| Product Image |  |
| Product Name | Lenovo Ideapad |
| Price | |
| Available Colors | Business Black |
| Review Rating |
A laptop is more than just a gadget; it’s also a financial commitment. In order to prevent wear and tear and enhance airflow and extend component life, Ideapad 330 has been built with a special protective finish and rubber detailing on the bottom. Although you wouldn’t want to use it for hard-core gaming or video editing, it can handle other jobs and provides plenty of storage for your collection of casual games, photographs, videos, documents, and other media. Let’s get into a fuller review of this device.
It’s difficult to be critical of a cheap laptop’s low-resolution screen. In addition, if you spend an extra $100, you can purchase a laptop with a 1080p panel, which offers a far more crisper image than the IdeaPad 330’s 15.6-inch, 1366 x 768 display. In the Rocky V trailer, Sylvester Stallone splashed himself with water, and despite the low pixel count, one can see individual drops of water beading on his face.
However, a closer inspection revealed plenty of graininess, especially in darker scenes. More than the over-the-top action sequel’s washed-out appearance, one may be concerned by the display’s flat colors and poor viewing angles.
Although the display on the IdeaPad 330 is very dull, the matte coating makes it easier to view in light environments. The display’s maximum brightness of 188 nits is lower than that of the Aspire E 15 (227 nits), Swift 1 (218 nits), and the typical low-cost laptop (208 nits). The average reading for the Inspiron 15 3000 was 170 nits.
An ordinary notebook, the IdeaPad 330 appears to be. That is to say, if I asked you to create a notebook, the IdeaPad 330 would probably be what you came up with. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and a silver lid that is imprinted on the Chrome logo. The silver laptop lid and the dark-gray undercarriage are composed of durable plastic, and the IdeaPad’s chassis is neither bulky nor thin.
The laptop’s interior lacks creativity as well. You will be reminded of your awful GI spectacles when I see the thick bezels surrounding a low-resolution monitor (or known in the military as “BCGs,” or birth control glasses). The dark-gray keyboard keys contrast attractively against the surface, and the deck’s brushed-metal appearance might easily be mistaken for aluminum.
In total, the IdeaPad 330’s design does an adequate job of serving its purpose as a laptop without being particularly inventive. It’s fine though. The IdeaPad 330 is a breath of fresh air in a market where we’re accustomed to seeing flimsy notebooks with low-quality components. The IdeaPad 330 does feel like a reliable computer; it is not as premium as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but it is still above average for the money.
The IdeaPad 330 (Intel Celeron N4100, 4GB of RAM) already demonstrated that its performance is only sufficient for simple tasks, such as writing emails or browsing the internet. It takes about a minute to load. The IdeaPad 330 becomes unresponsive if any additional tabs are open. Thankfully, one can navigate between pages with “just” a few second pauses once a webpage had finished rendering. A YouTube video in 1080p promoting Google’s Stadia gaming platform never buffers even though one had to wait a while for it to load.
If it were 2012, the 330 would have every port you could need. But truly, the laptop’s right side is occupied with a DVD drive. The CD drive is still functional. A USB 3.1 port, a USB 2.0 input, an HDMI port, an RJ45 Ethernet port, and a headphone/mic combo connector can be found on the IdeaPad 330’s opposite side. Additionally, there is a 4-in-1 card reader that enables dongle-free uploading of photographs from SD cards.
The Swift 1 is a thin and light 14-inch laptop that weighs 2.9 pounds and measures 12.7 x 9.0 x 0.6 inches. The Swift 1 has a wider footprint than other 14-inch competitors and weighs more than 3 pounds, including the Asus VivoBook Flip 14 (12.9 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches, 3.2 pounds) and Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (12.1 9.3 x 0.7 inches, 3.2 pounds). Unsurprisingly, the Swift is smaller and lighter than the 15.6-inch Acer Aspire E 15 (15 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches, 5 pounds).
The IdeaPad 330 continues Lenovo’s tradition of consistently producing high-quality keyboards. Although it’s not as nice as a ThinkPad’s, you will still like using the IdeaPad 330’s keyboard. The well-proportioned, somewhat curved chiclet-style keys are pretty clickable. The 70 grams of actuation force in the keys contribute to their pleasing weight. Although the key travel distance falls short of our preferred 1.5 millimeters, it is still better than that of similar smartphones’ keyboards. Although it’s not yet a must for low-cost laptops, things would have been better if it had backlighting.
The IdeaPad 330’s 4.1 x 2.6-inch touchpad is reasonably sensitive, and one might not face any trouble using Windows 10 motions like pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipe to switch windows.
Please refrain from using the IdeaPad 330’s built-in webcam when you are video chatting with someone else. Given how bad most webcams we test are, the 640 x 480 lens on this laptop may be the worst you may have ever seen.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 manages to last 7 minutes longer in the Creative Battery Life test of PC Mark 8 in comparison to the IdeaPad 330S, lasting 153 minutes on a single full charge. The battery lasts 3.3 hours while carrying out daily activities like writing and browsing while using six Chrome tabs open. The screen brightness was set to 60% for a test, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were both enabled. A few applications were also added around this time as well. On a laptop in this price range, battery life of about three hours is still inadequate but not atrocious. It is clear that by using fewer applications and lowering the screen brightness, battery life might be extended to about four hours.
Even after being overworked by a 15-minute, full-screen video, the IdeaPad 330 managed to maintain a respectable level of cooling. Only 81 and 83 degrees, respectively, were reached by the touchpad and keyboard. Only the laptop’s bottom, which reached 96 degrees, exceeded our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. So, it’s not an issue.
The IdeaPad 330 is offered in a wide range of pricing points and configurations. A 15.6-inch laptop with a 1366 x 768-pixel display, an Intel Celeron N4100 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive was tested for $265.
A more expensive IdeaPad 330 with a Core i3-8130U processor can be purchased for $299, and an AMD model (opens in a new tab) with a Ryzen 5 2500U processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 2TB HDD can be purchased for $663.
The Pros include a sturdy design, a comfortable keyboard, and a low price.
On the contrary, the Cons of this model consist of few USB ports, poor performance, a dim, dull display, and short battery life.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 (reviewed at $265) is a good option if you’re on a small budget and require a laptop for simple web work. Budget laptops rarely have features like the solid chassis and comfy keyboard of this 15.6-inch device. Even a DVD drive, which is no longer common on laptops, is present on the IdeaPad 330. Sadly, a bad display, limited battery life, and middling performance ruin the enjoyment, so we advise spending a little more on a more effective device, such as the Acer Aspire E 15. You can even refer to the Complete guide to buying new Laptops before making your final purchase.
Buy Now
