Lenovo IdeaPad S145 15 Inch (15.6") FHD Laptop - (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home S Mode) - Granite Black

Spec sheets are liars. Not outright liars, but they'll happily tell you about processor cores and RAM speeds while staying completely silent about the things that actually affect your day. How warm does the keyboard get when you're grinding through a spreadsheet? Will the fans kick in and embarrass you during a quiet video call? Does the battery actually survive a full working day, or does it tap out around 3pm and send you scrambling for a plug socket? Those are the questions that matter, and those are the questions I set out to answer over three weeks with the Lenovo IdeaPad S145 15 Inch.

The IdeaPad S145 sits firmly in budget territory, and Lenovo has been pushing this line as a sensible everyday machine for students, home workers, and anyone who just needs a laptop that gets the job done without drama. It's got the Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 15.6-inch Full HD display. On paper, that's a reasonable package. But paper doesn't tell you about the trackpad that occasionally ignores your finger, or the fan noise that becomes your constant companion the moment you ask the machine to do anything interesting. Three weeks of real use does, though. So here's the honest version.

I used this machine at my desk at home, on the train between Manchester and London, in a couple of coffee shops, and during several video calls. It ran Windows 10 Home in S Mode out of the box, which is its own adventure (more on that later). The Granite Black finish looks decent in photos. In person, it's fine. Functional. Unassuming. Let's get into it properly.

The 8GB of RAM is soldered in on most configurations of this machine, which is a real shame. It means you can't upgrade it later when you inevitably find 8GB feeling tight with a dozen browser tabs open. For the target audience, 8GB is workable, but it's not generous. You'll notice it if you're the type who keeps Spotify, Teams, a browser with multiple tabs, and a document editor all running simultaneously. The 256GB SSD is a PCIe NVMe drive, which is good news. It's noticeably faster than the old SATA SSDs that used to populate budget laptops, and it makes the machine feel snappier than the processor alone would suggest. That said, 256GB fills up faster than you'd expect once Windows, Office, and a few applications are installed. You're probably looking at around 180GB of usable space from the off.

The integrated graphics are Intel UHD, which handles everyday tasks and light media consumption without complaint. Don't expect to run anything graphically demanding. There's no discrete GPU here, and that's fine for the price point, but it does mean gaming is essentially off the table beyond very old or very undemanding titles. The display is driven entirely by the integrated graphics, and for the use cases this laptop targets, that's genuinely not a problem. One thing to flag: the laptop ships with Windows 10 Home in S Mode, which restricts you to apps from the Microsoft Store. Switching out of S Mode is free and takes about two minutes, but it's a slightly odd default for a machine aimed at general consumers. Worth doing immediately.

Storage performance is one of the genuine bright spots. The NVMe SSD returns sequential read speeds of around 1,500MB/s and write speeds of around 1,000MB/s in CrystalDiskMark. That's not flagship territory, but it's meaningfully faster than budget SATA drives and it makes a real difference to how responsive the machine feels day-to-day. Boot times are quick. Applications open without the kind of grinding delay you used to associate with budget laptops. The SSD does a lot of heavy lifting here in terms of perceived performance.

In real-world use, the picture is mostly positive for the target tasks. Web browsing with fifteen to twenty tabs open in Chrome (after switching out of S Mode) is manageable, though you'll occasionally see a brief pause when switching between tabs. Typing in Word or Google Docs is perfectly smooth. Video playback at 1080p is fine, including YouTube. Where things get uncomfortable is when you stack tasks. Running a video call while downloading something while a browser is open with lots of tabs active will push the RAM and processor to their limits, and you'll feel it. The machine doesn't crash, it just slows down noticeably. For the price, that's acceptable. But it's worth being honest that this is a single-tasking machine at heart.

One thing that surprised me slightly: the SSD's sustained write performance drops off after a few minutes of heavy file transfers, which suggests the drive uses a smaller SLC cache. For everyday use this won't matter at all. If you're regularly moving large video files or doing big backups, you might notice it. Most people in the target audience won't ever hit this ceiling, but it's worth knowing.

Brightness is where the display shows its budget roots. Maximum brightness sits around 220 to 250 nits, which is adequate for indoor use in a reasonably lit room. Sit near a window with sunlight coming in, and you'll be reaching for the brightness slider and still finding it a bit of a struggle. Outdoors is basically a write-off unless you're in shade. For a machine that's primarily going to live on a desk or in a coffee shop, this is manageable. But if you regularly work outside or in very bright environments, it's a genuine limitation worth factoring in.

Colour accuracy is decent for everyday use. The panel covers a reasonable portion of the sRGB colour space, which is fine for documents, web browsing, and video consumption. It's not calibrated for photo editing or colour-critical work, and the colour temperature runs slightly warm out of the box. If you're a photographer or designer, this isn't the display for you. But for the student writing essays, the home worker on video calls, or the person streaming Netflix in the evening, it does the job without complaint. The anti-glare coating is effective and helps with reflections in indoor environments.

For light browsing and document work with the screen at around 60% brightness, I was getting roughly five to six hours. That's the best-case scenario. Mix in a bit of video playback and the occasional video call and you're looking at four to five hours. Under any kind of heavier load, the battery drains fast. I had a session where I was running a video call, had a browser open, and was downloading some files in the background, and the battery went from full to empty in under three hours. That's not great. For a student who needs to get through a full day of lectures without hunting for a plug, this machine is going to struggle.

The charger is a standard barrel-plug adapter, not USB-C, which is a bit of a shame. It means you can't top up from a USB-C power bank or use a universal charger. The brick itself is reasonably compact and not too heavy, but the lack of USB-C charging feels like a missed opportunity in 2026. Charge time from empty to full takes around two hours, which is acceptable. But given the battery capacity, you'll be doing that charge cycle more often than you'd like.

To put it plainly: if you're planning to use this laptop away from a power source for more than four or five hours, you need to plan around it. Pack the charger. Know where the sockets are. It's not a dealbreaker for home use or short trips, but it's a real consideration for anyone who needs genuine all-day portability. The battery life is probably the single biggest practical weakness of this machine.

The footprint is fairly standard for a 15.6-inch machine. It fits in most laptop compartments in backpacks and messenger bags, though it's snug in smaller bags. The thickness is reasonable at under 20mm, so it doesn't feel like a brick, but it's not going to impress anyone used to ultrabooks. The overall dimensions mean this is a machine that lives on a desk most of the time and occasionally gets transported, rather than something you'd happily carry around all day every day.

For the target audience, this is probably fine. Students who take it to university and back, home workers who occasionally work from a coffee shop, people who want a laptop that stays mostly at home but can travel when needed. If you're a frequent traveller who needs something genuinely light and compact, a 15.6-inch budget laptop probably isn't the right category to be shopping in regardless of which model you choose. Within its category, the S145's portability is average, which is about right.

There's no keyboard backlight, which is a notable omission. In a dimly lit room or on a train in the evening, you're typing blind. For a machine at this price point it's not shocking, but it's one of those things you notice when you need it. The key caps have a slightly textured finish that feels pleasant under the fingers and doesn't show fingerprints too badly. The overall keyboard feel is better than I expected for a budget machine. It's not going to satisfy anyone coming from a ThinkPad, but it's genuinely usable.

The trackpad is a mixed story. It's a reasonable size and the surface is smooth enough. Basic cursor movement is accurate and gestures like two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom work reliably. But I did notice occasional moments where the trackpad seemed to ignore a tap or a click, particularly near the edges. It wasn't constant, but it happened enough to be mildly annoying. The physical click mechanism feels a bit plasticky and the left and right click zones aren't always perfectly responsive. For everyday use it's fine, but if you're doing anything that requires precise clicking, you might want to plug in a mouse.

Push it harder and things change. Under sustained load, the keyboard deck warms up noticeably, particularly in the top-left area near the processor. It doesn't get hot enough to be painful, but it's definitely warm in a way you're aware of. The underside gets warmer still, which means using it on your lap during anything demanding becomes uncomfortable fairly quickly. I had a session where I was running a longer video export (yes, I know, not the target use case, but I wanted to see what happened) and the underside got genuinely hot. The fans were working hard and the machine was clearly thermal throttling to keep temperatures in check.

For everyday tasks, thermal performance is perfectly acceptable. The machine handles its target workload without getting uncomfortable. But it's not a machine you'd want to push hard for extended periods, and the thermal design clearly prioritises keeping things quiet during light use over sustained performance under load. Given the target audience, that's probably the right trade-off. Most people buying this laptop will never stress it enough to hit the thermal ceiling in normal use.

When the fans do kick in, they're not subtle. The fan noise has a slightly high-pitched character, more of a whine than a gentle whoosh, and it ramps up quickly when the processor is working hard. During a video call with screen sharing active, I could hear the fans clearly from where I was sitting. In a noisy coffee shop it wouldn't matter, but in a quiet office or during a meeting it would be noticeable to you if not to others. The fans also have a tendency to pulse rather than maintain a steady speed, which some people find more annoying than constant noise.

The good news is that the fans settle back down quickly once the load drops. They're not the type that stay running for ages after you've finished a demanding task. So if you're doing mostly light work with occasional bursts of heavier activity, the acoustic experience is mostly fine. It's only during sustained heavy use that the fan noise becomes a persistent companion, and as I've noted, sustained heavy use isn't really what this machine is designed for.

The HDMI port is useful for connecting to an external monitor or a TV, and it works without fuss. The USB ports cover the basics for mice, keyboards, and USB drives. But the lack of USB-C means you can't use modern docking stations, can't charge from a power bank, and can't connect to the growing number of peripherals that have moved to USB-C. If your workflow involves a lot of modern accessories, you'll be reaching for adapters fairly often.

Wireless connectivity is handled by Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 4.1. Wi-Fi 5 is perfectly capable for everyday use and handles streaming, video calls, and general browsing without issue. It's not Wi-Fi 6, so if you have a Wi-Fi 6 router and care about maximising your wireless speeds, you won't get the full benefit. Bluetooth 4.1 is functional but dated. It works fine for headphones and mice, but it's behind the curve compared to newer machines.

• Left side: Power connector, HDMI, USB 3.0 Type-A, USB 2.0 Type-A
• Right side: USB 2.0 Type-A, 3.5mm combo audio jack, SD card reader
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 4.1
• No USB-C, no Thunderbolt

The speakers are positioned on the underside of the machine, which is never ideal. When the laptop is on a hard desk, the sound bounces off the surface and is reasonably audible. On a soft surface like a bed or a sofa, the speakers get muffled noticeably. Volume is adequate for a quiet room but won't fill a larger space. The sound quality is thin, with very little bass and a slightly tinny character to the mids. For YouTube videos and the occasional film, it's passable. For music listening, you'll want headphones. The 3.5mm combo jack works well and there's no interference or hiss that I noticed.

The hinge is one of the better build elements. It opens smoothly, holds the display firmly at whatever angle you set it, and doesn't wobble during typing. The maximum opening angle is around 135 degrees, which is enough for most use cases but won't lie flat. One-handed opening is possible but requires a firm grip on the base. The hinge feels like it'll hold up to daily use without problems, which is reassuring on a machine that's likely to be opened and closed multiple times a day for years.

Overall durability feels adequate for the target use case. This is a machine for students and home workers, not for people who need something that can survive being dropped or thrown in a bag without a case. Treat it reasonably and it should last. The bottom panel is secured with screws, so in theory there's some serviceability, though with the RAM soldered in, your upgrade options are limited to swapping the SSD if you need more storage. The build quality is what you'd expect for a budget machine: functional, not impressive, but not embarrassing either.

The Acer Aspire 5 is probably the S145's most direct competitor. It typically comes with similar processor options but often includes USB-C as standard, which is a meaningful advantage. The Aspire 5 also tends to have a slightly larger battery, which translates to better real-world battery life. The HP 15s is another strong contender, often praised for its build quality feeling a step above typical budget plastic and for its display brightness being slightly higher than the S145. Both competitors highlight the S145's weaknesses around battery life and port selection.

Where the S145 holds its own is in keyboard feel and general day-to-day performance for light tasks. The NVMe SSD gives it a snappiness advantage over any competitor still shipping with SATA storage. And the IPS display, while not the brightest, is a genuine step up from TN panels that some competitors still use at this price. The S145 has 0 reviews on Amazon with a rating of No rating, which suggests real-world buyers are broadly satisfied, even if enthusiasts like me can see the compromises clearly.

But the compromises are real and worth naming clearly. The battery life is the biggest problem. Five to six hours of light use is not enough for a full day away from a plug, and that's the best case. The absence of USB-C feels like a design decision that was already dated at launch. The fans are noisy when pushed. The RAM is soldered in, so you can't upgrade it when 8GB starts feeling tight. And the build quality, while functional, doesn't inspire confidence that this machine will still feel solid in four or five years of daily use. These aren't dealbreakers for everyone, but they're real limitations that the spec sheet won't tell you about.

Compared to rivals like the Acer Aspire 5, the S145 loses on battery life and port selection. It holds its own on display quality and keyboard feel. Whether it's the right choice depends entirely on your priorities. If you're mostly desk-based and battery life isn't critical, it's a reasonable option. If you need genuine all-day portability, look elsewhere. I'd give the Lenovo IdeaPad S145 15 Inch a solid 6.5 out of 10 for the budget tier. It's not the best budget laptop you can buy, but it's not a bad one either. Just go in with your eyes open about the battery.