of Lenovo's laptops, this one'south fifteen.half-dozen-inch FHD display suffers when it comes to colour reproduction and brightness.

It hits well-nigh 250 nits brightness — helped along by an anti-glare blanket — that might drive you mad if working in a well-lit room, and information technology'south on the low end of the color gamut. In testing, information technology striking only 68 percent sRGB and 51 percent AdobeRGB, which are non cracking results. If y'all're planning on some multimedia editing or you lot can appreciate a great display, the Ideapad 530S probably isn't for you.

One upside is that the bezel around the display is quite slim, leaving enough room at the top for a 720p webcam. It is raised, though the lack of a touch display makes this less important; your fingers won't be hitting edge when trying to tap stuff in the corners or sides. The chin, often a sore point on upkeep laptops, is actually not that big. If you tin can ignore the color reproduction, it does look quite overnice sitting on a desk.

The fan, which doesn't seem to kick on unless really under load, is immediately noticeable when it does movement. It's not the loudest I've heard, but information technology's certainly not the quietest. Finally, to drown out the fan when it is working there are dual Harman speakers. They go loud without distorting, though they deliver a chip of a thin sound. Not much more than expected from Ultrabook speakers.

Lenovo Ideapad 530S bottom line

Lenovo's Ideapad 530S, because of its starting $850 price, is in the upper attain of mid-range, simply cheers to stellar performance and a high-quality build, I retrieve it merits the cost. As long as you don't mind a display without perfect color reproduction or tons of brightness, it should serve you well either at the office or in the habitation.

Who should buy this laptop?

Anyone looking for an upper-mid-range notebook with a sizeable display should consider the Ideapad 530S. A combination of all-24-hour interval battery life, sturdy chassis, comfy keyboard, and above-average performance (though missing a dedicated GPU for amend gaming or editing operation) outweigh the dim display and fan that gets a bit loud at times.

See at Lenovo

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/lenovo-ideapad-530s-review

Posted by: schmidttheran.blogspot.com

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