Target Audience:
Gaming Chromebooks are interesting because they are a completely different type of laptop than what you might think of when you hear the term gaming laptop. In fact, they are in a category of their own. Gaming Chromebooks are used exclusively for cloud gaming, as they don’t have the specs to natively run performance-intensive games and software. However, the tradeoff is that they are affordable.
One example is the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook 16. If you don’t mind using it only for regular web browsing, productivity tasks, and streaming, plus cloud gaming, this laptop is a great deal at just $429.
Reasons for choosing this:
During my testing, I had no issues booting up Xbox Game Pass and jumping into games like: Starfield and Sea of Thieves (And it worked pretty well.) Setting up the controller was quick and easy, thanks to the fast Bluetooth connection. In addition to its cloud gaming capabilities, the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook 16 impressed with its keyboard that felt really good to type on and build quality that doesn’t seem budget-level. The display isn’t anything special, but it’s not bad either. I appreciated the 120Hz refresh rate, but I wish the maximum brightness was a little higher. a bit It’s a little brighter now.
Battery life is average for a Chromebook, which is to say pretty good: During testing, we were able to use the device for about 10.5 hours before needing to charge. The Chromebook’s bonus perks make the overall package even more appealing, and include three months of YouTube Premium, one year of Google One cloud storage, and one month of access to Boosteroid.
There aren’t many downsides, and it’s hard to nitpick when you’re getting such great value. The downsides ultimately come down to the audio capabilities: the speakers sound a little cheap at maximum volume and generally lack depth. The microphone isn’t a strength either, and audio quality on the other end of voice calls isn’t great either. And, as we said before, this isn’t an outright powerhouse. Gaming LaptopsBut if you know what you’re getting (a cloud gaming machine), the price is hard to beat.
