Lenovo’s dedicated gaming laptop lineup Legion has some of the best gaming laptops you can buy right now. And now the brand has came up with a budget gaming laptop under its IdeaPad range. Called Lenovo IdeaPad 3, this gaming laptop is priced below $750 and offers decent performance for casual gamers. Lately we have been focused on finding best budget gaming laptops and we are glad to find one more offering to include in our list.
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 82K200UTUS features a 6-core processor, 4GB dedicated graphics, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage, and a 15.6-inch Full HD display. What makes it a bargain at its price is the ability to upgrade the RAM and storage – all you need to do is to open the back cover.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is a humble offering in the crowded gaming laptop market. It’s inexpensive, works well and can be upgraded. At its price, we are already in love with it.
Buy NowEverything Lenovo IdeaPad 3 82K200UTUS Has to Offer
There isn’t much to talk about the look and feel of this IdeaPad 3 model. But it’s worth noticing the narrow bezels, full-size backlit keyboard, bigger arrow keys and plenty of ports. It doesn’t feature a gamer-focused look and feel. So if you are buying this laptop for let’s say professional use, you would like to carry it around without worrying about your laptop being too flashy.
What makes this IdeaPad 3 model a decent gaming laptop is what lies inside the chassis. It’s powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H 6-core processor. The 3.30GHz 12 threads processor with Max Boost up to 4.20GHz includes 16MB cache and provides performance that makes gives this budget laptop a ‘wow factor.’ 8GB DDR4 (3200MHz) RAM adds good multitasking power to the laptop. While 8GB isn’t a lot of RAM, if you need, it can be upgraded up to 16GB using an idle slot.
A dedicated 4GB DDR6 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPU output smooth, lag-free performance. High-end games will have to be ran at lower graphics settings but for casual gaming, the graphics are a blessing. And if you needed better graphics, you would be rather looking at a more powerful and expensive gaming laptop, anyway.
What happens inside comes out in crisp and rich form on a 120Hz 15.6-inch Full HD display. Lenovo could have instead included a 60Hz display to cut down the cost but we are happy that it’s not the case. Gamers will enjoy the graphics and video output on a big display.
The built-in 2 x 2W stereo speakers try to do a good job but you will be better off with an external speaker or a dedicated gaming headset.
In the connectivity department this laptop has a enough to offer. A USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, an Ethernet port and a headphone/mic combo are present. A dedicated power-in slot as well as a Novo hole that allows you to enter recovery mode if your laptop ever fails to boot is also there. For wireless connectivity, Lenovo opted for the latest 802.11ax WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 standards – both of which are pleasant inclusions.
There’s a 256GB SSD storage which is not a lot but performs very fast. The good news is that you can upgrade the storage by using an M.2 NVMe SSD or if you prefer, a 2.5-inch HDD. Because the operating system – the pre-installed Windows 11 – and game installations will take up quite a lot of space, it only makes sense that you either upgrade the internal storage or use an external drive.
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 82K200UTUS: Overall Observations
Overall, Lenovo IdeaPad 3 82K200UTUS is a gem of a gaming laptop. It’s inexpensive yet carries some wonderful tech specs. The combination of provided hardware produce a performance that’s really good for a budget laptop. The quick, responsive and smooth gaming performance is a pleasant surprise at this price tag. The ability to upgrade RAM and storage is really a cherry on top.
Priced at $739.99, Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is a decent attempt by Lenovo to offer a praise-worthy gaming laptop under $1000. Casual gamers and professionals will appreciate its overall performance, although not its battery backup which hardly lasts 5 hours on full charge. But it’s not the worst compromise to make at this price.
Other recent budget gaming offerings include ASUS TUF Dash 15 and Lenovo Legion 5 82JW0012US that are worth checking out.
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