Lenovo Ideapad 330 15 [330-15IKB 81DE02V1RU]

workhorse

Despite its age, the Ideapad 330 is still one of the best workhorses in the office laptop class. It looks austere and not too modern, it has no thin bezels and wow design, but it does its job well and costs a modest $400.

Multi-threaded processor and 8 GB RAM

The laptop is powered by a seventh-generation Core i5 processor with a maximum frequency of 2.5 GHz. It has only 2 cores, but it has multi-threading support and good power efficiency, which allows you not to waste battery resources. The standard 8 GB of RAM, a 1000 GB HDD and a simple Radeon 530 graphics card complete the picture. Such equipment, balanced and sharpened for work tasks, allows you to forget about one of the problems of modern laptops — heating under high load. Even during an extended period of use, this model from Lenovo did not get hotter than 34 degrees. An added bonus is the barely noticeable noise of the cooling system.

fast charging

In terms of additional equipment, the Ideapad 330 15 looks as modest as possible: there is fast charging and a TPM module, and the list of ports and communications of the laptop includes two USB 3.1 connectors, one USB-C, an HDMI video output and a card reader. The battery shows itself worthy and holds up to 6 hours when using a balanced power supply. The case has an interesting design feature — thanks to the wide hinges that hold the screen, the lid can be opened 180 degrees. But in unambiguous engineering miscalculations it is worth adding the power button, placed in the keyboard block.

Dim display

Technical miscalculations and shortcomings here are mostly cosmetic. To begin with, the power button is wildly annoying, which was placed on the keyboard block in the upper right corner. Yes, it is far from frequently used buttons, but you still accidentally get into it from time to time. Further, the engineers drowned the speakers too deeply in the case, which is why they are not always well audible. Well, the display here is frankly utilitarian, it is dim and not very bright, and due to the use of an outdated TN + film matrix, it also has small viewing angles. Yes, and the resolution of 1366x768 pixels leads to sad thoughts. Although if a laptop is bought primarily for work, then this is not particularly critical. The $400 price tag will be a bigger factor for many.