Lenovo IdeaPad S340-15 Laptop Review: Cheap Core i7 Ice Lake Comes with a Performance Cost

Dimensions and weight are close to the HP Pavilion 15, Asus VivoBook S15, Dell Inspiron 15, and Lenovo's own IdeaPad S540-15. Thus, you should be more concerned about differences in performance and build quality rather than size and weight if choosing between these budget laptops. If you're upgrading from an older laptop, then the new narrow bezel designs of most newer laptops will help with portability.

Transfer rates from the integrated SD card reader are nearly identical to what we recorded on the IdeaPad S540. Moving 1 GB of images from our UHS-II test card to desktop takes about 14 seconds compared to half that on the Dell XPS 15.

A fully inserted SD card still protrudes by over half its length to be unsafe for carrying. In comparison, inserted SD cards on other laptops like the ThinkPad T490 sit almost flush against the edge.

Wireless is provided by an Intel 9560 for Wi-Fi 5 or 802.11ac speeds. We're able to record real-world average transfer rates of approximately 1200 Mbps when standing 1 meter away from our Wi-Fi 6-enabled Netgear RAX200 router. We did not experience any connectivity issues during our time with the test unit.

The bottom panel is secured by ten T5 Torx screws. Once removed, users have access to two storage bays and one SODIMM slot underneath the aluminum plate. Servicing is much easier here when compared to the HP Pavilion series.

Color space is limited to just 38 percent and 58 percent of AdobeRGB and sRGB standards, respectively, to be indicative of a budget panel. The IdeaPad S540-15, which is one step up from our IdeaPad S340-15, offers deeper and potentially more accurate colors at about 86 percent of sRGB. We recommend calibrating the display yourself or applying our ICM profile above to get the most out of the laptop.

Further measurements with an X-Rite colorimeter reveal a warmer-than-usual color temperature whereas the grayscale on most other budget laptops are typically cooler. Calibrating the display ourselves addresses this drawback directly, but colors still become increasingly inaccurate at higher saturation levels due to the aforementioned narrow gamut.

Outdoor visibility is in line with direct competitors like the HP Pavilion or Asus VivoBook meaning that it's just average at best. Sunlight will wash out the screen meaning shade will be your best bet if outdoor use is necessary. Costlier laptops like the XPS 15 or MacBook Pro are almost two times brighter.

According to CineBench R15 and R20, CPU performance is where we expect it to be at within 5 percent of the average Core i7-1065G7 in our database. The problem arises when running these same benchmarks in an endless loop to test the performance sustainability of the laptop. When running CineBench R15 Multi-Thread in a loop, for example, the initial score of 738 points would drop to as low as 460 points after four complete loops to represent a massive 38 percent decrease in processor performance over time. In contrast, the Surface Laptop 3 15 equipped with the same Core i7-1065G7 CPU would dip by just 6 to 7 percent.

Strangely, CPU performance would occasionally spike back up to normal before dipping back down again as shown by our graph below. This wide performance delta and cycling behavior are unfavorable characteristics for users who want consistent CPU performance when running extreme processing loads.

See our dedicated page on the Core i7-1065G7 for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.

PCMark results are where we expect them to be in relation to other laptops equipped with the same Core i7-1065G7 CPU even though the system buckles under high stress as exemplified by our benchmarks above. This suggests that the system will run normally during day-to-day browsing or streaming loads. Power users who want the most out of the Ice Lake CPU, however, may want to look at the Yoga C940 instead.

We experienced no notable software or hardware hiccups during our time with the test unit.