PC World (2019-04)

APRIL 2019 PCWorld 55

Cinebench is a synthetic

CPU test that shows how a

PC handles a brief burst of

activity. The Lenovo IdeaPad

730S posts a good score

here.

Any laptop that scores over

2,000 in PCMark 8 Work

Conventional can handle

mainstream applications

handily. The Lenovo IdeaPad

730S excelled within its

group, posting a very

healthy score well over

3,000.

Lenovo IdeaPad

730S-13IWL (Core i5-8265U)

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA (Core i5-8250U)

Dell XPS 13 9380(Core i7-8565U)

Razer Blade Stealth (2018)(Core i7-8550U)

Microsoft Surface Laptop 2

(Core i5-8250U)

PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Conventional

(Native resolution)

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

3,431

2,860

3,205

3,303

3,055

Lenovo IdeaPad 730S-13IWL (Core i5-8265U)

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA

(Core i5-8250U)

Dell XPS 13 9380

(Core i7-8565U)

Razer Blade Stealth (2018)

(Core i7-8550U)

M(Core i5-8250U)icrosoft Surface Laptop 2

Cinebench R15.038

(Threads)

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

705

601

551

555

558

156

124

181

142

163

Single Thread All threads

speakers, especially when it’s on a flat surface,
where the audio can project outward.

PERFORMANCE
The Lenovo IdeaPad 730S is among the first
batch of notebooks with Intel’s “Whiskey

Lake” (go.pcworld.com/

wlke) CPUs, which should

give it a modest

performance boost under

peak loads. We compared it to a group of

recent mainstream laptops with similar CPU,

RAM, and integrated graphics.

Lenovo talks up the 730S’s thermal

design, which pulls in cool air through vents

in the keyboard and pushes it out through the

back and bottom of the

notebook. Supposedly

this allows for both the

slim design and a smaller

fan. Although the 730S

can become

uncomfortably warm on

the lap under the heaviest