Lenovo Chromebook C330 2 in 1 Convertible Laptop Art Review

If you had asked me four months ago to pick my summit-rated Chromebook out of the blue, I'd have given you something expensive and delicate, two traits that don't really speak to what Chromebooks are and more to what a very item type of enthusiast wants Chromebooks to exist. Enthusiasts tend to desire the latest and greatest cutting-border devices, just for Chromebooks, the cutting border doesn't e'er make the best Chromebook.

The all-time Chromebook is 1 that's undecayed, reliable, long-lasting, and affordable, and while powerful is always a perk, it is not the end-all, be-all for a reckoner that comes with an expiration date. The best Chromebook is 1 that is powerful enough and cunning enough to surpass the value of its components.

Lenovo manages this miraculous feat with the C330, and it's given me a daily driver Chromebook that embodies non the cutting edge of Chrome merely the spirit and heart of an OS nosotros still tend to underestimate.

The Good

• Brilliant screen
• Good size and weight
• True 10-hour battery life
• Skilful storage and retentivity
• Admirable performance

The Bad

• White shows scratches and crud
• Closer motorcar-update expiration date than near new models

About this review

I was given a 64 GB Lenovo C330 on February one by our resident Chromebook guru Jerry Hildenbrand and take used it every bit my daily drive Chromebook ever since, both at home in my flat only fifty-fifty more regularly out at Walt Disney Earth, hauling it around my gear bag and writing my manufactures while waiting for rides, concerts, or fireworks.

I have used this Chromebook on the stable aqueduct, through 3-4 system updates, and is currently running Version 73.0.3683.88.

My lovely run-and-gun Chromebook

Lenovo Chromebook C330 What I love

Category	Lenovo Chromebook C330
Operating Arrangement	Chrome Bone
Display	11.half-dozen inches (1366 x 768) 250 nits brightness IPS touchscreen
Processor	MediaTek MT8173C
Memory	4GB LPDDR3
Storage	64GB eMMc
Expandable Storage	microSD bill of fare
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac Bluetooth 4.1
Ports	1x USB-C USB three.one Type-C Gen 2 1x USB-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 HDMI 1.iv
Audio	2W stereo speakers Headphone / microphone combo jack
Battery	Li-Ion 45Wh (10 hours) 45W USB-C Air conditioning adapter
Dimensions	292 x 215 10 19.6 mm (11.50" ten viii.46" ten 0.77")
Weight	two.64 lbs (1.2kg)
Colors	Blizzard White

After two months of carting this Chromebook effectually theme parks, airports, and one awesome company conference, the C330 has more than earned its keep equally my daily driver, helping me boilerplate more i article a day. It'south not the smallest laptop around, but it's still more than than compact enough to throw in my haversack — or even a large purse or satchel — and head out the door, which is exactly what I do with mine every 24-hour interval.

Speaking of days, seldom exercise I observe myself hunting for a charger earlier my day has come to an end. Even with 2 to three hours of max-effulgence writing in the afternoon Florida sun, the C330 always lasts me over 9 hours per charge — almost 12 hours some days — allowing me to edit long after the evening's fireworks have gone off.

The only performance struggles I e'er run into from the C330 and its MediaTek processor are when billowy betwixt weak-signal nodes around Walt Disney World, which absolutely my Galaxy S10 and OnePlus 6T don't handle much better. Equally I said in my get-go beloved letter to the C330, be it 2 tabs or 12, this Chromebook simply cranks out the content.

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The 11.half dozen-inch touchscreen has enough room for my Google Bulldoze tabs, Slack, enquiry, and Twitter, and the bezels give me plenty of room to hold on in tent or tablet manner. The keyboard is the perfect size for me, apart from me wishing it was backlit — a pipedream for a sub-$300 Chromebook, merely a pipedream I still cling to. I don't have any qualms with the travel distance or the clickiness of the keys. The keys are a prissy charcoal grey to contrast the sparkling Blizzard White case on the C330. That white'due south already starting to selection up a few scratches here and in that location, just it beats having another boring blackness Chromebook.

Lenovo Chromebook C330 Where the cracks show through

No Chromebook is perfect, especially for $250. While the eleven.half-dozen-inch screen can feel a scrap cramped for split-screen work, that size is more portable and I'd rather have those wide bezels for property the screen in tablet mode than a bigger screen. I wish information technology was 1080p, but the mode Chrome OS and its Brandish Zoom was built for low-res screens, you won't notice the C330's 1366x768 pixel resolution much, if at all.

Honestly, the simply real strike against the C330 is that it's got a shorter shelf life than almost new Chromebooks. Since Google is responsible for all Chrome Bone updates, they come with an Auto-Update Expiration engagement to assist Google drop older chipsets and their driver support. The Lenovo Chromebook C330's AUE date is June 2022, a little less than 3.25 years from now and less than 4 years subsequently its launch appointment.

Confused as to why it's so brusque? Google's promise for Chromebook automobile-updates is that:

"New software updates may be received after than the AUE date published, simply volition never be stopped sooner than listed. This will be at least 6.5 years from launch of the hardware platform. (Multiple devices tin can share the same hardware platform; AUE engagement is calculated from the first device on the platform.)"

The C330 uses the aforementioned hardware platform as five other (older) Lenovo Chromebooks — reusing the same platform makes it easier to sell this device for less and easier to update — and since the AUE is calculated from the beginning Chromebook to use that platform, the C330 gets a shorter guaranteed update window. At that place's always a adventure the C330 gets updated longer, only at that place's no promises.

At $250 for the 64GB model — double the space and on sale far more ofttimes than the 32GB 1 — you lot'll more get your coin's worth out of this Chromebook in 3.25 years. Similar the Android phone you probably paid well over $400 for, this Chromebook will serve you lot well for a good few years and and so you lot'll be prepare to upgrade devices — or root and ROM it with a Linux distro like the Chromium-based CloudReady.

Lenovo Chromebook C330

The Lenovo Chromebook C330 has been my one and only Chromebook for the final 75 days, merely fifty-fifty when I finally gratuitous my Pixelbook from the RMA purgatory information technology's been stuck in the last three months, the C330 is my daily driver going frontwards. While there are shiner, more than expensive Chromebooks out there — and I want to examination them all — the C330 is my white knight Chromebook, there through long days and lazy days, through 7-mile hikes around the Magic Kingdom and 5,000 discussion dissertations.

iv.5 out of 5

Since in that location'southward a shorter update lifespan here, if you've always thought about grabbing a Chromebook to see what it tin can do, grab the C330 right now and try it out. I know it volition surprise you. If nothing else, at these prices, it makes a great backup laptop for the house in case your kid spills milk all over your master machine or theirs.

Lenovo Chromebook C330

This bright lilliputian Chromebook can handle straight lord's day, long days with no charger in sight, and despite non having any fancy ruggedness ratings, the C330 handles the wear and tear of me dragging information technology around Walt Disney World every day with mode and grace.

• $220 from Lenovo
• $250 from Amazon

Ara Wagoner was a staff author at Android Primal. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you meet her without headphones, RUN. You tin can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.

xi Comments

• I simply got the Lenovo C330 with the 64 GB and Meko Precision stylus set and all I can say is WOW, I had the Acer R11 16 GB for my daily driver for the final 4 years merely this new Chromebook is smashing for my online courses, plus not to mention all the great gratuitous apps I become and the extra 100 GB of complimentary storage from Google for two years only sweetens the pot. I have tried the Stylus on it and they work great also. This is a actually sweet ride to invest in, you won't be sorry.

• Hey, perfect, that yous write another article on information technology, which gives me the chance to say give thanks you! 😀 I imported this Chromebook to Deutschland based on your recommendation. Cost me 300 bucks just man, I am blown away. It is my first Chromebook and yes, I have to get used to it (also as to the us keyboard) on the other hand I am amazed how it started to change my life and how I use a laptop. My main machine and then far is a Lenovo X1 Yoga. Pretty good laptop. But I am very cautious with it and I don't want to leave 2.3k Euros unattended in a co-working space, e.one thousand. With this Chromebook, no worries. And information technology is so cool that I have such a like feel on my phone and my laptop now. For example, I am using an app to practice, earlier the Chromebook I was fiddling around with the small telephone screen. And at present, I load up the app on the Chromebook and tin easily follow along. I wish the screen would accept a better resolution and yes, in the long run, I demand a backlight keyboard. But for now, it is the perfect auto to test if I can run my visitor from a it and who knows eventually move away from my Windows car. mH

• Actually, at that place is one matter with Chrome Bone that drives me crazy, and so far. The round thingz, the launcher sits on the left of the shelf, right (if you keep the bottom position) If I click on it all the relevant content is in the middle of the screen, though, so I have to elevate my mouse all the mode from the border of the display to the middle?! Why? Why isn't that launcher thing in the center of the shelf? Am I missing something? mH

• I recently recommended the S330 which is the xiv" version of the C330. 1 can find it on auction on Amazon for about $210. It's a nice niggling unit of measurement -- adept rails pad, keyboard, and appears to be well built. Screen is decent, even though non an IPS brandish. No backlit keyboard, but other than information technology's worth a trivial more than $200.

• I recently picked one of these up and have no complaints for the toll paid. I was surprised at how nice the brandish was at but 1366x768, and how well the Mediatek processor did with the OS. While I nonetheless need some MS Windows capabilities for the desktop, Chrome OS, so far, has been perfect for portable use for me. The final comparable devices that I've purchased in this toll range were "true" netbooks (i.east. Atom processor, ten.1", 800 x 600 TN panel, a GB or 2 of RAM, Windows), so I wan't expecting the user experience to be nearly as nice equally it is. Similar everybody else I'd love smaller bezels, 1080p, and a back-lit keyboard, maybe shave a few mm on thickness, but at this fourth dimension, at this cost betoken, I retrieve a very skillful residual was struck.

• LeNOvo customer service is hideous for ALL their products! They've screwed over all the Motorola owners left us with buggy useless phones! Their PC notebooks are junk and the Chromebooks are worse. LeNOvo is majority owned past the Chinese Communist Party and you should never purchase anything they make! Google LeNOvo endemic by.

• I concluded upwardly picking up a Chromebook after reading your first postal service on the C330. I am blown abroad with how capable these machines are nowadays! Ane less barrier to get my weblog going! Great write-up!

• Really, complaining about 4 year update cycle? U should exist applauding that kind of commitment now a days. Congratulations to whoever has this 4 years down the road and information technology's non laggy as hell 👍

• i know correct...i dont have any device (mobile or desktop) that is more than 3 yrs one-time...its either less or more than 2, just not more than than 3

• I'm typing this on a Mid-2012 Cadre i5 MacBook Pro which is > 3 yr one-time. I upgraded the RAM and swapped the HDD for an SSD. I would have gone through ii or 3 PC's and/or Android Tablets by at present. I know this considering I've had AT LEAST two Chromebooks, a Dell XPS Ultrabook, a Samsung Ultrabook, a Dell Latitude 64xx, several Dell Optiplex Desktops...
  Meanwhile my MacBook keeps chugging forth although I do did update my iPad Mini once and iPhone several times.
  Just ordered a Lenono c330 on Lenovo's site for $209. Two days ago they were $279. I'thousand anxious to try it out!

• Before upgrading to the Lenovo C330 I had my Acer Chromebook for 4 years merely I just needed more storage and more power so I plan on using this new Chromebook for at to the lowest degree four years or maybe longer

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Source: https://www.androidcentral.com/lenovo-chromebook-c330-review