There are far, far more expensive laptops which lack keyboards of this quality. De-box, power up and it’s initially hard to look past those bezels. Camera: 720p webcam Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices. Most Chromebooks have cramped internal drives, and the 64GB of eMMC flash storage in the Flex 3 is no exception. He previously covered the consumer tech beat as a news reporter for PCMag in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where he rode in several self-driving cars and witnessed the rise and fall of many startups. The lower chin, in particular, is enormous. There's even a microSD card reader, a key feature for Chromebook users who need extra local storage. However, the Chrome OS environment is both less demanding and also cloud-centric. You want a flexible 2-in-1 device The system also boots up quickly, in 10 seconds or less. A graduate of Middlebury College, Tom also has a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University. The smaller generally the better when holding tablet devices. But it’s not enough to truly slow you down. Notebookcheck reviews the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11IGL05. In all of these benchmarks, the Flex 3 came in significantly behind the more expensive and more powerful Acer, roughly equal with its non-Flex cousin, and comfortably ahead of the Chromebook Duet (which has an especially pokey Mediatek ARM processor). As a 2-in-1 convertible, the Flex 3 can be used as a conventional laptop, and it can also be propped up on a desk like an easel or tent. At $339 (£299, AU$499) the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook packs quite a punch. I don't see this being a drawback unless you plan to connect an external display, since the Flex 3’s screen isn't really large enough to accommodate that many tabs comfortably in any case. (See how we test laptops and Chromebooks.). The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook has some pretty epic borders around its 11-inch touch-capable display. As does the general design aesthetic. And a 360-degree hinge increases its versatility without adding extra bulk. Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Not so much, thanks to some hugola bezels including an exceptionally elephantine chin. You’re looking for a device with true all-day battery life Neither are most this good-looking. With excellent build quality and a 360-degree hinge, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook ($339) is proof that capable, well-designed 2-in-1 Chromebooks don't have to be expensive (looking at you, $999 Google Pixelbook). But the core functionality is all present. Lenovo pioneered the 2-in-1 concept, and some of the excellent design from its more expensive models is apparent on the Flex 3. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. Meanwhile, alternatives such as the Asus Chromebook Flip and HP Chromebook X360 demonstrate what a little more cash will buy. The chassis is extremely rigid and the 360-degree hinge that allows this machine to transform into a tablet feels robust. Google has made significant changes in the past few years to make the Chrome operating system work better with touch screens in tablets and 2-in-1s, making the added versatility of the Flex 3 well worth it for some buyers. The Flex 3 is good for working mains free or surviving a long-haul flight with over 16 hours of video playback and well into double figures even for the most demanding workloads. Storage: 64GB eMMC SSD MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which 13-Inch Apple Laptop Is Best for 2020? While the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 copes fine with daily web browsing and media streaming, it would be a poor choice for anything more demanding. CPU: 1.1GHz Intel Celeron N4020 (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 2.8GHz Burst) TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. There's no support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless standard. In his spare time, he's written on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and big data's role in presidential elections. You will receive a verification email shortly. Arguably, that’s not ideal for a device that also doubles as a tablet. The Flex 3 has a handsome almond-colored metal exterior, reasonably long battery life, and even an SD card reader to let you easily supplement its 64GB of internal storage. The Flex 3's main drawback is its cramped, dim, low-resolution display, which keeps it from an excellent rating. Lenovo supports the Flex 3 Chromebook with its standard one-year consumer-laptop warranty for parts and labor. In the charts below, I’ve included some alternative models at different price points. It’s full-function 2-in-1 with an 11-inch IPS display and excellent build quality. Please refresh the page and try again. Aesthetically, everything from chassis to keyboard gives the impression of being somewhat oblivious to the last decade of laptop design. Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning. Ultimately, it all comes back to that context. The general theme in that class of Chromebook involves low-power processing and limited storage. But what it doesn’t feel is cheap. So, decoding video streams or locally stored video files puts very little load on the CPU cores. Alas, if you think that Lenovo has stumbled upon some hidden exception to the rules of physics and economics to fit such high-end features into a tiny enclosure at a palatable asking price, think again. You can generally count on smooth video playback. PCMag Digital Group. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? Mozilla Kraken: 2,109ms New York, The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 really is an awful lot of machine for the money and performs much better than the on-paper specifications imply. It’s around the same proportions as many 13-inch laptops. As for battery life, this is one seriously long lasting machine, notching up over 16 hours of video playback. Clearly less is sometimes more. A minor detail, perhaps, but you’ll occasionally be very thankful for it. Inside, the Flex 3 is available with just one set of computing components, and they’re pretty much exactly what we expect from a Chromebook at this price point. Follow him on Twitter @branttom. Processing power comes from an Intel Celeron N4020 CPU. But then you’re not going to get 8GB of system memory, a large M.2 SSD and a premium processor in a 2-in-1 device without paying far, far more. Thanks to reasonably sturdy keycaps, keyboard quality is also above average for a budget laptop. The stuttering and stalling is momentary rather than chronic. In the top border, there’s a 720p webcam that offers reasonably crisp quality in good lighting conditions, since it matches the resolution of the display. Despite the 11-inch screen, it’s hardly the most portable 2-in-1 machine either. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. But it is fully functional and feels built to survive knocks and tumbles. OK, this isn’t the sleekest or most elegant convertible device. The dual USB-C sockets, which both support charging, are another feature you might not expect on such an affordable machine. The Flex 3 is no exception. Both sides of the chassis sport USB-C and USB-A sockets, which are complimented on the left by a micoSD card reader and headphone jack on the left and a volume rocker and power switch on the right. Here is the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook configuration sent to TechRadar for review: In fact, the old school vibe extends beyond the screen. Rounding out the main features, wireless connectivity takes the form of WiFi 802.11 AC and Bluetooth 4.2. Were this a Windows laptop or convertible, that would be enough to have us running for the hills.
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