Lenovo IdeaPad S145 Review: Decent Value But Awfully Underpowered

You might have heard about Lenovo or might have seen the company’s laptops somewhere. This is because this Chinese company is actually the world’s number on notebook maker. Lenovo has launched many products on the market including laptops under the IdeaPad brand. The S145 is one of the firm’s budget models with a very low price point. If you are considering purchasing this device, check out our Lenovo IdeaPad S145 review.

In the segment for budget and mid-range laptops, we have the IdeaPad 330 and 330S that have similar names but different quality, construction, and performance. Meanwhile, in the upper mid-range segment, we have the IdeaPad 530S with a classy design and noteworthy performance.

In 2019, Lenovo launched the IdeaPad S540, a successor of the IdeaPad 530S. Just below it was the S340 which surprisingly has features like a webcam privacy shutter. And the cheapest one was the IdeaPad S145. The S145 is a 15.6-inch budget laptop with a starting price of Rs 26,990.

Design and Build

For the construction of the IdeaPad S145, Lenovo goes with plastic. The top cover as well as the keyboard island comes with a glossy plasticky finish with a touch of plain silver. The laptop not only has a toyish look but it also feels less grippy when you hold it in the hands like when taking it out of your backpack. The screen bezels, the keycaps, the base panel, and the hinges have a darker shade, adding some contrast and improving the overall appearance.

You can open the lid of the laptop to 180 degrees. Its power brick is integrated with the wall plug. So the entire charging kit is more appealing and portable. For its price, the IdeaPad S145 still looks and feels decent. However, it would have been better if Lenovo went with a matte finish.

Display, Audio & IO

The Lenovo IdeaPad S145 has a 15.6-inch non-touchscreen display with a maximum brightness of 220 nits and Full HD resolution. Lenovo says that the screen can cover 45% of an unspecified color space. However, colors look washed out and the white of the backlight burns through brightly. The screen’s matte finish creates a grainy effect, affecting the viewing experience. When you tilt the display down just even a few degrees, it is impossible to read the text. In short, the display of the IdeaPad S145 isn’t a great one for those who work with images and videos. For occasional documents and spreadsheets, it will do the job.

On the laptop's lower front lip, you will find two tiny speakers with flat, uninspiring sound even regardless of the Dolby badging. The maximum value isn’t enough, even for a YouTube watch. If you need clear audio, you’d better invest in portable wired speakers or a pair of headphones.

Most of the laptop’s ports are on the left side, which is convenient for those who use the mouse with their right hands. On the left, you will see a power port, a USB-A 2.0 port, a full-size HDMI port, and some USB-A 3.1 ports. If you look to the right side of the laptop, you will see a 3.5mm audio jack, and an SD card reader. Since this is a budget laptop, it doesn’t have a USB-C port. It doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner either. The VGA webcam offers grainy and pixelated images.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard of the IdeaPad S145 isn’t comfortable to use. However, it isn’t that uncomfortable either. The whole keyboard island as well as the individual keycaps are in a shape that bulges upwards. This isn’t something that laptop manufacturers would do to provide users with a great typing experience. In the case of the IdeaPad S145, the intention is to maintain rigidity. On the bright side, the Numpad section keys dedicated to media playback.

In terms of the touchpad, it is sluggish and uneven, giving an unpleasant touchpad experience. By default, tapping the touchpad three times will open Windows Search. In the settings, you can only change the touchpad’s sensitivity. In contrast, the click buttons that are under the plain plastic of the touchpad provide a great feel.

Performance

On the official website Lenovo, the IdeaPad S145 is stated to sport an AMD Ryzen 5 3000-series processor. You will have two options in terms of RAM: 4GB or 8GB. A WD Blue 1TB hard drive that spins at 5,400rpm is in charge of the storage. The laptop doesn’t have a discrete graphics card. It only has the Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated GPU.

The laptop has an awfully bad everyday performance because of the sluggish hard drive and the low RAM inside. It needs more than two minutes to start and be ready for use. When using everyday apps like File Explorer, Chrome and OneNote simultaneously, you will surely experience constant window freezes and stutters.

Battery

The laptop has a 35Wh dual-cell lithium-ion battery, which is fairly ideal for long use. With the laptop, you can expect around three and a half hours of continuously using it. Charging the laptop from 36% to 95% takes one and a half hours. We hope that our Lenovo IdeaPad S145 review can help you decide whether to spend money on the device or not.

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