Let's start with two good—well, pretty good—things about Lenovo's IdeaPad 3 15 . It has 8GB of memory, while some rock-bottom budget laptops have an inadequate 4GB. And not long ago, such an economic model would have had a lowly 1,366-by-768-pixel display instead of the IdeaPad's full HD (1,920 by 1,080) resolution. Otherwise, though, this 15.6-inch slab of silver-grey plastic is hard to get excited about. It will suffice for browsing, email, and homework. Still, its performance is tepid, and it lacks basic comforts ranging from a backlit keyboard to a USB Type-C port, as seen in some other economy models we've tested in recent weeks.
IdeaPad 3 15 Design:
IdeaPad 3 test unit features a dual-core AMD Ryzen 3 3250U processor, only half the storage you really want (a 128GB solid-state drive), and a non-touchscreen backed by AMD Radeon integrated graphics. The operating system is Windows 10 Home in S mode, limiting your software library to apps from the Windows Store; a Settings option lets you switch to regular Windows 10 Home, as we did to install our benchmark programs.
Measuring 0.78 by 14.3 by 10 inches, the IdeaPad is much more significant than two other low-cost 15.6-inch laptops PC Labs tested of late: the VivoBook 15 (0.78 by 14.1 by 9.1 inches), and the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 (0.78 by 14.3 by 9.8 inches). It's heavier, though—at 4.84 pounds, it has a full pound on the 3.75-pound Asus and 3.91-pound Dell. Also, its AC adapter is a bulky plug that hogs two spaces on a power strip.
