Lenovo Vantage software centralizes system updates, Wi-Fi security and file transfer from your old PC, and hardware settings. The keyboard includes a numeric keypad you'll be typing passwords since there's neither a fingerprint reader nor a face-recognition camera for Windows Hello. Pressing your thumbnail against the edge of the top bezel slides a privacy shutter over the webcam. Also, its AC adapter is a bulky plug that hogs two spaces on a power strip. It's heavier, though-at 4.84 pounds, it has a full pound on the 3.75-pound Asus and 3.91-pound Dell. Measuring 0.78 by 14.3 by 10 inches, the IdeaPad isn't much bigger than two other low-cost 15.6-inch laptops PC Labs tested of late: the VivoBook 15 (0.78 by 14.1 by 9.1 inches), and the Dell Inspi(0.78 by 14.3 by 9.8 inches). The operating system is Windows 10 Home in S mode, which limits your software library to apps from the Windows Store a Settings option lets you switch that over to regular Windows 10 Home, as we did to install our benchmark programs. No match for the $719.99 IdeaPad 3 configuration offered at, our test unit features a dual-core AMD Ryzen 3 3250U processor, only half the storage you really want (a 128GB solid-state drive), and a non-touch screen backed by AMD Radeon integrated graphics. Of course, upping your budget to $600 or $700 will get you a much more enjoyable notebook. One, the Asus VivoBook 15 (F512JA), is a better 15-inch machine for the same price, while the MSI Modern 14 is an Editors' Choice winner if you want to go a little smaller. It will suffice for browsing, email, and homework, but its performance is tepid, and it lacks basic comforts ranging from a backlit keyboard to a USB Type-C port, seen in some other economy models we've tested in recent weeks.

Otherwise, though, this 15.6-inch slab of silver-gray plastic is hard to get excited about. And not long ago, such an economy model would have had a lowly 1,366-by-768-pixel display instead of the IdeaPad's full HD (1,920 by 1,080) resolution.

It has 8GB of memory, while some rock-bottom budget laptops have an inadequate 4GB. Let's start with two good-well, pretty good-things about Lenovo's IdeaPad 3 15 ($399.99 for the model 15ADA05 we tested).

Lenovo ideapad 3 82ku00c2us review