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The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook is a new laptop with a 14 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD touchscreen display and an Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor, which is one of the most powerful members of the Intel Alder Lake-N line of cheap, energy-efficient processors.
Lenovo quietly launched the Chromebook recently, and is now selling a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $415. But something about those features looked familiar, so I did a little digging and discovered that the IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook is basically a consumer-oriented version of the Lenovo 14e Chromebook Gen 3 that the company introduced in January for the education market.
Right now there’s only one version of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook available for purchase in the US, and it appears to be a (nearly) top-of-the line model. But it’s possible we could see lower-cost versions in the future.
Like its education-oriented cousin, the IdeaPad Slim 3i’s official spec sheet suggests we could see models with quad-core Intel N100 or N200 processors, as little as 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage in the future. HD and FHD non-touch displays are also supported.
For now, the only model available is a pretty premium laptop by Chromebook standards. In addition an FHD touchscreen display and an 8-core processor, the laptop has a backlit keyboard and support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1.
It has a metal cover and plastic body with a spill-resistant keyboard, a 1080p webcam with a privacy shutter, dual microphones, and stereo 2W speakers.
But it’s also not made to be upgradable in any way. The laptop’s LPDDR5-4800 memory and eMMC 5.1 storage are both soldered to the mainboard.
The Chromebook has two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port (for charging and data, an HDMI 1.4b port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. It has a 57 Wh battery and comes with a 45W USB Type-C power adapter, although you can also use up to a 65W adapter for faster charging.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook measures 324 x 216 x 19mm (12.8′ x 8.5″ x 0.8″) and weighs 1.5 kg (3.5 pounds).
via Chrome Unboxed
“But it’s possible we could see lower-cost versions in the future.”
Nope. No x86 Chromebook that isn’t headed to the education sector is going to be commercially viable without the Plus branding. It was the only way that Google was finally going to be rid of the 4 GB models with 32 GB eMMC storage and 1366×768 panels. So if it is going to be IdeaPad or any other “brand” that Lenovo, HP, Acer, Asus etc. care about and want to protect, it is going to have to be a Plus Chromebook.
While I will miss the era of low cost functional machines – my Acer Chromebook R11 served me very well for a long time – the “Chromebooks can’t do much and are only worthwhile if their cheap” stigma had to go if programmers, productivity workers, and video gamers were ever going to adopt the platform. This had to be done.
Has an i3 so they named it the 3i. 😊 🆗 🆒 ✅
Not quite, but close enough. Lenovo uses 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 for different laptop and windows based tablets classes to indicate base price range. “i” means Intel, otherwise its AMD (some store listings tend to lose “i”). While its in line with Intel and AMD naming, 7 line devices more often top at i5, but say some 5 lines have i3, i5 and i7 options, and 3rd ones have assorted low performance Pentiums. you can also have 3rd class device with bigger screen, but cheap out on some other aspect.
I wish they sort out Idea/pad/tab/yoga naming. It used to be consistent before, but now you have, for example, non-convertible yogas.