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MagyarLenovo IdeaPad S340-15 Laptop Review: Cheap Core i7 Ice Lake Comes with a Performance Cost
The budget IdeaPad S340-15 is one of Lenovo's most affordable 15.6-inch laptops in contrast to the mid-range IdeaPad S540 or higher-end IdeaPad S740 or IdeaPad S940. Our test unit here is a higher-end configuration equipped with Intel's latest Core i7-1065G7 Ice Lake CPU, 1080p IPS display, 512 GB SSD, and 8 GB of DDR4 RAM for only about $700 to $800 USD retail. Cheaper SKUs exist with the older Core i3-8145U CPU, 768p TN display, 128 GB SSD, and just 4 GB of RAM for under $400.
Direct competitors to the IdeaPad S340-15 include other budget 15.6-inch multimedia laptops like the Asus VivoBook S15, HP Pavilion 15, Acer Aspire series, and the Dell Inspiron 15. Since the 15.6-inch IdeaPad S340-15 shares physical features with the 14-inch IdeaPad S340-14 and 15.6-inch IdeaPad S540-15, we recommend checking out our review on the 14-inch model as many of our existing comments will apply here as well.
More Lenovo reviews:
Primary Camera: 0.9 MPix
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 79 % | 03/2020 | Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL i7-1065G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) | 1.8 kg | 17.9 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 86 % | 09/2019 | Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD i5-9300H, UHD Graphics 630 | 1.9 kg | 17 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 83 % | 04/2019 | HP Pavilion 15-cs2019ng i5-8265U, GeForce MX250 | 1.9 kg | 18 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 81 % | 05/2018 | Asus VivoBook 15 X542UF-DM143T i5-8250U, GeForce MX130 | 2.3 kg | 23 mm | 15.60" | 1920x1080 | |
| 84 % | 06/2019 | Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE R7 2700U, Vega 10 | 1.7 kg | 17.6 mm | 14.00" | 1920x1080 |
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Case
The chassis is visually identical to the IdeaPad S540-15 save for a slight change in thickness. It is primarily aluminum on the outer lid with a slightly rubberized plastic keyboard deck to save on costs in contrast to the almost all-aluminum Yoga S900 series. For a budget laptop, however, the S340 feels smoother and sleeker than say the Dell Inspiron 15 or the overly plastic Asus VivoBook S15 series. Surfaces still warp and creak more than on the Yoga C940 or XPS 15 as one would expect given the price difference.
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.
Connectivity
Most of the expected ports are here including USB Type-C, USB Type-A, and HDMI. Port positioning is excellent save for the tightly-packed HDMI port squished in between the AC adapter port and USB Type-C port.
SD Card Reader
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.
| SDCardreader Transfer Speed | |
| average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs) | |
| Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB) | |
| Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II) | |
Communication
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.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 Client (receive) TCP 1 m 4M x10 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T490 20RY0002US | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL | |
| Lenovo Yoga C740-14IML | |
| Alienware m17 R2 P41E | |
| iperf3 Client (transmit) TCP 1 m 4M x10 | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T490 20RY0002US | |
| Lenovo Yoga C740-14IML | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL | |
| Alienware m17 R2 P41E | |
Webcam
Maintenance
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.
Accessories and Warranty
There are no extras in the box other than the paper manuals and AC adapter. The standard one-year limited warranty applies with further options if purchased directly from Lenovo.
Input Devices
Keyboard and TouchPad
Lenovo uses the same keyboard and touchpad across its IdeaPad S340, S540, and S740 lineup. Thus, our existing comments on the S540 and S740 apply here for the S340. Even the size of the clickpad (10.5 x 7 cm) is identical between all three models.
Unfortunately, this also means that we're less than impressed by the soft feedback of the keyboard keys. Lenovo ThinkPads have some of the best keyboard keys as far as laptops are concerned while the keys on the IdeaPad S340 feel spongier, shallower, and overall cheaper. This won't be a surprise if you're already accustomed to typing on cheap Ultrabooks, but the difference will be noticeable if you're coming from Ultrabooks with firmer keys like the HP Spectre series or the ThinkPad series.
Display
The BOE NV156FHM-T03 panel on our unit can be found on no other laptop in our database as of this writing. Nonetheless, there are a handful of laptops with panels from the BOE NV156FHM family including the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro and the Lenovo Legion Y740. To our surprise, graininess is minimal and contrast is better than expected from a matte panel on an inexpensive laptop. On the other hand, the limited color space and and inaccurate colors prevent the panel from being as colorful as the panels found on pricier laptops like the Surface laptop 3 15 or IdeaPad S940.
Response times are slow for more noticeable ghosting when gaming and our unit suffers from slight-moderate uneven backlight bleeding along the edges and corners.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 87 %
Center on Battery: 320.8 cd/m²
Contrast: 1188:1 (Black: 0.27 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 7.68 | 0.6-29.43 Ø5.7, calibrated: 4.65
ΔE Greyscale 7.3 | 0.64-98 Ø5.9
58.3% sRGB (Argyll 3D) 37.8% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 3D)
Gamma: 2.12
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL BOE CQ NV156FHM-T03, IPS, 15.60, 1920x1080 | Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD LQ156M1, IPS, 15.60, 1920x1080 | Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 LG Philips 156WFC, IPS, 15.60, 1920x1080 | Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML BOEhydis NV156FHM-N61 (BOE06FB), IPS, 15.60, 1920x1080 | HP Pavilion 15-cs2019ng BOE080D, IPS, 15.60, 1920x1080 | Asus VivoBook 15 X542UF-DM143T BOE CQ NT156FHM-N41, TN LED, 15.60, 1920x1080 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | -3% | 31% | -3% | 13% | 29% | |
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 46.4 (26, 20.4) | 52.8 (25.6, 27.2) -14% | 28.4 (10.4, 18) 39% | 49.6 (22.4, 27.2) -7% | 43 (22, 21) 7% | 41 (22, 19) 12% |
| Response Time Black / White * | 35.2 (20.4, 14.8) | 32 (16.4, 15.6) 9% | 27.2 (16.4, 10.8) 23% | 34.8 (18.8, 16) 1% | 29 (16, 13) 18% | 19 (14, 5) 46% |
| PWM Frequency | 1020 (25) | 202 (99) | 208 (90) | 7000 (90) | ||
| Screen | 49% | 2% | 25% | 24% | 0% | |
| Brightness middle | 320.8 | 588 83% | 253.6 -21% | 299 -7% | 320 0% | 230 -28% |
| Brightness | 309 | 555 80% | 227 -27% | 278 -10% | 293 -5% | 221 -28% |
| Brightness Distribution | 87 | 89 2% | 84 -3% | 87 0% | 86 -1% | 91 5% |
| Black Level * | 0.27 | 0.4 -48% | 0.27 -0% | 0.25 7% | 0.26 4% | 0.45 -67% |
| Contrast | 1188 | 1470 24% | 939 -21% | 1196 1% | 1231 4% | 511 -57% |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 7.68 | 2.5 67% | 6.05 21% | 4.32 44% | 4.5 41% | 3.6 53% |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 21.97 | 6.3 71% | 14.03 36% | 9.3 58% | 8.81 60% | 5.59 75% |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 calibrated * | 4.65 | 0.6 87% | 4.97 -7% | 2.58 45% | ||
| Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 7.3 | 4.5 38% | 3.2 56% | 4.21 42% | 4.71 35% | 3.13 57% |
| Gamma | 2.12 104% | 2.2 100% | 2 110% | 2.39 92% | 2.45 90% | 2.45 90% |
| CCT | 6213 105% | 6836 95% | 6820 95% | 6799 96% | 7085 92% | 7244 90% |
| Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998) | 37.8 | 63.2 67% | 35.5 -6% | 57 51% | 58 53% | 36 -5% |
| Color Space (Percent of sRGB) | 58.3 | 98 68% | 55.6 -5% | 86 48% | 88 51% | 56 -4% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 23% /
41% | 17% /
7% | 11% /
21% | 19% /
22% | 15% /
5% |
* ... smaller is better
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.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 35.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 20.4 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 14.8 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.8 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 91 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (24.4 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 46.4 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 26 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 20.4 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.8 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 73 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (38.7 ms). | ||
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 51 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 9725 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 142900) Hz was measured. | |||
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.
Performance
The Intel Core U series targets casual users who primarily browse, stream, and email in contrast to the Intel Core H series which targets power users, video editors, and gamers. The new Intel 10th gen Core i7 Ice Lake CPU offers roughly the same processor performance as last year's Whiskey Lake-U series albeit with much improved graphics potential to boost photo editing and the occasional game of Rocket League or DOTA 2. The IdeaPad S340-15 series offers no dedicated graphics options.
There is 4 GB of soldered RAM with one free DDR4 SODIMM slot for expansion. LatencyMon shows no recurring DPC latency issues even with wireless enabled.
Processor
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.
| Cinebench R11.5 | |
| CPU Single 64Bit | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7 (2.09 - 2.17, n=4) | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 | |
| CPU Multi 64Bit | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7 (5.69 - 9.37, n=4) | |
| Cinebench R10 | |
| Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7 (16551 - 26481, n=4) | |
| Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE | |
| Dynabook Portege A30-E-174 | |
| Rendering Single 32Bit | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7 (7083 - 7390, n=4) | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
| Dynabook Portege A30-E-174 | |
| Lenovo Yoga 530-14ARR-81H9000VGE | |
| wPrime 2.10 - 1024m | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7 (233 - 354, n=3) | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
* ... smaller is better
System Performance
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.
| PCMark 8 | |
| Work Score Accelerated v2 | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL | |
| Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 X512FL-EJ205T | |
| HP Pavilion 15-cw1212ng | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) (2460 - 5291, n=17) | |
| Home Score Accelerated v2 | |
| Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 X512FL-EJ205T | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL | |
| Average Intel Core i7-1065G7, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) (3305 - 4275, n=17) | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 | |
| HP Pavilion 15-cw1212ng | |
| PCMark 8 Home Score Accelerated v2 | 3791 points | |
| PCMark 8 Work Score Accelerated v2 | 5291 points | |
| PCMark 10 Score | 4679 points | |
Help | ||
Storage Devices
An M.2 2280 PCIe slot and 2.5-inch SATA III bay are available. Our test unit comes with a 512 GB Intel 660p which is a budget NVMe SSD in contrast to the pricier Samsung PM981 series or Intel's newer 760p series. Still, sequential read and write rates are at least two times faster than any SATA III SSD to be more than enough for the target casual home, school, or office user.
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL Intel SSD 660p SSDPEKNW512G8 | Dell XPS 15 7590 i5 iGPU FHD Toshiba XG6 KXG60ZNV512G | Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G | Asus VivoBook 15 X512FL-EJ205T Kingston RBUSNS8154P3512GJ | Lenovo Ideapad S540-15IML Samsung SSD PM981a MZVLB512HBJQ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS SSD | 71% | 9% | -31% | 128% | |
| Copy Game MB/s | 826.29 | 1320.4 60% | 901.9 9% | 309.95 -62% | |
| Copy Program MB/s | 612.1 | 565.2 -8% | 457.04 -25% | 350.28 -43% | |
| Copy ISO MB/s | 942.58 | 2145.1 128% | 861.55 -9% | 762.62 -19% | |
| Score Total | 1738 | 3640 109% | 2279 31% | 1876 8% | 4790 176% |
| Score Write | 982 | 1726 76% | 1155 18% | 673 -31% | 2142 118% |
| Score Read | 508 | 1299 156% | 721 42% | 814 60% | 1753 245% |
| Access Time Write * | 0.144 | 0.039 73% | 0.047 67% | 0.044 69% | 0.027 81% |
| Access Time Read * | 0.06 | 0.07 -17% | 0.072 -20% | 0.31 -417% | 0.072 -20% |
| 4K-64 Write | 791.25 | 1502.49 90% | 984.63 24% | 514.1 -35% | 1753.41 122% |
| 4K-64 Read | 323.68 | 1020.22 215% | 646.86 100% | 650.47 101% | 1430.77 342% |
| 4K Write | 97.88 | 99.71 2% | 82.07 -16% | 90.27 -8% | 145.29 48% |
| 4K Read | 40.06 | 43.29 8% | 34.54 -14% | 29.15 -27% | 58.03 45% |
| Seq Write | 925.81 | 1235 33% | 884.4 -4% | 685.03 -26% | 2432.84 163% |
| Seq Read | 1446.72 | 2357 63% | 398.93 -72% | 1348.04 -7% | 2642.24 83% |
| CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | 34% | -24% | -34% | 44% | |
| Write 4K | 130.8 | 93.61 -28% | 105.9 -19% | 63.59 -51% | 170.7 31% |
| Read 4K | 54.84 | 41.87 -24% | 36.56 -33% | 28.58 -48% | 49.51 -10% |
| Write Seq | 977.6 | 1697.86 74% | 1165 19% | 687.8 -30% | 1156 18% |
| Read Seq | 1627 | 1978.04 22% | 423.2 -74% | 1032 -37% | 1136 -30% |
| Write 4K Q32T1 | 450.1 | 383.06 -15% | 332.1 -26% | 266.7 -41% | 420.5 -7% |
| Read 4K Q32T1 | 345.9 | 326.86 -6% | 229.3 -34% | 321.5 -7% | 526.7 52% |
| Write Seq Q32T1 | 982.4 | 2778.1 183% | 1460 49% | 605.5 -38% | 2984 204% |
| Read Seq Q32T1 | 1842 | 3119 69% | 472.5 -74% | 1508.2 -18% | 3550 93% |
| Write 4K Q8T8 | 410.8 | ||||
| Read 4K Q8T8 | 331.4 | ||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 53% /
57% | -8% /
-3% | -33% /
-32% | 86% /
92% |
* ... smaller is better
GPU Performance
Graphics performance is consistently below the average Iris Plus Graphics G7 in our database in almost every 3DMark benchmark by 15 to 20 percent. Users can expect a performance level between the older UHD Graphics 620 and the GeForce MX150 which is just barely enough to play popular undemanding titles like Rocket League or DOTA 2 at low settings.
Frame rates are some of the lowest we've recorded yet for a Core i7-1065G7 laptop. Running Rocket League on the lowest 720p settings, for example, returns an average of 45 FPS compared to ~114 FPS on the XPS 13 2-in-1. Furthermore, the system is unable to maintain Boost clock rates for very long as exemplified by our Witcher 3 graph below. Standing still in the game starts out at ~45 FPS only to fall and stabilize at ~33 FPS over the course of an hour.
See our dedicated page on the Iris Plus Graphics G7 for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 3762 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 65852 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 9962 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 2171 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 701 points | |
Help | ||
| The Witcher 3 - 1024x768 Low Graphics & Postprocessing | |
| Huawei MateBook 13 i7 | |
| MSI Modern 15 A10RB | |
| Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5585 | |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13 Core i5-1035G7 | |
| Average Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU) (28.2 - 58, n=17) | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S340-15IIL | |