Tecno Megabook K15S AMD Review: Discover Affordable, Efficient Computing!

In recent years, the pace of SoC evolution in laptops has been sluggish, allowing many new players to enter the budget market with cost-effective solutions. Tecno is the latest to join the French market with its Megabook K15S AMD. Let’s see what it’s capable of.

Technical Specifications

Design

Metal designs are common today, but not all metals are the same: some may be beautifully crafted alloys shaped by CNC to create outstanding chassis, while others may be basic metal sheets without distinctive features. Given Tecno’s focus on affordability, it’s no surprise that the Megabook K15S doesn’t necessarily fall into the first category—but that doesn’t mean it belongs to the latter.

This model falls into that category of production that has widely imitated the design of older MacBook generations and has done quite well. While the chassis might seem a bit thin and hollow, it still feels solid and comfortable to handle. Weighing about 1.7 kilograms and with a thickness of 1.77 cm, the Megabook K15S is neither too heavy nor too bulky. It fits well into the ultrabook category, easy to carry around and slip into a bag.

Keyboard and Touchpad

There are no surprises here: the keyboard is somewhat mushy, lacking in travel and feedback. However, the Megabook K15S is typical for the budget segment, so it’s hard to fault it on this; it meets the standard for its class.

The touchpad is similarly adequate, with a sizeable area and a very distinct, audible click that is common in this category. It’s what you might call “pragmatic”: it works effectively, though it’s not the most pleasant to use.

Connectivity

On the left side, we find a 10 Gbps USB-C port that supports charging, an HDMI 1.4, a USB-A 3.2, a second USB-C port, and a combo jack. On the right, there’s an RJ-45 1 Gbps port, a USB-A 3.1, and a microSD card reader.

This setup offers a broad range of connectivity options. While not the latest technology—especially the HDMI 1.4 which only supports 4K at 30 Hz—it’s more than sufficient for the price.

However, the Wi-Fi is limited to Wi-Fi 5, an outdated standard today. Integrating at least Wi-Fi 6 would have been preferable for future-proofing, especially since it would utilize the important 6 GHz band.

Webcam and Audio

The 720p webcam is quite outdated. Unsurprisingly, the quality is not up to modern standards. AMD SoCs are not the best for this, and coupled with such an outdated sensor, the results are far from miraculous. It’s even challenging to manage a decent video call; stick to simple calls with grandma.

The audio experience, however, is surprisingly good. While most laptops in this category produce sound that could be likened to a wheezing hamster, the Megabook K15S AMD delivers a satisfying volume and a sound signature that leans more towards mid-range than low-end. It’s surprising and welcome that Tecno has made an effort here.

Display

The Tecno Megabook K15S AMD features a 15.6-inch TFT panel with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a standard 16:9 aspect ratio. Its maximum refresh rate is 60 Hz, which may not follow modern standards but still offers effective performance on paper.

Our testing with the CalMAN software from Portrait Displays shows that this panel covers 66% of the sRGB color space and 44% of the DCI-P3 space. The maximum brightness is measured at 283 cd/m², which isn’t ideal for outdoor use but is adequate indoors. The average color temperature is a problematic 11,177 K with an average delta e00 of 9.53.

It’s bad—VERY bad—but it’s functional. We are essentially looking at what low-priced PCs and Chromebooks offer. It’s poor, but it’s workable.

Software

This is another area where we wouldn’t necessarily expect much from Tecno. Naturally, it runs Windows 11, but the manufacturer also offers its own management application packed with a range of settings, including three performance levels.

This application is quite well-translated, graphically well-designed, and frankly… pleasant to use. It’s certainly better than some competitors’ solutions, which often are only available in English and feel outdated. A commendable effort to match the French market.

Performance

In our test configuration, the Tecno Megabook K15S AMD is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U SoC, which includes 8 Zen 3 cores and 16 threads that can turbo up to 4.5 GHz. It’s paired with 16 GB of DDR4 RAM at 3200 MHz, and 512 GB of storage on PCIe Gen 3.0.

This setup represents certain compromises compared to the 2/3 nm SoCs, LPDDR5X, and PCIe Gen 5.0 available in current high-end devices. However, it’s not so outdated as to be obsolete.

Benchmarks

In Cinebench 2026, we see scores of 1,785 points in multicore and 304 points in singlecore. Indeed, these are less than half the capabilities of a Panther Lake in multithreaded tasks, but only 43% lower in single-thread performance.

To put it plainly: this generation isn’t equipped to handle creative tasks, but it will manage light productivity tasks like word processing and web browsing just fine.

The scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad Light follow the same trend, with 1,048 points. This is simply the generation of ultrabooks before they became as versatile as they are today. Don’t expect to play video games or edit videos, and you’ll be content.

As for storage, there are no issues in achieving very good scores… for PCIe Gen 3.0.

Cooling and Noise

There’s not much to say on this front. While the Tecno Megabook K15S does occasionally run its fans, they are rarely overused and remain discreet. The maximum chassis temperature is recorded at 41.5 °C, which is almost negligible.

Battery Life

The Tecno Megabook K15S features a large 70 Wh battery, which is charged using a 65 W USB-C Power Delivery brick. It supports fast charging with GaN technology.

Under typical office use with the screen set to 50% brightness, we observe a total battery life of between 9 and 10 hours. For this generation of SoC, that’s a strong performance, only overshadowed by the very efficient latest x86 generations from manufacturers.

Price and Availability

The Tecno Megabook K15S AMD is already available in France, and can be found in our test configuration for a price of 405 €.