Lenovo Z50 75 Review: An Overweight Signature Edition Laptop

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Lenovo Z50 75: At First Glance

The Lenovo IdeaPad lineup is one of the key players in the inexpensive laptops category. The Lenovo Z50 75 is one model from the Ideapad lineup that you might want to consider buying.

This signature edition laptop features everything that’s needed to meet up the fiery competition in the laptop market today. Despite these benefits, this laptop comes at a cheap price.

Specifically, at the time of writing this review (March 2022), the Lenovo Z50 75 was available at a price of $629.00.

However, will this laptop have the edge over other laptops in the IdeaPad lineup? You will find the answer to that question in the remaining sections of this review.

Lenovo Z50 75: Design, Dimension, and Weight

At first glance, you will discover there is nothing spectacular about the Lenovo Z50 75’s design. In fact, just virtualize regular office laptops out there, and you already have a glimpse of what the Lenovo Z50 75 looks like.

The laptop is encased with a plastic material that feels quite solid. For the color option, it is only available in black.

However, the laptop’s lid features a smooth fine surface with rippled structures. As a result, the lid gives a feeling of relief when you run your fingers through it.

Furthermore, on the top-left edge of the lid, you will find the word ”Lenovo” written in white color. With this clearly stated branding, you will already know that this is a Lenovo laptop, even from a distance.

When it comes to opening the lid, you will have no problem doing that with one hand. This is because of its flexible single-bar hinge.

Speaking of the hinge, it makes a long flat bump between the keyboard and the display. This makes the curved edges of the lid slightly sit behind the laptop’s rear when the lid is opened.

On opening the lid, you will find the laptop’s 15.6-inch display framed by thick bezels. The top bezel houses a 720p HD resolution webcam which works well for video calls.

Coming to the bottom bezel, it houses a Lenovo inscription.

Back to the display, it is available in two resolutions for you to choose from. Specifically, it comes in HD (1366 x 768 pixels) resolution or Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution.

Thankfully, the two display resolutions are good and have an impressive view. However, the Full HD display is better because it offers a clearer image quality than the HD resolution display.

Therefore, to get the best display quality from the Lenovo Z50 75, I will advise you to go for the Full HD resolution display. However, you can expect the Full HD resolution models to be more expensive than the HD resolution models.

Still on the display, it features Twisted Nematic technology. Briefly, Twisted Nematic displays, in comparison with other types, support the highest refresh rate possible.

Hence, TN displays are suitable for viewing fast-paced content by reducing blurs and ghosting. Hence, TN displays are good for playing games and watching action movies.

However, one drawback of TN displays is their poor viewing angles. Hence, when you view the Lenovo Z50 75’s display from extreme angles, you might notice some color loss.

When it comes to screen brightness, the Lenovo Z50 75 has a peak value of 200 nits. Hence, this display is not particularly bright for outdoor usage; however, that is not surprising for a laptop in this price category.

Another display feature that is worth talking about is the contrast ratio; this is because it determines how black is produced on the screen. Hence, a good contrast ratio will produce very deep blacks and make dark scenes in movies interesting to watch.

In that regard, this laptop has a contrast ratio of 400:1 which is not particularly outstanding.

Moving on to the laptop base, you will find the Lenovo Z50 75’s AccuType keyboard. The AccuType keyboard is what Lenovo describes as the modern look keyboard with its flat keys and concave edges.

The keyboard is attractive and blends nicely with the black brushed aluminum deck. Another impressive thing about the keyboard is that it has an LED backlight which makes typing in the dark possible.

Also, the keys have decent key travel which delivers a comfortable typing experience. Talking about key travel, this is the distance that a key moves down when it is pressed.

At this point, it may be helpful to mention that Lenovo has made some adjustments to this keyboard’s functional keys. For example, to use the F1 key, for example, you will have to press “Alt + Fn + F1” and not just “Alt + F1.”

Meanwhile, below the keyboard, you will find the dedicated touchpad that supports multi-touch gestures. Thankfully, you will have no issue with this touchpad, as it is sensitive and makes accurate cursor movement.

Moving on, the front of the laptop base houses dual speakers. Although these speakers are not too loud, they are manageable for small, confined spaces.

For the sides of the laptop’s base, you will find the connectivity ports. To be more specific, on the left side, you will find the charging port, VGA port, and one HDMI port.

On the left side, you will also find the Ethernet port, one USB 2.0 port, and one USB 3.0 port. In addition to the ports I have mentioned, you will also find the vents on the left side.

Meanwhile, the right side houses one USB 2.0 port, an SD card slot, and a DVD RW burner.

To round up this design section, let’s talk about this laptop’s weight and dimensions. In that regard, this laptop weighs 2500 g and has a dimension of 384 x 265 x 25 mm (W x D x H).

Consequently, this weight falls into the category of desktop-replacement laptops, which are majorly built for desk usage. Hence, the Lenovo Z50 75 is not convenient to be carried around or place on the lap for a long time.

In comparison, the Lenovo Z50 75 is heavier than the Dell Inspiron 15 i5559 4682slv, which weighs 2449.4 g. For its dimension, the Dell Inspiron 15 i5559 4682slv measures 378.4 x 261.6 x 22.8 mm (W x D x H).

In conclusion, based on all I have said about the design of this laptop, it is safe to say that it is well-built. Additionally, it has two display options and a functional keyboard.

As a result of this, it is fair to give the Lenovo Z50 75 a rating of eight out of ten in this design section.

Lenovo Z50 75: Processor (CPU) Performance

Impressively, the Lenovo Z50 75 comes with a decently powerful processor. Specifically, it features a quad-core AMD FX-7500 processor.

This processor has a base frequency of 2.10 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.30 GHz. Not only that, but the processor has a 4 MB cache memory.

With the AMD FX-7500 processor, one need not worry about the processing power of this laptop. This is because it is powerful enough to handle most computing tasks.

To be more specific about the laptop’s processing ability, I will present its Cinebench R11.5 test result. Briefly, Cinebench R11.5 is a benchmark tool that evaluates a computer’s performance when handling tasks with its processor cores.

Hence, this test produces a single-core score and a multi-core score. Precisely, a single-core score is derived when only one processor core is tasked.

Meanwhile, a multi-core score is derived when all the processor cores are tasked.

From the test, the Lenovo Z50 75 had a single-core score of 0.54 points and a multi-core score of 1.97 points.

In comparison, the Acer Aspire E5-551 had a single-core score of 0.49 points and a multi-core score of 1.74 points. This result is below the Lenovo Z50 75’s score.

However, that is not entirely surprising because the Acer Aspire E5 uses a less powerful AMD A10-7300 processor.

Considering the test result and its processor specs, I will be rating the Lenovo Z50 75 eight out of ten in this section.

Lenovo Z50 75: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Lenovo Z50 75 comes with two DDR3L-1600 SDRAM slots which ship with an 8 GB standard memory size. Thankfully, this laptop supports a maximum of 16 GB memory which implies that each slot can accommodate up to 8 GB RAM.

However, this review is based on a Lenovo Z50 75 model with 8 GB RAM in each slot. Thankfully, 16 GB of memory on this laptop is great; it allows a remarkable level of multitasking.

Speaking of which, this laptop should comfortably open up to 20 Chrome browser tabs.

For more performance perspectives of this laptop’s memory, let’s see its result in a PCMark 7 benchmark test. On a quick note, PCMark 7 benchmark evaluates a computer’s overall performance.

Furthermore, running this test produces a score where the highest score indicates the best performance. That said, in the test, the Lenovo Z50 75 scored 1835 points.

In comparison, the Acer Aspire E5-551’s scored less, with 1723 points in the same benchmark test. On the other hand, the Acer Aspire E1-572G scored 2711 points which is better than the Lenovo Z50 75’s.

Nevertheless, I will be rating the Lenovo Z50 75 eight out of ten in the memory review section. This is mainly due to its large memory size.

Lenovo Z50 75: Storage Options and Performance

Talking about storage, it will interest you to know that this laptop comes with a sufficient storage option. Specifically, the Lenovo Z50 75 has SATA HDD storage with a speed of 5400 RPM.

For storage capacity, this laptop supports a maximum of 1TB. In addition to that, the Lenovo Z50 75 comes with a 2-in-1 SD card reader for external storage expansion.

Having provided enough detail about the storage capacity, let’s proceed to the storage performance. To deliver on this, I will discuss this laptop’s performance in a Crystaldiskmark test.

For clarity, Crystaldiskmark is a benchmark test that measures the sequential read and writes speed of storage drives.

Meanwhile, sequential read speed is how long it takes a file to open on a computer. On the other hand, how long it takes a file to save on the computer storage is known as write speed.

It is also important I inform you that a higher score on this test means better performance.

Therefore, in this test, the Lenovo Z50 75 had a read speed of 101.9 MBps and a write speed of 101.7 MBps.

However, in comparison with the HP Laptop -17t-cn000, the Lenovo Z50 75 underperformed. Specifically, the HP laptop had a read speed of 142.12 MBps and a write speed of 140.83 MBps.

Regardless, the Lenovo Z50 75 is still decent. Based on this, I will be rating it a nine out of ten in this storage section of the review.

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Lenovo Z50 75: Graphics Card Performance

The Lenovo Z50 75 comes with two graphics card options. Firstly, the laptop comes with integrated AMD Radeon R7 Graphics.

This graphics card has a base frequency of 496 MHz and a boost frequency of 553 MHz.

Secondly, you can also get this laptop with an AMD Radeon R7 M260DX graphics card. This graphics card has a base frequency of 925 MHz and a boost frequency of 940 MHz.

Unfortunately, both graphics cards are integrated; hence, they do not come with a VRAM (Video RAM). The implication of this is that these GPUs are not powerful enough to handle graphics-intensive tasks flawlessly.

For the purpose of this review, we will focus on a Lenovo Z50 75 with the first GPU option – AMD Radeon R7 Graphics. For its gaming performance, this laptop should play Dead Space 3 (2013) at 24.8 fps on a high setting.

Additionally, it should play Tomb Raider (2013) at 25.5 fps at high settings.

For more information about this laptop’s graphics handling ability, I will share its result in a 3DMark test. For more details, 3DMark is a benchmark tool that determines a computer’s 3D rendering ability.

Meanwhile, in this test, laptops with higher scores perform better graphically. That said, the Lenovo Z50 75 had a score of 3870 points on the test.

In comparison, the Acer Aspire E5-551 with Intel HD Graphics 620 had a higher score of 5161 points. However, the HP Notebook 15 with AMD Radeon R4 performed lesser, with a score of 2,803 points.

In conclusion, the benchmark test result has confirmed that the Lenovo Z50 75 performance is above average.

As a result of that, I will be rating it seven out of ten in this graphics section.

Lenovo Z50 75: Battery Life and Performance

The Lenovo Z50 75 comes with two battery options. You can either get it with a 4-cell 32 WHr battery or a 41 WHr Li-Cylinder.

According to Lenovo, with any of these batteries, the laptop should last up to 4 hours. For this review, we will focus on the Lenovo Z50 75 with the 32 WHr battery.

Meanwhile, in other not to totally rely on Lenovo’s claim, I will be sharing how long this laptop lasted in a battery test. According to pcmag.com‘s battery test, this laptop survived for just 3 hours and 13 minutes while surfing the web.

Meanwhile, the Dell Inspiron 15 i5559 4682slv with the same battery lasted 5 hours 22 minutes in the same test. Furthermore, the HP Envy x360 Ryzen lasted 11 hours and 55 minutes.

However, it is important to point out that the HP Envy x360 Ryzen features a more powerful 4-cell 53.2 Wh Li-ion battery.

At this point, it is safe to say that the Lenovo Z50 75’s battery life is quite disappointing. However, since this is a desktop replacement laptop and not one that can be easily carried around, you can leave it connected to the power source.

Considering all I have said in this section, I will be rating the Lenovo Z50 75 a six out of ten.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Lenovo Z50 75 is an inexpensive signature laptop but does not compromise its performance. It comes with a nice display with a lot of other display features to enhance its display quality.

Not only that, the laptop can handle most games effectively, but you might need to play these games on average settings. Sadly, the short battery life of this laptop might break your heart.  

Nevertheless, the Lenovo Z50 75 is good enough for its price. Therefore, I recommend this laptop for both home use and light gamers.

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