Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) review: The best budget laptop in Nepal

It’s 2025 and buying a budget laptop still sucks. You scour the internet looking for a…ll the options available but somehow they all compromise on a bunch of stuff. Including a couple of super important ones like display and performance. But the Lenovo V14 Gen 4 that I’ve got in for review today wants to change the way you look at budget laptops altogether. ‘Cause this thing has a nice display that you’ll actually want to look at, and its performance is equally powerful enough to keep up with pretty much everything you’ll do.

Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) review: Specifications

• Dimensions, Weight: 12.76 x 8.47 x 0.78 inches (W x D x H), 1.43 kg
• Display: 14″ FHD IPS panel, 60Hz refresh rate, 65% sRGB color gamut, 300 nits brightness
• Keyboard: Full-size chiclet backlit keyboard, No backlighting
• Security: No biometric option, TPM 2.0
• Processor: Intel "Raptor Lake" Core i5-13420H
  • 8C/12T, 4.6 GHz max turbo frequency, 45W base power
• Graphics: Intel UHD graphics (48 execution units)
• RAM: 16GB DDR4-3200 memory (non-upgradeable)
• Storage: 512GB SSD (M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0)
• Audio: Down-firing stereo speaker system
• Battery: 45 Watt-hours with 65W charging
• Webcam: HD (720p) camera with a physical shutter
• I/O Ports: 2x USB-A (with one USB 3.2 Gen 1 and one USB 2.0), 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x RJ-45, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1x power connector
• Price in Nepal: NPR 76,999 (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)
• Check the full specifications of Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) here
• Buy Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) here

Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) review: 

Display

• 14" FHD IPS display (anti-glare finish)
• 60Hz refresh rate, 65% sRGB color gamut
• 300 nits brightness

So let me start with the display.

And yes, the Lenovo V14 definitely punches above its class here. You’re looking at a 14” display with an IPS panel — instead of a TN panel with terrible viewing angles and terrible contrast — and nearly 400 nits of brightness.

I was actually quite surprised to see this guy hitting those brightness numbers since Lenovo’s official numbers say the V14 shouldn’t hit more than 300 nits. But even after I reran the test with a colorimeter, my unit of the V14 still bragged 396.7 nits at 100% brightness. Pretty awesome! However, I did find that it doesn’t have nearly sufficient brightness adjustment levels as I’d like because look at that table once again. Notice anything… odd? So while I’m more than happy that the Lenovo V14 has a fantastic peak brightness, it’s actually quite dim below 75%. And at lower brightness levels, the contrast ratio takes some hit as well. Neither of these is a dealbreaker, really, but just something to keep in mind. Anyway, I also love how Lenovo went with an anti-glare coating here. Which means if you mostly use this laptop somewhere with a lot of ambient light or harsh light sources, then those annoying reflections are gonna be mu…ch less annoying to deal with.

And I gotta say the Lenovo V14’s color reproduction isn’t that terrible either. I mean… 65% sRGB is pretty good for a budget laptop. Not that good for color-sensitive works like photo editing but perfectly good enough for everything else.

Performance

• Intel Core i5-13420H (45W base power)
• 8 cores / 12 threads, 4.6 GHz max turbo frequency
• 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD

And like I said in the very beginning, the performance side of things is equally impressive on this thing. That’s because instead of those “U” class processors (with frankly subpar performance), the Lenovo V14 has a much more powerful “H” series CPU inside. More specifically, you’re getting Intel’s 13th Gen Core i5-13420H processor with four performance and four efficiency cores. What’s even better is that Lenovo has managed to ship it with 16GB of DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration alongside 512GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD! With some of the best read/write speeds I’ve seen on a laptop so far. Not just of the budget kind mind you.

That means I basically had no problem going by my everyday work on the Lenovo V14. Including browsing Chrome with at least 10 – 12 tabs open (sorry Arc, I’ll meet you back on my MacBook Air), while also streaming music in the background on Spotify, and occasionally making some designs on Photoshop. Whereas that combo of a powerful processor + plenty of memory and storage makes it a great fit for students who are just getting into programming as well. And all that is with the “Adaptive Power Mode” by the way, which keeps the thermals and the noise from its single fan under control just fine. I could always switch to the “Performance” mode from the Lenovo Vantage app when I need that extra pinch of power at the expense of louder fan noise and hotter temperatures… which is exactly what I did when I tried playing a few games on this guy.

But here’s the thing.

The Lenovo V14’s integrated GPU is pretty weak. Weaker than what you get on Intel’s “U” series processors because this one has Intel’s UHD graphics instead of the newer, more powerful Iris Xe graphics. So… what you gain in that CPU horsepower, you will be losing a little in terms of GPU power.

That wasn’t much of a problem in CPU-bound games like Valorant although I actually had to lower the resolution to 720p to somewhat enjoy Counter-Strike 2.

Design and build

• 12.76 x 8.47 x 0.78 inches (W x D x H)
• 1.43 kg, All-plastic build

Let’s move on. So it’s pretty clear that Lenovo V14’s display and performance are a step above what you’d find on a typical budget laptop, right? What about the build quality then?

Well… this is where its budget roots start to show ‘cause the V14 is completely made of plastic. The lid and the keyboard deck here have a nice, polished finish to sell you the illusion of something more expensive — and I’m also digging its minimal visual aesthetics + the 180° hinge — but yeah. The rest of the laptop, including the side I/O frames, the bottom deck, and the keys themselves, have this sorta gravelly, plasticky feel to them. And if you’re someone with a habit of hitting the keyboard real hard when typing, you might wanna dial it down a notch on the Lenovo V14. Since I definitely noticed some flexing with its keyboard deck with frankly not a lot of pressure.

The port selection on this thing is pretty good though. There are a couple of USB-A connections (one with a faster USB 3.2 Gen 1 spec and the other with a slower USB 2.0 speed), one RJ-45, one full-sized HDMI 1.4, and one USB-C port with 3.2 Gen 1 speed. The V14 charges via a barrel-pin connector but the good news is that the one available in Nepal comes with a 65W USB-C adapter instead. Or you can even fill it with any 65W USB-PD charger.

Battery

• 45 Watt-hour battery
• 65W power adapter (USB-C)

Then again, I found the Lenovo V14’s battery life to be strictly average. It’s got a tiny 45Wh battery inside which was only giving me 4 – 5 hours of screen time under my usual, casual usage. Even when I’d kept the performance mode to “Adaptive” and battery mode to “Balanced”.

Webcam

• HD (720p) camera
• Physical privacy shutter

And like every other budget laptop, I’m not impressed with the webcam quality on the V14 either. It has a typical 720p sensor with a physical privacy shutter that’s passable when you’re somewhere with good lighting but that’s about it. Expect a lot of blown-out highlights and digital artifacts like noise when attending a video call with this guy. Oh and before I forget, the Lenovo V14’s downfiring stereo speakers are what I’d like to call “the good kind of bad”. They sound quite thin, hollow — and with absolutely zero bass — but it kinda reminds me of one of those old-timey radios. Is this the... “bittersweet symphony” thing that I keep hearing about?

Keyboard and trackpad

• Full-size keys without Numpad
• No backlight
• Plastic multi-touch trackpad

Anyway, I gotta say the keyboard and the trackpad on this budget laptop are just about average as well. This plastic trackpad is a bit too small whereas this keyboard isn’t backlit to begin with. Not that I struggled to maintain my usual typing speed or anything, but the lack of a backlight and the gravelly feel of the keys I talked about before did rub me off the wrong way here.

Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) review: Conclusion

Alright. So to wrap up this review, I think the Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) is easily the best budget laptop in Nepal right now. This thing is very much your run-of-the-mill cheap laptop in a lot of ways, although its display and powerful performance easily sets it apart from the rest of the herd. Which means if you’re a student, a small business owner, or just about anyone looking to buy a nice, affordable laptop under NPR 80,000, this is it.

• Our video review of Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) is coming up pretty soon

Lenovo V14 (Gen 4) review: Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
• Good value for money	• A bit flimsy build quality
• Powerful performance with Intel's "H" series CPU	• No backlit keyboard
• A nice, bright IPS display	• The battery life could've been better
• Plenty of ports