Lenovo Ideapad 720s-15 Review – Should you Consider it in 2023?

On the hunt for a gaming laptop that once ruled the premium segment? Meet the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15, a laptop that carved its niche in the gaming world with stellar performance and top-notch build quality.

However, as technology marches forward, is this aging champion still worth your attention in 2023? We will unveil the story of the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15. From examining its display, performance, and overall value proposition. Stay tuned for a comprehensive journey that reveals whether this laptop can still hold its ground against modern contenders.

Quick Specifications

We have mentioned all the essential features below so that you can have a better understanding. If you want to check it yourself check it on Amazon.

Display Brilliance Full HD

The lenovo-ideapad-720s-15 comes with a 15.6-inch display. Talking about the resolution of the display it offers a full HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The picture quality it produces is simply marvelous. Whether you talk about watching videos or doing your work, you will not face any issues regarding quality.

Thanks to Lenovo the panel is one of the best in the segment. Even though the laptop is a bit older, the display quality is still immersive.

Other aspects of the display are good enough for most users. For instance, viewing angles, sharpness, and details all are fine. The only concern here is that the display doesn’t have any anti-glare coating over it. So you will notice the reflection whenever working in bright light. However, this is not a big concert that can be considered a deal breaker.

Performance Redux: Can the 7700HQ Processor Keep Up in 2023?

Whenever buying or searching for an old laptop, performance is the biggest concern. It is always in my mind how will it perform while testing an old laptop. If you don’t do the same, I will advise you to do it.

Now back to the topic, how does Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-5 perform in 2023? We are mentioning 2023 because this laptop was launched in 2018. So it’s essential to check how it performs with modern tasks.

With its Intel Core i7 7th generation 7700HQ processor, performance is decent. If you test this laptop with day-to-day tasks such as browsing, using MS Office, or watching content on it, you will not face any issues. Moreover, you can play light to moderate games in normal settings.

The GPU NVIDIA GTX-1050Ti it has still delivers decent performance. Even though it is an old GPU. It delivers good graphical performance. If heat management would have been better. We could have seen better gaming performance.

On the other, if you want it for intensive tasks such as high FPS games, it will not be able to deliver much performance. Its performance on other intensive tasks such as editing and rendering videos etc is also not good enough. There could be many reasons behind it. For instance, bad heat management. Here are some other potential reasons for not performing up to the mark.

1. The sleek design doesn’t suit much on a gaming laptop.
2.  Lack of proper heat management.
3. Older processor and GPU.

Because of all these above-mentioned reasons, the laptop fails to perform up to the mark. However, you can still do normal tasks without any issues.

Overall, the performance of this machine is decent. It’s good enough for most day-to-day and moderate tasks but surely not good enough for heavy tasks.

Illuminating the Keyboard and Touchpad Experience

The keyboard on the Lenovo-ideapad-720s-15 is comfortable to type on, with well-spaced keys and good feedback. As you may already know, Lenovo is known for its great keyboard. The keyboard on this machine doesn’t disappoint at all.

It’s backlit, so you can type in low-light conditions. You get two levels of lights on the keyboard. The first one is ultra-dim mode, which can come in handy while watching movies and shows.

Moreover, the other mode is the normal mode. It makes sure that you can type without any issues in the dark. Talking about the key travel, it’s quite good. The buttons are responsive and of good quality.

So typing on this keyboard is indeed a good user experience. A lot of people praised the quality of the keyboard in its previous version, so Lenovo decided not to change a lot of things.

Coming to the trackpad, the quality here is quite great. It feels smooth and responsive. The touch area is quite big. It would have been better if they had gone with a glass trackpad but believe it is not bad either.

Audio Odyssey: Dolby Atmos Sound

The Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15 comes with dual speakers. The speaker offers a decent sound experience. These speakers are stereo speakers that produce surround sound. The brand claims that it produces 360-degree immersive sound.

These Dolby Atmos speakers are created in association with JBL. Considering real-world performance, don’t expect a laptop to deliver a high-quality speaker-like sound. On the whole, we can say that the sound output is reasonably loud and clear for media consumption.

Considering the sound output from the headphone jack, it is as good as usual from Lenovo laptops. The output is crisp and clear with no distortion. Overall the audio here is good enough for most people.

Ports and Connectivity Options

Just like other aspects of a laptop, connectivity options such as the number of ports are also crucial. The reason behind this is these ports help you much more than just surfing on the internet such as data transfer, connection to external displays or types of equipment, etc.

Thanks to Lenovo we get all the essential ports here. For instance, it includes two USB 3.0 and one Type C(which is a Thunderbolt port). And let us not forget our favorite headphone jack. So regarding connectivity, you will not face any issues.

Battery Life

The battery life of the IdeaPad 720s-15 is average. Due to its H series processor which is known to deliver good performance, it consumes more battery. With little to moderate usage, you can expect around 6 hours, which is average for most laptops.

Moreover, if perform heavy tasks on it, you will notice a big drop in the battery life. However, it still delivers 3 to 4 hours of battery life. Overall, it does average in terms of battery life.

One thing to note here is that the brand claims that it can last up to 9 hours of battery life. But in reality, it provides 50 percent of what the brand claims. The reasons behind this are similar to what we discussed on performance.

Build Quality

The IdeaPad 720s-15 is made of high-quality material which gives it a premium feel. At a glance from the back side of the laptop, it’s quite difficult to say it’s a 5-year-old laptop. The build quality is good, with minimal flex in the chassis which is common in things and light laptops.

Coming to the front side of the laptop, from here you can say the laptop is a bit outdated. Although this doesn’t feel cheap at all, you can see those chunky bezels. During the launch, it had one of the smallest bezels on a laptop, but comparing it to 2023 laptops, you can see the difference at a single glance.

RAM and Storage

The IdeaPad 720s-15 is bundled with 512 GB of SSD. To assist with this, you will also get 16GB of high-frequency RAM. With an SSD and 16GB of RAM combined, you will surely not face any issues regarding app loading speed or RAM management.

16GB of RAM is more than enough for most users. If you still think, this is not enough, you can add more if you want to. On the whole, I would say that the RAM and Storage combo is sufficient for most users.

The IdeaPad 720s-15 is bundled with 512 GB of SSD. To assist with this, you will also get 16GB of high-frequency RAM. With an SSD and 16GB of RAM combined, you will surely not face any issues regarding app loading speed or RAM management.

16GB of RAM is more than enough for most users. If you still think, this is not enough, you can add more if you want to. On the whole, I would say that the RAM and Storage combo is sufficient for most users.

Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15 – Understanding the Good and Bad

Before giving you a final opinion, let us summarize the whole review. You can check the table below if you have missed anything.

Final Verdict: Is Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15 Still a Contender in 2023?

Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-15 offers decent day-to-day performance and a good design. The display quality is excellent for most users. Other things such as a keyboard, trackpad, and audio quality are also fine. The only concern here is that it is a five-year-old laptop.

So it is difficult to say anything about its future performance. Overall, If the performance isn’t your top priority you can have a look at it, but only if you are getting it during sales at a low price. Apart from this, for all the others looking for good performance and long-term use, I will recommend checking other latest laptops.

In What Circumstances Should You Purchase This Laptop?

We think that at this point, you have a clear idea about the laptop. So it’s time to answer your question. Can you purchase this laptop? To answer this, I will give you a few circumstances.

For example, if you don’t care about laptop lifespan or future performance or you want a laptop that is great for media consumption and moderate usage you can go with this one. As mentioned above, if you want to buy this, try getting it during sales. On the counterpart, if you want to decent all-rounder laptop, you can check our detailed guide on Acer Swift 3 sf315-41g.