Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15ICN

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Reviews for the Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15ICN

Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake and Core i3-8121U Deep Dive Review
Source: AnandTech Archive.org version
The problem with this story is that because this is a really bad configuration of laptop, it gives the hardware very little chance to show its best side.
Single Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 01/25/2019

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Model: The Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15ICN is a laptop with a special protective finish to guard against wear and tear, as well as rubber detailing on the bottom to maximize ventilation and extend component life. Shipped with the latest premium processing and advanced graphics options, the Ideapad 330 is a very powerful laptop. It is the first notebook with an Intel Cannon Lake processor from the 10-nm production. The laptop made of plastic is safe, durable, and ready for tasks. The palm rest is made of metal with matte aluminium finish. The laptop has rounded corners and won’t scratch easily. It comes in many color options, namely platinum grey, onyx black, mint green, midnight blue, blizzard white, and chocolate. As for hardware specifications, the Lenovo IdeaPad330-15 relies on the new Intel Core i3-8121U. This CPU features two cores and four threads at 2.2 to 3.1 GHz and offers enhanced performance over its predecessor. Lenovo paired the i3-8121U CPU with 4 GB of RAM. But if users want to achieve its full potential, they may opt to upgrade to an SSD or upsize the RAM capacity.

The processor of the Lenovo notebook is paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics. This GPU is able to provide seamless multitasking, immersive gaming, fast boot-ups, and theatre-like entertainment. Visuals are sharp and clear, even though it only has a TN panel with a resolution of 1,366 × 768 pixels. The anti-glare display makes this laptop ideal for playing games and watching movies. Combined with Dolby Audio, the IdeaPad 330 provides dramatically enhanced entertainment experience. Turn up the volume without distortion and the user will hear every detail. Lenovo claims to be committed to providing an uncluttered desktop and a safer PC experience out of the box. The laptop preload contains just five hand-selected applications designed to increase productivity. As for input and output, all the hubs are placed at the left. There are full-sized HDMI, USB-A and Ethernet ports, so a user won’t need a dongle. Unfortunately, the USB-C port only works for data transfers, not display-out or charging. The Ideapad 330 boasts a battery life of up to 6 hours and also supports Rapid Charge. 15 minutes plugged-in will give users up to 2 hours of use. As a conclusion, the Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15ICN is a classic low-price model. At 15.6 inch there is only a resolution of 1,366 × 768 pixels, four gigabytes of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive with 5400 rpm. However, the laptop could be ideal for students, style-conscious persons, and value seekers. Even gamers on a very tight budget can consider this model.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

AMD Radeon RX 540: Polaris based mid-range graphics card with 512 shaders (8 compute units) and a maximum clock speed of 1,219 MHz (according to AMD). Uses the new Polaris 12 chip like the faster Radeon RX 550 (not verified but highly likely) with the slightly improved 14nm FinFET process.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

i3-8121U: First available 10nm CPU from Intel, based on the Cannon-Lake architecture. Integrates two processor cores and no graphics card (2+0 setup). The CPU cores are clocked from 2.2 to 3.1 GHz (boost).» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

15.60":

15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.

The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.

Lenovo: Lenovo ("Le" from English legend, novo (Latin) for new) was founded in 1984 as a Chinese computer trading company. As of 2004, the company was the largest laptop manufacturer in China and, after acquiring IBM's PC division in 2005, the fourth largest in the world. In addition to desktops and notebooks, the company manufactures monitors, projectors, servers, etc, and specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, enterprise solutions and related services.

In 2016, the company ranked first in the world in computer sales. It still held it in 2023 with about 23% global market share. Important product lines are Thinkpad, Legion and Ideapad.

In 2011, it acquired a majority stake in Medion AG, a European computer hardware manufacturer. In 2014, Motorola Mobility was purchased, which gave Lenovo a boost in the smartphone market.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

Devices from a different Manufacturer and/or with a different CPU

Devices with Same Screen Size and/or Weight