Lenovo V15 15.6" Gen 4 i Business Black 2025

A shockingly fast budget laptop with a screen that belongs in 2012. Buy it for the speed, but plug in a monitor and a charger.

The Core i5-13420H is the star of the show. With 8 cores and 16GB of DDR4, this laptop chews through browser tabs, Office apps, and multitasking without breaking a sweat. It lands in the 56th percentile for CPU performance, which is solid for a budget-minded machine. The real surprise is how snappy it feels despite the integrated Intel UHD graphics. Don't even think about gaming, our database puts that at a brutal 13.1 out of 100, but for everything else, it's more than quick enough. The 512GB SSD is middle of the pack, but it loads Windows 11 in a snap.

Stacked against something like the Microsoft Surface Laptop, the Lenovo gets smoked on display quality and portability. The Surface has a gorgeous touchscreen and all-day battery, but you'll pay a lot more for it. The ASUS ProArt PX13 is in a different league for creators, with a stunning OLED panel and a dedicated GPU, but it's overkill if you just need Excel and email. For pure budget office work, the Lenovo holds its own. It's faster than many Chromebooks and cheaper than most business laptops with similar specs. If you need a desktop replacement that stays on a desk, this is a smarter buy than a premium ultrabook.

Pricing is all over the map, from $600 to a frankly absurd $10,999 for some third-party listings. Ignore the crazy high numbers. At the $600 end, this is a solid deal for a fast productivity laptop, especially if you find a configuration with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The best deals we spotted were on Newegg. Just don't overpay for a fancy config. The core experience doesn't change much, and that screen is still going to be a bummer.

The Lenovo V15 G4 is a straightforward workhorse that punches above its weight for office tasks and schoolwork. You get a genuinely fast 13th-gen Core i5 and 16GB of RAM in a no-frills chassis, and for everyday productivity, it flies. The catch is that screen. It's a 15.6-inch TN panel with dull colors and terrible viewing angles, which feels like a cruel joke paired with a processor this capable. If you can live with a mediocre display and you mostly use this thing docked at a desk, there's a lot of value here. Just know what you're signing up for.

If you're looking for a laptop with a vibrant screen for Netflix or photo editing, this isn't it. Go get a used MacBook Air or a Surface Laptop instead. The TN panel here is a dealbreaker for anything visual. Also, if you need all-day battery for classes or travel, look elsewhere. This thing is a desk jockey, not a road warrior.

The Lenovo V15 G4 is a classic case of great internals trapped in a budget body. If you can plug it into an external monitor and leave it on your desk, you'll love the speed and the price. If you need to work on the go, the dim, washed-out screen and terrible battery life will drive you nuts. Buy it for the processor and the RAM, not the display. For a student or office worker who mostly stays plugged in, it's a smart, affordable pick.