Lenovo V15

A budget business laptop that nails the essentials, RAM, storage, and ports, but pairs them with a screen that belongs in a museum. Buy it for spreadsheets, not for streaming.

The Ryzen 3 7320U sits in the 19th percentile for CPUs, which sounds rough until you realize it's still plenty for the intended audience. Four cores, eight threads, boost up to 4.1GHz, it chews through Outlook, Chrome with a dozen tabs, and light Excel work without breaking a sweat. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM is the real hero here, keeping multitasking smooth where cheaper configs would choke. Storage is a standout too, that 1TB NVMe drive lands in the 80th percentile and boots Windows 11 Pro in seconds. But don't ask the integrated Radeon graphics to do anything beyond video playback. Gaming scores are a 10.6 out of 100, which is basically a polite way of saying 'don't even try.'

Stacked against the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, the V15 wins on raw storage and RAM per dollar but loses badly on display quality and portability. The Surface has a gorgeous touchscreen and premium build, but you'll pay significantly more for similar specs. Against the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, there's no contest for gaming or creative work, the G14's dedicated GPU destroys the V15's integrated graphics. But the G14 costs more than double. The real comparison is against other budget business laptops, and here the V15 holds its own thanks to that 1TB SSD and Windows 11 Pro. Just don't expect MacBook Pro M5 levels of screen quality or battery life, because you're not paying for them.

At USD 750 in the US, this is a solid deal for a business or student machine. The EUR pricing is all over the place though, ranging from EUR 1,019 to EUR 1,425 across four listings. If you're in Europe, shop around and grab the EUR 1,019 option, paying more than that for this hardware is a mistake. The RAM and SSD alone justify the price, but the screen quality keeps this from being an outright bargain.

The Lenovo V15 is a budget workhorse that gets the basics right and skimps exactly where you'd expect. You're getting 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, which is genuinely generous at this price, paired with a Ryzen 3 7320U that handles spreadsheets and browser tabs without drama. But that 15.6-inch TN panel with 250 nits is the elephant in the room, it's one of the worst screens in our database for this category.

The one thing to know? This is a parts-bin special done smart. Lenovo put the money into memory, storage, and Windows 11 Pro, then cut corners on the display and GPU. For office work, school, or a home business machine, that trade-off makes sense. For anything involving video editing, gaming, or even watching Netflix in a bright room, it falls flat.

If you're looking for a laptop with a vibrant display for photo editing, video work, or even just enjoying movies, this isn't it. Go get a Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition or a MacBook Air instead. And if you want to game, even casually, the V15's integrated graphics will frustrate you within minutes. This is strictly a work machine, and that's fine, but know what you're buying.

Buy it if you need a reliable, no-nonsense machine for office work, school, or running a small business. The 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD future-proof this thing for years of daily use, and Windows 11 Pro is a genuine bonus. But if you care about screen quality at all, or want to do anything creative or gaming-related, look elsewhere. This is a tool, not a toy, and it's a good tool for the right job.