I also appreciate that the IdeaPad 3 uses a USB-C cable for charging. This makes it easier to use a charging cord from another device if you can’t remember where you placed the AC adapter. Many bargain-basement Chromebooks still use proprietary barrel-style charging cables, which can be difficult and expensive to replace if your child loses them. Plenty of Typing Comfort Now for the big surprise. Where other ultra-budget Chromebooks stuff in dated Celeron N3350 and N4000 processors, the IdeaPad 3 has a 2019-vintage N4020 running at up to 2.8GHz. First impressions of the keyboard and touchpad aren’t great. There’s something a bit cheap-looking and toy-like about the IdeaPad 3’s square chiclet keys – we’re a long way away from the classy, sculpted keytops found on Lenovo’s business-grade ThinkPad laptops. So, is the IdeaPad 3 Chromebook 11 the Chrome OS bargain of the century or a cut-price duffer we should warn you of? Inevitably, the truth lies somewhere in-between. This might be a super-cheap Chromebook, but you don’t have to spend a whole lot more to find some competition.

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i review: A likeable but flawed Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i review: A likeable but flawed

This compact Chromebook shares almost identical dimensions with its 11.6-inch predecessors, though this year, the lid bumps out a miniscule amount in the middle third. This gives you an easy handhold when pulling open the laptop without having to sculpt in a divot at the bottom, like most Chromebooks. The laptop may only technically be one color, but the two-tone texturing between the left third and the right two-thirds feels wonderfully pleasant in hand and makes for an easy grip when carrying the wonderfully lightweight Flex 3i around. In terms of the physical design, Lenovo has made the best of a limited budget. The all-plastic construction feels cheap, but there’s a nice two-tone textured effect on the lid, which itself isn’t as weak and flexible as on some budget Chromebooks. Bar the massive bezel below the screen, it’s not a bad-looking device. In isolation, there’s a lot to like about the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i for the more basic, utilitarian computer usage – it has a comfortable keyboard, good battery life, and when you’re done working, you can flip the screen around and use it to stream videos. I’ve preferred using the Chromebook Flex 3i to a significantly more expensive Samsung Chromebook because it’s much more comfortable to use and for getting stuff done. Processor:Intel® Celeron® N4020 Processor (1.10 GHz, up to 2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost, 2 Cores, 2 Threads, 4 MB Cache) You don’t necessarily need to upgrade, however. Over a day or so of light use, including web browsing with a handful of tabs open at once, I found the IdeaPad 3 to be mostly free of sluggishness. It also took only around 10 seconds to boot up. I did encounter a significant slowdown when I was transferring a multi-gigabyte file from an external drive, but the system never froze up completely.When it comes to battery life, however, the IdeaPad 3’s advantage is apparent. No other Chromebook we’ve tested recently comes close to its result on our video battery rundown test, which involves playing a locally stored video at 50 percent screen brightness with Wi-Fi turned off until the laptop dies.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11.6 Inch HD 2-in-1 Laptop - (Intel Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11.6 Inch HD 2-in-1 Laptop - (Intel

Yet, somehow, it’s actually quite acceptable for everyday use. As long as you don’t try and use it outside, or under particularly intense lighting, the screen is perfectly workable – movies and games played via Google’s Stadia streaming games service actually don’t look too bad at all. For most users, and likely almost all looking to buy the Flex 3i, I can use a single word to summarize the Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i’s performance: adequate. The Chromebook Flex 3i’s day by day performance is not exceptional but it doesn’t need to be. The scores in the Android Geekbench 5 benchmark are a little higher than the Celeron N4000-based Chromebooks, too, though not up there with the faster Pentium and Core i3 models. All told, the IdeaPad 3 feels a little snappier than some of its rivals in day-to-day browsing and general use.Again, it's very likely that the dim, low-resolution screen played a big part in the IdeaPad 3's strong showing here. A Bargain Chromebook