Alright
So, what do you usually look for in a budget gaming laptop?
Well price, of course,
maybe build quality,
performance, etc.
Those are all fair criteria
Now, what if I told you that there is something that ticks most of those boxes and doesn’t break the bank?
This is the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3: An Amazing Budget Gaming Laptop
So, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3
What makes it so good?
Well, firstly, we gotta talk about that price
Not only does it come with a great deal of features,
but its price tag is just ~muah~
Splendid
It definitely has some competition,
namely the Acer Aspire 5, which does beat it in some categories
But, this laptop has a certain charm to it of just looking like a normal laptop
Nothing “gamery”
My IdeaPad comes in the Shadow Black package with a white LED-lit keyboard
that doesn’t have anything flashy or any crazy logos
For the build, it’s all plastic, which is, yeah, not very premium
But, it gets the job done
And the keyboard is very satisfying to type on
While the trackpad is fairly adequate
The IdeaPad gaming 3 has some solid dimensions,
including a 15.6 form factor
And an acceptable, but maybe a little heavy 5 pounds of muscle,
which might make it a little difficult to travel with, especially for college students
So, I recommend taking it with a case
Now for the screen, the laptop has a 120Hz display,
which is great for playing games on
The smoothness of a high refresh rate screen is really satisfying
You need to see it to understand what I’m talking about
However, my one gripe with this screen is its brightness
It can be quite dark, especially in a fairly lit room
If you typically play at night or in a dark setting, this won’t be an issue
But if you play in broad daylight, keep that factor in mind. It might be a little hard to see
Now going back to the stellar features of this device,
let’s talk about connectivity
Because I am quite impressed, actually
It’s got a great selection of ports that any gamer would appreciate
Now, one thing to note, though, is the USB-C port cannot be used for charging,
unfortunately
For me, personally, I actually would’ve liked to have another USB-A port on the left side
because they’re both on the right, where my mouse usually is
So…
Not great
Now, this is a gaming laptop, so we need to talk about its gaming performance,
which is actually pretty darn good for the price
In terms of a typical gamer’s use, this thing will be able to satisfying nearly all of your needs
The configuration I’m rocking is the starter model with upgraded storage
And, despite being the starter model, this laptop’s performance is really impressive
Check out these benchmarks:
It’s not something that I would say is the “best performing gaming PC on the market”
There are definitely better ones at a higher price tag
But for the price, it’s really incredible,
only being outcompeted by the Acer Aspire 5 on occasion
Moving on, let’s discuss the storage situation
Usually, most laptops these days are pretty stingy with their SSD configurations,
sacrificing storage for more features
But, this laptop doesn’t really do that
Mine sports a 512 gigabyte SSD, which, for the price, yeah, is not bad
For gaming, yeah, it’s not amazing because most games take up a boatload of storage
But for my budget-minded folks, know that this laptop won’t break the bank if you upgrade its storage
And since it’s a gaming laptop, you can open up the IdeaPad Gaming 3 and upgrade it yourself
Now, now, now before we get ahead of ourselves,
here’s one thing that I can genuinely say is not great about this laptop,
and that’s kind of to be expected, the battery life
Yes, it’s common knowledge that gaming laptops do not have superb batteries,
and this one is no exception
It’s not terrible by any stretch, but it’ll last for about 5 hours on average
So, don’t be shocked by it
However, it does charge pretty fast using Lenovo’s big brick charger
So, that’s a plus
But, don’t expect to game on the battery for too long
Now, here’s something that I think will be a little controversial
Lenovo packages this laptop with a preinstalled software that pretty much maintains your computer for you
It’s called Lenovo Vantage
It checks the PC’s temperature, keeps it updated, and helps you configure the performance the way you want
And for some, it can be annoying,
feeling like it’s the training wheels for your PC
But for me and for someone who doesn’t have a ton of time and just wants a computer that works,
this will do the job for you
So to each his own, but know that this laptop does have a little bit of bloatware
Now going back to the laptopy side again,
The IdeaPad Gaming 3 comes with a webcam with a built-in shutter privacy slider
that many people will appreciate
And in terms of camera quality, yeah, it’s not great, but hey…
And the screen does have a little bit of wobble, as some people have pointed out
But, it doesn’t seem to be too much of an issue for me
For you, though, maybe keep that in mind
And, lastly, the laptop runs Windows 11
So, is the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 the perfect laptop for you?
Well, let’s get this out of the way:
there is no perfect gaming laptop,
unless you spend a boatload of money on it
But, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a great device,
one that goes on sale very often, so you can get it for an even cheaper price than retail
However, there is a new one coming out, so keep that in mind too
Is the gaming laptop perfect? No.
It checks off most of my boxes, but its battery life and display brightness could be improved upon
But if you can look past those though, then, yeah, I’d say it’s a nearly perfect budget gaming laptop for you
It’s extremely economical, especially for a college student like myself
It’s also not too heavy. I mean, it’s not light, but it’s still very portable
And it’s very low-key and still very high-performing
So I’d say, if you want a gaming laptop that has all of those qualities and still doesn’t break the bank,
The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 is an amazing $700 laptop for you
My name is Cyrus. It’s spelled like “Cyrus,” pronounced like “See Rooster,” just take out the “ter”
Thank you very much for watching and have a wonderful day
Peace.