DECEMBER 2019 PCWorld 89watt-hour battery, the S340 fared
considerably worse than other laptops in our
chart with smaller 48 watt-hour batteries.
Now, this could simply be a factor of
Lenovo’s tuning the S340 to favor
performance over energy efficiency (although
we should note that our benchmarks were
performed on AC power), and in any case,
eight hours of battery life is nothing to sniff at.
Still, we were hoping the S340 would snag
better numbers given the size of its battery.
BOTTOM LINE
The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 isn’t the first
solid laptop line to come with lower-end
TN-equipped
models, and as such,
we wouldn’t
condemn it on the
basis of the particular
configuration we
tested. Indeed,
criticizing a TN panel
for its poor viewing
angles is like dinging
a turtle for being
slow; that’s just the
way they are, take
‘em or leave ‘em.
Swap in an IPS
display for the TN
panel (which you can
do fairly cheaply, if
you pick the next
step-up model), and you’re most likely
looking at an impressive value.Lenovo IdeaPad S340-15IWL
PROS- Sleek design.
- Peppy single- and multi-core performance.
vComfy keyboard.
CONS - Dim display and poor viewing angles on the
configuration we tested. - Middling battery life.
BOTTOM LINE
This bargain-priced laptop puts up impressive
performance numbers, but make sure to get one
with an IPS display rather than the iffy TN variety.
$458
The IdeaPad S340’s battery-life score is fine, but we were expecting better.
Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA(Core i5-8250U)
Acer E 15 E5-576G -5762(Core i5-8250U)
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S-131WL
(Core i5-8250U)
Acer Aspire 5 A515+54-30BQ
(Core i3-8145U)
Acer Aspire 5 A515-54-51DJ
(Core i5-8265U)
Lenovo IdeaPad S340-151W(Core i5-8265U)) L
Lenovo ThinkPad L480(Core i5-8250U)
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 6 14 (2019) (Core i5-8250U)
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 6 14 (2018)
(Core i5-8250U)Video rundown (battery life)
(Minutes)LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE650542627493637503585473
441