Lenovo Ideapad Slim 3 (15IRU8) review

[Jurrunio]

Bought one for my brother's entry into university, so I might as well take the chance to review it (also my first experience on Windows 11).

 

Build

I'll give it an 8/10. The top and keyboard faces are metallic and smooth but the Lenovo badge on the keyboard face is somewhat unnecessary. The bottom and display faces are plastic with a frosted texture, I prefer this over having all metallic because it provides better grip imo. Bezel width is reasonable, thin enough but not on par with smartphones these days.

Camera is clear enough and it has a mechanical shutter that will block the lens off for security needs.

Chassis flex is minor, it can flex a bit but I'd put it closer to the "sturdy" side than the "flimsy" side.

It has backlit keyboard, but the light only goes around the keycap without showing the writings on them so it's imo rather useless.

 

Display and Sound

I'll give it a 7/10. The resolution (1080p) is totally fine for its 15.6" size while 60Hz refresh rate, unspectacular colours and no-HDR is standard for a paperwork device like this. The brightness is sufficient at max when it's super sunny outside and I'm in a room with the only window facing away from the sun, but I don't think it will be enough when extra sunlight comes in from the sides and especially not for outdoors in the shade.

The sound is clear but limited in "vocal range" to the point of distorting human speech, if that makes sense. Just like many cheaper Windows laptops, get yourself a good set of headphones if you're looking for quality.

Overall, no surprises.

 

Internals (no disassembly sry)

My model comes with an i5-1335U, 2x8GB LPDDR5-4800 and a 512GB SSD. The factory's SSD model is sadly unknown because I opt for a 1TB upgrade, which turns out to be a WD SN350 1TB QLC NVMe SSD. Not the SSD I would buy myself (endurance is low) but the price is alright and I wanted the extra space for my brother without taking the blame for opening up the laptop myself (yeah, family things). The RAM is running 52-44-44-104 primary timings, seems worse than DDR5-4800 but I don't know these new stuff well to make further comments. There is no dedicated graphics.

 

Connectivity

I'll give it a 6/10. WiFi card is an Intel AX203 (CNVi), Wifi 6 support should be standard these days so nothing to complain or brag about.

Only 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type A x2, Type C x1 that can also be used to charge the laptop) is a big reason why it loses so many points, the number is already not generous and 5Gbps per port means performance with a USB hub is still limited.

There's also an HDMI 1.4 port and SD card reader

 

Performance and limits

Windows 11 is updated to the latest version as of posting (2023-7-25), graphics driver is 31.0.101.4575.

 

CPU turbo bins:

P-core: 46x (1c), 43x (2c)

E-core: 34x (1~4c), 32x (5~8c)

 

Power limits:

PL1: 12W~27W (static), 14W~21W (dynamic)

PL2: 55W (static), 45W (dynamic)

These are reported by Hwinfo

 

Cinebench R23:

Single core: 1556pt (note Hwinfo64 shows it loading the first thread of each P-core rather than a single P-core's two threads, leading to them running at 4.3GHz during the run) @73C peak and 70C steady (room temperature is 26C)

Multi core 1st run: 5914pt @88C peak and 58C steady (a couple seconds of 45W peak, dropping to 21W and then 19W steady)

Multi core subsequent runs: 5724pt

 

CSGO FPS benchmark (just for fun, can't think of any games reasonable to try on basic laptops like this)

at 1080p and every video quality option turned way down, it can get around 200fps when nothing's going on but drops to 15fps after the smoke grenades explode and the camera enters it. Average reported is 112.88fps.

 

Noise and external temperature

A slight fan noise (louder than a hiss but not annoying) can be heard during Cinebench R23 single core test, but even running R23 multicore and CSGO can't get it to be loud. PL1 did its job very well.

 

Only the left side of the bottom vent gets hot, the right side stays cool during all tests. This means the single fan design did not fully utilize the cooling potential of the chassis.

 

Useless pre-installed garbage

Lenovo preinstalls Lenovo Vantage, Smart Appearance Components and Lenovo Now from the factory. Vantage lets you check for warranty and other maintenance stuff so it's good, the other two I don't seem to find a use for me yet.

 

Price

It's HKD 6000 before the SSD upgrade, HKD 6400 after.

 

Battery life

My brother won't let me take it for long enough for a battery life test, but it's a 47Wh BYD battery on a laptop that idles at 5~6W CPU package power and takes about 10W when watching Youtube videos. Therefore unfortunately he will have to take the charger with him every day which is not so convenient as it has a separate power brick.

 

Conclusion

My brother's not a computer geek, the only game he plays is Roblox. The laptop will be used to do paperwork and run geomatics software like ArcGIS so it should be good enough and isn't too bad of a deal. However Lenovo clearly didn't spend much effort on improving it over their older designs on a hardware level either, the power brick and USB ports being the giveaways.

[Owais345]

On 7/25/2023 at 4:38 PM, Jurrunio said:

Bought one for my brother's entry into university, so I might as well take the chance to review it (also my first experience on Windows 11).

 

Build

I'll give it an 8/10. The top and keyboard faces are metallic and smooth but the Lenovo badge on the keyboard face is somewhat unnecessary. The bottom and display faces are plastic with a frosted texture, I prefer this over having all metallic because it provides better grip imo. Bezel width is reasonable, thin enough but not on par with smartphones these days.

Camera is clear enough and it has a mechanical shutter that will block the lens off for security needs.

Chassis flex is minor, it can flex a bit but I'd put it closer to the "sturdy" side than the "flimsy" side.

It has backlit keyboard, but the light only goes around the keycap without showing the writings on them so it's imo rather useless.

 

Display and Sound

I'll give it a 7/10. The resolution (1080p) is totally fine for its 15.6" size while 60Hz refresh rate, unspectacular colours and no-HDR is standard for a paperwork device like this. The brightness is sufficient at max when it's super sunny outside and I'm in a room with the only window facing away from the sun, but I don't think it will be enough when extra sunlight comes in from the sides and especially not for outdoors in the shade.

The sound is clear but limited in "vocal range" to the point of distorting human speech, if that makes sense. Just like many cheaper Windows laptops, get yourself a good set of headphones if you're looking for quality.

Overall, no surprises.

 

Internals (no disassembly sry)

My model comes with an i5-1335U, 2x8GB LPDDR5-4800 and a 512GB SSD. The factory's SSD model is sadly unknown because I opt for a 1TB upgrade, which turns out to be a WD SN350 1TB QLC NVMe SSD. Not the SSD I would buy myself (endurance is low) but the price is alright and I wanted the extra space for my brother without taking the blame for opening up the laptop myself (yeah, family things). The RAM is running 52-44-44-104 primary timings, seems worse than DDR5-4800 but I don't know these new stuff well to make further comments. There is no dedicated graphics.

 

Connectivity

I'll give it a 6/10. WiFi card is an Intel AX203 (CNVi), Wifi 6 support should be standard these days so nothing to complain or brag about.

Only 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type A x2, Type C x1 that can also be used to charge the laptop) is a big reason why it loses so many points, the number is already not generous and 5Gbps per port means performance with a USB hub is still limited.

There's also an HDMI 1.4 port and SD card reader

 

Performance and limits

Windows 11 is updated to the latest version as of posting (2023-7-25), graphics driver is 31.0.101.4575.

 

CPU turbo bins:

P-core: 46x (1c), 43x (2c)

E-core: 34x (1~4c), 32x (5~8c)

 

Power limits:

PL1: 12W~27W (static), 14W~21W (dynamic)

PL2: 55W (static), 45W (dynamic)

These are reported by Hwinfo

 

Cinebench R23:

Single core: 1556pt (note Hwinfo64 shows it loading the first thread of each P-core rather than a single P-core's two threads, leading to them running at 4.3GHz during the run) @73C peak and 70C steady (room temperature is 26C)

Multi core 1st run: 5914pt @88C peak and 58C steady (a couple seconds of 45W peak, dropping to 21W and then 19W steady)

Multi core subsequent runs: 5724pt

 

CSGO FPS benchmark (just for fun, can't think of any games reasonable to try on basic laptops like this)

at 1080p and every video quality option turned way down, it can get around 200fps when nothing's going on but drops to 15fps after the smoke grenades explode and the camera enters it. Average reported is 112.88fps.

 

Noise and external temperature

A slight fan noise (louder than a hiss but not annoying) can be heard during Cinebench R23 single core test, but even running R23 multicore and CSGO can't get it to be loud. PL1 did its job very well.

 

Only the left side of the bottom vent gets hot, the right side stays cool during all tests. This means the single fan design did not fully utilize the cooling potential of the chassis.

 

Useless pre-installed garbage

Lenovo preinstalls Lenovo Vantage, Smart Appearance Components and Lenovo Now from the factory. Vantage lets you check for warranty and other maintenance stuff so it's good, the other two I don't seem to find a use for me yet.

 

Price

It's HKD 6000 before the SSD upgrade, HKD 6400 after.

 

Battery life

My brother won't let me take it for long enough for a battery life test, but it's a 47Wh BYD battery on a laptop that idles at 5~6W CPU package power and takes about 10W when watching Youtube videos. Therefore unfortunately he will have to take the charger with him every day which is not so convenient as it has a separate power brick.

 

Conclusion

My brother's not a computer geek, the only game he plays is Roblox. The laptop will be used to do paperwork and run geomatics software like ArcGIS so it should be good enough and isn't too bad of a deal. However Lenovo clearly didn't spend much effort on improving it over their older designs on a hardware level either, the power brick and USB ports being the giveaways.

I have a newer model with a i5 13500h and its keyboard flexes a bit but the sound it makes is concerning, have you had the same experience or does It not make any sound

[Jurrunio]

4 hours ago, Owais345 said:

I have a newer model with a i5 13500h and its keyboard flexes a bit but the sound it makes is concerning, have you had the same experience or does It not make any sound

I think it's pretty quiet. Typical low profile membrane quiet.

[Owais345]

10 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

I think it's pretty quiet. Typical low profile membrane quiet.

I'm not talking about the noise the keyboard makes, its the noise the body of the laptop makes when its being lifted from one side or pressed right below the speakers 

[Jurrunio]

40 minutes ago, Owais345 said:

I'm not talking about the noise the keyboard makes, its the noise the body of the laptop makes when its being lifted from one side or pressed right below the speakers 

Lifting from one side as in picking it up with one hand? Didnt notice any noise other than plastic squeezing against each other. Did not try press down on the speakers.

[Owais345]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

Lifting from one side as in picking it up with one hand? Didnt notice any noise other than plastic squeezing against each other. Did not try press down on the speakers.

yeah like picking it up from one side,I think the sound I hear is plastic

[flibberdipper]

I have one of these myself with the 1315U, 8GB of RAM, 256GB MP9B1, but the top-spec 1080p touch display and they're amusingly competent. I threw ThrottleStop on mine to let the 1315U go nuts and if you load up the GPU and CPU you can see 35-40W sustained which is hilarious... And somehow adequately cooled. And the display is honestly dope, colors seem pretty good, brightness is decent enough, and the fact that Lenovo is the only company with the balls to do a matte touchscreen makes it an automatic W in my book.