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There are powerful productivity computers that are meant for heavy lifting, but you’re not looking for anything like that. You’re in the market for a smaller, lightweight, and affordable computer that gets the job done. Well, let me introduce you to the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3. This computer fits the small, lightweight, and affordable category, but is it any good? We were given the opportunity to review the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3.
This is the type of computer that’s meant to give you plenty of bang for your buck. It’s a Chromebook that comes in at $319. So, you know that it’s not built to take on the latest Macbook. It’s the type of computer you get if your needs aren’t quite robust.
The thing about Chromebooks is that they’re both powerful and not powerful at the same time. They don’t typically come with the beefiest specs. However, they have a lot of productivity potential, as ChromeOS is heavily efficient, and Chromebooks are really good at the things they’re meant for. So, let’s dive into this review and see if the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is powerful enough for you.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Design
Lenovo has its own unique design language that it applies to its devices, and the Slim 3 has a pretty nice look to it. Like with some of Lenovo’s tablets, there’s a bit of a two-tone look to it. It’s not technically a two-tone look, but it gives off that appearance.
When closed, the majority of the top has a relatively smooth matte texture. About a quarter of the top, however, has a spree of slits running diagonally. The light will interact with this section differently than the rest of the top, creating an illusion that these are two colors. We see the Lenovo logo on the left side with the Chromebook logo on the right.
When open, we see the classic hallmarks of a Chromebook. There’s a giant trackpad with a fairly simple keyboard above. That keyboard is flanked by the large speaker grilles.
Display
As for the display, we’re looking at a 14-inch screen with some fairly slim bezels. The chin has the biggest bezel with the forehead in second place. This houses the front-facing camera. The side bezels are the thinnest and, while it has a pretty large chin, they give the computer an overall nice look. It almost has an edge-to-edge look to it.
Overall, I think that the IdeaPad Slim 3 lives up to its name. It’s not quite as slim as some of Lenovo’s other Chromebooks, but it’s still pretty sleek. I like that faux two-tone look to it as well. In terms of design, I have no complaints.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Build quality
The moment I picked up this computer, it hit me that it’s an affordable device. Now, this is not to say that it feels cheap. There are devices that pull tricks to make them seem like they’re more expensive than they are. They’ll either sport a lightweight metal design or have added heft to them.
That’s not the case with the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3. It doesn’t try to make you think that it’s more premium than it is. Rather, it makes you think that it’s higher quality in a different way. It lets you know that it’s well-built. The chassis is made from plastic, yes, but it’s a thick and sturdy plastic. It doesn’t buckle or creak when I apply pressure to it. That’s saying a lot, as I applied pressure to the top of the computer, which is usually the softest part of any laptop.
This continues to the inside of the device. The bottom of the computer houses all of the important internal components, so it’s important that it’s well-protected. Well, the bottom of the IdeaPad Slim 3 is solid. Applying some pressure to the computer, I couldn’t really get it to bend or creak.
The same thing goes for typing. It’s never a good sign when you’re typing, and you see the keyboard buckling under the force of your fingers. I tried aggressively typing on the IdeaPad, and couldn’t get it to move at all.
All in all
Overall, one of the things betraying this computer’s price is the build quality. Now, it’s not ultra-slim or clad in metal. Rather, it’s just solidly built. I can pick it up and feel confident about taking it out for work. I don’t get worried when I toss it in a bag or set it on my bed along with other items. Lenovo put a ton of attention into making this a sturdy device, and it shows. So, I can tell that it’s a cheaper device when I pick it up, but I know that it’s not cheap.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Display
The display on this computer never really stuck out to me until I started pushing it to its limits. With a price tag of $319, you wouldn’t really expect it to knock your socks off; you’d expect a pretty run-of-the-mill experience, and that’s partially true.
There are some elements of the screen that are pleasant and others that are average at best. There’s also one notable issue that will deaden the viewing experience for most people.
Colors
Starting off with the colors, it looks like Lenovo calibrated the display to have a pretty neutral white balance, but it leans slightly warm. It’s not too noticeable, but you’ll notice it if you put it next to most other displays.
In terms of overall saturation, I’d say the colors are pretty average. Starting off, this is an LCD display, so the colors are already lacking. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of companies whose LCD displays have extremely punchy colors (looking at you OnePlus and formerly LG). However, the saturation in this panel is just average.
I wouldn’t say that the screen is dull, however. The thing is that there are plenty of screens that are so saturated and colorful that they could make anything pop, even if it’s mundane. Also, there are displays that you really have to push to make the colors pop. You have to watch videos with extremely saturated and vibrant colors in order for you to get some nice colors; the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has the latter.
Looking at mundane pictures, UIs, videos, wallpapers, etc., everything just looks okay. It’s not until I watch heavily saturated videos (like those YouTube videos that have 4K HDR footage to REALLY flex your display) that I see some nice colors from this panel. Even then, they’re not much to write home about.
Contrast
When it comes to the contrast, it’s just like the colors. The contrast is very average. I wasn’t blown away by any exceptionally dark shadows or deep blacks. I wasn’t wondering what technological wizardry Lenovo pulled. I’m just looking at an average LCD display with average contrast.
Brightness
In terms of brightness, I had no issue using this computer in most lighting situations. For starters, at full brightness, my eyes started straining while indoors, so I usually keep it at about 60% brightness. When I moved to a different location like a brightly lit coffee shop, I still didn’t have any issues seeing the screen. I think that some of that can’t be attributed to the brightness.
In terms of raw brightness, it’s good enough to be visible in well-lit indoor environments and in the outdoors as well. One thing that helps the visibility is the material covering the display, however. It’s a matte plastic. This plastic is much less reflective than glass, and that adds greatly to the visibility. My current laptop has a max brightness similar to that of this Chromebook. However, using these two computers in the same environments and lighting conditions, I found that the Chromebook was much easier to see because it cut down on the reflections. My laptop’s glass display reflected just about everything.
Touch response
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has a touch screen, which is a big plus over other laptops at this price point. You’re most likely not going to be using this laptop as a replacement for your tablet. However, there will come times when your best bet is to use the touch screen to navigate the screen.
I didn’t use the touch screen too terribly much, but my usage ramped up when I found myself in locations where I couldn’t access my mouse. The good thing about this is that the touch response is great. It’s not only great, but it’s about 1-to-1 with what you’d get with a tablet.
We’re all used to having to press hard and swipe slowly on lower-quality touch screens because they couldn’t keep up with the input. This is the kind of experience that you’d expect from a computer like this, but that’s not the case.
I’m used to tapping lightly and swiftly on tablets, and I was able to have the same experience while using the IdeaPad. Tapping, swiping, flicking, and drawing are all as fluid and seamless as on any smartphone or tablet.
Now, about that issue
So, what was this problem that I mentioned? Well, if you’re used to looking at fluid 60fps content, then you’re going to be disappointed with this screen. It can display the videos in 1080p at 60fps, but it can’t properly play the video at that frame rate.
The videos appear choppy for some reason, so you won’t get any fluid video playback. This is a major issue for people who really want to see smooth and fluid videos. They all come out rather choppy, which is a shame. Why is the video choppy? Well, I’ll explain later in the review.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Keyboard
I touched on how the keyboard doesn’t buckle, but I didn’t really talk about the keyboard itself. When it comes to the keyboard, the experience is pretty good. Obviously, this is no mechanical keyboard. You’re going to get extremely tactile keys with this computer. That being said, I didn’t find the keyboard to be really mushy.
The keys aren’t mechanical but they do all have a satisfying click to them. My main keyboard is a Redragon mechanical keyboard, but transitioning from that keyboard to this one wasn’t too much of a downgrade. There are definitely mushier keyboards out there on the market.
As for the arrangement of the buttons, it bears the layout innate to Chromebooks. Lenovo didn’t do anything to make this different from other Chromebooks. If you’re familiar with using these devices, then you should feel right at home. If not, then the lack of a caps lock key might be pretty jarring.
All in all, the keyboard isn’t exceptionally great, but it’s not bad by any means. Like most other aspects of this laptop, the keyboard is average; it gets the job done.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Speakers
Looking at the large speaker grilles on either side of the keyboard, I expected some nice-sounding speakers. I wasn’t only looking at the speaker grilles, as I saw the Waves Maxx Audio logo under the left grille. OEMs usually partner with professional audio brands to give their speakers a little bit of a boost. Let’s see if this partnership paid off.
Loudness
I’d say that the loudness and fullness of the sound are the best aspects of these speakers. The speakers on smaller laptops are usually overlooked or lacking in many regards. This goes especially for more affordable computers. Of all the things to focus on while making an affordable computer, the speaker quality isn’t always at the top of the priority list.
That being said, I was pleasantly surprised with how loud the speakers on the IdeaPad Slim 3 can get. They’re certainly loud enough to warrant the large speaker grilles. They’re definitely loud enough to replace your Bluetooth speaker when you want to fill a room with sound.
The speakers don’t only produce a loud sound, but they also produce a full-bodied sound. That’s probably more important than the loudness. Sure, the sound could be loud, but you won’t enjoy it if it’s thin and tinny. The speakers, however, give me a nice and hearty sound.
Low-end
While the sound is nice and full, the speakers still leave something to be desired. I think that the area they’re most lacking in is the low end. It’s pretty nonexistent at times. It doesn’t matter what genre of music I’m listening to, I just can’t hear the rumble.
There are some genres that put a heavy emphasis on the bass like mid-90s R&B and early 2000s pop. You can’t un-hear those strong synthetic bass hits of early 2000s pop. However, when I turn on music from those and similar genres, I just can’t hear the bass. I can hear most of the harmony, but I can’t hear the supporting lower tones.
For speakers this big, I would have liked to have some more bass along with the sound. The sound is really nice when it comes to the fullness, but the lack of bass really holds it back.
However, I can’t complain because this is still a very affordable laptop. When you’re selling a computer at this price point, you’re going to need to make some serious compromises. The sound is nice and full, but it came at the cost of the low end. You can’t have it all.
High end
The story of the high-end is a bit of a weird one. There’s a good amount of pleasant high-end to the sound, but it can be a bit much at times. This is because of the lack of low-end. I won’t go as far as to say tinny, but there are times when it starts to approach that level.
I think I know why the sound doesn’t go so far as to be tinny. There’s this emphasis on mid-range audio. I think that this is what gives it the fullness that I’ve been praising. While listening to a song with bass, voices, and a high hat, I could hear the voices around the mid-range more clearly. This goes for other songs as well; I can hear voices and instruments in the middle of the range more clearly.
That’s not particularly bad, but you also miss out on some of the higher tones, and voices don’t pop as much. Also, if you’re into listening to 80s pop, you won’t hear those higher “twinkle” tones as clearly.
All in all
The speakers on this computer are nice for the price. They give you a nice full sound that can fill your room. However, you’re missing out on some of the immersion that comes with more substantial bass. In general, they’re a bit lackluster, but they’re notably good for the price that you’re paying for the laptop.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Ports
Chromebooks don’t typically have a ton of ports, and this one is no exception. You have a USB-C port to charge the laptop, but you can also use it to plug in other devices for file transfers. There’s a USB-A port right next to it along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot.
That’s about typical for most Chromebooks on the market.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Performance
So far, my emotion toward every aspect of this laptop has been “It’s pretty average. Not great, but not bad”. However, if there’s one thing I can say is truly bad about this Chromebook is the performance. I’m not going to mince words here, this laptop performs terribly.
Here’s the natural progression of most devices; they work smoothly out of the box, but they start to slow down as they age. I had a $200 Chromebook a while ago, and it took about a year before I started to see its performance tank. At that point, it would freeze up, apps would take a second to load, and the overall experience slowed down.
That’s the kind of performance I got with the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 out of the box. From the moment I powered it on, I saw substantial stutter and slowdown throughout the software. I waited for the computer to properly wake up, and it persisted. I was surprised at how consistent the slowdown was throughout the software.
Basic things like opening web pages take longer than they should. While using YouTube Music, just about everything takes multiple seconds to complete, and this includes playing and pausing the music. Scrolling through feeds of any kind makes it look like I’m watching a slideshow.
Twisting this computer’s ARM
This, sadly, exemplifies that ARM-based processors are just not reliable for running a full desktop operating system (unless it’s in an Apple computer). From the moment I turned this Chromebook on, the MediaTek Kompanio chip was struggling just to run the operating system.
I could understand if I was trying to run demanding applications or opening up 100 Chrome tabs. However, I’m using it for modest writing work most of the time. It chugs while handling the YouTube Music website. If you’re wondering why the videos are choppy, well, here’s your answer. The computer is too weak to render the 60fps video.
There were multiple occasions when the computer would lock up completely and force itself to restart. This would happen on random occasions; it didn’t matter what workload I was dealing with.
Price is not an argument
Sure, the price is low compared to other computers, but $319 is still a lot of money to part with in general. If you’re going to pay for a device with that kind of money, you’d want it to perform its core tasks with some level of proficiency. I’m not using any software that didn’t come pre-installed on the device. Google Chrome is the main browser, and I never use more than about four tabs. I’m not doing anything that pushes this computer to its limits, but it’s constantly chugging.
I wouldn’t mind trading the MaxxAudio tuning for a slightly better processor. At $319, some slowdown is to be expected, but there’s just too much here.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Battery
Back on a higher note, the battery performance of this laptop is very good. I typically used the IdeaPad Slim 3 for extended working sessions with tons of video-watching. I’ve yet to kill this battery in one sitting.
Rather, I find myself using this computer for a few hours at a time per sitting and not having to reach for the charger until around my third or fourth. I’d say that, on average, I get about 10 hours of screen-on-time, which is nothing to scoff at.
The great battery life also transfers to the standby time. Part of the reason for this is due to Google rather than Lenovo. There’s a battery setting in ChromeOS that will disable all of the connection options when it goes to sleep. So, when I close the computer, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are shut off automatically. This definitely adds to the battery savings, and it’s a good setting to have. The only thing you have to know is that every time you open the computer, you have to reconnect to the Wi-Fi connection.
Charging
If you find yourself on a low or dead battery, it won’t really take long to get back to full. I’d typically have the battery charged fully in under two hours. A quick 30-minute charge is enough to get me through a full work session of about four hours.
Overall, the battery performance is one of the strongest parts of the user experience.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Review: Webcam
This computer comes with a modest webcam on the front that you can use for video calls. Being a cheaper laptop, I didn’t expect gold with this webcam; however, I wasn’t quite disappointed.
To start off, this camera is a 720p camera which is a pretty decent resolution for a computer this cheap. As for the quality of the actual video, it’s pretty good. No built-in computer webcam is particularly amazing, but the camera on the IdeaPad Slim 3 is more than serviceable for the price. The video looks pretty good with limited digital noise.
I’m not sure if this is because of the lower quality or if the company planned it this way, but it looks like the company used some sort of face-smoothing technology. It definitely looked like it applied some sort of beauty filter over my face. It’s no big deal, as you’re not using this for the video quality or details. It’s rather nice for such an affordable computer.
A neat addition to this computer’s webcam is the privacy slider. Right above the actual camera lens, there’s a little slider. When you slide it, you’ll see a little red slip of plastic covering the camera lens. This means that you don’t have to worry about any apps gaining unauthorized access to the camera.
Who is this computer for?
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is for people who are looking for an affordable computer they can rely on. This device is a well-built piece of hardware that you know will last you through a ton of usage. Nothing about the build quality lets me know that Lenovo skipped on the essentials.
This computer is for people who are constantly on their computers. When away from the charger, I never felt worried that I was going to run out of battery power. It didn’t matter if I had a full battery when leaving the house or half, I would be able to use it for as long as I needed with some battery to spare. Also, I never had to worry if I left it off of the charger for a few days. I’d open it to find that the battery barely dipped.
It’s for people who are looking for a computer with a loud set of speakers that have a nice and full sound. If you want to listen to music without using headphones or if you just want a device to play music, then you’ll like this computer.
If you’re planning on using this computer out in daylight, then it’s definitely for you. The brightness, in tandem with the matte material over the screen, means that you won’t have much trouble seeing your display when you’re working in bright environments.
You’ll also want to pick this up if you’re looking for a computer with a camera that gets the job done. The webcam’s performance is more than usable.
Who is this computer not for?
The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is not for people who are looking for a smooth experience. Ever since I turned it on for the first time, it’s been choppy and slow. Most things that I do on the computer cause it to chug, and that could be frustrating if you’re using it for work. Also, if you’re looking for a reliable software experience, then you’ll want to pass it up because I can’t trust that I can use it for an extended period of time without it locking up on me.
This computer isn’t for people who are looking for speakers with more bass. They’re loud, but they’re lacking in the depth department. So, if you typically listen to music without headphones, then you might grow tired of the higher tones of the speakers.
Final verdict
Reviews like these are tough to sum up. For the price of $319, you’re getting a computer with a pretty decent display, nice webcam, great battery life, pleasant keyboard, and nice speakers. It’s a nice computer in those respects with some aspects punching above the price tag.
However, features like those mentioned above don’t mean much if the performance is bad. It doesn’t matter if the speakers are nice if navigating to the music player is a pain each time. Those features do well to enhance an already strong performance; they don’t make up for poor performance, however.
I understand that the MediaTek processor is a more cost-effective offering and it lent to the battery performance, but the software experience was plagued from the start. I think that the performance of a brand-new computer shouldn’t be this bad, no matter how affordable it is. When you part with money for a new computer, no matter how economical it is, you’re still paying for a device that performs specific tasks. If it shows that it can’t perform those tasks, then what’s the point?
If this is the only option for you, then picking up this computer won’t be the worst thing. However, my recommendation is that you keep your options open. You should be able to find better-performing options for not too much more money.