Lenovo IdeaPad S145-15IWL review

Thirty-two gigabytes strapped to a two-core engine

The IdeaPad S145-15IWL from 2019 asks $177 — solidly ultra-budget territory against a $248 class median — and its configuration is an odd mismatch: a Pentium Gold 5405U paired with a 32GB memory ceiling. The measurements are blunt about which half matters. CPU performance reads 2.71 against a class median of 58.99, graphics sit at the data floor with no discrete card, and the overall performance index of 12.9 is 70% below the class middle.

The memory cannot compensate

Large RAM ceilings help when the workload is many browser tabs or big documents — they do nothing for raw compute. Here the two slow cores set the ceiling for everything: the memory is filled faster than the processor can digest it. For a text-and-browser machine, that is survivable; for anything that compiles, exports, or edits, it is not.

What the zeros mean

The graphics score of zero reflects an integrated-only setup that our dataset does not register above the floor — no gaming claim is available here, and the game gates confirm none. This is a writing, browsing, and video-playback device, full stop.

Price trajectory

The depreciation curve runs from a $900 anchor to today's $177, a 9.7% annual rate, with a two-year projection near $144. At this price the remaining downside is small in absolute dollars — but so is the machine.

Against the alternatives

Cheaper options cluster below it: Lenovo's own V130-15IGM at $155 and the IdeaPad V110 at $156. Slightly above sit HP's Pavilion x360 13 and 15-af130ur in the $192–195 range. The S145's premium over the floor buys the oversized memory, not speed — buyers who value cores over capacity should look down-market instead.

Bottom line

A budget-friendly pick in the literal sense: $177 for a machine whose role is light duty. The honest framing is that its one standout specification, the memory, outpaces everything else around it — buy it for simple workloads, not for the number on the RAM sticker.