Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR) Specs and Details

Specifications of the Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR)

Chassis, connectors, screen of Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR)

As is the trend, the Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE takes the codes of its predecessor (S530-13IWL) by imposing serious compaction. Like him, its case plays the card of robustness with the use of aluminum on most surfaces. The design opts for a consensual color (Iron Gray) with a uniformly silver hue. The edges are cut and the logo is relegated to the lower corner in contrast for a more neutral look and goes everywhere, but no less elegant.

The 13-inch format is optimized for the nomadic world. Its weight oscillates around 1.2 kg on the scale and its frame is compacted to a thickness of 15.9 mm (a little thicker than its predecessor 14.8 mm) and a very small size 297 x 208 mm. The keyboard is backlit in two shades of white for easy typing in the dark. Lenovo seems to have taken special care with its touchpad which it has fashioned out of glass and “diamond-machined” for the look. From what we know, glass touchpads are generally more pleasant to use with easier finger gliding.

On the front of the stage, the 13.3-inch screen cultivates a feeling of significant immersion thanks to an amplified edge-to-edge design but above all to an extended QHD (2560×1600 px) definition such as Retina. This screen definition offers a high display density and a feeling of sharpness, appreciable even on 13 inches to enjoy your High Definition content in the best conditions and to magnify characters and details without losing precision.

Besides, we can\’t recommend a 125% scaling or even a custom 160% scaling enough to get content at the right size. Bright (300 nits) and visible from all angles (IPS panel), the screen is covered with a glossy (shiny) surface which will tend to reflect ambient light. This is the price to pay for a more colorful and vivid perception than facing a mat / satin screen. Note also the unconventional format of the 16:10 screenwhich will offer a little more space on the height and thus allow to browse a text by scrolling a little less than on traditional 16: 9. Also note the extended colorimetry of the screen which covers 100% of the sRGB space, enough to work the image with precision. Finally, the screen on this reference (82DL002CFR) is a “low power consumption” variant, ie it will consume less energy than a traditional screen. This is perfect for gaining autonomy, knowing that the screen is the main energy consuming element in a laptop PC.

Posted on each side of the ultrabook, the connection reflects the aesthetics of the PC: discreet. The right side houses a full-size USB 3.1 port (Type-A) and a headphone jack while on the left only two USB Type-C Gen1 ports remain. Exit the HDMI output or the card reader but with an appropriate adapter, it is possible to recover these ports via USB-C. For data exchange, recent wireless WiFi 6 (802.11 AX) and Bluetooth 5.0 modules are also on the menu while biometric authentication (Windows Hello) is provided by the infrared webcam. One glance and you are logged into your session.

Performance, autonomy of Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR)

Inside this IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR), a weighty processor with the support of an AMD Ryzen Renoir (2020) Ryzen 7 4700U Octo Corelow consumption. This shows a strong increase in performance compared to the Ryzen 7 3700U (2019), thanks in particular to the number of cores which doubles but also to the finer engraving used. Overall for current use, the scores are close to an Intel Core i7-1065G7 but the difference is more visibly drawn on tasks that consume CPU resources which can take advantage of all cores such as content creation (editing, rendering , modelization…). Namely that we remain on low consumption (TDP 15W), so do not expect from this processor the same resources as an Octo Core-H (Ryzen 7 4800H) which is a processor designed for complex calculations thorough.

Opposite, the 16 GB RAM is a force to enjoy comfortable multitasking whatever your use and to look forward to the years to come with peace of mind.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S540-13ARE (82DL002CFR) is not intended to play, but the Radeon Vega 7 integrated into the processor is not against some occasional games. At the level of an NVIDIA GeForce MX330, its capacities are more than sufficient for everyday work and the tasks listed above and even allow some games from time to time on games that are not very demanding graphically. Most will require you to make some concessions on screen definition and / or details however.

For its part, the storage is entrusted to a 512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD which will bring a welcome dose of responsiveness to the system. Compared to a standard mechanical hard drive, is is quieter, more robust and energy efficient, and allows Windows to achieve remarkable fluidity with short load times and zero latency execution. What\’s more, its capacity is nothing short of ridiculous and can accommodate a good chunk of your game library although some may not find it sufficient.

Finally, the last characteristic that is important, especially on a 13-inch light which is intended to move, autonomy should approach 11 hours of operation in current use, especially thanks to the screen “low power consumption” (little energy-hungry). This is particularly well optimized for a limited capacity battery (56 Whr) facing a QHD screen. In addition, Lenovo provides fast charging via the 65W USB-C adapter to complete 80% of the charge in 1 hour .