Lenovo - IdeaPad 3 15" Laptop - Intel Core i3-1005G1 - 8GB Memory - 256GB SSD - Platinum Grey

This laptop is fairly priced normally, but if you can get it on sale it's simply the best value available right now in a new laptop. I picked mine up a couple days ago for $299.99 and at that price, there is nothing that can compare with it (new). You can read about the specs elsewhere so I won't bother to address here. Instead I'll try to add some observations as I think of them that I hope will still be useful. First, Lenovo reps will always jump into these comments and question sections to tell us that "this model is not user upgradable. A certified technician must do all of the work, so as to not void the warranty." While it may void the warranty, it is not true that the model is not user upgradable. In fact, this laptop is particularly easy to open up, and the RAM, SSD, WIFI card and battery are all upgradable/replaceable. RAM comes dual channel, with 4GB soldered and 4GB replaceable (see photo). Lenovo states that the replaceable slot can take up to 8GB, but many people are reporting they've stuck 16GB in there and they're getting all 20GB total. I happened to have an extra 8GB stick of DDR4 2667MHz available, so I pulled out the 4GB and threw that in there for a total of 12Gb, and that's working perfectly. Also, as I read through some of the Lenovo reps' answers to questions, I see there is quite a bit of incorrect information. For example, the laptop DOES have a media reader (SD card) and the display is 1920x1080 (FHD) IPS, *NOT* a TN 1366 X 768 (HD) screen, as stated by a Lenovo rep in answer to a question on this site. Anyway, at this price, there is really little for me to complain about. Yes, I wish it had a backlit keyboard, and yes I really wish it had a USB-C port (which is a ridiculous omission here towards the end of 2020), and perhaps some of the plastic (eg, the bottom panel could look less cheap...but for $299.99 I'm willing to overlook such things. The laptop works perfectly well (even with the stock 8GB RAM) for all of the tasks you are likely to do with a sub-$500 computer (office apps, media consumption/streaming, even light gaming as the integrated G1 graphics on the Ice Lake i3 are also good enough to handle some decent games at over 60fps also [e.g., CS:GO, Dirt Rally] if you play with settings/resolutions.) It also has a decent keyboard, with nice spacing between keys, and a numpad (which is not a given these days, even on 15" laptops). The keystrokes are a little shallow, but all in all it's a good typing experience. The audio on this laptop is surprisingly good. It gets pretty loud compared to many laptops (especially ones this inexpensive), and distortion-free, though it's by no means any kind of audiophile experience. Play with the Dolby settings and EQ and and you can settle in to sound that you like. One downside for me is the SD reader; I like to keep a 400GB Micro SD card loaded with music in my laptops, since I am constantly listening to tunes on the go and want to be able to do that anywhere without worrying about streaming and internet connectivity. And while I can certainly still do that with this laptop, the SD cards do not sit even close to flush with the side of the laptop, they protrude quite a bit. WIFI is an Intel AC 9560 card, and I'm getting great speeds with no complaints. For anyone upgrading the SSD or starting off with a clean install of Win 10, do go to Lenovo's site and download "Lenovo Utility." Among other things, this is the application that will then allow you to easily switch the BIOS system performance modes (thermal profiles - Intelligent Cooling [15W TDP], Battery Saving [12.5W TDP] or Extreme Performance [25W TDP]) via Fn +Q. I would recommend this laptop even at full price, but if you can get it on sale, it's a fantastic deal.

Probably the BEST DEAL I have ever found on a laptop. I bought the same model and not a week let found it even less expensive, so I bought this one and returned the other. Not one problem. A couple freebies and more points. This is a great laptop for almost anything! I highly recommend this make and model!!

I love my new laptop, it replaces an HP I had for about 4 years. It’s great for email, Facebook, and Citrix to log in for work. I was worried set up would be difficult, it took less than 10 minutes, a great deal!

This is a really good computer. Just the right size. Not too expensive. It has a lot of storage space for the many pictures that I take and store on my computer.

I definitely recommend purchasing this laptop. It works greats. Everything loads quickly. The camera quality isn’t bad. Storage is good. So far, so great.

After having the computer for 3 weeks the camera is malfunctioning, and there are yellow vertical lines on any image. This wouldn't have been a huge issue, except for now when I'm primarily using the computer for Zoom meetings.

Got my first new laptop and saved so much money I got a 1tb external hard drive to back everything up plus sim DVD writer

Great product for what it's designed for. I can work from it and produce music!