Is Lenovo V145 a good gaming laptop?

Lenovo V145 is an affordable laptop by all standards with some amazing specs sheet and a truly unique design. This is a laptop for heavy tasks and certainly an ideal choice for IT professionals. Its high-end hardware, FHD display and low price make it a suitable contender in the corporate world. That’s why many tech geeks put Lenovo V145 in the list of gaming laptops. 

Truth to be told, Lenovo gaming laptops are the real machines that can help you take on rivals. So, it is not a surprise to see Lenovo V145 as a modest gaming laptop. The only question that you would be asking is how good the V145 is as a gaming machine. 

Has Lenovo V145 got enough power to assist you in intensive online game fights? Can it deliver good results without overheating or compromising battery life? Well, these are the question that we are going to answer at the end of this review article. But first, let’s discuss whether its design, display and specs are good enough to support gaming. 

Specs sheet 

• Processor: Intel Quad-Core i5-8265U (8th Gen.) / 1.6GHz Max. Turbo Speed 3.9GHz 
• Display: 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Resolution 
• RAM: 8GB Storage: 256GB SSD 
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce MX110 Dedicated (2GB GDDR5)  
• Weight: Around 4.63lbs (2.1kg) 
• Operating System: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)

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Lenovo V145 has got respectable specs as a gaming laptop and can do well for moderate gaming. Additionally, the presence of a dedicated GPU means you can expect better visuals and high-speed performance. 

Design 

The design of Lenovo V145 resembles with the Lenovo IdeaPad 320, as both have the same plastic chassis. It is high-quality, durable plastic that can handle serious knocks and come in sliver texture which is extended from lid to the keyboard deck. However, the bezels around the display are black and thus provide a silver/black contrast. 

The lid has strong hinges that we found pleasantly resistant and these can move up to 180 degrees. The laptop appears to be a little heavy when we held it in hands, and it weighs around 4.63lbs (2.1kg). 

Keyboard 

Lenovo laptops always offer remarkable experience when it comes to keyboards and this one is not different either. The V145 features the typical Lenovo keyboard with a chiclet keyboard that has flat keys. Its keys are well places while the key interval is appropriate and offer decent tactile feedback. However, as an avid gamer, you may find its keys to be a bit soft as compared to a gaming keyboard. 

This is an everyday keyboard specifically designed for professional use. Unfortunately, backlit illuminations are absent which might irritate those who like colourful keyboards. Overall, we found it a great keyboard that can handle pressure and can keep up with your gaming needs. 

Touchpad 

The touchpad is of the same size as we have seen on its larger variant: V145 15-inch. It is about 4.13 x 2.75 inches in size and supports multi-touch gestures which will surely help you in multi-player combats. The surface a little to none resistant which is a good thing as you can quickly move your fingers across the touchpad. 

Display 

The model of Lenovo V145 that we tested for its gaming performance came with a 14-inch display. It had an FHD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p and we found its performance satisfactory. Thanks to NVIDIA GPU, we were able to get 57 frames per second when we played “The Witcher” on Lenovo V145. 

Its display showed no stuttering, whereas the colours were too bright and lively. Even though this is an average display size, we experienced crispy visuals. 

Connectivity 

The port selection on Lenovo V145 14-inch gaming laptop is decent and we found it sufficient. The laptop houses most of the ports on its left side which might be an issue if you are to use a wired mouse. There are two Type-A USB 3.1 Gen. 1 ports, a charging connector, an HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet port on the left. 

The right side house a memory card reader and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. Surprisingly, there is no USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 support which is a major drawback. 

Performance 

Lenovo V145 has got respectable specs on it but as a gaming laptop, they are a bit shy. Here’s what it has got on its specs list: 

CPU 

Lenovo has added an 8th generation Intel i5-8265U processor that could deliver a clock speed ranging from 1.6GHz to 3.9GHz. This is a Quad-Core CPU that runs on the Windows 10 Pro OS, but the Pro version doesn’t offer anything extra when it comes to gaming. 

The i5-8265U is an upgraded version but has the same integrated graphics processor that we have seen on the i5-8250U. However, it does have a slight edge in some gaming scenarios, thanks to its higher clock speed that come in handy when a game is using the main processing cores. 

RAM and storage 

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Let’s be honest, both RAM and storage on this gaming laptop is subpar. Normally, a good gaming laptop has 16GB memory and at least 512GB SSD storage. Nevertheless, Lenovo V145 performed smoothly when we played PUBG and fortnight on it. 

GPU 

Lenovo has equipped the V145 (14-inch) with a dedicated GPU that improves the display quality. NVIDIA GeForce MX110 comes with 2GB GDDR5 and bodes well with the CPU and memory. However, it is an entry-level that is not much of a help when it comes to heavy games. You can run low to medium games but this is not a major league player. 

Verdict 

Lenovo V145 has great specs as a professional laptop, but it is not good for gaming. You can use it for casual gaming, such as PUBG, but the laptop lacks precise hardware. In a nutshell, this is a laptop for professionals who like to play games in leisure time. But if you are an avid gamer, you might want to check out other high-end gaming laptops.