Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook: What Real Users Say

I bought this chromebook at bestbuy for $169. Build quality: quite sturdy, does not feel like a cheap laptop. Screen: brightness is enough for indoor use, I set to 50% when using. Keyboard: keys are shallow, feels a bit low-cost but acceptable given the low price. Touchpad: feels okay, definitely not greater than other glass touchpads. Battery life: when watching youtube, the battery shows 21 hours at 91%.

just buy a 'Chromebook Plus' which insinuates 8GB RAM and an IPS screen with a reasonable FHD resolution. Definitely wouldn't buy a 7 year old Intel 8th gen based Thinkpad and that 14" Lenovo Slim 3i is borderline trash.

I have the same for 1 year or so. Epic battery and build quality. As long as you stay on Web based apps it is super.

It's fine. I personally prefer Lenovo's Thinkpad line though. They are selling some refurbs on eBay that are basically like new with good specs.

I've not owned a Chromebook since about 2016, but I got a C1030 earlier this year and I have no complaints so far. I toyed with the idea of having a newer model but honestly this does everything I could ask and it feels modern enough.

So it's not just me having a hard time finding info about the Slim 3i, good to know.

Just got mine yesterday, I like it. FAST, great touch screen, not too heavy though not lightweight, like the black keyboard as I can finally see backlight unlike my Asus. Screen gets very bright if you need it. Soldered or not 8gb ram and 128gb flash drive are nice to have. Two immediate negatives are just one usb c and the placement of it on the left side and the keyboard is pretty clicky.

Had mine for about 6 months now. It's the 4GB version. FLAWLESS. By far the best laptop I've ever used. Runs smoothly, had 0 issues whatsoever. Battery is incredible, I have it set to Adaptive (which caps your battery at 80%) and I go usually over a month without charging it while using it for an hour or two every day. Everything loads insanely fast. I've been converted to a Chromebook lover.

no fan issues?

Either would work fine for your use case. I might opt for the MediaTek powered Lenovo, which should run cooler, quieter, and have longer battery life. It's also half price right now at Best Buy, $149. Pretty good deal imo.

I would 100% go for the T490 over the IdeaPad. The build quality, modular upgrades and the durability just outshines any IdeaPad model. You're limited by Play Store apps on the Chromebook mostly, while Windows offers a wider range of software.

I'm quite a computer enthusiast (having windows, mac computer, android and apple tablets at home) and so far I'm impressed by the performance and the simplicity. The laptop is very sturdy and the screen is beautiful for the price. Things just work very well so far. I like that it's a full desktop experience but not with the caveat and the weight of Windows.

I just received my brand new Lenovo Slim 3i Chromebook Plus from ebay for $230 + tax = $257.

Mines been pretty solid. Had a charging issue after about 18 months and sent it back and they fixed it no problem. Thing I like is it's really solid construction. Only drawback is no touchscreen.

in the uk and i've had three chromebooks over the years and the 3i is by far my favorite.

The struggle of switching between multiple Microsoft accounts and the general experience of Teams on Chromebook is making me consider options but having used Windows, Mac and Chrome OS in the past I'm keen to stick with a Chromebook if I can.

If you intend to continue using Microsoft Teams, I would recommend a Windows machine to do it on. If crashes are okay, by all means run Microsoft on your Chromebooks.

It is currently on sale for $149 at Best Buy.

I usually get my reviews from Chrome Unboxed, if not 9to5 Google has another great review.

I haven't done a full Linux on it, but the battery life is pretty good. I can do video editing most the day, and do my normal web browsing, and then watch Youtube videos pretty much through the day, and I can get a full day out of it pretty easily! I would say getting perhaps 10 or 11 hours out of it.

Absolutely!! I would recommend it! It's an awesome Chromebook, with a great keyboard, nice trackpad, and simply beautiful screen. I use it for work as well as general use, and I find it very snappy, and I usually have somewhere around 15 or so tabs in the browser, all while doing my usual video editing, and running either a podcast or music in the background, with not even a hiccup. These new Alder Lake chips are a game changer for sure.

Probably way out of date now, but I just ordered this but sadly returned it. Great build, screen, speakers, speed but man the keyboard was horrible to type on.

Finding information online about the 'Lenovo Ideapad Slim 3i' is quite hard because Lenovo uses that name for a dozen completely different laptops, as if the name itself doesn't mean anything, what a confusing mess.

Display isnt great according to specs, but the CPU is very neat (only using E cores, no P cores). But gaming is a no go on it, unless you are one of THOSE people who consider 540p low 15 fps as playable and smooth.

It is Lenovo Slim 3 chromebook MT8186. I got the 4gb version in the US for $149. It does not have a fan and CPU keeps cool while browsing the web and watching youtube videos. Battery life can last more than 20 hours if you apply the tweaks in chrome os.

I would go with the Lenovo because it will receive updates until June 2033, whereas the Acer will receive updates until June 2029. The Lenovo has a very nice screen as well.

If you need drawing and editing apps, a Chromebook probably isn't your best bet. There's some chromeos / web based editing apps, but you probably want the local processing if you're doing any type of media conversion or encoding.

$430 is not a bad deal.

Just got my hands on the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed! For a budget-friendly device, it packs a punch. The 14-inch 1080p touchscreen is a game changer - super bright and responsive, making everything from browsing to streaming a delight. It's perfect for binge-watching my favorite shows or getting some work done on Google Docs. What really stands out for me is how lightweight it is. At just under 3 pounds, it's perfect for tossing in my bag.

I just purchased the Lenovo ideapad slim 3i, Windows 11, 512 ssd and 16gb ram, and it can't handle basic internet browsing. I open one chrome tab and the memory usage on the task manager goes to 90%. I click on something and it says not responding. It gets super hot, way too hot to touch.

RAM and storage are not upgradeable but you can add a micro-SD card.

I also returned it but only because I got my old dell xps working again by rolling back the OS from windows 11 to 10.

I'm wondering about this device. For whatever reason it seems to only be available direct from Lenovo - one of the few of the new Plus models not more easily found elsewhere. I'm mostly curious about this because it uses the N305 processor which at least in theory can be run fanless.

Been looking at this as it's sub-$500 Canadian at the moment. Do you know if the USB-C is able to simultaneously charge and output dual display video?

I ended up getting an Asus with better specs for like $240 but that's a good deal at $149.

Para mi el teclado y el trackpad son sobresalientes. Se sienten de calidad, aunque con materiales austeros. El rendimiento tambien es sobresaliente. Por el lado negativo los colores de la pantalla y la batería, de la cual esperaba mas teniendo en cuenta que se trata de Chrome OS y tiene un procesador de bajo consumo.

The HP 15a uses UFS storage, but $430 is not a bad deal for the Slim 3i.

I recommend a 8gb ram machine since you would either need to use an android app or linux app for remote desktop use cases.

Even the new Windows app (rebrand of RDP) runs a little better with more RAM. Otherwise, best bet are Linux remote admin or even X11 forwarding if using Linux server without Wayland.

How are you liking it so far? That would've been a crazy price to get it for!

I have the same model. Touchscreen is not an option in the UK unfortunately.