Lenovo IdeaPad 3i Laptop: i5-11300H, 15.6" 120Hz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, GTX 1650 Expired

Got mine 2 days ago. Impressed in some cases, severely disappointed in others.

I have been a Dell buyer from DellOutlet for myself, friends and family for about 18 years. But after the last 3 new or like-new laptops from Dell failing within 1.5 to 3 years vs lasting 7-9, I wanted to switch and try Lenovo which we use for work on their higher end models.

Positives:
- About as small of shell as you can get and still have a 15.6" screen (very thin borders)
- Speed is fast even for a 2 rev old i5 CPU
- Perf numbers using UserBenchmark seem about where I expected.
- Integrated Lenovo tools for updates, management seem acceptable compared to a lot of junkware.
- With built in video card (Intel) enabled instead of NVidia, the fans barely turn and are quiet even on web pages that used to make my 7 yr old Dell sluggish/sound like jet taking off
- Ducting for fans coming up in front of the display for greater airflow seem like a good design
- Keyboard feels better than the stuff Dell's been using for about 8 years.
- Cover to hide web cam and actually senses placement and disables the input
- Speakers better than my older Dell
- Battery management to keep it at 55-60% to extend its life.
- The extra large 2.5" SATA slot with adapter
- The ability to put a second NVME drive in that place directly as well

Negatives:
- McAfee crapware installed
- SUPER narrow numeric keypad, my fingers touching side by side and they still overlap the edge of the outer keys of say 4/5/6.
- The top cover is highly scratchable. I flipped it upside down to take out the SSD for imaging before first boot and now have multiple scratches on the surface after setting it on a wiped down wood shelf. No other laptop cover has ever scratched that easily
- The power port is dead center of left side. This rides across my leg all the time. Why not back corner like all other laptops. And since it's rectangular instead of round, it doesn't pivot to force a bend in the cord to fall differently.
- The IPS screen is of much lower quality than my 7 year old Dell IPS. The colors are sickly. (An ad in email from Ryobi made the yellow-green look almost mustard yellow as a comparison). Running color bar comparisons, the vividness is about 50% what other IPS screens have, and that's a color rendering issue and not back light issue. The backlight at 100% is about equal to 50% on a typical Dell Inspiron screen. I normally don't want full brightness anyway but there is no headway so this will never work well in a very bright room. There is more diming of the edges of the screen as you shift slightly from center than my previous Dell laptops. Also I noticed banding on the screen in some gradients, almost like it was only 6 bit (18 bit color) vs 8 bit (24 bit color). Yet the panel is supposed to be 8 bit
- The warranty issue on the battery and laptop as noted above. Seriously? I have 7 months left on a battery I never have used before? And a couple more on a laptop I just got?

The IPS screen is of much lower quality than my 7 year old Dell IPS. The colors are sickly. (An ad in email from Ryobi made the yellow-green look almost mustard yellow as a comparison). Running color bar comparisons, the vividness is about 50% what other IPS screens have, and that's a color rendering issue and not back light issue. The backlight at 100% is about equal to 50% on a typical Dell Inspiron screen. I normally don't want full brightness anyway but there is no headway so this will never work well in a very bright room. There is more diming of the edges of the screen as you shift slightly from center than my previous Dell laptops. Also I noticed banding on the screen in some gradients, almost like it was only 6 bit (18 bit color) vs 8 bit (24 bit color). Yet the panel is supposed to be 8 bit

Glad I didn't pull the trigger based on your display comments alone. Hitting at least 300nits, 100% sRGB has been a big difference maker for me personally. Even if the other specs offer great value the poor color accuracy and brightness really bums me out.

Having had it a few days now it is hard to adjust to a worse screen, but honestly after using base Dell and HP laptops for work for a dozen years now, it's a step up from that.

Plus, a good 1080p or 1440p monitor with 120hz or higher refresh, IPS, and much more accurate colors will (typically) set you back around $300 or more. So when you're at only $500 for a whole kit, it's not a terrible value.

I mean, heck there was a 'decent deal' posted here earlier today about a 32'' monitor that wasn't IPS but VA - at that size it's going to look terrible not being curved and it was like $300.

I agree with your sentiments overall. A few points.

This CPU is 1 generation old. It's an 11,000 series and we're currently on the 12,000 (which is a huge jump, with the radical change to P and E cores). I know we just got more solid rumors about a month ago with the next series, but this isn't that old (and honestly, I'd wait for the revision after Intel does a huge change like the 12,000 series had and evidenced by game, driver, and other support).

The size is great, the features are great, speakers good, yes. I agree too on the super narrow numpad... just remove it and make a very nice spread out keyboard instead. I RARELY used numpads on a laptop even on larger 17" models in the past. The power port... I don't sit with it on my lap much but I think given how and where the thermals are for this, it made sense where they put it. The thermal solutions on this are light years better than even the previous incarnations (from pictures I've seen) and better than most laptops, gaming focused included. Obviously you use it differently than I do, so that is an issue for you. A trade off and nobody is every always happy with those.

On the included malware. Yes only McCrappy is installed and the Lenovo program isn't terrible. It's the only place I found to set it on the correct performance modes too.

Regarding the warranty, mine is the same as others so far, about 9 months left. I'll reach out here to support - I'm not a legal expert, but it wouldn't be good to have them start the warranty when it was sent to retail - I've never heard of a warranty that works that way - for obvious scam reasons to the consumer. Or, if Gamestop is just buying these and reselling them, that would open them up to some issues because a retailer doesn't typically act like that. We'll see how big of a fight it becomes, if one at all or just a stupid system mistake when Gamestop took product versus selling it.

What did support say Re: warranty?

Was able to order and pay with a gamestop gift card with no issues. I'm working up in rural Alaska, and was surprised they are actually shipping it to me for only $15 extra. Unfortunately estimated arrival date is July 15th, but that's what I get for working on the edge of civilization...

What did support say Re: warranty?

I didn't hear from them as I just submitted the adjustment and it was made. I have a full warranty through June 2023 now.

who changed the warranty for you?