Lenovo ThinkPad L390 review: New PCIe SSD and Intel Whiskey Lake CPU, same average display

Last year we reviewed Lenovo's ThinkPad L380 and appreciated the affordable price that nonetheless delivered a durable chassis, upgradeable hardware, great keyboard, generous port selection, and all-day battery life. And now Lenovo is back with an updated L390 that is the same size and weight, about the same toll, but with Intel Whiskey Lake processor (CPU) options and new SSD choices. Prices first at near $729 for a baseline model with Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB M.2 PCIe SSD, and an HD not-impact display, while the verbal model I'g reviewing — specs are laid out beneath — costs about $1,062. Is it the laptop for you?

Budget 13-inch ThinkPad

Lenovo ThinkPad L390

From $729

Lesser line: The L390 is a minor refresh of the L380, and while the display is notwithstanding sub-par, gone is the slow SATA SSD in place of a speedy PCIe selection. At that place'southward still the first-class ThinkPad keyboard, plenty of ports, upgradeable hardware, all-day battery life, and durable build available in silver or black colors.

Pros

• Fast Thousand.2 PCIe SSD options
• Outstanding keyboard
• All-day battery life
• Upgradeable RAM and SSD
• Intel Whiskey Lake CPU options

Cons

• Thick bezel
• Display could exist brighter and more than colorful

What you'll beloved about the Lenovo ThinkPad L390

The ThinkPad L390, much like its L380 predecessor, weighs in at almost 3.22 pounds (1.46kg) and is about 0.74 inches (18.8mm) thick, which are both boilerplate numbers for a xiii.three-inch laptop. The hat is made of aluminum, and the principal body is made from drinking glass fiber reinforced polymer, lending it a sturdy feeling with non a lot of flex. It's gone through MIL-STD 810G immovability testing to ensure it tin put upwardly with a hard life, but like far more than expensive ThinkPad models. The review unit is silverish, though rest assured you can notwithstanding get with a standard black end.

Category	Spec
Form cistron	Clamshell notebook
Display	13.iii inches 1920x1080 (FHD) Bear upon, matte, IPS
Processor	8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U Up to 3.90GHz
Graphics	Intel UHD 620
RAM	8GB DDR4-2400MHz
Storage	256GB PCIe M.two SSD
Camera	Front-facing 720p
Speakers	Dual 2W Dolby Premium Audio
Security	Fingerprint reader dTPM ii.0
Battery	45Wh
Wireless	Intel Wireless-Ac 9560 802.11ac (2 10 ii) Bluetooth 5.0
Ports	Two USB-C three.1 Two USB-A iii.i HDMI 1.4 Mini RJ45 Ethernet microSD card reader three.5mm audio jack
Size	12.67 inches x 8.82 inches x 0.74 inches (322mm x 224.2mm ten 18.8mm)
Weight	From 3.22 pounds (1.46kg)

The dual hinges rotate back almost 180 degrees — in that location is an L390 Yoga option for those who need a convertible — and they're stiff enough to prevent the lid from wobbling around when working on a train or airplane. Though no Thunderbolt iii, there's a generous mix of ports on the L390, including on the left side 2 USB-C 3.one, USB-A 3.one, and HDMI 1.4, equally well equally on the right side another USB-A iii.1, Mini RJ45 Ethernet (an adapter is optional), 3.5mm audio, and a microSD carte du jour reader. With this mix, you should exist able to connect modernistic and legacy devices without much result.

The keyboard seems equally adept every bit ever, with enough of travel for the regular ThinkPad cupped keys, and I had no bug typing thousands of words. Basic models are not backlit, but nosotros recommend making the $25 upgrade for easier working in dark spaces. This is a ThinkPad, then there's a TrackPoint arrangement included to a higher place the Precision touchpad, consummate with ruby-red pointing nub and concrete buttons. Lenovo hasn't changed a expert thing here, and that's no uncertainty fine with most people. Next to the touchpad is a fingerprint reader for quick and secure logins through Windows Hello.

Forth with the same form cistron and size, the L390 is however using a 45Wh bombardment, and despite the review model using the FHD impact brandish — in that location are likewise non-impact FHD and Hard disk versions — which no incertitude sucks up the most battery, I nonetheless got about eight or 9 hours from a accuse when on a counterbalanced battery plan. This was without pushing the arrangement with anything more than standard productivity tasks. With the USB-C adapter and Fast Accuse enabled, you can get about 75 percent bombardment life back in an hr.

The ThinkPad L390 now has a faster PCIe SSD and Intel Whiskey Lake CPU options, boosting performance while still sitting in the budget range.

Part of the L390 refresh lies in the movement to 8th Gen Intel Whiskey Lake CPUs, which offer slightly better operation over the Kaby Lake R hardware bachelor in the L380. You get the same four cores and the same i.60GHz base frequency from Core i5 chips, though the max turbo frequency is college. There are likewise vPro CPU options expected later in 2022. RAM is the aforementioned, and in that location are withal two slots inside that tin exist upgraded after purchase.

Slow storage was one of the major downsides of the L380, merely that'southward now been alleviated with the movement from SATA to PCIe. It'due south still an Chiliad.2 form factor, and it can still exist upgraded after purchase, just you volition, in general, at present see far greater performance. I ran some synthetic benchmarks to see how well the refreshed Intel Whiskey Lake Cadre i5 CPU and M.2 PCIe SSD agree upward compared to the L380 and other recent laptops we've reviewed.

CPU GPU PCMark SSD

CPU

Geekbench 4.0 Benchmarks (Higher is better)

Device	CPU	Single core	Multi cadre
Lenovo ThinkPad L390	i5-8265U	four,320	11,499
Lenovo ThinkPad L380	i5-8250U	3,945	9,775
Lenovo ThinkPad T490	i7-8565U	five,431	xv,608
Lenovo ThinkPad T480	i5-8250U	3,940	12,559
Lenovo ThinkPad X390	i7-8565U	5,472	18,059
MSI PS63 Modern	i7-8565U	4,909	xiv,466
Huawei MateBook Ten Pro	i7-8565U	5,192	sixteen,757
HP Spectre x360 13t	i7-8565U	5,056	14,767
Surface Laptop 2	i5-8250U	four,203	13,233
LG gram xiv 2-in-1	i7-8565U	4,829	13,889

Along with 8th Gen Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 standard U-series CPUs, vPro options are expected to exist made available sometime later in 2022.

GPU

Geekbench 4.0 OpenCL (college is amend)

Device	GPU	Score
Lenovo ThinkPad L390	Intel UHD 620	26,696
Lenovo ThinkPad T490	Intel UHD 620	37,920
Lenovo ThinkPad T480	Intel UHD 620	18,245
Lenovo ThinkPad X390	Intel UHD 620	37,440
Huawei MateBook Ten Pro	NVIDIA MX250	45,365
HP Spectre x360 13t	Intel UHD 620	37,487
Surface Laptop 2	Intel UHD 620	35,473

PCMark

PCMark Home Conventional three.0

Device	Score
Lenovo ThinkPad L390	three,217
Lenovo ThinkPad L380	2,762
Lenovo ThinkPad T490	3,620
Lenovo ThinkPad T480	3,254
Lenovo ThinkPad X390	3,934
LG gram 14 2-in-1	3,452
Lenovo Yoga C930	3,506

This test measures how well a PC can handle everyday tasks, and information technology's clear that the L390 with Core i5 Whiskey Lake CPU tin deliver nifty operation for non-specialized work.

SSD

CrystalDiskMark (Higher is better)

Device	Read	Write
Lenovo ThinkPad L390	2,189.3 MB/s	one,350.four MB/s
Lenovo ThinkPad L380	545 MB/due south	528.9 MB/s
Lenovo ThinkPad T490	three,254.viii MB/s	2,954.9 MB/due south
Lenovo ThinkPad T480	i,738.ane MB/south	1,174.nine MB/due south
Lenovo ThinkPad X390	3,024 MB/s	1,563.2 MB/due south
Huawei MateBook X Pro	3,0416 MB/s	2,779 MB/southward
HP Spectre x360 13t	three,085 MB/due south	1,182 MB/s
LG gram 14 2-in-one	558.one MB/southward	523.1 MB/s
Lenovo Yoga C930	two,596.2 MB/s	806 MB/south

Compared to the SATA G.ii SSD in the L380, the PCIe SSD offers 4 times the read speed and nearly triple the write speed.

What yous'll dislike virtually the ThinkPad L390

The plodding SATA SSD has been replaced with something far faster, merely the other issues I had with the L380'due south display remain. It still hits simply nigh 65 percent sRGB and fifty percent AdobeRGB colour reproduction and it nevertheless maxes out at well-nigh 250 nits. This translates to underwhelming color and a picture that can be tough to encounter in a well-lit room, but at least it has a matte terminate to cut down on glare.

A laptop with a lower price that nevertheless brings respectable operation, battery life, and solid build needs to cut costs somewhere, and in this case, information technology's the display. Considering this is a business organisation laptop, a lot of people won't mind the colour when typing, browsing, filling in spreadsheets, and other general tasks, and many won't care about the bezel's thickness. All the same, if these are important factors in your laptop buying process, there are plenty of other ThinkPads available that offer a more complete package — colorful, brilliant brandish with slim bezel included — for just a few hundred dollars more than.

Should you buy Lenovo's ThinkPad L390?

The ThinkPad L390 is a adequately minor refresh of the L380. The plodding SATA SSD nosotros saw in the latter laptop is gone, replaced past a much faster PCIe M.2 SSD, and Intel CPU options have moved from Kaby Lake R to Whiskey Lake, bringing slightly better performance. Other than that, you're even so getting the same port option, the same battery, and essentially the exact same chassis. The display is still quite underwhelming, but that's understandable considering the price that'due south more affordable than the college-finish X and T ThinkPad lineups.

You're going to go a workhorse out of the L390, and every bit long as you don't mind the downsides, it should serve yous well. Nonetheless, if yous'd like slightly improve display options and few extra features not found on the L390, there are other refreshed ThinkPads that might be a ameliorate fit. The ThinkPad T490 that we recently reviewed is about $300 more and comes with similar performance hardware, though information technology's 14 inches and has a webcam shutter, Thunderbolt 3 port, full Ethernet port, and a bunch of other juicy extras every bit your upkeep scales up.

If y'all'd rather stick with a xiii-inch device, the ThinkPad X390 immediately comes to mind. A model with similar performance hardware is only about $200 more than than the L390 I reviewed hither, even so comes with a larger battery, webcam shutter, thinner and lighter build, Thunderbolt 3, and a much nicer display.

Budget xiii-inch ThinkPad

Lenovo ThinkPad L390

Affordable ThinkPad gets a modest refresh

The L390 is a lot like the L380 — ports, display, bombardment, and overall design remain unchanged — though the SATA SSD has been swapped for faster PCIe and Intel Whiskey Lake CPUs now make an appearance. As long as you don't mind the brandish and don't need some of the extra features bachelor with Ten and T serial ThinkPads, yous can save a few hundred dollars here.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Acquire more than.

Xbox Insiders Update

This huge Xbox 'Quick Resume' update will give gamers more control

Microsoft is calculation a new characteristic to Xbox consoles, assuasive you to permanently store upwardly to ii games in a Quick Resume state at all times. The feature is heading out beginning to Xbox Insiders in the Blastoff testing band earlier hitting the general public.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/lenovo-thinkpad-l390-review

Posted by: haassobsell.blogspot.com

Share this post