Lenovo Ideapad 510S-14ISK-80TK003FGE

Lenovo IdeaPad 510S-14ISK (80TK003KGE)

Lenovo is well known for making great laptops especially for the office workers. With IdeaPad 510S model we have a 14-incher that mixes some aspects in a small package.

Haptics wise device provides a good look and feel. As a customer you receive a mixture of aluminium and plastic. Screen lid and outside of the laptop is covered with plastic while on the inside mostly aluminium is used.

It is hard to define this laptop as an Ultrabook and this is also not the claim by Lenovo. The motto of the series is “Powerful 14 inch laptop that keeps up with you.” which is a real fit so to say. The weight of the laptop is close to 1600 grams and it is only 20mm thick in size. As an office companion it provides great mobility with this weight and size. 14 inch could be considered a bit big compared to other 13.3 inchers, but here comes something else to think about while making the purchase decision: Price.

This model’s price is about 900$ and comes with everything you need to take care of your daily tasks. A fast SSD that provides 256 GB’s of space, Intel 6th generation Skylake i5 processor, close to 6 hours of battery run time depending on your usage, with 8 GB of RAM which is more than enough memory for office tasks and with integrated iris graphics 550 your multimedia needs are covered.

Compared to other models from Asus and Dell the whole package is definitely cheaper. A similar Dell Latitude model starts from 1500$.

If you were to look for mobility, what else would you desire? Good connectivity options is what comes first to mind. Lenovo provides 2xUSB 3.0 ports, 1xUSB 2.0 port, full sized HDMI, Ethernet connection and a SD card reader. Most of the current devices with this size on the market does not provide an ethernet port or full sized HDMI out which is a big plus for Lenovo IdeaPad 510S.

Other thing that might affect mobility is charging and with IdeaPad 510S there is no power brick just a charger with a very compact size.

Another benefit of having this device is its maintainability options. Removing the backcover is pretty easy and you have direct access to SSD and RAM slot. There are other models of this series with an option of dedicated AMD graphics card and HDD as well. All listed under Lenovo’s website. If you plan to play some games, going for a model with dedicated GPU is a better fit for you. Since access to components is easy, it is possible to purchase the cheapest model which starts from 549.99$ and you can replace HDD with an SSD and upgrade RAM if necessary. Although you need to know that supported max RAM is 8 GB.

Another thing to consider while choosing a laptop is its screen. Lenovo used a Full-HD IPS mat screen with 1920x1080 pixel resolution with enough brightness and contrast for outside usage, but not high enough to work under direct sunshine. If you plan to do graphics work, use photoshop etc. color coverage might disappoint you.

Keyboard is also good for typing. Touchpad is not that good, but it cant be said that it is bad either. 

Speakers provide a good sound output, a bit higher than other comparable cheap laptops. 

With its price and the performance it provides, it is easy to say that Lenovo targets corporate customers with this model. It provides more than enough performance for daily office tasks. If you are looking for something to play at least some games, you can still go with the model that has a dedicated GPU, but MSI started to present its entry level gaming laptops and you might find a better fit for yourself with those models.

Lenovo IdeaPad 510S-14ISK (80TK003KGE) best fits office users, that spend their days running from one meeting to another while it is light, powerful and provides good battery runtimes that can cover almost the whole work day.

Hands-on article by Ümit Yılmaz Güneş