Chromebook S330

SPECS

The first of these cheap Lenovo laptops is the Lenovo Chromebook S330. It excels in three things: it’s affordable; has a nice look and design, and has excellent battery life. But don’t get too excited yet. This is a budget Chromebook after all so don’t expect much from this one. It can perform standard functions like web browsing, watch YouTube videos, and help perform work tasks for the office. The graphics GPU lacks the power for gaming, but it’s a great laptop.

This laptop’s good for those who need a laptop to do basic work tasks, perfect for students and the price isn’t bad as well. For those who want a serious performance powerhouse, good gaming, and to do complex tasks like video rendering, don’t get this laptop. So if you’re a student or someone looking for an affordable laptop or Chromebook to help you get things done, then this one’s excellent for you.  

Yoga C630 2-in-1

SPECS

The next of these cheap Lenovo laptops is the Lenovo Yoga C630 2-in-1 Chromebook. Some good things to note: it performs well; comes with great battery life, and functions as a normal 2-in-1 laptop tablet.

But this is not a cheap Lenovo laptop, as it ranges just a little above US$ 500. Another thing to be aware of is that it’s quite heavy at 2 kg, has no HDMI port to connect to an HD monitor, and has no stylus for the tablet mode. 

There are more affordable 2-in-1 laptops out there, so I’d say check them out here before deciding on this one. But overall, if you’re looking for a better performance laptop than the budget range, and don’t mind the shortfalls, then they pick this one for your next laptop 2-in-1 purchase.

IdeaPad 130

SPECS

The third of these cheap Lenovo laptops is the Lenovo IdeaPad 130. These ones’ good for basic functions such as internet browsing, use in the office, and streams Youtube videos well. It has good performance but remains true to the budget range.

It has plenty of inputs slots from HDMI to ethernet slot, even a DVD ROM drive which is rare these days. That’s all good but yes, unfortunately, it has a bit of shortfall. Firstly, it has a short battery life, the screen quality is low, the sound output is not that great, and it’s quite heavy.

This one’s also good for those who need a laptop to do basic work tasks, perfect for students and the price isn’t bad as well. For those who want serious laptop performance, great gaming fun, and to do complex tasks like video rendering, don’t get this laptop.   

IdeaPad S145

SPECS

The next one of the cheap Lenovo laptops is the Lenovo IdeaPad S145. It’s affordable, well-designed comes with a 15-inch screen and plenty of storage to store data and information. The hardware specs are typical of a budget laptop model so it’s the best to use for basic computer functions such as checking emails, web browsing, checking social media, and document editing.

Some things to note: the performance is not that great; there’s lots of storage but not its HDD, not SSD; the battery life is not that great; and comes with a low-resolution screen, even though it has a big screen. The S145 is good for those who need a laptop to do basic work tasks, perfect for students and the price is cheap enough for purchase. This one’s definitely a pass for those looking for a powerful machine.

100e Chromebook

SPECS

Perfect for young teens and students, the next of these cheap Lenovo laptops is the Lenovo 100e Chromebook. This may be the cheapest of them all Lenovo laptops. It’s perfect for all ages, even young teens can use this to get their school work done, plus it is very durable so if they drop it on the floor it’s going to have very little damage. 

It’s also a laptop Chromebook good for light computer usage like web browsing, checking emails and social media, and document editing. Some things to note here. This Chromebook has a small screen with thick bezels that makes it look narrow and have no touchscreen. The performance is really good enough to perform standard computer tasks. The webcam is not that great either. 

This one’s definitely for those looking to do normal basic tasks. Anything complex will really slow the performance of this Chromebook. If you’re looking for a cheap Lenovo laptop that young teens or students can use, has good durability, and is affordable, then get this one here. 

IdeaPad 330

SPECS

The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 is another one of these cheap Lenovo laptops but isn’t a budget laptop. It’s also a little over US$500 and is powerful enough to do more complex tasks. 

The big screen with good high resolution, good performance and well-designed are the main reasons to get this laptop. It’s easy to upgrade too, just pop open the panel underneath to insert a bigger or better hard drive, memory, and a bigger battery if available.

The main things to watch out for are the following: it’s a 17-inch so they are usually heavy laptops; the performance of the hard drive is not that great so if you can, upgrade it to SSD; the battery life is quite low with poor webcam quality. For those looking for a good-performance laptop at a reasonable price, and who can handle the faults then this one is for you. 

IdeaPad S340

SPECS

Then lastly the last of these cheap Lenovo laptops on this list is the Lenovo IdeaPad S340 which is also not a budget laptop. This Lenovo laptop is a mid-range model that has a bit more processing power than the budget. It’s well-designed, and not that heavy. It comes with a 15-inch screen with thin bezels to widen up the view. Good performance. Good battery life. Plenty of internal storage. It even has a GPU for casual gaming.

With all that specs, come the not-so-good points. The screen has a low resolution. It’s still okay but not the best. The internal storage is 1TB. That’s huge but it’s a traditional hard drive and loads slower.  

If you’re looking for this laptop, make sure it’s an SSD hard drive. It may be more expensive but it’ll make a big difference in terms of performance. With it, It’s going to help boot Windows faster. Your apps, other documents, and media will load much quicker. if not, get a laptop SSD hard drive, and get assistance to help install it.

The verdict, is a great laptop with good performance. Good laptop for light gaming. Perfect for those who want a more powerful laptop than budget models.

To Sum it Up

In my opinion, these cheap Lenovo laptops are good laptops that are highly favored, highly rated, and have received positive feedback from previous customers and users. If I was you, I’d go for the Lenovo IdeaPad 330.

It’s by far, the one that I prefer, and if you take it, I have no doubt it will serve you well. So do you like my choice of these cheap Lenovo laptops? Which one do you prefer? Thanks for checking out my post. Leave comments below, share it on social media because you never know who you would help.

et’s be real. Laptops are expensive. Over time, they will start to give you problems. With more and more powerful laptops releasing if you can afford one that’s awesome. Getting one will mean you having to gain much-needed skills and knowledge on ways to take good care of it because it’s a valuable asset to you.

So, if you are having a laptop problem or two, here are five tricks and tactics to help prevent common laptop problems from happening in the future. 

1) Overheating

This is a common laptop problem. As you use the laptop for long periods of time don’t your hands feel warm when you rest your hands on the keyboard or on the laptop?

Don’t worry, you won’t get burnt but you need to note this. There are components inside that heat up, so a cooling fan is installed to reduce overheating.

As it gets used over the years the cooling fan starts to clog up, then it starts to lose its function. It becomes noticeable when either the laptop suddenly shuts down during use or it stops powering up entirely.

To minimize this from happening, you need to keep your laptop well ventilated and elevated at all times whilst using it.

Take note of the following laptop solutions:

Place your Laptop on a Hard Surface 

The cooling unit is positioned at the bottom of the laptop, so it is important to always place your laptop on a hard, flat surface.

Soft surfaces such as pillows, cushions, or carpets, all cling underneath the surface and cut off possibilities of ventilation. The more ventilated and elevated the laptop is, the less likely it will overheat.

Get an Adjustable Laptop Stand with a Cooling Unit

It’s an affordable unit that lets your laptop rest on it and it activates an additional cooling fan to cool the laptop from underneath. It will keep your laptop elevated, and well ventilated.

2) HD Drive Breakdown

The next laptop problem is choosing the best hard drive. The hard disk market is pretty competitive as we consumers want more storage space to store information. Manufacturers are focusing on supplying hard disk drives with more quantity of space, but end up making sacrifices of quality.

Unless they have come up with a way to increase the quality, the bigger the number of storage offered, the more problems you will experience in the future.

Here are some laptop solutions:

Less Storage is Best

When buying a laptop or notebook, get one with either a 500GB or a 1TB HDD or SSD. Most of them nowadays come with less than 500GB of storage because now we have access to cloud storage.

Know your Product

Consider doing research to find out the name of the hard drive brand manufacturer, and check out product reviews to find out if their devices are of high quality.

3) Power Unit Problems

Another laptop problem is damage to the power unit. The power unit is responsible to help convert and manage overall power and voltage in your laptop. Any changes in the voltage can cause damage to your power unit which will damage the laptop.

To prevent this, here are some laptop solutions: 

Stick to using the AC adaptor that comes with your laptop

If it gets damaged, you going to need to purchase a new one from local your computer dealer and make sure it supports your laptop brand.

Overheating will also cause damage to your laptop’s power unit

Once again it’s important to keep your laptop offs it doesn’t do damage to surrounding hardware components. Check the information above on methods to minimize or prevent overheating.

Get a good quality laptop bag

Dropping the laptop will also cause damage to the power unit. It happens unfortunately to the best of us. I suggest getting a good and durable laptop bag, which has special protective features. 

4) Unchangeable/Dead Battery

The next laptop problem is damage to the battery. If your battery does not charge your laptop it could be one of two scenarios: 1) Your laptop battery is not working anymore and needs to be replaced or 2) Your AC adaptor is not working.

Both of these items can be replaced and are available for purchase from the laptop manufacturer. Modern laptops today, especially the 2-in-1 laptops and Chromebooks do not come with removable batteries as they have better battery power and long battery life.

As a result, if this happens I suggest either replace the AC adapter or invest in an affordable laptop such as a 2-in-1 or a Chromebook. 

5) Touch-pad Sensitivity

The next laptop problem is issues with the touchpad. If you are experiencing problems with your touch-pad being too sensitive, try doing the following:

Final Thoughts

Now that you know how to prevent common laptop problems, you are in a better position to know what to do if things go wrong with your laptop. If all else fails, then take to a computer technician to see what the problem is. 

What common laptop problems are you experiencing? What have you done to resolve it? Let’s discuss it by leaving your comment below.

9 Tips on How to Optimize your Laptop

So you have a laptop and it’s giving you nightmares. Maybe your hard drive’s almost full or viruses have invaded and are all over the place, messing up your files. If that’s the case then your laptop needs help.

But before you take it to a computer shop for repairs, try these tricks here to help you optimize your laptop. These will help to boost the performance of your newly bought laptop or notebook. .

1) Laptop Registration

Most laptops nowadays come with registration information to register your product online through the retailer or the company brand. This is useful for warranty claims and other laptop offers if you are interested.

So you need to identify and keep records of the serial number of the laptop, model number, date of purchase, the name of the retailer, and the warranty card or receipt in a safe place.

2) Bloatware

One way to optimize your laptop is to delete unnecessary files and/or bloatware. Bloatware is promotional software that comes pre-installed in laptops along with the Windows OS (Operating System). 

You need to remove them to free up space on your hard drive and to avoid annoying pop-ups. But careful not to remove the operating system itself. To find out check online on how to remove bloatware.

3) Windows Update

The next method to optimize your laptop is to update your Windows OS. If you have an internet connection, it is a good idea to update your windows operating system, as new updates and security patches are released to prevent software bugs and malware.

4) System Restore

It’s a name given to the collection of important system files stored by the system restore in Windows at a given date and time. Basically, it works as a safety mechanism in case Windows OS gets corrupted drivers and software drivers that do not work. You can use it to recover your Windows operating system to the date the restore point was created.

5) Anti-virus Software

Get rid of viruses is a good way to optimize your laptop. With all the viruses and unwanted software out there such as malware, spyware, or ransomware that can harm your laptop, it is a good idea to get a good anti-virus to secure your files and your system.

Windows 10 already has an anti-virus named Windows Defender, but you must also consider third-party anti-virus software, such as AVG, Avast, Norton, etc., as it comes with additional security features.

6) Backup, Backup, Backup

I cannot stress this enough, backup, backup, backup! Windows has a backup feature that lets you select a particular drive, folder, or files, and a scheduling feature to backup and restore data from the hard drive or an external hard drive. This is a good strategy to optimize your laptop.

7) Default Apps

Here you can set the software or applications installed to open emails, an internet browser, music player, photo viewer, etc. From the windows icon on the lower left of the screen, click it, find and click ‘Settings’, then ‘Apps’, then ‘Default Apps’.

8) Power Cuts

If you are constantly faced with frequent power outages, then it is a good idea to get an offline UPS to provide backup power. For laptops this is no problem, just remember to keep your laptop fully charged frequently.

9) Laptop Accessories

If you are not too comfortable using the touchpad, then use your external mouse. There are other accessories to use but it depends on the input ports available on your laptop.

Final Word

If these tricks are too advanced for you, or time is not on your side,  then it’s okay to take it to a laptop technician. It may cost you but once it’s done your laptop will run well as new.

If you’ve had it with your existing laptop and need a new one fast, then click here for a quick guide on how to pick a good laptop or notebook before purchase. Click here also view affordable laptops or notebooks to buy online.   

Any tips you would like to share relating to this topic? Are you considering these tips after getting a laptop? What issues are you facing with your laptop right now? Is it running efficiently? Please leave your comments below.