While some of the best laptops on the market can play the latest AAA games, that’s often way too much power for most folks, and they often cost an arm and a leg. Add to that the fact that Windows 11 likes to take a chunk out of the RAM to run, and you start running into issues where even budget-oriented laptops are quite expensive to stay above a minimum specification bar. Luckily, there is a solution in the form of Chromebooks, which run their own, more lightweight operating system, so you can get some really great stuff for cheap. In fact, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i is currently on sale at Best Buy for the 4th of July, and it’s going for just$229 rather than the usual $349 that it usually costs.
Why you should buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook
Because ChromeOS is a lot lighter than Windows, it means that Chromebooks like the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i can get away with having lower-end specs, such as with the Intel N100 CPU. It’s a lower-end processor that wouldn’t work well for a regular laptop, but this Chromebook will handle most day-to-day and general-use tasks without too much hassle. Granted, the 4GB of RAM is a bit on the lower end, even for a Chromebook, but it’s not as debilitating, and you’ll still get some pretty good use out of it. That said, the 64GB of storage is very low, and you’ll likely have to supplement it with one of these external hard drive deals, if you don’t have one already.
As for the screen, it’s 12.2-inch and runs at 1920 x 1200 resolution, which is perfect for this size of screen since you get a lot of pixel density, and combined with the 300 nits of peak brightness, it’s pretty solid. Also, the 2.75-pound weight and 0.72-inch thickness, combined with the smaller size, make it an excellent option for mobility since you can carry it around without your hand getting tired immediately. As for battery life, you can expect around 11-12 hours in the most ideal cases, although if you’re running it at full brightness and using it heavily, it’s likely to be significantly less.
Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i is a great option if you’re looking for a budget laptop, especially with the deal from Best Buy that knocks it down to just $229. You could also check out some other Chromebook deals for alternatives, or if you’d rather go for a regular laptop, then these laptop deals are worth checking out.