Lenovo IdeaPad Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15.6" Laptop (AMD Ryzen 7, 8GB Review
The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is a budget laptop with serious compromises. It's cheap, but the 8GB RAM and slow performance make it hard to recommend for most people.
Overview
The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 is a budget-friendly 15.6-inch laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor. It's got a touchscreen and is fairly lightweight, but you're looking at some serious compromises to hit that low price point.
Performance
The Ryzen 7 CPU lands in the 23rd percentile, so it's not exactly a powerhouse. It'll handle basic multitasking, but don't expect miracles. The Vega 10 GPU is in the 38th percentile, so light gaming or photo editing is its absolute ceiling. The 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD are also on the low end, ranking in the 10th and 12th percentiles respectively.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Affordable price point. 72th
- Includes a touchscreen. 66th
- Fairly lightweight for a 15.6-inch laptop.
- Reliability score is decent at the 75th percentile.
Cons
- Only 8GB of RAM, which is low for 2024. 12th
- Tiny 256GB SSD fills up fast. 13th
- Mediocre CPU and GPU performance. 18th
- Screen quality is poor, ranking in the 16th percentile. 24th
Specifications
Full Specifications
Processor
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 |
Graphics
| GPU | Radeon Vega 10 |
| Type | discrete |
Memory & Storage
| RAM | 8 GB |
| Storage | 256 GB |
Display
| Size | 15.6" |
| Resolution | 1920 (Full HD) |
Connectivity
| HDMI | 1 x HDMI |
| Wi-Fi | WiFi 5 |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
Physical
| Weight | 2.2 kg / 4.9 lbs |
| OS | Windows 10 |
Value & Pricing
At around $480, it's cheap. But you get what you pay for. The specs are barebones and performance is mediocre across the board. It's only a good value if your budget is extremely tight and your needs are incredibly basic.
vs Competition
It's in a totally different league than competitors like the MacBook Pro or gaming laptops. A more direct rival would be a basic Chromebook or an older refurbished business laptop. Compared to something like an ASUS Zenbook, the S340 feels dated and underpowered. You're trading all performance and future-proofing for a lower upfront cost.
| Spec | Lenovo IdeaPad Lenovo IdeaPad S340 15.6" Laptop (AMD Ryzen 7, 8GB | Apple MacBook Pro Apple 14" MacBook Pro (M5, Silver) | ASUS ROG Flow ASUS 13.4" Republic of Gamers Flow Z13 2-in-1 | Lenovo Legion Lenovo 16" Legion Pro 7i Gaming Laptop | MSI Vector MSI 16" Vector 16 HX AI Gaming Laptop | Microsoft Surface Laptop Microsoft 13.8" Surface Laptop Copilot+ PC (7th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 | Apple M5 | AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX | Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 |
| RAM (GB) | 8 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Storage (GB) | 256 | 4096 | 1024 | 2048 | 2048 | 1024 |
| Screen | 15.6" 1920x1080 | 14.2" 3024x1964 | 13.4" 2560x1600 | 16" 2560x1600 | 16" 2560x1600 | 13.8" 2304x1536 |
| GPU | AMD Radeon Vega 10 | Apple (10-Core) | AMD Radeon 8060 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 | Qualcomm X1 |
| OS | Windows 10 | macOS | Windows 11 Pro | Windows 11 Home | Windows 11 Pro | Windows 11 Home |
| Weight (kg) | 2.2 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 1.3 |
| Battery (Wh) | - | 72 | 70 | 99 | 90 | 54 |
Verdict
Only buy this if you need the absolute cheapest Windows laptop with a 15-inch screen and a touchscreen. It's okay for very light web browsing and document work. Students or business users on a severe budget might tolerate it, but anyone needing performance or storage should look elsewhere.