Budget laptops are very important for every manufacturer because occasionally they are the backbone of some companies when it comes to profit. Today we are going to show you the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14" AMD, Gen 8) - an inexpensive machine that can be configured with efficient (and refreshed) AMD Barcelo-U chips from the 7000 series. We have a dedicated article about the more premium sibling of this laptop - the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8) and we also reviewed the 16-inch iteration of the device that is sitting in front of us - the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (16″, 2023). The Slim 5 machine has a metal chassis and a bit more potent cooling while the bigger Slim 3 16" boasts a larger body. So our not-so-pricey 14" notebook has to prove to us that it can deal with the competition from the same brand and that it can handle the AMD Zen 3+ chips regardless of its low price. The device can be configured with a good amount of optional features such as Wi-Fi 6, a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and a 1080p Web camera. Ergo, if you want to supercharge the laptop in terms of extras, you have to pay a bit more. Specs-wise, this gadget looks like a good deal but we'll torture it for a few hours before making a final conclusion. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3-14-amd-gen-8/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/ideapad-s-series-netbooks/slim-3-14abr8/downloads What's in the box? Inside the package, you'll find the laptop itself, some manuals, and a barrel-style 65W power adapter. Yes, no fancy Type-C models here. Design and construction Given the price tag, it's not a surprise for us that the device is entirely made of plastic. The lid is kind of stable when it's closed and when it's opened you can flex it with ease. But we've seen worse though. The base is spongy, especially the lower side of the keyboard, the two palm rest areas, and the zone between the Space key and the touchpad (which feels soft as dough). However, the plastic build has a positive side and that is the low weight which is 1.37 kg. The profile thickness is okay - 17.9 mm. The lid and the base have a glossy finish, while the bottom panel has a matte surface. The hinges are stiff and the device is light - the end result is that you can't open the lid with a single hand. On the bright side, the bezels around the display are thin. The top one houses a 720p or optional 1080p Web camera (both come with a privacy shutter). Moving to the base, we can see the power button that can double as a fingerprint reader (option) and it's situated above the right speaker. The two 1.5W Dolby Audio front-firing speakers are positioned on both sides of the optional backlit keyboard. The latter has a surprisingly long key travel and medium clicky feedback and that's why the board is suitable for long typing sessions. The touchpad size is okay for the proportions of the chassis (62 x 104 mm) and it has a smooth Mylar surface. The pad works fast and the tracking is good. A quick look at the bottom plate - it houses three rubber feet and a decently sized ventilation grill. The hot air is being pushed through a vent positioned in between the base and the hinge. Because of that, the lower part of the display is getting warm when the CPU is heavily stressed. Ports On the left, we can see the power plug, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI 1.4 connector (for up to 4K 30Hz external displays), a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.2 capabilities (suitable for 4K 60Hz external screens), as well as an Audio jack. On the other side of the machine, you get a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an SD card reader. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) is equipped with a Full HD IPS panel, model number BOE NV140FHM-N4V (BOE08D7). It comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. Its diagonal is 14" (35.5 cm), and the resolution - 1920 x 1080p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 157 ppi, and their pitch – 0.16 x 0.16 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 57 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are good. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 382 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 359 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 14%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6680K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 78% Brightness (White level = 143 cd/m2, Black level = 0.12 cd/m2). Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1210:1. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8)'s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 52% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 and 40% of DCI-P3. Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile. Below you can compare the scores of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right). The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 18 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8)'s display doesn't flicker at any brightness level. This makes the screen pretty comfortable for long periods of use. Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 50.9 GU). Sound Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8)'s speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones have no deviations from clarity. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) configurations with 14.0" BOE NV140FHM-N4V (BOE08D7) (1920x1080) IPS. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests CPU options This notebook can be found with the AMD Ryzen 3 7330U, Ryzen 5 7530U, or Ryzen 7 7730U. We got the latter in order to see if the cooling solution of this inexpensive machine can handle the most powerful chip available for the series. GPU options Depending on which CPU is fitted under the hood, you can rely on three iGPU variants - AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (R4000/5000, 15W), Radeon RX Vega 7 (R4000/5000, 15W), or AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (R4000/5000, 15W). Gaming tests CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 117 fps 76 fps 53 fps DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 119 fps 77 fps 46 fps Regardless of the fact that we got a laptop with 8GB of DDR4 RAM that is working in single-channel mode, the iGPU performance in light games such as CS:GO and Dota 2 is good. [eBook Guide + Tools] How to MAX OUT your Laptop Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp. AMD Ryzen 7 7730U (15W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) 2.75 GHz @ 80°C @ 29W 2.56 GHz @ 87°C @ 25W 2.37 GHz @ 85°C @ 20W Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8) 2.56 GHz @ 56°C @ 28W 2.55 GHz @ 63°C @ 27W 2.49 GHz @ 67°C @ 24W Acer Aspire 5 (A515-48M) 3.17 GHz @ 63°C @ 44W 2.97 GHz @ 71°C @ 37W 3.02 GHz @ 82°C @ 37W Despite that the cooling solution looks weak, it's doing a good job in terms of frequencies during any kind of load at the expense of high noise levels and 80°C+ CPU temperatures. If we compare the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) to its more premium sibling - the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (14" AMD, Gen 8), the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U inside of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 can maintain almost the same clocks and power limits than the chip in the Slim 5 machine. By the way, the 16-inch version of the tested laptop is hitting 100°C with a less powerful chip, the Ryzen 3 7330U, so maybe Lenovo decided to bump the RPM speed in order to tame the CPU of the IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8). Comfort during full load You can hear the cooling fan even when the laptop is in an idle state. Still, the noise is kind of okay in short and medium loads. In long periods of stress, the fan is definitely noisy and this can be annoying for some of you. This is valid when the CPU is seriously stressed. If the load isn't that heavy, the noise will be lower as well. You can also use the "Intelligent Cooling" of the "Battery Saving" modes if you want to hear less noise and you don't need the full power of the processor. The "Intelligent Cooling" preset can automatically switch to "Extreme performance" if your turn this option on (check the screenshot down below). The WASD area becomes warm when the CPU is at 100% stress, but the thermals are okay for comfortable work and the same goes for the two palm rest areas. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This model is offered with a 47Wh battery pack. It lasts for 11 hours and 7 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 5 minutes of video playback. That's a good score if we take into consideration the Ryzen 7 7730U CPU and the modest capacity of the battery. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance In order to pop up the bottom plate, you have to unscrew 9 Phillips-head screws. Then, you can pry the bottom panel with a plastic pry tool. One of the top two corners is the best starting point. The battery is a 47Wh model. It's important to detach the battery connector from the mainboard. In order to take out the battery, you have to unscrew the 2 Phillips-head screws that are fixing the battery to the base. The capacity is enough for 11 hours and 7 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 5 minutes of video playback. Storage-wise, there is a single M.2 slot compatible with Gen. 4 (2242) SSDs. Due to AMD platform limitations, the slot is downgraded to Gen 3 speeds. The NVMe has a thermal pad from below. Here, we have soldered RAM and the maximum capacity is 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz in dual-channel. The memory of the devices with 4GB and 8GB of RAM is working in single-channel mode. The preinstalled SSD has a thermal pad from below. The cooling solution is simple. It has just one fan and one heat pipe. Storage performance The SSD in our laptop is the 512GB Micron MTFDKCD512QFM-1BD1AABLA. Below you can see some benchmarks of this NVMe. The unit didn't throttle at all during testing, but it uses QLC memory and it lost 2% of its health status after some short benchmark runs. Lenovo Vantage The device is inexpensive but you can tweak some options thanks to the Lenovo Vantage application that can be downloaded via the MS Store. Things like Eye Care Mode, Daytime Color Temperature, Audio Smart Settings, etc are part of the software package. Verdict Alright, folks, it looks like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) is a fair deal. Sure, its cooling isn't the best of the best but that's expected for the class. The plastic chassis is flexible but again, this is normal for an inexpensive 14-incher. On the other hand, the laptop is light and compact, so the portability is good. Let's get back to the cooling once again - it has just one fan and one heat pipe, the fan is noisy when the CPU is under long heavy loads (and the temperatures are going above and beyond the 80°C mark), but the processor's performance is definitely there. The chip can maintain close frequencies to the other two laptops with the same CPU that we have tested so far. In terms of raw power, the laptop is doing a fine job. The optional backlit keyboard is comfortable for writing because it has long key travel and medium clicky feedback. The touchpad is smooth and precise thanks to its Mylar surface. The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader which is another optional feature. Speaking of options, the 720p camera has a shitter switch, but you can also pick the 1080p variant if you prefer a high-resolution picture while making video calls. The optional 1080p 16:9 IPS display (BOE NV140FHM-N4V (BOE08D7)) has good viewing angles and contrast ratio, and it's also PWM-free. This means you can use it for long hours of work without feeling negative effects such as eye strain and headache (as always, you have to take short breaks between the working sessions and you should sit in front of the laptop in a proper position). The sRGB color coverage is low but since we are talking about a budget machine that isn't meant for color-related work, this isn't a big issue. The upgrade options are almost non-existent. The memory is soldered to the mainboard and there is just one M.2 slot compatible with the shorter 2242 Gen 4 SSDs. Due to the AMD processor limitations, the slot speed is downgraded to Gen 3 values. Speaking of NVMes, the one in our device has QLC memory, and the results in the benchmarks are normal. However, we like the fact that the SSD is well-cooled with the aid of a thermal pad placed beneath the unit - the maximum reached temperature during our testing is just 35°C! Keep in mind that the RAM of the 16GB variants is working in a dual-channel mode, while the 4GB and 8GB versions (like the one we have for the review) rely on a single-channel mode. Last but not least, the battery life is good for a device with a 47Wh unit and Ryzen 7 7730U chip - 11 hours and 7 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 5 minutes of video playback is a good result. At least for us, the port selection is above the average level for the class - two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, an HDMI 1.4 connector, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.2 support, an Audio jack, and an SD card reader. Not bad! If you are an unpretentious user who is looking to buy a decent daily driver that isn't expensive, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (14″ AMD, Gen 8) is one of the possible options if you can live with the noisy fan during heavy load and the flexible build. This machine can be the sweet spot for a lot of budget buyers thanks to its snappy performance, long battery life, good input devices, and optional PWM-free IPS display. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3-14-amd-gen-8/
A unique phenomenon occurs in this site’s CPU tests.
Lately the same processors have achieved exactly same results in the multicore benchmarks.
Impressive!