Some budget Chromebooks are clearly cheap-looking, with ugly styling and questionable build quality.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11.6 Inch HD 2-in-1 Laptop - (Intel Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 11.6 Inch HD 2-in-1 Laptop - (Intel

With a touchscreen and tablet capability that’s suitable for students or kids, the Flex 3 is truly versatile. TN panels are cheap to source, and Lenovo appears to have reinvested the savings in other parts of the IdeaPad 3. Hopefully, this is the result of a Chrome OS bug with the new Intel N100, but for now, it's hard to recommend something this hobbled. That really isn't the case with the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook (Gen 8) unless you're purely using it for casual browsing.We’ve covered Chrome OS on the site before and I don’t want to reiterate all of our earlier words, so in short, Chromebooks are tightly integrated with the Google ecosystem. I tried turning off some extensions to see if this issue was impacted by the higher load of a power user's profile, but to no avail.

Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Chromebook 11 Inch HD Laptop (Intel Celeron

Lenovo’s Flex 3i is a convertible laptop, which means the keyboard hinge allows it to fold all the way around so you can convert the laptop design into a tablet.One is the rise of the web app, which puts a fully functional application like Zoom or Google Docs inside a web page, and the other is the newfound ability of Chromebooks to run Android apps. An interesting bonus feature is the 4G mobile data integration, which means you can connect the Chromebook to the internet anywhere you can get a mobile signal, rather than being tied to Wi-Fi hotspots. 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. com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.

Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i review: A likeable but flawed Lenovo Chromebook Flex 3i review: A likeable but flawed

While you could use it yourself, as well, it's best not to make it your main machine because of its low-resolution display. Just like its predecessors, the IdeaPad 3 is very much an entry-level Chromebook – in fact, it’s one of the cheapest available in the UK. Our only reservation in this area is the side mounted power button, which is rather too easy to hit when converting the Flex 3 from laptop to tablet and back. To this end, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth come as standard, as do USB ports (both Type-A and Type-C, the latter often used for charging and video output, while Micro SD card readers are common.The microSD card slot is located on the IdeaPad 3’s left edge, where you’ll also find a USB-C port, a USB 3. It’s popular with PC gamers, as it gives a sharp picture without putting the strain on the GPU that a 4K image would.