The realm of high-end gaming laptops often comes with a significant price tag, making it clear that not everyone can comfortably invest in such an expensive system, even though these devices offer impressive productivity capabilities alongside their gaming prowess. In today’s landscape of escalating prices across various sectors, even considering the best gaming laptop under 1.2 lakh rupees can prove to be quite a financial stretch. However, if you find yourself seeking a gaming laptop that falls within a budget more suitable for integrated graphics-class devices, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Gaming 3 emerges as an attractive option. This laptop features a 12th-generationDesi Intel Core i7-12700H processor in conjunction with an NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti GPU, delivering the power and performance you desire.
In this review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15IAH7 gaming laptop, our thorough examination encompasses various aspects, including design, hardware components, gaming capabilities, and overall user experience. Our objective is to determine whether this laptop lives up to its claims and expectations. So, without further ado, let us delve into the intricate details and insights that this review brings forth.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Review: Design and build
The newly introduced 12th generation IdeaPad Gaming 3 draws inspiration from Lenovo’s esteemed Legion gaming lineup, showcasing a design that exudes sophistication. Its exterior, adorned in a refined Onyx Gray finish, is crafted from premium plastic material. Notably, a silver metallic plate discreetly embellished with the iconic Lenovo logo is tastefully embedded in the lower right corner of the laptop lid. Upon opening the lid, a minimalist deck greets the user, featuring the same Lenovo logo positioned elegantly at the right edge.
With dimensions of 359.6 x 266.4 x 21.8 mm and a weight of 2.3 kilograms, the laptop predominantly employs plastic in its construction. Despite its thickness, which is just shy of an inch, Lenovo has implemented a skillful design element by tapering the bottom of the chassis near the front, cleverly camouflaging any visual bulk. The lid, unassuming in appearance, is adorned solely with a discreet Lenovo logo at the right edge, while a matching logo occupies a similar position on the palm rest.
When first held, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 conveys a sense of solidity. Although the lid exhibits some flex under moderate pressure, it is of little concern unless subjected to rough handling. The full-length keyboard spans the deck, ensuring ample space for a numerical keypad.
Positioned slightly off-center, the trackpad rests to the left, accompanied by a collection of stickers, including one featuring a barcode and the term “eSupport.” While these stickers may prove mildly distracting, they can prove advantageous to certain users. Flipping the laptop over reveals a pattern of vents, alternating between hexagonal and hourglass-shaped apertures, facilitating optimal heat dissipation.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Review: Audio and Visual
Moving on to the display of the IdeaPad Gaming 3, we are presented with a 15.6-inch Full HD (FHD) screen featuring an impressive refresh rate of 165Hz. As the budget-friendly gaming laptop in Lenovo’s lineup, the display on the IdeaPad Gaming 3 may not match the exceptional quality of their higher-end offerings found in the Legion series. However, it still delivers a commendable visual experience.
The display of the IdeaPad Gaming 3 showcases admirable characteristics, boasting close to 100 percent sRGB coverage and a peak brightness of 326 nits. Additionally, its matte non-glare finish enhances usability in outdoor environments or brightly lit office spaces. With these features, the display maintains its appeal and remains a suitable choice for various settings.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is equipped with a pair of speakers strategically positioned near the lower right and left edges of the device. Notably, the speaker grilles are situated on the underside of the laptop, which can cause sound to bounce off when placed on a desk, table, or any firm, level surface. While the 2W x 2 Nahimic speakers deliver satisfactory audio output, it should be noted that they may not offer the highest volume levels available in the laptop market.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 review: Keyboard, trackpad, and I/O
The IdeaPad Gaming 3 offers a respectable array of I/O ports, aligning well with the standard offerings found in most budget gaming laptops available today. Notably, it provides two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, conveniently positioned on either side. Additionally, a microphone audio combo jack is located on the left side, while the remaining ports include an HDMI 2.0, a Gigabit RJ-45 ethernet port, a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port (optional, depending on the configuration), and the power connector.
It is worth mentioning that the inclusion of an optional Thunderbolt 4 port is a noteworthy feature, as it leverages the USB4 standard, enabling impressive data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps. Moreover, it supports USB Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, further expanding its capabilities.
Moving on to the touchpad, it boasts generous dimensions, measuring 3.5 x 4.75 inches, providing ample space for seamless navigation through Windows 11 using the right thumb. However, the spacious touchpad design means there is slightly less room for the left palm, which may be a minor consideration for some users.
In terms of the keyboard, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 offers highly responsive keys that cater well to both gaming and typing activities. Lenovo emphasizes that the keys provide a travel distance of 1.5mm, exceeding that of most other members within the IdeaPad family. Furthermore, the keyboard features convenient backlighting with two levels of brightness, easily adjustable by pressing Fn + Spacebar.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 review: Performance
The IdeaPad Gaming 3 is equipped with a powerful Intel Core i7-12700H processor, featuring an impressive configuration of 14 cores, including 6 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores, delivering a total of 20 threads. With performance-core clock speeds ranging from 2.3 to 4.7GHz and efficiency-cores clock speeds ranging from 1.7 to 3.5GHz. Lenovo has used a superfast 24MB CPU cache, along with 16GB RAM and 1TB of SSD in this laptop making it well-equipped to handle demanding tasks with ease.
During our testing, the performance of the IdeaPad Gaming 3 proved to be highly satisfactory, effortlessly meeting day-to-day requirements without any noticeable strain. The laptop demonstrated its capability to handle numerous Google Chrome tabs simultaneously while concurrently utilizing applications such as YouTube, Twitch, Google Docs, and Sheets. Additionally, we conducted photo and video editing tasks, as well as multitasking with multiple apps open simultaneously, and the laptop exhibited impressive speed and responsiveness throughout. It is important to note that the actual performance may vary depending on the intensity of the workload, but for many content creators, the i7-12700H processor will undoubtedly deliver on expectations.
The combination of the i7-12700H processor and the RTX 3050Ti graphics card proves to be a well-suited duo for esports titles, allowing for maximum graphics settings, as well as delivering a solid performance for AAA games at high settings with real-time ray tracing (RTX) enabled. For our Dota 2 testing, we implemented a 120FPS cap to ensure a fair comparison.
Moreover, this laptop featuring the 12th generation Intel Core i7-12700H processor excels in various benchmarks. It achieved an impressive score of 7403 in the PCMark 10 benchmark, showcasing its proficiency in overall system performance. Additionally, on the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, it attained a score of 90059, further affirming its prowess in delivering exceptional graphics performance.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 review: Battery
The battery life of the IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptop is respectable, albeit not exceptional. With moderate usage involving activities like web browsing and light gaming, the laptop can provide approximately five hours of runtime. However, during intensive gaming sessions at high settings, the battery life experiences a noticeable decrease, necessitating the laptop to be connected to a power source for sustained optimal performance. To facilitate efficient charging, the laptop is accompanied by a 170W Slim charging brick.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15IAH7 Review Verdict
The IdeaPad Gaming 3, featuring the Intel Core i7-12700H processor, delivers exceptional performance across various tasks and demonstrates its prowess through impressive benchmark results. It stands as a reliable option for both content creators and gamers in search of a laptop that offers powerful and responsive capabilities. It is making it an appealing choice for those budget gamers. However, it is important to carefully consider your specific requirements before making a purchase. While the IdeaPad Gaming 3 can handle most AAA games at different graphics settings, ranging from low to medium to high, it is worth noting that for optimal satisfaction in terms of gaming performance, investing additional funds may be necessary.
