Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook Review: Could Be Worse
Retail Price: $250
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DISCLAIMER: LENOVO SENT US A REVIEW UNIT OF THE IDEAPAD 3 CHROMEBOOK BUT ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE OUR OWN
Product Specs +
- 14.1-inch 1366 x 768 LCD display
- Intel Celeron N4020
- Chrome OS
- 4 GB of RAM
- 32 GB of Storage
- 720p Camera
- 42Wh battery, up to 10 hours
With Covid-19 raging on, one surprising beneficiary of the pandemic seems to be the Chrome OS platform. That makes sense seeing every parent and their child are using Zoom and cloud based work suites on the daily. Lenovo sent us a review unit of the IdeaPad 3 Chromebook which sells at an affordable price of $250 to test out. With an ever saturating market of quality budget laptops, does this one have a spot on your consideration list?
Chromebooks are an easy piece of technology to review whether to recommend to buyers or not. Unlike Android phones where OEMs often add their own skin or additional features to the device, all Chromebooks are unified in their delivery of a computing experience. When you pop open that lid, you’re greeted with a quick boot up and a simple setup process into a standard Chrome OS home screen. The heart of modern Chromebooks revolve around the Android Google Play Store which allows this lightweight operating system to give users all the applications they need for just about any task. It adds tremendous value to an operating system once barren of flexibility.
Performance
Where things deviate from Chromebook to Chromebook is with performance. This is of course influenced by the type of processor powering the laptop. On the IdeaPad 3, Lenovo opted to use the Intel Celeron N4020 chip set that has long populated budget Chromebooks. It might sound weird for me to say this, but I’d rather see an ARM chip inside budget Chrome OS devices as Android apps seem to respond better on those.
Surfing the internet on the IdeaPad 3 is enjoyable enough with little to no stuttering when navigating through 3-5 tabs. Anything more will usually bog down load times. When it comes to apps, I’ve actually been relatively surprised at how well it’s held its own. Games like Pokemon Quest and Bloons Adventure Time work flawlessly as if you were playing this one a flagship Android phone. There were no frame dropping issues with games of that stature. Certain graphically intensive games like War Robots wouldn’t even open on this laptop. That’s pretty much what I’ve come to expect from an Intel Celeron processor on Chrome OS.
Lots of ports
One thing this Chromebook has that many newer Chromebooks are departing from is the inclusion of multiple ports. While the numerous ports add to the thickness of the device, there are still many use case scenarios that require plugging in accessories. The IdeaPad 3 provides that with 2x USB-C ports, 2x USB-A ports, a headphone jack and a microSD card reader. That’ll be plenty enough for any kid to get their homework done. The addition of a microSD card slot for expandable storage helps alleviate the miniscule 32 GB of onboard storage the laptop has.
It’s also nice to have this laptop charge through USB-C. While adoption rates have skyrocketed these last couple years, some budget devices are still holding out with AC power. It’s definitely refreshing to see USB-C on a $250 laptop. Speaking of charging, you’ll get solid standby battery life here. If you literally use this for web browsing as Chrome OS was once intended for, it will be days before you’ll need to charge it. However, if you use this laptop for entertainment purposes, I was able to squeeze roughly 4-5 hours running a game nonstop off the plug. That’s not too bad.
The Display from yesteryear
What is bad is without a doubt the TN display here. I thought we left TN displays in the rear view window once the Asus Chromebook Flip showed the world you could have a budget price point with a screen that’s actually viewable. Yet here we are in 2020 and I’m viewing the same eyesore that tainted my vision in the early 2010’s. Of course I’m being sarcastic here, yet the frightening thing is I’m not exactly fully kidding. This is not a high quality display by any means. You can’t really expect to be blown away at $250, but I can at least be hopeful to want to look at the laptop. I can’t stand to keep my eyes on this TN panel for longer than a few minutes at a time. You can’t really discuss viewing angles when there are no viewing angles that are comfortable to look at in the first place. I can’t even tell you how many times my hand reaches for the hinge to adjust the viewing angle of the display during the process of reading through just one article. At least you can fold the display all the way flat to the table. Not that it helps!
Yes the size is great for the price at 14.1 inches. I’m even going to say that at the bare minimum qualification of HD, 1366 x 768 p doesn’t bother me when I keep reminding myself this is only $250. The one thing I cannot get off my mind is ironically another Chromebook from Lenovo we reviewed recently, the Chromebook Duet. Yes, the form factor and intended use cases are different, but for a mere $20-ish more, the viewing experience on that device was so much better. I can’t even put into words how night and day it is. It’s literally like viewing night and day. Not having glare or reflections on the screen might be the only positive thing I have to say about TN panels on Chromebooks. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate TN panels. In fact at the lab I work in, I actually use TN panel monitors every day. I just can’t stand low resolution TN panels on laptops. They have got to go.
Everything else about the IdeaPad 3 Chromebook is satisfactory. This is constructed from plastic and is deceptively large. I say deceptively because from a distance you could easily mistake this for a much thinner device. Lenovo focused the majority of components towards the rear before thinning it out to hit the lip. It’s plastic for sure but seems well put together.
I do like the typing experience here thanks to the large comfortable key layout. The keycaps don’t give off that mushy feel many budget laptops of yesteryear are known for. I’m pleasantly happy with the tactile response and touch of this non-backlit keyboard. No backlighting is a deterrent from using this laptop in many scenarios, but I do tend to give these devices a pass thanks to the low price tag.
The trackpad on the other hand gives me less material to praise. Since this is a rather large laptop size, there is a fair amount of room for the trackpad. While it’s a decent size as it is, I’ve seen laptops of much smaller stature with about the same trackpad imprint. I think Lenovo could have bumped up the size just a tad. The problem with the trackpad is that it isn’t quite precise enough to be reliable to use. I found myself having to subconsciously target what I’m clicking on more than usual. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the response is sluggish, but I will say it felt airy as if the arrow you control had no weight to it.
To round out the hardware side to the IdeaPad 3, you’re probably wondering where the speakers are. Like many older Chromebook designs, there are dual speakers on the bottom panel of the laptop. Down facing speakers on budget laptops are never any good and this continues the trend. Sound coming out of the IdeaPad 3 is muffled and archaic. You can tell Lenovo didn’t put a lot of value into audio reproduction here. A part of me actually doesn’t mind that. I doubt many people looking for a device for entertainment purposes will be looking at this laptop in the first place. Lenovo at least gave users a headphone jack.
Also don’t expect much from the 720p webcam. You’ll have to rely on your own beauty to impress your co-workers or classmates instead of placing your trust on the capabilities of the camera.
Overall Thoughts
What it comes down to when considering the IdeaPad 3 are two things: Intended use of the laptop and budget. Although the Chromebook Duet is a significantly different device from this traditional laptop build, unless you for some reason can’t add $25 dollars to your budget, I’d highly recommend looking in that direction. If you legitimately only had $250 to spend and not a penny more, you can do much worse than the IdeaPad 3. This isn’t an ideal computing machine but it is very much a serviceable machine. You’ll just have to stomach looking at it.
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Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!