Lenovo Ideapad Chromebook (Refurb): 16" 2560x1600 120Hz, i3-1215U, 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC Expired

This or the acer 515, both refurbs are ~$200?
https://slickdeals.net/f/17300587-acer-chromebook-plus-515-cert-refurb-15-6-fhd-ips-i3-1215u-8gb-lpddr5x-128gb-ufs-181-99

In my opinion:
Pros for Lenovo:
- Much better screen
- Better keyboard, if you want the numpad.
Cons for Lenovo:
- Inferior trackpad, based on various reviews

Pros for Acer:
- Better keyboard layout, no numpad, so everything is centered.
- Far better trackpad, based on reviews.
- A bit newer, so AUE is further out. Although I suspect hardware will die out before that.
Cons:
- Not as good a screen as the Lenovo or the Acer 516
- Thick bezels
- HDMI cannot output 4k@60Hz. I do not know if the USB-C ports can output displayport. Could not find this info anywhere

Given that neither is a touchscreen, when browsing, consuming content, the trackpad will be heavily utilized.
Not sure which one to go with.
Any opinions?

I've owned both the Acer 515(paid $189) and this Lenovo 5i(paid $209) for at least 4 months each, and for me the $30 difference was worth it.

I mostly use it for web browsing, document editing(O365 Apps) and to remote/SSH manage my server and VMs when I'm in the living room or in bed. For this use case it is perfect.

The display on the Lenovo is better, but honestly the biggest selling point for me is the keyboard.

I didn't think I would care that the Acer didn't have a numpad, but after using it for just a couple of weeks I realized how much I hated that layout. The small centered keyboard with speakers on each side is just something I don't think I could ever get used to. On top of that the keyboard on the Lenovo is back-lit, the Acer's is not, and the F-J position notches are more pronounced on the Lenovo. This may not be important if you are always in a well lit room, but to me the awkward keyboard and lack of back-light on the Acer is not a good combo.

I didn't notice a difference in trackpad quality in normal use, although I use a mouse 40% of the time because of both Chromebook's lack of right click on the trackpad (you have to alt+click).

As far as the other specs go, they don't really affect the performance in any noticeable way for my use, that may differ if you game, but I doubt it. I don't know if emmc has a shorter lifespan or worse reliability than UFS but as far as performance goes I saw no noticeable difference transferring to/from my USB flash drives or installing/loading apps.

Same goes for the DDR4/DDR5 RAM, 8gb seems low but the OS isn't a resource hog like Windows and neither system felt any slower regardless of how many tabs I had open.

Battery life on both devices is great, the Acer has the advantage here just because of the lower res display and no back-light but not by much, both have lasted between 10-13 hours of use. Although I keep the brightness down to the 2nd lowest setting.

Somethings to note for those new to Chromebooks like I was:
-Yes you can install Windows/Linux if you really want to, but it will be more headache than it is worth, if that is what you are looking for maybe spend 50-100$ more and get a Windows laptop with an SSD.
-Yes you can replace the emmc drive with a 2242 - but again more headache for negligible gain
-Chromebooks have built in Linux support in the form of Crostini, you can run Linux apps on the Chromebook and do pretty much anything you would want to do on Linux
-These refurbs do come with 12 Months of Google One Basic(100gb cloud storage) but only if you haven't previously subscribed. If you try to redeem this on an account that has previously subbed even if it is not active, you will get told you aren't eligible and you won't be able to try to redeem with a different account.

TLDR: Chromebooks are not full Windows Desktop replacements, they are very capable devices for regular tasks, and are more affordable for comparable specs. If you care about the screen or keyboard go with the Lenovo, if you think you don't care then get the Acer if it's cheaper but test it thoroughly before the return period so you can get the Lenovo.

Stay away from laptops like this that have an EMMC drive. It is soldered onto the motherboard and cannot be upgraded or replaced if it goes bad —as all drives do

Edit: It actually has an extra M.2 2242 slot for storage besides the eMMC. The RAM is also soldered on though

This would be a killer deal if it was windows and at least 256gb ssd. The screen and feel of the laptop is really good. ChromeOS is dealbreaker.

Can you install linux or windows on it?

Looks like you can according to Mrchromebox.tech . But getting audio to work in both Linux or windows installed on a chromebook is a pain. I found Manjaro works the best, it's what I install on my chromebooks. If you want audio to work in windows someone made a driver but you have to pay for it.

I have one running Ultramarine KDE Plasma with working sound, USB C, keyboard backlight and a 2230 256GB NVME drive.

These are the high level steps to convert:
1. Purchase a SuzyQ cable to disable CR50 write protect: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335130747039
2. Replace eMMC drive with a non-DRAM 2230 or 2242 NVME, there are reddit posts about which ones work, but most smaller form should be fine. The included drive is not detected by Windows or Linux installers.
3. Install mrchromeboxtech UEFI firmware: https://mrchromebox.tech/#fwscript
4. Choose Windows ($30 for audio and thunderbolt drivers from coolstar.org) or Linux
Download one of the listed Linux distros recommended here, Fedora KDE variants work best with GUI scaling: https://docs.chrultrabook.com/doc...linux.html [chrultrabook.com]
Arch Linux or EndeavourOS
Fedora or Ultramarine Linux
openSUSE Tumbleweed
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Pop!_OS
5. Run post-install scripts for audio and USB-C. There's also a fan control utility that works really well. https://docs.chrultrabook.com/doc...stall.html [chrultrabook.com]
6. Customize keyboard layout by enabling number keys (ie NUMLOCK) and run script (cros-keyboard-map) to set function keys to their default or F-key function.

I've also been able to spin up small, Tiny11 Windows VMs using virtualbox. So far everything works, and if it werent't for this great screen I probably wouldn't have gone through all the effort. I tried using ChromeOS, but it's just too limited for my needs.

Nice write up on your journey to get this into a functional laptop. The SuzyQ cable isn't necessary though, you can unplug the battery and run the firmware script. I've done this on multiple chromebooks. And if anyone sees this and buys a different Chromebook there's no guarantee the audio fix will work. Certain boards do not have jack detection with the open source audio drivers for chromebooks so you would get sound via the headphone jack only and not the speakers.

Not in my experience. RAM is nearly always replaced to make way for upgraded sticks.

I have one running Ultramarine KDE Plasma with working sound, USB C, keyboard backlight and a 2230 256GB NVME drive.

These are the high level steps to convert:
1. Purchase a SuzyQ cable to disable CR50 write protect: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335130747039
2. Replace eMMC drive with a non-DRAM 2230 or 2242 NVME, there are reddit posts about which ones work, but most smaller form should be fine. The included drive is not detected by Windows or Linux installers.
3. Install mrchromeboxtech UEFI firmware: https://mrchromebox.tech/#fwscript
4. Choose Windows ($30 for audio and thunderbolt drivers from coolstar.org) or Linux
Download one of the listed Linux distros recommended here, Fedora KDE variants work best with GUI scaling: https://docs.chrultrabook.com/doc...linux.html
Arch Linux or EndeavourOS
Fedora or Ultramarine Linux
openSUSE Tumbleweed
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Pop!_OS
5. Run post-install scripts for audio and USB-C. There's also a fan control utility that works really well. https://docs.chrultrabook.com/doc...stall.html
6. Customize keyboard layout by enabling number keys (ie NUMLOCK) and run script (cros-keyboard-map) to set function keys to their default or F-key function.

I've also been able to spin up small, Tiny11 Windows VMs using virtualbox. So far everything works, and if it werent't for this great screen I probably wouldn't have gone through all the effort. I tried using ChromeOS, but it's just too limited for my needs.