Often you have to advise colleagues and friends concerning buying laptops for work/study. With a limited budget, I usually recommend laptops from "young brands". This time the choice fell on the Ninkear A15 Plus (R7-5825U/32GB/1TB). But before recommending this, we will disassemble the laptop and test it. Disassembly and tests under the cut.
We can't say anything negative about the Ninkear brand. This is its own production, a decent level of components: in the region of 45 thousand for the version of 32 GB / 1 TB and with a diagonal of 15 inches. An ordinary "workhorse" for the office or study. The graphics card is integrated (regular Radeon Graphics), there is an upgrade option.
Specifications:
- Model name: Ninkear A15 Plus
- Screen: 15.6" IPS, 1920 x 1080 pixels, brightness up to 250 nits
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7-5825U (Zen 3 TSMC 7nm FinFET)
- GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
- RAM: 32 GB DDR4
- SSD: 1 TB
- Battery: 5000 mAh (57 Wh) – approx. 10 hours of operation
- Connectors: HDMI, USB Type-C x1, USB-A 3.0 x3, audio, WiFi (2.4G/5G), Bluetooth 5.0, MicroSD
- Extras: backlit keyboard, fingerprint scanner
The manufacturer provides a DC charger, a mouse, a mat, and user's manual in the kit. The dimensions are typical for a 15-inch laptop with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It is 36 x 23 x 1.8 centimeters, weighing about 1.7 kilograms. It fits easily in a backpack or bag.
By the way, there is a peculiarity with the screen - it is a full spread. We usually use it when we need to demonstrate something to our colleagues (ala mini-presentation).
We also liked that there is a card reader - you can install MicroSD cards without adapter, which is more convenient for many people. USB3.0 connectors are available on each side (one on the left, two on the right), additionally on the left is USB-C (you can charge, you can connect drives, you can connect an external monitor). There is an output for a headset / headphones / speakers / microphone, there is an output for an HDMI monitor. We note that you can charge from the standard DC charger (round jack) or from USB-C.
The keyboard has a full set of buttons, there is a NUM block. There is a backlight (one tone, with intensity adjustment), there is a place for a fingerprint scanner on the touchpad. Touch, by the way, understands gestures – it's convenient. There are no questions about the keyboard - the stroke is short, clear, works stably, does not crunch, as in cheap models.
A webcam typical for office models is 720 rubles. The webcam is suitable for zoom/skype and other conferences.
As I said, an IPS matrix with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels is used. Viewing angles are decent. A AUO5799 A156HAN01.0 type matrix (IPS LCM WLED eDP 30pins, manufactured by Shenzhen Tunan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd.) is used.
Measured brightness of 250-260 nits at 100% backlight level. There is no flickering, which is already good.
Please note that the matrix provides 50% NTSC color reproduction.
For basic work, such a matrix is enough for the head, for entertainment and games too. For professional work with graphics and models, it is better to choose a different laptop model (I usually advise with 100% NTSC).
Win11Pro was pre-installed, there are no problems with drivers (if anything, there are on the official site). The refresh rate is shown up to 60 Hz. If you connect an external monitor, you can set up to 100 Hz.
Screenshots of CPU-Z and CDI. The memory works in two channel modes, but the memory itself is DDR4-3200. Samsung chips are good again.
The system drive, judging by the tests, is limited to the PCIe 3.0x4 interface: the speed is at the level of 3500 MB/s.
Benchmarks show an average level of performance typical of the AMD Ryzen 7-5825U platform. In my opinion, it is more interesting than similar models with Intel i7-1165G7 or i7-1260P processors, which are in the same price category. Although if you add a little, you can take a more powerful model.
But the battery pleased me - in a balanced mode with a constant workload (benchmark) it turned out to be 9 hours and 42 minutes (up to 5% of the battery charge). For me, this is a critical point, since I often have to work offline. If you lower the brightness and choose Eco mode, you can increase the runtime even more.
An hour-long stress test, and the laptop passed the rest of the tests without remarks. There is no overheating, there is no thermal throttling, no prohibitive temperatures are recorded, the system is stable.
The external heating is 45+ degrees after an hour-long stress test, on the chip itself it is about 75+ degrees. There is no obvious overheating or throttling. Let me remind you that the processor has a TDP of 15W... 25W. Specifically in the test it was up to 17 W (this is 70% of the maximum). A small disadvantage of the model is a noisy fan at maximum speed. At minimum heat (in balanced mode or in economy mode), the rustle of the impeller is practically inaudible, but at maximum load, for example, when working with Kompas-3D and with mains power (high performance profile), the sound is annoying.
I removed the back cover. The cover is plastic, there is a mesh from small debris and dust, but there is no shielding of individual modules, as well as there is no additional cooling for the SSD.
The processor has 2 heat pipes and one turbine. A typical solution for this price range, as well as for this particular processor.
The system drive is a Lexar SSD NM7A1 1TB (Maxio MAP1602 controller with PCIe 4.0x4 support.
Please note that the second connector is M.2. Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac (Dual Band 2.4/5 GHz).
Approximately such laptops I choose for work. A large memory capacity makes it possible to run editors (audio/video/graphics), modeling applications and various CADs.
It is also suitable for entertainment - gaming to the best of AMD Radeon Graphics (these are low or medium graphics settings - depending on the game). Movies are also easy to watch - there are stereo speakers, Many people prefer to connect to the TV via cable.
Conclusion
The result is a decent laptop for the money. It is possible to install a second drive (if you need increased storage for the user), there is everything you need. On the plus side, I would like to highlight the ability to charge via USB-C, as well as the ability to connect two monitors at once (USB-C and HDMI). On the downside, there is a 50% NTSC matrix, which imposes restrictions on working with graphics and photos. For me personally, a big plus is autonomy at the level of ~ 10 hours.