Lenovo IdeaPad 1 15 (15AMN7, Ryzen 3 7320U) review

Full review

If you need Windows rather than ChromeOS, perhaps for desktop Office, a printer driver or a specific program for school or work, the IdeaPad 1 15 is one of the few sensible choices at this price. Lenovo's PSREF spec sheet lists AMD's Ryzen 3 7320U, a four-core, eight-thread chip with Radeon 610M graphics. It copes with browsing, email, Office documents and video calls, though it slows down when you multitask heavily.

The 8GB of LPDDR5 memory is soldered to the board, so you cannot add more later. Storage is a standard M.2 SSD, so it can be swapped for a larger drive. Ports are a strong point: HDMI, an SD card reader, USB-C, USB-A and USB 2.0, plus a numeric keypad for spreadsheets.

The screen is the main sacrifice. Lenovo sells this laptop with several panels, and the cheapest full HD version is a 220-nit TN panel with narrow viewing angles. The cheaper panel will look dull next to an IPS one. Look for an IPS panel in the listing if you can. Lenovo claims up to 17 hours of video playback from the 42 Wh battery, but expect much less with normal use.

This is a 2022 design still on sale, so check you are getting the Ryzen 3 7320U or Ryzen 5 7520U, not the slower Athlon versions.