The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i 15IMH05 fully exploits its CPU and GPU

Lenovo's new IdeaPad Gaming 3i series is aimed at customers who are looking for the most affordable gaming laptop possible. The company has opted for mid-range hardware from Intel and Nvidia for this. The test device provided to us is powered by a Core i5-10300H processor and a GeForce GTX 1650 graphics core. The laptop does what it's intended to do: It brings all games found in our database smoothly onto the screen. Full HD resolution and medium to high quality settings can always be selected here. 

The IdeaPad Gaming 3i series supersedes the IdeaPad L340-15IRH series. Fortunately, Lenovo hasn't carried over a shortcoming of many L340 models into the new devices: The RAM of several L340 models can only run in single-channel mode because there is only one memory bank. Consequently, the hardware can't fully develop its performance. In the case of a gaming laptop, this is reflected in the frame rates, among other things, which are significantly lower than they should be. The laptops of the IdeaPad Gaming 3i series have two memory banks; therefore, nothing stands in the way of using dual-channel mode.

The test device provided to us has a 512 GB NVMe SSD on board. Should the storage space run out, the existing SSD could be exchanged for a larger-capacity model or a second NVMe SSD could be installed in the laptop. The second M.2 slot can be equipped with NVMe models in the 2230 and 2280 formats.

The 120 Hz Full HD IPS display offers stable viewing angles, a matte surface, acceptable response times, and decent color reproduction. While the maximum brightness can still be described as sufficient, the contrast and color-space coverage are too low. Even an entry-level laptop should also deliver more here.

Much more information and measurements can be found in our review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3i 15IMH05.