Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16 Gen 9 review – It’s not Perfect but it’s Good for Everyday Use
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 is a typical non-expensive device for normal home or office work. It relies on Raptor Lake-U Refresh CPUs which are almost virtually the same as their 13th gen siblings aside from the slightly bumped clocks. The port selection is acceptable while the upgradability isn’t. Still, you can change the SSD or replace the WiFi 6 card. This Lenovo series is designed for general use, not gaming, so it doesn’t have dedicated graphics card options. However, our laptop can show 76 FPS in CS2 on Low settings which isn’t a bad result for an iGPU.
There is just one display model but if you ask us, that’s fine since we are talking about a 1200p IPS display with comfortable viewing angles. That’s enough for this price class. The main body is big and that’s why it houses a full-sized keyboard. We are also happy to see extras such as an optional fingerprint reader, a privacy shutter, and fTPM 2.0. By the way, this laptop is also known as Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (16IRU9) or IdeaPad Slim 3i (16”, Gen 9).
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3-16iru9/
Contents
Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box
- Display
- 16.0″, WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS
- HDD/SSD
- up to 1000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 1x 2242 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 16GB
- OS
- No OS, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home
- Battery
- 47Wh
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate
- Dimensions
- 359.3 x 257 x 17.9 mm (14.15" x 10.12" x 0.70")
- Weight
- 1.74 kg (3.8 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 2x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- HDMI
- 1.4
- Card reader
- SD (SD, SDHC, SDXC)
- Ethernet LAN
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth
- 5.2
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- optional
- Web camera
- HD / FHD with Privacy Shutter, Fixed Focus
- Backlit keyboard
- optional
- Microphone
- Dual Microphone Array
- Speakers
- 2x 1.5W Stereo Speakers, Dolby Audio
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (16IRU9) configurations
Drivers
All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/ec/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/ideapad-s-series-netbooks/ideapad-slim-3-16iru9/downloads
What’s in the box?
We found a bit of paperwork and a 65W barrel plug charger in the box. Some devices are bundled with an optional Lenovo WL310 Bluetooth Silent Mouse.
Design and construction
The design of the IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 is familiar and can be seen in many other Lenovo devices. This machine is offered in Abyss blue or Arctic grey color. Fingerprints don’t noticeably accumulate on the grey chassis over the course of a day. The laptop is made of plastic. This leads to a respectable starting weight of 1.74 kg. The profile height is also good with its 17.9 mm.
The lid that can’t be opened with one hand is averagely solid. It looks like the internal support for the upper side of the base isn’t optimal. The whole zone below the keyboard can be pressed down, especially around the Arrow keys. Also, the keyboard deck flexes during typing. It doesn’t look too spongy but keep that in mind.
The bezels that surround the IPS display aren’t thick.
The “hump” on the top houses a 720p or an optional 1080p Web camera. The privacy shutter is standard.
The device can’t lay fully flat but the max angle of opening is still wide enough for content sharing.
The round Power button that has an optional built-in fingerprint reader is positioned next to the long grill which hides the two 1.5W Dolby Audio speakers. A look down below and we can spot the keyboard with a NumPad section, a Copilot key, and small “Up” and “Down” Arrows. Unfortunately, the backlight is optional. The key travel and the feedback are good enough for standard work.
The touchpad with a Mylar surface has a size of 75 x 120 mm which is okay. The pad’s smoothness is average at best and the same can be said about the accuracy. The clicks aren’t silent either.
The 2-row ventilation grill and the three rubber feet can be seen on the bottom of the device. The heat is being exhausted through a vent on the rear that aims at the hinge cover. That’s why some amount of hot air makes its way to the display when the processor is fully stressed.
Ports
On the left, we can spot a Power connector, a 5 Gbps USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an HDMI 1.4 for up to 4k@30Hz external displays, a 5 Gbps USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) port with PowerDelivery 3.0 DisplayPort 1.2 capabilities, and an Audio combo jack. On the right, there is another 5 Gbps USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port and an SD card reader.
Display and Sound Quality, Get our Profiles
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 | LEN160WUM (LEN9156) |
Diagonal | 16.0 inches (40.6 cm) |
Panel Type | IPS |
Resolution | 1920 x 1200 pixels |
Max Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
Aspect Ratio | 16:10 |
Pixel Density | 141 PPI |
‘Retina’ Distance | Greater than or equal to 61 cm |
Viewing Angles
Viewing angles are good. We take photos from different angles to evaluate the quality.
Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.
Color Coverage
The whole “sail-shaped” map below (Fig. 1) consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.
Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 can show:
Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display.
In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 49% of the sRGB color gamut and 39% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
(Fig.1) Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 covers 49% of the sRGB gamut
Brightness and Contrast
The maximum brightness in SDR mode is 300 cd/m² in the center of the screen and 285 cd/m² averaged across the surface with a maximum deviation of 8%.
The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) on a white screen at maximum brightness is 6530K.
The contrast ratio is 1220:1.
Uniformity: Luminance, Contrast, and Color Deviation
The figure below shows the results from our uniformity test across different sections of the screen. It’s measured at 183 nits (Windows slider = 79%) — a brightness level we consider typical for standard working conditions.
DeltaE values below 4.0 are acceptable for regular users. For those working with colors, screens with DeltaE values no higher than 2.0 are recommended.
Color Accuracy
Let’s check the difference between real colors and those you’ll see on the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the higher the number, the more different they look.
Values below 4.0 are acceptable for regular users, while values below 2.0 are suitable for color-sensitive work. A value below 1.0 means the difference is indistinguishable to the naked eye.
For the next graph, we’ve selected 24 common colors, including dark/light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.
Before our calibration of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9, the Average color accuracy was 5.2 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Design and Gaming profile, it lowered to 4.2 dE (Fig. 3).
Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).
Here’s an illustration of what the Design and Gaming profile aims to deliver:
Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile
Visibility in dark scenes
Have you ever watched a movie with dark scenes where you could barely see anything? This often happens because many display panels struggle to differentiate the darkest nuances, making them appear the same.
The next figure illustrates how well the display reproduces these dark nuances. The left side of the image shows the display with stock settings, and the right side shows it with our Design and Gaming profile activated.
On the horizontal axis are the grayscale levels, and on the vertical axis – the corresponding display brightness.
You can also check how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display 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 = 19.8 ms. Short pixel response time is a prerequisite for a smooth picture in dynamic scenes.
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)
Some use PWM to regulate their brightness, which means that instead of reducing the light intensity, they pulse or flicker. Our brain merges the image, so it appears darker, but this strains both it and our vision, especially when the frequency of the pulses is low. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
In the graph below, you see the intensity of light at different brightness levels—on the vertical axis is the brightness of the emitted light, and on the horizontal axis—time.
The light from the backlight of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 display is not pulse-width modulated, providing visual comfort in the discussed aspect.
Health Impact: Blue light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates harmful PWM when the laptop uses it to control brightness but also reduces 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: Screen Reflectance
Glossy-coated displays can cause eye fatigue in high ambient light conditions due to reflections. We measure the level of screen reflection with the display turned off, at a 60° angle.
The reflectance of the IdeaPad Slim 3’s screen is 49.5 GU.
High Gloss: >70 GU
Medium Gloss: 30 – 70 GU
Low Gloss: <30 GU
Get 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 16″ Gen 9 configurations with LEN160WUM (LEN9156), 1920 х 1200, IPS panel.
*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 [email protected].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Sound
The sound of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 is of relatively good quality. In the subjective listening of a sound file, the low, middle and high frequencies have slight deviations in purity.
Performance: CPU, GPU, Storage
All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Best performance” preset applied in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu. Also, the “Performance” preset is selected in the Lenovo Vantage app.
CPU options
This machine is offered with Intel Core 3 100U, Core 5 120U, or Core 7 150U.
We bought a device with a 150U chip.
Here, we evaluate the CPU's performance using a real-world 3D rendering task, assessing its ability to handle complex computations and rendering workloads efficiently.
Results are from the Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core test (higher is better)
Single-core performance ensures smooth operation and responsiveness in operating systems, providing a better user experience.
Results are from the Geekbench 6 Single-Core test (higher is better)
Multi-core performance is essential for handling complex and demanding tasks, such as Video editing, CAD, and Scientific simulations.
Results are from the Geekbench 6 Multi-Core test (higher is better)
GPU options
Depending on the CPU model you get Intel UHD Graphics (Alder Lake, 64EU), Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU), or Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU).
Our machine has the 96EU model.
The results are from 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics). Higher is better.
The results are from 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited. Higher is better.
Gaming tests
Counter-Strike 2 | HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) | HD 1080p, Very High (Check settings) |
Average FPS | 76 FPS | 57 FPS | 22 FPS |
Gears 5 | Full HD, Low (Check settings) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) |
Average FPS | 36 FPS | 24 FPS | 19 FPS | 14 FPS |
Storage performance
Our machine is equipped with a 1TB Micron 2400 MTFDKCD1T0QFM-1BD1AABLA which is decently fast. Interestingly, despite the big thermal pad that cools the NVMe drive, it nearly hits the 70-degree mark during benchmarking.
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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 P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power
Intel Core 7 150U (15W Base Power) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
---|---|---|---|
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 | 3.43 GHz @ 2.58 GHz @ 85°C @ 45W | 3.04 GHz @ 2.28 GHz @ 78°C @ 30W | 2.49 GHz @ 1.80 GHz @ 68°C @ 20W |
Acer Aspire 16 (A16-51GM) | 3.98 GHz @ 2.90 GHz @ 82°C @ 55W | 3.13 GHz @ 2.32 GHz @ 75°C @ 33W | 2.90 GHz @ 2.17 GHz @ 73°C @ 28W |
Here, the Core 7 150U can sustain high clocks in short and medium loads, and decent frequencies in long stress. Of course, the Aspire 16 (A16-51GM) with the same CPU is doing a better job but that’s because it has a more potent dual-fan cooling.
Comfort during full load
When the CPU is pushed to its limits in “Performance” mode, the fan is noisy but not in an extreme way.
In heavy loads, the hot spot on the keyboard reaches 46°C, and the one on the bottom display bezel – 49°C. Overall, the board feels warm which is comfortable enough for work.
You can expect around 2.08 GHz / 1.80 GHz P and E-core clock in long stress when the Auto mode is applied.
Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Best Power Efficiency setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 180 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 47Wh battery pack lasts for around 8 hours of video playback. To achieve that, you have to apply the “Energy Saver” preset in the Windows “Power & Battery” menu and select the “Battery Saver” mode in the Lenovo Vantage app.
Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better
Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance
To open this notebook, you have to undo 10 Phillips-head screws. Insert a thin plastic tool in the top two corners and pop the sides and the front with another tool. With that out of the way, pry the back.
Here’s how the bottom plate looks on the inside.
The battery here is a 47Wh model. If you want to detach it, pull out the connector from the motherboard and undo the two Phillips-head screws that fix the unit to the chassis. The capacity is enough for around 8 hours of video playback.
Sadly, the DDR5-5200MHz memory is soldered. You get 8GB in single-channel mode or 16GB in dual-channel.
The replaceable Wi-Fi card is positioned above the single M.2 slot compatible with 2242 Gen 4 SSDs.
The preinstalled NVMe is additionally cooled by a thermal pad from below.
The thermal system isn’t huge but seems potent enough for a 15W CPU. It has one fan, a long heat pipe, a decently-sized top-mounted heat sink, and a heat spreader.
Verdict
If you don’t want to spend a whole fortune on a new device for general usage, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 16″ Gen 9 has enough horsepower for things like Web browsing or editing MS Office documents. If money isn’t a problem, you can avoid the Intel Core 3 100U because of the 6+2 E and P cores which could be too low in some scenarios. You can also try to dodge the 8GB configurations which work in single-channel mode. A laptop with 16GB DDR5 and an Intel Core 7 150U or Core 5 120U should be optimal for most users who want to get a notebook on a budget. Speaking of which, the 150U processor can maintain high clocks in short loads and acceptable frequencies in longer stress which leads to adequate performance.
The 1200p IPS panel (LEN160WUM (LEN9156)) doesn’t impress with its low 49% sRGB coverage but the panel is perfectly usable for daily tasks because of the lack of PWM, the wide viewing angles, and the 300 nit max brightness.
The input devices are suitable for work. The main con here is the slightly flexible keyboard deck. The Gen 9 version of the IdeaPad Slim 3 is a fair-priced machine with good battery life, IPS display, decent port selection, and good portability for a 16-incher.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3-16iru9/
Pros
- The keyboard doesn’t get hot during heavy CPU stress
- Compact for a 16-incher (1.74 kg / 17.9 mm)
- Adequate performance for daily or office tasks
- PWM-free display (LEN9156)
- 16:10 aspect ratio and wide viewing angles (LEN9156)
- 300 nits of max brightness (LEN9156)
- Optional 1080p Web camera + fingerprint reader
- Privacy shutter
- Decent keyboard with optional backlight
- Acceptable port selection with 3x USBs and an SD card reader
- The Core 7 150U can maintain a 3.43 GHz / 2.58 GHz P and E-core clock in long loads
- Good battery life considering the 47Wh capacity (~ 8 hours of videos)
- Fair price
Cons
- Plastic chassis
- The keyboard deck flexes a bit during harsh typing
- 49% sRGB coverage (LEN9156)
- Noisy fan in long CPU loads
- Just 1x M.2 slot and soldered RAM