I’m composing a brief evaluation of the Lenovo Ideapad 720S-15 today. This laptop has mostly gone unnoticed—it hasn’t received many positive reviews on tech websites or been the subject of a Lenovo Yoga-style marketing push, for example—but it could be a good option for your next notebook buy.
My last several lap warmers affected my choice criteria. I wanted something in between my previous MSI GS60 gaming laptop and the Skylake XPS 13. The XPS 13 could operate for an extended period of time on a single charge, had a strong build quality (although a short component lifespan), and was polished enough to be taken to any client site or lecture. The MSI laptop, on the other hand, has a big, colorful screen and enough gaming power to provide space sim diversion on a work trip or a shoot-em-up weekend spent with friends. I thus sought a combination of the two: a GPU that could play games while on the go, professional aesthetics, and a long battery life.
Researching on a laptop might be challenging! Not only are the majority of reviews quite superficial (few mentions of touch throttling, for instance), but dealbreakers frequently remain hidden until a million monkeys get their hands on the gadget and expose its shortcomings. For example, the Dell XPS 15 is known for throttling in games, while the Gigabyte Aero 15 loses keystrokes if you hold down several modifier keys. On paper, the Lenovo 720S 15 checked every box, but how does it perform on my lap?
Aesthetics and Build Quality
Design and Construction Quality
This notepad makes a good initial impression. The lid’s upper right corner bears a muted “Lenovo” carved in dark silver metal. Except for the required Microsoft symbol, the bottom of the device is devoid of ugly stickers and is colored and materialized in mirror images. Rather of the thick metal plate of the XPS line, a thin layer of metal covers the top surface, which is somewhat pliable in the event that forces acting in opposition to it are applied to the screen’s left and right borders.
When you first open it, you see an equally large, fully functional keyboard with a numpad and variable-intensity (off-low-high) blacklighting. This keyboard does not bend when you press keys; it is mounted on a metal backplate. The trackpad is smooth and sturdy, although it does away with the Thinkpad line’s physical right and left clickers in favor of the more popular “invisible-button” design. (Although some users have complained that the trackpad is slow after prolonged use, I have never had this problem.) An strangely sharp edge on the top of the inside surface of this laptop is worth mentioning. Even though it is not painful to use, I could notice chips and scratches occurring here. A tiny space exists between the laptop body and bottom plate, which is also noteworthy. Although it appears to be a design choice rather than a production flaw, a smooth junction is more aesthetically pleasant. Additionally, my unit makes a little cracking sound when the top right quadrant of the body is moved. The rubber feet, which have failed on every previous laptop I’ve owned, are incredibly sturdy and securely attached to the laptop’s base.
Overall, the build quality is what I would refer to as “Tier 1.5″—better than many laptops, but not as stunning or durable as the Surface Book 2 or XPS 13. My XPS 13 seemed more at ease carrying a bag filled with textbooks, but the Lenovo 720S would be better off with a novel reader.
Form Factor of the Lenovo Ideapad 720s-15
This laptop is more pleasant to hold or handle with one hand than Dell’s XPS 15 series, weighing 4.18 pounds and measuring 0.70 (17.95mm). The camera is positioned above the LCD, like it should be, and the bezels are thin. Using a discreet fingerprint reader makes logging in easy.
Ports and Connections
A laptop’s use is limited by the manner in which it may be connected to external systems. Given that the 720S 15 only has connectors for 1xTB3 (2 lane), 3.5mm headset, 1xUSB C, 1xUSB A, and SD Card, this is one area where compromise is necessary. Any more USB A peripherals or video output would necessitate a trip to dongletown if, like me, you use a Logitech mouse adapter. For those who work in shared spaces, there is no lock hole. The AC adapter is located in the odd square port.
Screen and Speakers
Even at 40% brightness in power saver mode—my typical settings while traveling—this laptop’s screen is really good. The colors are vivid and the viewing angles are superb. Although the FHD model has been known to have significant backlight bleed, my laptop has tolerable backlight leakage (see below). This display operates at 60 Hz without exhibiting any discernible ghosting. The laptop’s speakers, which are located on the front bottom, are OK, however they will sound muffled on a blanket or other covering.
Software
Lenovo was ruthlessly sparing with the preloaded applications. Although I uninstalled the Windows 10 games and the basic antivirus trial, generally this setup was cleaner than most consumer hardware installations.
Battery Life of the Lenovo Ideapad 720s-15
This laptop’s 79 watt-hour battery with legs sets it apart from other models with comparable characteristics. I haven’t completely depleted the battery in a single session, but after two hours and forty-five minutes of surfing, writing, and streaming, I’m now at 72%. It would be reasonable to assume that the battery will last between 8.5 and 10 hours on a single charge. (This is in battery-saving mode with a 40% screen brightness and -150mV undervolting applied.)
Thermals and Fan Noise
The sound of the fans is acceptable. Although it sounds like it’s always operating, the laptop is quieter when gaming than other discrete graphics laptops I’ve tried. The 15.6″ form factor or the MaxQ design may be to blame for this.
At default settings, this laptop does throttle when under stress. The GPU ultimately throttles when Doom 2016 is run at high settings with the stock voltage curve, as you can see here. It throttles from around 1,680MHz to about 1,150MHz and stays there, which is frustrating because it should dynamically select a middle ground. This behavior only shows up when the GPU is constantly operated close to maximum capacity (such as while playing Doom at high settings; less demanding games or graphics settings do not result in any discernible throttling).
This laptop turns into an entirely new gaming machine with -150mV CPU and -100mV GPU undervolting, maintaining a GPU frequency of 1,772MHz! It should be noted that although the CPU is still thermally throttling (green peaks in Intel XTU), the degree of this throttling is rather mild and the four-core frequency remains at 3.3–3.4GHz. In order to be sure I could play for hours without experiencing any lag, I need to conduct further testing under continuous loads and may reduce the maximum frequency to 1,700MHz.
Undervolting was handled by this laptop rather well; it breezed through Prime95 and Intel XTU at -150mV on the CPU. There are no crashes or frame drops while the GPU is operating at -100mV. Since the present levels provide stable boost clocks in games and great battery life, I haven’t tried to push these voltages lower.
Performance
The 1050Ti Max-Q is what sets the Lenovo 720S 15 apart from the other. With ease, I have played DOTA 2, Fortnite, Overwatch, Killing Floor 2, and Doom 2016* at medium or high settings at 60 frames per second thanks to the new Max-Q designs. The maximum GPU temperature that was measured under load was 71C with undervolted settings. When doing productivity activities with the Intel 620 IGP, the CPU operates very well under stress. With undervolting, the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark is 2,307, with 2,165 graphics and 3,672 CPU.
(*Note that Doom has a strange quirk where the laptop has a few rooms that drop to 45–55 frames per second unless the lighting or shadows are set to “Low,” even with other visual performance options. This could be an issue with the MaxQ driver.)
Value
The Lenovo Ideapad 720s-15 (FHD/8GB/512GB) that I bought compares favorably to the XPS 15 series when it is priced at $1,500. Nevertheless, Lenovo has been running aggressive promotions for the 720S 15 series, and the week I purchased it, my SKU was reduced to $1,200. At $999, the i5/8GB/256GB SKU and the UHD/16GB/1TB SKU (why, oh, why wasn’t this available in 1080P!) are both excellent values. When not on sale, this laptop is uncomfortably close to the cheap Razer Blade 14 and the superb 14″ Gigabyte Aero 14W. With some compromises, both of those models have more RAM and a better GPU. If your only focus is gaming, You may upgrade to a GTX 1060 MaxQ for less money if you get something similar to Dell’s Inspiron 7000 Gaming.
Additionally, it would be wise to hold off on purchasing any new 8th generation i7 laptops until May 2018, especially the Kaby Lake G models that come with integrated Vega graphics. These could result in significant price reductions on i7-7700HQ versions and may bring benefits like additional cores or longer battery life.
Concluding Thoughts, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
For those of us who like to work and play on the same device without going over budget, the Lenovo Ideapad 720S-15 is a wonderful all-arounder notebook. You get the gaming prowess of desktop replacements from the past along with the polished looks and long battery life of today’s thin-and-light devices. In a sea of subpar laptops, this design stands out for its robust battery life and decent thermals (post-undervolting); nonetheless, you should buy this laptop at a discount or coupon. Ultimately, for the techie who doesn’t mind adjusting the voltages, this is an excellent hybrid laptop.
The Good:
-Excellent battery life – Professional looks – “Tier 1.5” build quality – The 1050Ti Max Q plays today’s AAA games with ease -Large, bright screen; comparatively quiet and cool when gaming; excellent undervolting performance; no need to reinstall in order to remove bloatware
-Compact keyboard with numeric keypad -Fingerprint reader and strategically positioned camera
The Bad:
-No direct video out and just one USB A port”Tier 1.5″ construction quality: To receive the best deal on the middle SKU, a Lenovo discount or promotion is needed.
-Jack of all trades: in this price range, specialized units are quicker.
-Chassis detects fingerprints with ease.
The Ugly
-A problem with throttling arises in demanding games using stock voltages.
-Kaby Lake G and the next eighth-generation mobile i7s are quickly approaching.
