Gone are the days when budget laptops looked worse than their more premium siblings. The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 looks like a modern laptop, and it’s not only the looks that make it stand out. The shut-down and boot times were optimal. All everyday office tasks can be done without facing many problems, and even some amount of light gaming can be done. So let’s dive in and see what the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 delivers!
Design
The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 is for sure lightweight, which is good since it makes it easier to carry around. It measures 0.9 by 10.2 by 14.9 inches (HWD). It also weighs around 4.85 pounds making it more lightweight and portable than the other laptops in the same category.
The laptop is painted in platinum grey, and when you first look at it, you might confuse it to be an aluminium build. It’s not but still feels sturdy and at the same time pretty sleek. The way this laptop is profiled, people will be quick to notice that most high-end systems of Lenovo sport the same platinum grey profile. However, the material is prone to dirty marks.
Connectivity
When you look at the laptops that come into the budget, you will see that they don’t fulfill your aesthetic needs, but the IdeaPad 330 is an exception here. The laptop looks sleek thanks to how thin it is. And even being this slim, the IdeaPad 330 delivers excellent connectivity. You get:
- 2 USB-A3.1 ports
- USB-C 3.1 port
- HDMI port
- 3.5mm combo audio jack
- SD card reader
One thing that we would love to hand is support for Thunderbolt 3, but it’s pretty common for low budget laptops to exclude that, feature. With the IdeaPad 330, you also get Bluetooth 4.1 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Specifications
Processor: 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-8130U Processor (2.20 GHz, up to 3.40 GHz with Turbo Boost, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 4 MB Cache)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
Display Type: 39.62cms (15.6) FHD LED-backlit AntiGlare 1280×720
Memory: 4 GB
Hard Drive: 2TB 5400 rpm
Optical Drive: DVD-RW
Warranty: One-year Depot or Carry-in
AC Adapter: 45W
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
Battery: 2Cell 30WH
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 4.1
Camera: 720P HD
Fingerprint Reader: No
Wireless: Wi-Fi 1×1 AC
By looking at the specs provided by Lenovo, you can pretty much guess what performance the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 will be able to deliver. The good thing about the performance here is that if you don’t like the specs, you can customize then when ordering. This means if you don’t agree with the CPU choice, or RAM size, then change it.
The performance you will receive from the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 will be able to get you through most of your daily tasks, including things like handling web applications and general office software. Multitasking will also show no issues with a portable laptop. When it comes to gaming, some light games can be played without issues. However, heavier titles will not run with the Lenovo IdeaPad 330.
Display
The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 sports a 15.6-inch 720p screen and is one of the features that could have been better. The resolution is low, but the screen is still bright and colorful enough for your daily day to day tasks. It’s true most other laptops in the competition are offering a complete full HD display, but Lenovo chooses 720p to keep the costs down and present a price tag you can afford.
The display will not bother you when you are working on office applications. You will tend to notice it when watching videos with darker areas. The view angles are also not that great, but all of this does help to keep the price down, so it’s acceptable. However, the screen is not all bad, as you do get an anti-glare coating on the screen, which makes sure you get no reflections when looking at the screen.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Keyboards on Lenovo laptops never disappoint, and the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 is no exception. The keyboard feels and works well. The 70 grams of actuation force does give the keys a good amount of weightiness, in a good way. There’s one feature missing which is that keys don’t have the much-loved backlight making it harder to work on this laptop in darker environments although it’s understandable as most budget laptops don’t have this feature.
However, the keyboard won’t slow you down and will keep your accuracy up to the mark. The travel distance of the keys is 1.4 millimeters. The touchpad is also functional and showed no problems with normal scrolling, and gestures such as three-finger swipe and pinch to zoom. It also showed no problem in terms of responsiveness.
Conclusion
The only problem we faced with the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 is with the battery life it offers. It’s rather short, and it’s not ideal to look for a socket everywhere you go. Other than that the Lenovo IdeaPad 330 offers optimal performance with a sleek design.
Are you an avid gamer, how about investing some money on a gaming monitor, it will be worth it.