Lenovo V G4 IRU 14" Review

The Lenovo V14 G4 IRU is a weird one. It's got a surprisingly powerful Intel Core i7-13620H processor and a GPU that, on paper, lands in the 98th percentile. That sounds amazing for a budget laptop. But then you look at the rest of the package: a tiny 38Wh battery, a dim TN screen, and only 8GB of RAM. It's like they put a race car engine in a go-kart chassis. This laptop is clearly built for one thing: raw CPU power on a tight budget. If you need a machine for heavy spreadsheets or coding that you can carry around, and you don't care about much else, it has a purpose. For everyone else, the compromises are just too big.

The performance story is a tale of two halves. That Intel 13620H CPU is legit fast for the price, chewing through multi-threaded tasks. The integrated AMD graphics also punch way above their weight class, hitting that 98th percentile. But the 8GB of RAM is a massive bottleneck. It'll choke on modern multitasking, and the 256GB SSD is almost comically small today. The 38Wh battery means you're not going far from an outlet, either.

At $450 to $550, the value proposition is messy. You're paying for that fast CPU and nothing else. The RAM, storage, and screen are all budget-bin parts that will frustrate you daily. You could spend a bit more on a competitor and get a balanced machine, or spend the same on a different model and get a much better overall experience. This feels like a niche pick for a very specific power-user on an extreme budget.

Stacked up, it's odd. The Apple MacBook Pro is in a different universe on quality and battery, but also price. The ASUS Zenbook Duo offers way more innovation with its dual-screen design. The real competition comes from other budget Lenovos or something like an Acer Swift. Those often offer better screens, more RAM, and larger batteries for similar money, even if their CPUs are slightly slower. Gaming laptops like the MSI Vector or Gigabyte AORUS obviously crush it for games, but they're heavier and cost more. This V14 G4 is a one-trick pony in a field of all-rounders.

Only buy this if you are a spreadsheet or coding wizard who needs maximum CPU threads for under $550 and you literally do not care about screen quality, battery life, or having more than three browser tabs open. For students or general business users, the terrible screen and lack of RAM make it a hard pass. Look for a model with 16GB of RAM and a better display, even if it costs $100 more.