Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 with Backlit Keyboard • AMD AI-Enhanced Ryzen 5 (Outperforms Intel i7-1255U) • 16GB RAM • 512GB SSD • Type-C • Windows 11 Pro • Lifetime Office 365 for The Web • No Mouse

Solid product. Not really for gaming or extreme computing

It is thin and lightweight. The lap top is fast and perfect for school and work.

I purchased the Lenovo Essential IdeaPad based on its promising specifications, but my experience has been nothing short of a nightmare. It arrived today, and I was excited to set it up, only to be met with constant crashing during the initial update process. As soon as it reaches the “Downloading Updates” stage, the system crashes and shows the dreaded blue screen of death (IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE error). It does the same thing over and over again. Just keeps restarting and reaching this same errorThis isn’t just a random glitch—this is a blatant failure of quality control. For a brand-new laptop, this level of malfunction is unacceptable. I haven’t even been able to set it up, let alone use it for anything productive. This is a nearly $400-worth paperweight right now.To make matters worse, there is no easy solution provided. I’ve tried restarting, following basic troubleshooting steps, and yet, the problem persists. For a company of Lenovo’s caliber, this kind of defect on a supposedly “Amazon’s Choice” product is disgraceful. It makes me wonder if they even care about their customers.I’ll be reaching out to customer service, but I have little hope considering this terrible first impression. Save yourself the time, money, and frustration—avoid this laptop at all costs. I expected reliability and got disappointment instead.If Lenovo cares about their reputation or their customers, they need to rectify this issue immediately. This experience has left me questioning whether I’ll ever purchase a Lenovo product again. Buyers beware.

This is a review of: Lenovo V15 Business Laptop • 32GB RAM • 1TB SSD • Intel 4-core Processor • 15.6" FHD • Ethernet Port • HDMI • Windows 11 Pro • Sleek Design • Effortless EleganceSpeed: 3 StarsI’ve had this laptop for about a month now, and I have been using it almost daily, I am somewhat disappointed by this laptop. Since it has twice the RAM of my former laptop, I expected to see a significant increase in speed, but I haven’t. It works about the same as my laptop with 16 GB of RAM. It is pretty slow to download and upload. It is slower than my older laptop when it comes to downloads, so I know it’s the laptop, and not the internet connection. Also, the computer is pretty slow at transferring files. It took forever to get all my files off my external hard drive and onto the computer. Granted, it was over 10,000 files. But, there was no noticeable difference in speed from my old laptop, in spite of this one having better specs (More RAM, and, in theory, a faster processor). Disappointed that I didn’t see a marked increase in performance considering the upgrade in specifications.That being said, the laptop works fine for normal work functions. I can have several programs open at once without it slowing the laptop down. Searching the internet works fine. I don’t have any buffering issues when streaming media.Sound & Features: 4 StarsThe sound quality is pretty good. It’s not perfect- not a lot of bass, but only slightly tinny. The speakers get up fairly loud- my comfortable level of listening at close range is about halfway up the volume bar. So, you can get the sound across your living room if you are trying to show something to a crowd. The computer has two USB ports which both work well, plus a USB C end, so you can charge your phone directly from the computer.The power cord doesn’t plug in easily. You kind of have to wiggle and shove. Pretty sure that the charging port is what will break first. There is no place to plug in a micro SD card, or an adapter for one.The video quality is pretty good. No complaints there. The laptop is lightweight, and thin- it fits easily into a backpack. There is the additional, smaller number pad on the side, which is useful for some- kind of a waste of space for me. However, the keyboard is still spacious enough to type comfortably. I have to exert a little more pressure than I’d like to press the keys, such that long periods of typing do hurt my fingers.Brand new, out of the box, the battery is lasting for about 5-6 hours before needing a recharge. It takes probably 3-4 hours to charge back up, if you aren’t currently using it- a little longer if you are charging while using it.What I don’t like (buckle up, here comes the soap box):Setup: 1 StarSetup for this laptop was a pain in the booty. Plan on taking about an hour for setup. The computer has to restart several times. Also, you can’t set up the laptop without an internet connection. Maybe there is some workaround for the computer-savvy who can get into the inner workings of the computer, but for the layman, there is no option to “skip” and finish setting up your PC without the internet. No internet, not able to start the laptop for the first time.Microsoft getting in your business: 1 StarThe laptop also requires you to sign into a Microsoft account in order to set up the computer. You can’t even get to the desktop without signing in. There used to be an option to set up the laptop with a local account. That option has been removed. Again, maybe there’s some secret code for computer-whisperers, but the rest of us are stuck with the garbage options they give you. Even worse, once you sign into your Microsoft account the computer will, automatically, and without asking you, start backing up all your files to your OneDrive. I transferred my files to this laptop, and, the next day got the dreaded “you’re out of storage” for my Microsoft account. It had started backing up all my files, again, without my knowledge or consent, and completely filled up my One Drive. To add insult to injury, it automatically “syncs” your One Drive and your computer. So, when I started rage-deleting all the stuff it had uploaded to my One Drive, so I could send an email, IT DELETED THOSE FILES FROM MY LAPTOP. Again, there was no warning that you were deleting the file everywhere. Lucky for me, I still had copies of my files on an external hard drive.But, you should know that this laptop is thoroughly in Microsoft’s pocket. Create yourself a dummy MS account and set up the laptop with that account. As soon as you get into the laptop for the first time, unlink the PC from your Microsoft account. After that, you can go ahead and sign in with your regular account, if you want.Software: 2 StarsAs far as the software, this comes with Windows 11, just the basic. If you want any of the Office software, video players, or image editors, (besides paint) you have to pay for the subscription for those separately. This comes with a pre-installed version of Windows Defender, but you will probably also need to download your own virus software on it.As a side note, the search feature stinks. Trying to find one of your files? Good luck.Overall: 4 Stars for the laptop, 1 Star for MicrosoftMy overall impression is that this is a decent laptop for the price. It is not impressive, it will likely not last more than a couple of years, but it will function for basic stuff, and it comes at a relatively cheap price (currently priced at $399.00, in April of 2025). So, this laptop is worth it for students, household use, a small business, or as an alternate laptop. It is lacking in speed if you need it for serious gaming, video editing, or anything that requires more heavy-duty functionality.

Exquisite machine!!! I needed something superior for audio engineering and fast and never have any issues!! It really showed up the next day in Texas all the way from Delaware!! 32gb, 1tb, and with the added discount. What more can you ask for?! Definitely recommend!

This computer has a great speed and works well for online learning and streaming.

The hardware on this PC is first-rate. The screen is beautiful, the keyboard is clean (although not back-lit), and the processors and memory are great. The reason for the three stars (lucky it is not two) is that I researched very diligently to try to find a PC that was affordable and was NOT delivered in Microsoft S Mode. Nowhere in the documentation for this PC was S Mode mentioned; it did say Windows 11 Home but I do not believe that automatically results in S Mode. I was able to exit S Mode, but there were problems.The major problem was that for many hours I could not successfully access another computer on my home network. This PC sometimes "saw" the other PC, sometimes "saw" a computer name that meant nothing to me, and sometimes would not allow me to see the network at all. What MAY have finally solved the problem was putting in AND SAVING the credentials (why does microsoft use terms such as credentials instead of name (or ID) and password??). So far the access to the other PC has been stable. If the stability fails again, I will have to either wipe and return this PC, or wipe and reload Windows 11.Final note: Given that I needed to access another PC on my home network, if I were not a retired IT Manager, this PC would 100% have been returned or I would have had to pay someone to untangle this mess.

This unit was easily set up and is running flawlessly.