We're nearly halfway into November, and retailers are ramping up their discounts before Black Friday begins in earnest. With this in mind, I've been scouring the internet for early Black Friday deals on affordable laptops for work and managed to find one for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i.
This very capable but normally expensive laptop, which can handle multitasking productivity tasks with no slowdown while having a crisp 2K display and 18 hours of battery life, can now be yours for $599.99 at Best Buy (was $1,299.99).
Why should you buy this laptop?
Normally, we wouldn't recommend this laptop, as its specs and build are a bitter pill to swallow for an MSRP of $1,299.99, especially when compared to the likes of the Dell XPS series, whose advanced specs justify their high costs (well, before the RAM Crisis worsened the prices on all things tech).
However, with this early Black Friday 54% discount, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i at $599.99 is much more palatable. That way, you will be able to enjoy its rich features built for tackling digital paperwork, streaming, web browsing, and other productivity tasks simultaneously, with no performance drops thanks to its Intel Core 7 350 2026 CPU coupled with an Intel Integrated Graphics Card, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage space.
Other useful features include a 15.3-inch 2K display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and a 16:10 aspect ratio to provide more vertical space when reading websites or documents (thus preventing eye strain), an ultra-thin design that makes it easy to carry, and an 18-hour battery on a single charge to get you through your whole working shift before needing a recharge.
Should I wait for Black Friday for a better deal?
Even if you're hesitant to buy before Black Friday, Best Buy's 'Price Match Guarantee' may allow eligible customers to request a refund of the difference if Best Buy lowers its own price during the applicable return window: "If our price goes lower during the holiday season, we’ll match it."
Can it's RAM and SSD be upgraded?
The 16GB RAM can be expanded up to 32GB. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i laptop features a second empty M.2 2242 NVMe SSD slot, which will fit 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB SSDs to upgrade its storage without needing to remove its initial 512GB SSD.
Is it good for gaming?
Aside from really light games like Minecraft, I wouldn't recommend this laptop for gaming it's integrated graphics card wasn't really designed for modern 3D titles, so it will struggle to run them.
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