Lenovo IdeaPad 3 11 Chromebook Laptop, 11.6′ HD Display, Intel Celeron N4020, 4GB RAM, 64GB Storage, Intel UHD Graphics 600, Chrome OS, Onyx Black

Chromebooks have a life cycle of 8 years – this one was made in 2020, so it has about 6 or so years of support left. I didn’t care and all i wanted was something small and light so i could write on my bed. I don’t mind that it’s a chromebook – in fact, this is my first chromebook and i’m in love. I’m planning to get another one for black friday if the price is good enough, because i love this one so much (i[m planning to have an indoor chromebook and an outdoor chromebook). The screen is a bit iffy, but it’s good enough. I use this one more than i do my $700 tablet. I don’t do anything heavy with it, so this is perfect for my needs.

Summary
a surprisingly well-rounded and well equipped budget chromebook that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

Lead-up to the purchase
having recently given my google pixelbook to a friend who was in desperate need of a computer, i was in the market for another chromebook… Just in time for prime day june 2021. I didn’t need a powerhouse since i have learned firsthand that running linux on a chromebook sounds better on paper than it does in real life use.

The 2-in-1 form-factor was fun to tinker with but in practical day-to-day use, i found it better to use a dedicated android tablet (samsung galaxy tab s6) for touch and pen tasks. A traditional clamshell design would be fine for those ‘laptop-y’ things… And an 11′ or so screen would allow for a very portable device.

Prime day hunting
with those requirements in mind, i went hunting in the amazon (see what i did there? 😉 ) for a suitable chromebook. I found that most of the deals were for devices that had been released two or more years ago. A few other ‘deals’ weren’t any cheaper than the regular prices at other stores (for the same processor/ram/storage configurations).

I ran across the lenovo chromebook 3 (lcb3 for short) and it really intrigued me. Not only was it quite inexpensive, but it had a decent processor (celeron n4020), decent storage (64gb), and more ports (2-usbc, 2 usba 3.0, microsd card slot, and headphone/mic jack) than my old google pixelbook (2 usbc, headphone/mic jack).

I watched some reviews on youtube for this device and only one gave it a half-decent review. In spite of the lack of glowing reviews, i purchased it.

Unboxing and use
when the lcb3 arrived and i opened the box, i was impressed with the look and feel of this chromebook. I don’t have to qualify this comment with (…for a $170 chromebook). No, it is legitimately a good looking and feeling chromebook, period.

The lid has a tasteful lenovo branding plate on it and a section of the lid has a fine gray hash pattern stenciled on that gives it an interesting and attractive look.

The screen is a matte screen… Yes! I’ve always been a fan of matte screens (especially on thinkpads) and although the reviewers complained that it wasn’t a bright display, i found it to be just fine in the places i typically use a notebook-type device.

The keyboard isn’t the same as that found on lenovo’s other laptops, but it feels stable and quite acceptable for long typing sessions.

The trackpad works well and is consistent.

Battery life is extremely good. I haven’t run it all the way down yet, but on multiple occasions, i’ve run it on battery mostly surfing and typing for 3-4 hours and the projected battery life remaining registered 10+ hours. I don’t know how true that is, but i’ll try to run it all the way down and update with the results.

Performance is more than adequate. The combination of the celeron n4020 and the lower screen resolution results in a very smooth and responsive experience.

Take the expert reviewers’ opinions with a grain of salt
because expert reviewers have access to a wide variety of devices, (many of them high-end), they can have their perspectives skewed a bit. It’s nothing personal against them, it’s how we’re all wired. That seems to be evident in their review and coverage of the lcb3.

Lenovo has been ‘killing it’ (in a good way) lately in the chromebook space. Their chromebook duet gets most of the attention, but this lcb3 is the hidden gem in their recently released chromebooks.

I’ve owned the older lenovo thinkpad chromebooks in the past, but the lcb3 feels more like a thinkpad than those officially branded thinkpad chromebooks were. I’m baffled as to why expert reviewers haven’t given this device more attention.

I was initially concerned about how well the few android apps i rely on would work on a non-touchscreen chromebook, but so far, they work as expected.

I’m delighted with the lcb3 and it will fit nicely with how i use my chromebooks. I hope this is helpful to those who are considering purchasing the chromebook 3.

I have two teenagers in online school. These laptops were perfect for what we needed! Set them both up in minutes and had both boys doing homework. The only issue they have found is there is no caps lock and you can’t “right click” on stuff. So i would recommend a mouse and learning some shortcuts.

My job is entirely google based. I bought this as a second work computer because my company laptop is a thinkpad and it’s heavy. I just wanted to leave that at home and have a nice sleek backup for any work tasks i’d need to do in a pinch out of the house. I couldn’t be more pleased with this. It’s light, fast, and the battery life is fantastic. Lenovos are known for having great keyboards and this is the best one i’ve used on a small laptop. It also doesn’t look or feel cheap. The only thing that shows ‘budget’ is the screen, as it won’t blow you away. But it’s still very solid and surprisingly good from the side, where most screens in this price range are garbage viewed from an angle. If you are in the market for a laptop, and you are in the probably 95% of the public that absolutely doesn’t really need an $800 laptop for what they use it for, rush out and buy this one while the price is still insane.

I really like this chrome book. Very light weight. Very easy to set up. It automatically synced with my older one and transferred all my bookmarks over, along with most passwords.
Great for the money and ease.

What a great chromebook. Lightweight. Battery life is unbelievable. Lots of space for my needs. Absolutely love it.

I bought this for my son who is in the 7th grade for class work and it works like a charm! Screen is clear and bright and the cpu is fast enough for seem less streaking!

My son loves it and i found it to be a great value

Its a great little pc that is perfect to check email and surf the internet. It is nice to use on your lap and is very easy to setup. I definitely would recommend for the above mentioned tasks.

This chromebook is perfect for a person who wants a small, portable chromebook. It works great and the price makes it 100% worth it. The screen size is big enough but not bulky and it seems fast and reliable.

This chromebook is dirt cheap and would be great for a student on a budget or someone who just needs to use a few apps and browse the internet. I use it as a writing laptop, as i don’t want to take my expensive, bulky gaming laptop all over the place.

Despite being plastic, it does seem to be solid. The matte finish is a fingerprint magnet, though it’s not a big deal. The battery life is good, and as far as chromebook keyboards go, it’s fine to type on and better than some i have encountered in the past.

It’s fast enough, though it’s not zippy and will struggle with heavy apps or opening too many at once. The screen is also not exactly beautiful and looks very dated. Still, do you really need a nice screen on a $100 chromebook? You also need to be aware that chromebooks basically have an update expiration date, so before you think you’re getting a sweet deal on one, be sure to look up when it will stop receiving updates. I believe this one is good until 2026 or 2027, which is enough time to get enough bang for your buck.

If you’re aware of this chromebook’s limitations, this may be a nice buy. It suits my needs, and honestly i can’t stomach the idea of paying much for a chromebook in the first place. I won’t feel sick if it gets lost or stolen while i lug it around, but it does what i need it to do well enough.

This is my first chromebook, and i’ve been using it for two days. The battery life is amazing so far; it does appear to be 10 hours. Reading the reviews, it seems like a wide range of experiences, and i feel fortunate that mine works well so far.

It was very easy to set up. I saw 11.5 in the description, but the actual display screen is 10 inches. It isn’t a touch screen, and the keys are dark gray, not black. This was an impulse purchase after getting a new laptop a few days ago. My 6 year old dell would work no longer, and i got an expensive gaming laptop. It was my second one, but i was not expecting it to get so hot, with a noisy fan. The battery life is about an hour. To feel more comfortable, i wanted a chromebook for email, youtube, and amazon videos. So, this is doing what i want it to.
I will likely get more used to having no delete key, instead the alt+backspace key is used for that function. I was surprised when my bookmark bar appeared with bookmarks from 2013 on. I’ve deleted many of them in the bookmark manager.
My main dissatisfaction is the disappearing vertical scroll bar. In some emails, you can select ‘view in
browser’. I would be more frustrated if i didn’t have the laptop available. There might be a fix for that; i haven’t researched yet.
I purchased mine when it was 52% off, which is worth it. Buying electronics is risky. I’ve been very disappointed in the past, which is why i’m relieved and accepting of the machine i got.
Almost everything has become more expensive, and reasonable expectations seem to be in order. With two days use, i’m not regretting my purchase.

This chromebook would have been great, but it wouldn’t recognize my wifi nor my time zone. So if you live in eastern standard time, you might want to get another unit.

It’s a great laptop. It a bigger version of your cell. You can’t get a lot of games. I was expecting a regular laptop but is wasn’t.

I like it overall. The print on the screen is to small. The print in setup guide is way to small. I couldn’t figure out how to register. Couldn’t find serial number.

I loved how easy set up was, and other than the keys being a dark grey instead of black like i would prefer everything came as expected.

Compact yet sturdy chromebook.

The keyboard and general build of the chromebook is excellent. This piece of tech screams ‘do your worst’.
As a laptop for my 12-year-old to do projects with, it serves its purpose well.

The lenovo is reasonably fast, cycles through apps adequately, as you would expect from a no frills chromebook. The screen isn’t a touch screen, and it has a matte feel to it.

The only real downside is the screen brightness. I often find my kids pushing the brightness key in frustration, knowing full well that they’ve maxed out the nits’ capacity of the screen, and that their efforts are futile.

All in all, a good chromebook, especially for the price point unless you like using it outside (coffee shops, pubs or anywhere where its really bright. You wont see the screen)

Purchased for the purpose of organizing household finances in one place. The computer was decent. It did not have touch screen—somehow the product description made me think it did. Start-up was quick. My issue is because it did not have the windows operating system it was not compatible with some software i needed to install. Did not come with microsoft office either. I would need to use the subscription i had via a browser instead of opening on the desktop which i also was not a fan of. I did like that it was compact and small enough to fit in a large purse and charging time was decent. Comparable to a more expensive chromebook i purchased for my daughter for school just less memory. Good laptop overall for the price just did not meet my need.

Bought this on a amazon truck special. $149. You can’t get any cheaper than that. What you get is a basic chrome book computer. Not for main line use but great as a second or back up computer. However i find i am using this more and more as preferred. This machine is pretty responsive. Fast start up. Easy to use. If you have not used chrome before, there is a learning curve. Just understand. This is a computer just for surfing, paying bills, online videos. But again i am fiding more uses to use this laptop. Super light weight and will be great a travel laptop for vacations, etc.

One add on here. If like me and you actually use your laptop on your lap sitting on a couch or lounge chair. Unlike full feature laptops. This stripped down chrome operating system doesn’t emit heat from vents. So…. You don’t get hot. Maybe minor but for me an unexpected benefit.

Just a cheap computer. Doesnt do anything special, other than holds it’s charge well. It has touch screen above. I dont think it has a touch screen.