</ img>
Lately, the vast majority of laptops that come to our editorial office run on
- What is it?
- What makes him interesting?
- How does it look and assembled?
- How convenient is it to use the Lenovo IdeaPad S340?
- How good is the screen?
- What about performance, autonomy and sound?
- In the dry residue
What is it?
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 - 15-inch laptopwith a 1920x1080 IPS display, an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U generation Picasso APU with integrated Vega graphics, 8 GB of RAM, a fast SSD and a backlit keyboard.
</ p>What makes him interesting?
</ img>
The most interesting feature of the laptop isOf course, there is a fresh 12nm AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor based on Zen+ architecture with integrated Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics. The processor has 4 cores and supports 8 threads, the base frequency is 2.3 GHz, and the maximum frequency is 4.0 GHz. Let's see how he proves himself in action. Otherwise, the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is a typical 15.6-inch laptop for work and/or home use with undemanding tasks. It is equipped with a 1920x1080 IPS screen, 8 GB of RAM and a fast SSD drive with a PCIe 3.0 x2 interface. The keyboard is full-size, backlit.
</ p>How does it look and assembled?
</ img>
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 looks as calm as possibleand neutral. It is made of plastic and aluminum. According to personal feelings, only the top cover is made of aluminum. The laptop is a light gray neutral color without any decorative frills: a typical “workhorse”. On the top cover there is only a small Lenovo logo in the corner.
</ img>
Case thickness is 17.9 mm, which is quite normal for a laptop of this class. On the right side are LED indicators, an SD card reader and two full-sized USB 3.1 1Gen. One of them with support for charging when the laptop is off. One of the speakers is visible in front: it is directed at an angle downward:
</ img>
At the back there is one continuous wide hinge:
</ img>
On the left side is a socket for connecting the unitpower supply, HDMI, combined 3.5 mm audio jack and one USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen 1). It does not support image output or Power Delivery. Only data transfer.
</ img>
There is nothing useful in front, including a cutout for more convenient opening of the laptop. And he would be very useful:
</ img>
At the bottom there are holes for the cooling system, a rubberized strip along the hinge and two rubberized feet in front for good “grip” with the surface.
</ img>
Above the screen is an LED indicator and a webcam with a ThinkShutter slider for closing it:
</ img>
Externally there are no complaints about the Lenovo IdeaPad S340,Quite a quiet and versatile work machine. The same cannot be said about the assembly and materials of the case. In general, there is a feeling of some sloppiness, some details are not fitted in the best way. Plus, the design itself lacks rigidity: the laptop bends if you lift it at one corner. The laptop cannot boast of record dimensions or weight, but it is quite transportable: 358x245x17.9 mm, 1.8 kg.
</ p>How convenient is it to use the Lenovo IdeaPad S340?
</ img>
Hinges allow you to open the laptop almost 180°,but the hinge is a bit tight and you won’t be able to open the laptop with one hand. The folding keyboard is completely fine. It is full-size, with an additional digital pad. The power button is located above the keyboard unit, and not in the upper right corner. Which will also be a plus for some. Both Shift keys are long, the top row F is reduced in height and ends with multimedia buttons. In general, the keyboard takes almost no time to get used to:
</ img>
The buttons are good, with a soft, informative move andwhite backlight. Not as good as the ThinkPad line, but this is a different category of laptops. The only complaint is most likely related to the materials used, which we already wrote about above. The working surface bends easily:
</ img>
The touchpad is large, with good sensitivity and a nice coating on which the fingers slide well. The buttons are not separated, but both clicks are clear and informative:
</ img>
How good is the screen?
Our configuration is set to 15.6-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920x1080 and matte anti-glare coating. Visually, there are no complaints about the screen, nor any delight. A high-quality IPS screen with maximum viewing angles and a good amount of brightness.
</ img>
The maximum brightness was 259.081 cd/m², which is normal for a laptop of this class. The black field brightness is 0.323 cd/m², and the static contrast is 802:1. The screen is very well calibrated, there is a very slight bias towards cool shades, the color temperature is close to 7500K. But the color gamut is noticeably smaller than sRGB:
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
What about performance, autonomy and sound?
</ img>
Now let's move on to the most interesting part - the filling.laptop. At the beginning of January, AMD officially unveiled its new line of Ryzen 3000 series mobile processors of the Picasso generation APU. They use Zen+ architecture and are manufactured using 12nm process technology. Our test subject has the older model Ryzen 7 3700U, which replaced the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U. The processor is equipped with 4 cores and can process up to 8 data streams simultaneously. The base frequency is 2.3 GHz and the maximum frequency is 4.0 GHz. 4 MB L3 cache, supports dual-channel memory with frequencies up to 2400 MHz. Processor TDP - 15 W.
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U is equipped with an integratedAMD Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics, which have been adapted for use in energy-efficient APUs. Vega 10 includes 10 execution sides (640 shaders), 8 rasterization units (ROP), 40 texture units. The operating frequency is 1400 MHz. There is support for DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, Open CL 2.0 and Vulkan 1.1. This is a fairly powerful solution (as for integrated graphics), but you shouldn’t expect miracles: it will run older games without problems, but in modern graphics settings you still need to lower the graphics settings. The laptop has 8 GB DDR4-2400 RAM. One stick is soldered onto the board, the second 4 GB stick occupies a single slot. The laptop supports up to 12 GB of RAM. Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 AC (2×2) and Bluetooth 4.2.
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
In performance tests, the system demonstratesTypical results for modern portable processors. Approximately at the level of laptops with 8th generation Intel i7. Although the comparison in this case is not entirely representative: for greater objectivity, you need a laptop of the same model, but on Intel. Plus, the 8th generation of Intel appeared earlier than the current Ryzen. And the new Intel 10th generation has not yet arrived. But in general, there are no complaints about the Ryzen 7 3700U's performance:
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
As for the graphics AMD Radeon RX Vega 10, thenit is somewhat more productive than current Intel solutions (we have not tested the new Iris yet, we are interested in it ourselves). Below is a comparison of AMD Ryzen 7 3700U with Radeon RX Vega 10 and Intel Core i7-8565U with Intel UHD Graphics 620 in the test for integrated 3DMark Night Raid graphics:
</ img>
</ img>
In short, we already wrote about games above. But a couple of screenshots are still worth inserting. In the native 1920x1080 solution on low graphics settings in Hellblade we got 25+ FPS, in Destiny 2 - 30+ FPS. Which is very good, as for integrated graphics.
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
The drive used is NVMe PCIe3.0x2 SSD manufactured by WD with a capacity of 512 GB (model SN520). This is interesting, given that such drives are mainly found in more expensive laptops. There is still room inside for installing an additional SATA drive:
</ img>
The SSD demonstrates high operating speed. Reading is about 1750 MB/s, writing is about 1450 MB/s, which corresponds to the stated figures on the manufacturer’s website.
</ img>
</ img>
</ img>
For some reason AIDA64 refused to receive readings fromlaptop temperature sensors, but the HWiNFO64 application came to the rescue. As it turns out, the new AMD mobile processor is very “cool.” Yes, of course, you shouldn’t forget about the cooling system, which works very efficiently in the laptop. But there are some particularly “hot” instances that no laptop software can handle. In this case, even under prolonged maximum load, the processor temperature does not rise above 71°. Of course, there can be no talk of any throttling. The graphics chip was at 63° at its peak. At the same time, the fan operation is almost inaudible:
</ img>
The ultrabook has a three-cell 52.5 W*h battery. They promise up to 8 hours of work. In real conditions, we managed to get about 6 hours of web surfing at low screen brightness.
The laptop audio system consists of two speakers2x2 W, there is support for Dolby Audio. It sounds quite at the level: movies and videos are comfortable to watch. There is perhaps nothing to write about software: our configuration out of the box is devoid of an OS, so the user is already free to install applications on his own at his discretion. There were no problems with the drivers and system performance during the installation of Windows.
</ p> 
Special project
Test: true or myth? Test your smartphone payment knowledge
In the dry residue
Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is a very good andrelatively inexpensive and versatile “workhorse” with a neutral design and completely portable dimensions. The laptop is equipped with a powerful (by the standards of its class of laptops), stable and “cold” AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor, quiet cooling system and fast SSD. The IdeaPad S340 has a comfortable full-size backlit keyboard and a nice touchpad, and if necessary, you can increase the amount of RAM and add another drive. From the wishes: I would like a more accurate assembly, a more rigid body design and a better display. This configuration is not currently on sale, the last price was19,000 UAH.
5 reasons to buy Lenovo IdeaPad S340:
- productive filling;
- efficient and quiet cooling system;
- Fast SSD
- comfortable keyboard and touchpad
- the ability to install an additional drive and more RAM.
2 reasons not to buy Lenovo IdeaPad S340:
- small margin of brightness and color gamut of the display;
- not the most accurate assembly and mediocre materials of the case.
Technical specifications Lenovo IdeaPad S340
Display
15.6 inches, 1920x1080, IPS, anti-glare coating
Dimensions
358x245x17.9 mm
Weight
1.8 kg
operating system
DOS
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U (Picasso, 12 nm), 4 cores/8 threads, 2.3-4.0 GHz
Ram
8GB DDR4-2400MHz
Graphics
AMD Radeon RX Vega 10
Storage device
SSD 512 GB NVMe PCIe 3.0x2
Communications
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth 4.2
Connectors
USB Type-C 3.1, 2xUSB 3.1, HDMI 1.4, combined audio 3.5 mm
Camera
yes, HD
Battery
52.5 Wh