Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook Review: Low-Key, Reliable, and Unpretentious

Sometimes a device wears its personality right on its sleeve, and the Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook? Yeah, it’s that friend who just wants everyone to chill and not expect too much, okay?

The outside doesn’t have any wild surprises: blue finish, clean lines. You won’t mistake it for a luxury ultrabook, but it doesn’t look like it crawled out of the bargain bin either. Lugging it around, though, gets old after a few blocks, especially if you’re already cramming art supplies or gym shoes into your bag. This isn’t the one for folks aiming to beat gravity records. On the plus side, the webcam shutter and physical security slot come in handy if you’re always setting up shop in public.

Fire up the display and at first, it’s… well, it could pass for solid enough in a coffee shop under moody lighting. Full HD at 15.6 inches is technically enough room for split-screen chaos, but those colors? They just bail out as soon as you step under sunlight. Editing family photos? Mild streaming? Go for it. Anything artistic or color-critical, and it’s a hard “nope.”

Beneath that shell: Intel’s Celeron N4500. It handles web surfing and Google Docs well enough if you don’t get greedy with tabs. Try forcing it into heavy app juggling and the slowdown is obvious. The lag is an unwelcome party guest as soon as you open more than a handful of tabs—think basic, not ambitious. Start loading up on Android apps or push multitasking, and patience becomes your best friend.

Storage? Lenovo gives you 64GB. You’ll want to ration that—or figure out which files absolutely must be offline, because most things are going up to the cloud or not staying at all. Downloading multiple assignments or chunky files is an exercise in minimalism or frustration, depending on your mood.

Battery life lands right in the “eh, whatever” zone—expect to squeeze out a workday if you disable your inner screen-brightness goblin. No SD slot hurts if you’re tossing around photos from an actual camera, which is a letdown—they stuck in the usual USB-A and USB-C, but you don’t get any extras as a consolation prize.

On security and operating system, Chrome OS does what Chrome OS always does: you get a fast boot, simple interface, and very little drama unless you live off weird Windows apps. You won’t get viruses, but you won’t get much flexibility either. If you’re someone who craves obscure, quirky software installs, keep moving—this playground is walled.

Who should even buy this thing? If your entire digital life is on Gmail, Google Drive, and web-based work, and you laugh at those who insist on doing five things at once in twenty windows, go ahead. It suits students, entry-level admin, or anyone who just wants a digital notebook for basics and doesn’t expect “power” from your portable.

But: if you call yourself a creator, you love to multitask, or you want your computer to double as a mini-media studio—why are you still reading? Run in the other direction. The screen doesn’t serve justice to any real art, and performance breaks down with anything heavier than the browser basics.

To sum it up, Lenovo’s IdeaPad 3i Chromebook keeps expectations low and does fine—so long as you don’t raise them. Portal to the cloud, yes; productivity beast, no. Stress it too much, and you’ll be looking for a replacement in record time. If that’s cool with you, safe travels. Everyone else, you know there’s better out there—don’t settle!