Lenovo IdeaPad 330, or what does AMD Ryzen know at the entry level?

Introductory

Due to the short time available (two days), instead of a more thorough, all-encompassing test, you have to come to this presentation, we tried to pay attention to as many points as possible. By now, surely everyone is aware that AMD has once again become a major factor on the chessboard - maybe he’s not the king yet, but the bastion is already! In the desktop processor market, the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX is virtually the master, and the Radeon VII is the PROHARDWARE! is reported to be able to stand up to the GeForce RTX 2080, which farms in second place in the food chain. These are arguably serious achievements, a great pity, the average user can’t afford this level of technique, so 99 percent of terrestrial mortals may be much more exciting about what the three-letter manufacturer offers at the entry level. With the Lenovo IdeaPad 330, we get the answer to this a little later, first of all, let's take a look at this machine from the outside.

External

If we look at the machine from a sufficient distance, we might not even assume at first glance that we are dealing with an almost round 100 ropis laptop. Then, of course, it becomes clear that the cover is made of brushed metal, the whining sound that pops up when using the touchpad doesn't enhance the premium feeling of life, but the final shock is provided by the 15,6-inch TN panel. There’s no particular problem with Full HD resolution yet, but the viewing angles aren’t exactly bright, and we can’t say much good about color fidelity either; In the AIDA64 color calibration test, it can be said that the gradient between the last three cubes is simply indistinguishable. We'll say a few more unsolicited words about the display later, now let's turn back to the cover.

The color range is as follows:

• platinum gray;
• frost white;
• midnight blue;
• chocolate;
• onix black.

The machine, which weighs only 2,2 kg, cannot be said to be tall: 378 × 260 × 22,9 mm. They weren't very scattered with ports, we think it's approx. the minimum required in 2019 is:

• Two USB 3.0 (one charger included) and one USB 3.1 Type-C; 
• Ethernet, HDMI, card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC) and a jack for the earpiece;
• The power supply was solved with a 65W external adapter, and its input was also located here.

DVD burner is not included in our copy, but optionally this can be solved. During an external inspection, it is also noticeable that the machine blows warm air almost directly onto the monitor, with an air outlet at the connection between the display and the engine compartment. We also took a picture of the bottom of the structure, as you can see, Lenovo's brain trusts ensured that the machine was properly cooled and ventilated.

Taking away from the subjective factors, it can be said about the design that it is clean and unpretentious, it can be said that it is a bit boring - the total unanimity is broken by the manufacturer's logo on the cover. The house is solid enough anyway, we feel it will not be prone to deformation at first glance. We can get inside the machine after removing the entire bottom cover; After removing the screws (13 pieces), the lower element must be carefully tensioned so that the viscera can be visually inspected. There are not too many attractions, it is worth mentioning that the RAM is soldered. 

We find the indicator lights quite scattered: there are three on the keyboard (Caps Lock, Num Lock, status indicator), and then we see the rest (charging, HDD) from the side.

Display

As mentioned above, not a big number. Well, the 15,6-inch diameter can be considered a kind of golden mean anyway, except that the 1920 × 1080 pixels have such a high pixel density that Windows 10 automatically introduces 125 percent DPI scaling before eye-popping. The downside of this is that in some windows and applications the texts appear a bit washed out, and Full HD itself means that we will not be able to run almost any game in native resolution. Thanks to a typical TN panel, the response time is good, the viewing angle and the color fidelity are poor, all in all, it will be perfectly enough to watch the latest videos of Peti Radics with friends, or maybe make a house of numbers on it. If possible, don't do all this outdoors, because the brightness will be slim there, unless it's at night… So we have to pay close attention to something: avoid all Adobe products from afar!

Technical specifications