Lenovo IdeaPad 720S: A Sophisticated Design and Proven Performance

If you're looking for a laptop with a sophisticated design, proven performance, and excellent battery life, look no further. The Lenovo IdeaPad 720S isn't a premium model, but it comes with premium features that make it well worth the price.

Named one of the best laptops from last year, the Lenovo notebook offers excellent features and a sleek design for a low price. Check out our in-depth review of the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S to learn everything you need to know before you buy.

What is Lenovo 720S?

The Lenovo IdeaPad 720S is an affordable 14-inch laptop notebook with a premium appearance. It's much more affordable than many other laptops on the market today, and it's a lightweight model with a sleek and sturdy design. Like most laptops, it comes with a few small compromises. However, the Lenovo is expected to perform well for everyday use, and it comes with a sophisticated design that makes it appear as it should be at a higher price point. 

The metal design comes in silver, made with anodized aluminum, and it has a bright screen, comfy keyboard, and reliable audio performance. The design sparkles thanks to its reflective frame and beveled edges. Both the front and back edges tilt toward the same direction to provide a thin side profile when the laptop is closed, which makes it appear more like a rhombus in shape when closed. 

When it comes down to deciding whether to use this laptop for work or play, you don't even have to choose because it works well for all your needs. Named one of the best notebooks of 2018, the Lenovo comes with a great and stylish design, impressive features, and a low price. This updated version of last year's model is very similar. They're both all-metal and thin, but it has been tweaked to include a larger 14-inch screen, Nvidia graphics, and a Thunderbolt port. 

Product Specifications

The IdeaPad is a 14-inch, smaller laptop that's only 0.6 inches thick and 3.3 pounds heavy. It's a thin and light model that offers enough ports for all your needs, with three USB connectors split between the two sides, a Thunderbolt 3 port on the right, the built-in headphone jack on the left, and an HDMI-out port on the right. Based on the feel of the design, you'd expect the Lenovo to be much more expensive. 

Also, you'll find a fingerprint reader for added security on the right, just below the keyboard. Then, there's a webcam above the screen and a backlit keyboard with a decent screen. The display itself is colorful and bright, and the screen offers good resolutions of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It looks good compared to other monitors out there today, and according to the Delta-E accuracy test, it scores nearly perfect inaccuracy in terms of the colors. 

The trackpad and keyboard are excellent, and this large and spacious layout is why this laptop is priced in the mid-range. The keys are each responsive and crisp, the design of the keyboard makes it comfortable to use, and it's entirely backlit. Although the lighting isn't the brightest or best on the market, it works well and competes with other laptops. And the trackpad may lack the etched glass surface many others have, but it works well. The tracking is precise and accurate. 

Lenovo comes with great software preloaded and a large assortment of apps you can use. In the settings, you have access to audio presets, batter management, and other preferences you can alter to suit your needs. They also include a free version of their password manager called Keeper, which is a free online option you can also download if you want. 

Important product specifications for the Lenovo 720S include:

Pricing

You can order the Lenovo 720S on their official website for around $909. You can boost the CPU up to the Core i7-7500U on Amazon for an extra $160 as well. Amazon also has a 16GB model available for $1,500 with only around $7 in shipping costs. 

You can also add on the software you may need to use your new notebooks, such as McAfee Total Protection for viruses or Microsoft Office 365 Home. There are two or four-year protection plans available as well for between $59 and $127, depending on your preference. This is a great deal that allows you to save money long-term when you purchase it all upfront. 

If you can't afford to pay the entire fee upfront, simply sign up for Equal Pay financing with an Amazon Store Card, and you can make low monthly payments of $125 per month for a year. Amazon makes it easy to find the products you need, and you can also purchase refurbished or used products to save a bit more money. However, be aware that you may not have the same warranty options if you go this route. 

How It Compares

Although the Lenovo is ranked slightly below expensive devices and top models on the market such as a MacBook, it's still an extremely impressive device. The trackpad, unlike other popular laptops, doesn't feature etched glass for example. Premium laptops hold better quality and screen resolution on average. 

However, the cooling technology works much better than expensive models, which typically place the exhaust to cool off the model in the hinge. This area is easily covered while using the laptop, though, causing the vents to block and the laptop to overheat. Lenovo cut out this common issue by placing their exhaust on the bottom instead. 

Compared to the top, most expensive notebooks on the market today, it's well-built, compact, and powerful. It's portable and works for all your needs. Performance-wise, it holds an Intel Core 17-7500U CPU processor with extra speed over the competitors Core i7 processors, and the price doesn't add on a ton for this boost. Plus, if you find a model with Nvidia graphics, you can get into high-end gaming on your laptop. The added performance is three times that of the traditional models without this feature. 

It's just barely lighter and thinner than even the 15-inch Asus VivoBook S510 and the Samsung Notebook 9, which are both top competitors on the market today. The Lenovo scored between on the Delta-E accuracy-test than these two notebooks as well, with the Asus taking a 6.6 average and Samsung landing a 2.9 compared to the IdeaPad's 0.3 ratings. Zero is a perfect score, and Lenovo is much closer to near-perfect screen colors than the competitors. 

The Lenovo's screen is also quite bright, emitting around 305 nits versus the 261-nits from the Asus. However, it's not much brighter than the competitors, and the 330 nits from Samsung's Notebook 9 is much brighter when using the screen. Lenovo's display is also a touchscreen, where the others don't hold that capability. 

Lenovo's notebook comes with a longer battery life than Asus or Samsung, with over 8 hours of battery life versus around 5 hours from the competitors. The company does claim their battery life can reach 14 hours, which tests determine is an overshoot. However, 8 hours is still much more than similarly priced models. The 8 hours is a much more realistic battery life expectancy, although your model may exceed this. Customers have noticed their laptop lasts 9 or 10 hours, on average, from a single charge. 

In terms of the other features, the Lenovo tops the charts. It offers much more for the price, including the Thunderbolt option and JBL speakers with Dolby Atmos. Although the displays on the Asus and Samsung are an inch larger as well, they carry the same screen resolution, and Lenovo brings a better processor. 

However, Lenovo doesn't offer as much storage space as the competitors. Storage isn't a huge worry for many customers, but the Lenovo only comes with 8 GB versus the Asus and Samsung that carry double the memory space. 

Warranty wise, you'll get the most with Lenovo as well. They offer a year-long warranty, while Asus doesn't provide any type of warranty and Samsung's warranty option, although just as long, is much more limited in what's covered. With Samsung, you can receive a full refund after the first 30 days, but your box needs to be unopened, and any damage can't be the results of misuse or user error for coverage. 

Pros and Cons

Overall, Lenovo provides excellent performance and features for the money. It has great connectivity, the screen is awesome, and the all-metal exterior is a stylish appearance that competes with the times well. People really love the stylish design and build quality, which is better than most laptops at this price point but slightly below that of the premium models. 

Customers adore using the keyboard with this notebook, as typing is said to feel more comfortable than ever. The IdeaPad offers an island-style keyboard that allows your hands to rest comfortably, and the trackpad works accurately in tracking where your finger is and navigating the desktop accordingly. You can even take advantage of Windows 10's newer navigation gestures that use two fingers to scroll or swipe as needed. 

Due to the notebook's anodized aluminum, the IdeaPad stays cool while running and disperses heat across the unit well. Like all laptops, it will heat up with your stream HD video or play a DVD, but experts say the heat registers just below the standard 95-degrees that are deemed comfortable. 

It also has excellent performance when playing videos from Netflix, streaming services, or DVDs. The audio sounds great, and the battery life holds up over a long period from one charge. Overall, this a powerful machine that is perfect for anything you could need a laptop for. The added portability and features like the Thunderbolt are great as well, as many models don't include this or a traditional headphone jack on a standard model. 

The biggest con to this notebook is the webcam and video processing ability. It comes with a 0.9-megapixel webcam, but the image produced appears fuzzy and out of frame. While you can clearly see a face and tell who it is, anything in the background looks washed out or pixelated in texture. If you use the webcam for work or play often, this could become an issue for you. 

The Verdict

The Lenovo IdeaPad 720S comes with a decent processor, screen, and overall notebook. You may only have 8 GB of RAM, but the configuration allows you to multitask with ease. Say goodbye to a lag time when you try to go into a split-screen mode, but don't expect the webcam or videos to appear with top quality. Compared to similar notebooks, the IdeaPad isn't the slimmest or lightest, but it functions well for such an affordable price.

Plus, the model has a colorful and bright display, excellent sound quality, and a comfortable to use the keyboard. It's lightweight, and the battery lasts eight hours, making it easy to use for work or store. What more could you need? It's a premium appearance laptop with great features, for nearly half the price of the top of the line options on the market in 2019.