So what do you call an age machine that still works the Old Reliable this is the IdeaPad Gaming 3 1 year later let’s talk about it.
Raw Performance and Specs
First here are the raw stats of this incredible laptop now in this day and age it is a little outdated relative to other models but it definitely gets the job done for me. So what can it play well speaking from experience all of these games with this average FPS so it’s no slouch in the performance Department.
Let’s dive a little deeper sporting an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU we have a potent combo that allows me to play my games with very few issues.
RAM Upgrades and Internal Cooling
Now as I stated with my 6 months review it did have some performance lag with the more demanding games while recording so I manually upgraded its Ram to 24 GB which upon further research I realized is actually a poor decision. I went for 24 GB because I wanted to save some money and use the already installed 8 GB and just add more which after reading this comment and delving into more research on on my own I realized it’s a bit ill- fad to recommend that for everyone because say one ram dim dies then you’re stuck with an uneven amount which is not good.
Nevertheless the laptop is still great at maintaining its internal components with effective cooling but because I like to air on the side of caution I 3D printed these little Nubs to put onto the laptop to allow for more air flow and to not have to worry about loud fan noise.
Design, Build, and User Experience
Now moving on to externals the laptop itself physically is beautiful but it won’t be anything to fawn over which is actually a good thing in my eyes. It’s more subtle great for a gaming laptop and it boosts those looks with great features like a solid keyboard it’s nice firm tactile Etc so good stuff.
Trackpad Challenges
But I do have one physical feature complaint with this laptop the trackpad. I still haven’t figured it out yet it’s super sensitive to the touch and sometimes it’ll highlight things or right click when I meant to left click and it’s just a whole ordeal. It’s not terrible to use but no I prefer to use a mouse most Gamers should and probably will share that preference unless you’re a trackpad God or something.
But anyway the connectivity of this laptop is also pretty good for Mouse users too you can use many mice with this laptop.
Internal Features and Battery Life
Moving on to the internals we do have some great features including the high performing and cost-effective internal specs Lenovo Vantage software to maintain your PC for you and even the camera with a shutter slider which for a gaming laptop it’s okay nothing amazing but it gets the job done.
But in the battery Department no it’s not great. My laptop’s battery is actually pretty good healthwise but it doesn’t really last long but you shouldn’t expect it to especially when gaming. Playing games can be taxing on the PC and especially the battery so I think of gaming laptops more as portable gaming desktop stations so therefore it’s not much of a disappointment for me.
Now I could I believe upgrade the battery too but again that might not make too much of a difference overall though I haven’t tried it yet so maybe in the next update upate article that’s TBD.
Screen Quality and Pricing
One thing I highlighted pretty strongly about this laptop and its design in the last video was the screen. By no means is this screen bad it is good in the right lighting it is dark especially in a well-lit room I’d suggest only using this thing preferably in the shade or indoors it’s not really suitable for outside work but I’m not going to say it’s the worst or anything it’s passable it’s not too bright but we can just adapt and not play games outside.
Because my gosh the price for this last laptop is still very impressive. The idea pad Gaming 3 I purchased came at an incredible price and truth be told it’s still really good for the price. I mean look at this one I found on Amazon that’s fantastic for the price of a Macbook the idea pad Gaming 3 definitely puts up a good fight no doubt.
Troubleshooting and System Maintenance
However besides all of the praise and L criticisms I’ve shared about this laptop I did have one mildly concerning moment after a couple of weeks of not playing anything on the laptop and just letting it sit there I reopened the PC to extreme lag. I don’t know what happened but it was just very slow and it’s odd because I only play three games on the laptop.
So I went to Google and I did some minimal research and just decided to bite the bullet I performed a system restore and boom reset the PC and everything was back to normal like magic. Maybe it was a light virus that appeared or one of the pre-installed programs was going haywire but that was the one time that I felt the PC was just kind of acting weird to me. This could happen to you too so i’ try to keep that in mind this isn’t an idea pad specific problem but a system restore might be the best solution to a spontaneously laggy computer.
Storage Management Benefits
Thankfully though that wasn’t much of a headache for me the system restore and it’s because of something I usually harp on the low storage. I can’t believe I’m saying this on camera but because the laptop only came with 512 GB of storage I didn’t have to worry about redownloading many files I literally have three games Chrome and obs yes that’s it so not too much to memorize and not too much to lose.
Now don’t get me wrong this is typically a bad thing but the small SSD in this laptop actually limited me in a way that finnally benefited me. Now with a bit of routine storage maintenance and download discipline you probably would manage just fine with the larger SSD but just as a change of heart I got to say that surprisingly really helps me so not bad Lenovo you’ve earned this point and the many others I’ve given this last laptop.
Final Rating and Conclusion
So then out of 10 how would I rate my experience with this laptop for the past year? Well given all the amazing fun I’ve had with it and the few troubles as well that’s tough to judge. Is it perfect no there was work that needed to be done in the beginning and even as time has gone on but for me that was fun and educational. I got to talk about it with you after all but with a standard user that might be a bit of a hassle upgrading the ram maybe the battery and heck 3D printing those little Nubs which again are all personal preferences so all in all I would say the my experience with this laptop is an 8.5 out of 10.
Absolutely fantastic and very few complaints overall and as you can tell I love this thing. We originally bought it one year ago as a way for me to kind of wind down after a long school day at this University studying Pharmacy so one year later I would surely recommend this laptop to anybody who’s in the market and who has done enough research.
But of course if you get one of these things or any gaming laptop for that matter make sure to stay disciplined because it is is fantastic. My name is cus it’s spelled like Cyrus proun serer just take a the turn thank you very much for reading and have a wonderful day. peace.
