Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (13-Inch) - Review 2022

Offered in several unlike screen sizes and with dozens of component configurations, the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (starts at $999.99; $one,299 equally tested) has something to offer for nearly every PC user. Even better, most of the configurations are wallet-friendly, fifty-fifty those that include specialized features like detached GPUs and 15-inch displays. Nosotros tested a mainstream 13-inch version of the 720s with a full HD display that closely resembles the Dell XPS xiii (9370), which retains our Editors' Choice for best ultraportable laptop for its slightly better functioning and more than attractive styling. Still, the IdeaPad is a solid culling and worth a spot on your short list.

Thin Borders, Well-Placed Camera

At just 0.53 by 12.04 by viii.41 inches (HWD) and 2.ii pounds, the 720s is amongst the most compact and lightest 13-inch laptops we've tested. The Apple MacBook Air, which revolutionized thin and calorie-free laptops, is bloated past comparison, measuring 0.68 by 12.8 by 8.94 inches and weighing 2.96 pounds. Even the far more modernistic HP Spectre 13 is a bit heavier at 2.45 pounds, weighed down by premium materials like Gorilla Glass and carbon fiber. The 720s, meanwhile, has a grayness aluminum finish.

You can't get that thin and low-cal without trimming the borders around the screen, known as bezels. They're certainly razer-thin on the 720s, giving the laptop a cutting-border look that makes similarly priced competitors like the MacBook Air announced beefy and ancient past comparing. The slim bezels are unique to the 13-inch model of the 720s, though. If you footstep upwards to xiv-inch or 15-inch versions, you'll get a much more traditional wait, with thick borders effectually the screen.

Our review unit of measurement'southward borders are not so thin, withal, that there's no room for a webcam above the brandish. One of the worst parts about the otherwise-first-class XPS 13 is that its webcam is located in the bottom middle, where it mainly captures a view of your knuckles if you're typing during a Skype telephone call. On the other hand, while Lenovo manages to include a traditionally placed camera, there isn't enough room for IR sensors to allow face recognition for logging into Windows. The camera also suffers from rather grainy video and blurry withal images considering of its anemic 1MP sensor.

At that place's nil bloodless about the screen, though. It's a matte full HD (1,920-by-1,080) panel with an unusually wide range of brightness levels, so you can comfortably utilise it in a darkened bedroom or a fluorescent-lit boardroom. The matte finish means significantly reduced glare, and the in-plane switching (IPS) makes for uncommonly broad viewing angles. You can step upward to a 4K glossy display for a pocket-size premium.

The 720s has a display hinge that rotates 180 degrees, a flexibility that tin come in handy since the light weight invites you to utilise the laptop anywhere, from propping it upwardly on your knees while you lot're laying on the couch to using it to display a recipe on the kitchen counter. That'south a perk that the XPS 13, the MacBook Air, and the Spectre 13 don't offer.

In front end of the hinge, you'll find a very comfortable keyboard. It's not as sturdy as the ones in Lenovo's business-oriented ThinkPad lineup, just information technology's fine for curt typing sessions. The touchpad is generously sized, only feels flimsy compared with the excellent all-glass pads in Apple ultraportables. That could be a deal billow for some prospective 720s owners, especially since there's no bear upon screen available on the 13-inch version to serve as an alternative input method.

Below the directional arrow keys (which sadly are miniature), there'southward a fingerprint reader that's more accurate than the ones on several other Lenovo laptops I've used recently. In iii days of testing, the system never failed to recognize my fingerprint.

Storage Options

On the xiii-inch 720s, you're limited to a unmarried memory configuration (8GB), just you can choose from 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSDs. Our review unit of measurement has a 512GB bulldoze, which should be more than enough if you don't have gargantuan video and photo collections. On the other hand, if yous'd like to bolster the storage, you can exercise and so without paying a lot more. A model equipped with a 1TB SSD is available for $1,699 (currently discounted to $1,299 straight through Lenovo, but keep in mind that the company'due south pricing is quite fickle). That's a steal compared with a similarly equipped Apple laptop, and several hundred dollars less expensive than a like XPS 13.

Before you stuff your drive full of movies, however, be warned that while they will certaintly wait great on the 720s's brandish, they won't audio great. The downwards-firing speakers at the lesser of the laptop'southward chassis produce muddy sound, even with the Dolby Atmos optimization software activated and the motorcar held upwardly in the air to give the speakers room to projection.

Input and output ports are limited, as you'd expect on such a slim chassis, merely there is a USB-C port on the left edge that supports Thunderbolt three, a cutting-edge interface that lets you lot connect external displays, difficult drives, and much more with blazing throughput of 40GBps. At that place's a second USB-C port without Thunderbolt that's also used for connecting the ability cord, as well as two USB 3.0 ports and an sound jack. Wireless connectivity options include 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1.

Lenovo includes a 1-twelvemonth warranty with the 720s.

Excellent Performance You'd Expect

Our review unit sports an Intel Core i7-8550U processor, which besides powers many of the 720s'south competitors, including the Spectre 13, the XPS 13, and the Asus ZenBook UX430U. Information technology's both powerful and energy efficient, and all of the manufacturers have managed to harness its capabilities with roughly equal degrees of success, equally y'all can come across from the similar results in our functioning charts below.

On the all-encompassing PCMark 8 criterion, which simulates employ of productivity apps, web browsing, videoconferencing, and other common tasks, each PC received a score of three,000 or above, indicating excellent performance. The more specialized multimedia tests offered similar results, although the XPS 13 is both a few seconds faster at converting a video file in Handbrake and slightly more efficient at rendering a 3D simulation in Cinebench. Conversely, the 720s beat the Dell when it came to applying a series of filters in Photoshop, simply the deviation here was too merely a few seconds (3:06 vs. 2:58).

Even though it costs the same as the 720s, the MacBook Air is woefully underpowered equally a result of its aboriginal 5th-generation Core i5 processor (the Cadre i7-8550U is from the latest 8th generation). That means the closest Apple alternative to the 720s, at least in terms of calculating functioning, is a MacBook Pro that costs several hundred dollars more than. The MacBook Air's one advantage is battery life. Information technology clocked in at 16 hours and 26 minutes on our rundown examination, compared with xiii:55 for the 720s and but 9:29 for the XPS 13 (which was handicapped here by its power-sucking 4K brandish).

See How We Test Laptops

If y'all like the 720s but desire to play graphics-intensive video games, yous should consider ordering a configuration with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti, which comes with a fifteen-inch screen and starts at the same $999 price. Like all of its competitors with an integrated graphics chip, the version we reviewed is woefully inadequate for playing the latest titles, although less-enervating games similar Dota or Minecraft should run adequately. Merely the XPS 13 managed to record a frame rate meliorate than the xxx frames per second we call the absolute minimum for enjoyable gaming, and it merely achieved this on one exam (the Valley benchmark) when the quality settings were dialed down to medium.

Make It Your Own

The 13-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 720s isn't the first ultraportable to include powerful components and a bright screen all while existence exceptionally lite and thin. It manages to practise all this without costing an arm and a leg, and while still offering an all-encompassing array of customization options. No matter your use scenario, you're likely to find a configuration of the 720s that you'll exist happy yous brought home. On the other hand, the Dell XPS 13 manages to eke out slightly better operation from the same components and include a beautiful design as well, so information technology remains our electric current option every bit the all-time ultraportable you tin can buy.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/laptops/20523/lenovo-ideapad-720s-13-inch

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