It boasts an 11.6-inch touchscreen on its … The hinge is sturdy, with very little bouncing when you tap the screen. Rounding out the main features, wireless connectivity takes the form of WiFi 802.11 AC and Bluetooth 4.2. The Lenovo Flex 3 feels pretty responsive, whether it’s streaming video or working in Google Docs. De-box, power up and it’s initially hard to look past those bezels. Best Buy has honest and unbiased customer reviews for Lenovo - Chromebook Flex 3 11" MTK 2-in-1 11.6" Touch Screen Chromebook - MediaTek MT8173C - 4GB Memory - 32GB eMMC Flash Memory - Platinum Grey. The system also boots up quickly, in 10 seconds or less. But the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 has carved out a little niche of its own thanks to that particularly good build quality and some good features including dual USB-C ports. The general theme in that class of Chromebook involves low-power processing and limited storage. The brushed-finish interior and chrome-lined touchpad only reinforce the high-end aesthetic. Ports: 2x USB-C with charging, 2x USB-A 3.1 Gen1, microSD And a 360-degree hinge increases its versatility without adding extra bulk. How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Testing the Flex 3: Average Chromebook Performance, A Slate of Strengths...and One Key Weakness, Read Lenovo Chromebook 3 (11-Inch) Review. Keep an eye on your inbox! So it’s cramped in productivity terms and is less than stellar for watching movies. Lenovo Flex 3 1480’s keyboard is backlit that helps to work even during the dark. Not only is the Flex 3 sturdy and good-looking, but it’s also without unnecessary heft and size. 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. If the sheer quality of the Flex 3 is surprising, its core specifications are less so. The smaller generally the better when holding tablet devices. A minor detail, perhaps, but you’ll occasionally be very thankful for it. Sub-$350 laptops are rarely this pleasing to hold in your hand. It will be a close call and will probably boil down to which form factor and screen is preferred. Please refresh the page and try again. You value sleek, contemporary design The most obvious is the Flex 3’s 11-inch screen. OK, this isn’t the sleekest or most elegant convertible device. Read helpful reviews from our customers. But it is small, it’s not terribly bright, and it’s pretty low resolution. MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air: Which 13-Inch Apple Laptop Is Best for 2020? The Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i is currently listed for $329.99 but is still unavailable for purchase. A headphone jack and a receptacle for a physical lock to prevent someone from stealing the laptop round out the port selection. But running Google’s Chrome OS and the G suite of apps, it’s more effective than you might think. User Reviews (1) 80. 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. Meanwhile, wireless connections include 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Aesthetically, everything from chassis to keyboard gives the impression of being somewhat oblivious to the last decade of laptop design. Slick Ultraportables Face Off: 2020 Apple MacBook Air vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, High-End Mac Showdown: Apple iMac vs. Apple MacBook Pro, Patent Shows How Apple Can Create a Black-Colored MacBook, Qualcomm Is a Little Too Unbothered by Apple's M1 Macs, Tablet, Chromebook Demand Soars as Pandemic Prompts Need for Affordable Computers, Early Benchmarks Show Apple's ARM-Based Macs Reign Supreme, Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (M1, Late 2020) Review. The Flex 3’s 11-inch panel is totally tragic. Lenovo’s latest 2-in-1 convertible laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5, is hugely versatile, but a little short on memory. You’re looking for a device with true all-day battery life Flex. Ideapad S Series: laptops for everyone. With a generous range of ports, it should also appeal to people who plan to supplement their Chromebook's internal storage and perhaps connect an external keyboard and mouse. Lenovo painted the metal finish with an almond color, which helps the Flex 3 stand out in a sea of plastic and occasional gray-aluminum chassis that typically make up the budget-laptop set. Lenovo Flex 3 is light in weight and even thin. The Flex 3's touchpad surprised me with its roominess and sturdiness. The laptop's chassis is also sturdy, with no flex anywhere on the base and a display lid that feels eminently sturdy. Flex Series. It makes the likes of Google’s now defunct Pixelbook look incredibly expensive. Sure enough, Lenovo has released yet-another Flex Chromebook but unlike the 13.3″ Flex 5, the new Chromebook Flex 3i is of the 11.6″ persuasion. Lenovo recently pulled the wraps off the Chromebook Flex 3I. Clearly less is sometimes more. With fat bezels and downdy styling, the Flex 3 looks like something from last decade. There's even a volume rocker on the right edge, and Lenovo has replaced the traditional Chromebook power button in the upper right with a key that locks the screen. Processing power comes from an Intel Celeron N4020 CPU. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 punches far above its weight. However, the touch functionally is reasonably responsive. The same can’t quite be said of scrolling around apps and web pages. Otherwise, you’ll have to increase your budget to consider 2-in-1 Chromebooks like the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 or the Google Pixelbook Go. Octane: 17,669pts A graduate of Middlebury College, Tom also has a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University. Other than the aforementioned lock key, the Flex 3 sports the usual Chromebook layout, which is a bit different from that found on Windows PCs and Macs. Keyboard. This thing is cheap. At the other hand of the spectrum is the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, an Editors’ Choice winner in the $600-plus price range. We created these ultraslim devices to give you the power you need over the long haul—at an affordable price. The 1,366 by 768 pixel native resolution of the screen is likewise a reminder of an earlier era. If you want us to review it drop us a line and we might just bump it to the front of our reviews queue. The Flex 3's battery life is adequate. It’s a laptop that makes you say, “I can’t believe it’s budget!” With the Flex 3 11-inch, the line between Lenovo’s elegant Yoga series and the no-frills Flex has been significantly blurred. In this case? Granted, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is no powerhouse. Learn more about the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook (11”), a flexible 2-in-1 Chromebook with Intel® processors, Chrome OS, and long battery life. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14 punches far above its weight. © 1996-2020 Ziff Davis, LLC. 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. 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). That’s true all-day battery life and it’s the kind of performance you’d never get from a budget system with a full fat Intel Core process. For ports, you get US… You want a flexible 2-in-1 device The dual USB-C sockets, which both support charging, are another feature you might not expect on such an affordable machine. As a hardware analyst, Tom tests and reviews laptops, peripherals, and much more at PC Labs in New York City. They give the laptop a decidedly early-2000s aesthetic when it's open, since most modern laptops have extremely thin bezels that are sometimes difficult to see at all. On our theoretical benchmarks, the Flex 3 performs about as expected for an entry to midrange Chromebook. That should get you through a day of occasional browsing, but it's on the low end for a modern Chromebook. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo Flex 3 11.6" TouchScreen 2-in-1 Laptop PC - Intel Celeron processor 4GB DDR3L / 500GB HD / HD Webcam / WLAN 802.11b/g/n / Bluetooth 4.0 / Windows 10 at Amazon.com. Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. Still, the large borders and the rather unimpressive display that they frame are really the only truly disappointing parts of this otherwise excellent Chromebook. 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. RAM: 4GB DDR4 Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, Mozilla Kraken: 2,109ms That Intel chip has decent video decoding chops, too, thanks to some dedicated hardware. On holding it, the laptop seemed to be durable. PCMag Digital Group. Despite the 11-inch screen, it’s hardly the most portable 2-in-1 machine either. Read Lenovo Chromebook 3 (11-Inch) Review Not only is the Flex 3 sturdy and good-looking, but it’s also without unnecessary heft and size. TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The entire laptop measures 0.7 by … The stuttering and stalling is momentary rather than chronic. It’s solidly executed and marks a literal and metaphorical turning point around which the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook transitions to its strengths. There 's little unwanted Flex in the Flex 3 ’ s lenovo flex 3 review Celeron N4020 CPU of... Gb of RAM life, this isn ’ t quite be said that it is functional! 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