Lenovo Chromebook S330 Laptop, 14-Inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Display, MediaTek MT8173C Processor, 4GB LPDDR3, 64GB eMMC, Chrome OS, 81JW0000US, Business Black

Home use

The computer was delivered extremely punctually from United States, but some of the gloss was lost when the charger cord would not fit. It is presumably for US power points, having - two parallel mains prongs, and a round earth pin. It is useless here. Fortunately, I had another cord, and so can use the computer.It is not clear to me how to obtain a new one from Amazon, but if I can't, will ask Choice to see what can be done.

I live in Singapore and ordered this product. At first, I was very happy, it did as I expected it to do. However, after a while the WiFi chip broke down; this was confirmed also by a lengthy support call with Lenovo US. However, when I brought the laptop to the official Lenovo store here in Singapore, they were unable/unwilling to help out, as there are no Chromebooks in Singapore. Basically, the product is almost useless now (theoretically usable with tethering the phone using USB, so that no WiFi is used).I strongly discourage to buy this product if the Lenovo representation in your country won't help you in in case of a problem. For other countries, this may not be an issue.

I purchased one of these Chromebooks in January, 2023. At the time, it was on sale for $150. At that price, I just wanted to see what it could do.TLDR SUMMARYFor the price of a couple of dinners out, this thing is a steal. It's completely silent, comfortable to type on, and because it is powered by an ARM processor, the battery life is excellent. I'm getting 10 hours or more of general use.SCREEN QUALITYThe Chromebook S330 has a HD (1366x768) 14" screen. It's decent but not great. For the price, I think it is more than adequate.AUDIO QUALITYThe audio is minimal. It's fine for listening to podcasts but for a good music or movie experience, I'd recommend a good set of Bluetooth headphones.BUILD QUALITY AND TYPINGThis Chromebook feels cheap but not flimsy. The monitor holds firm during normal use. No shaking that I can see. The keyboard is comfortable to type on and pretty quiet. Again, for the price, its hard to complain.EMAIL AND OFFICE APPSChromebooks rely on web apps, so you can't install Microsoft Office. You can, however, use Office Online, which is very good and gets better every year. It's also free to use. GSuite apps include Google Docs and Google Sheets, which I also like. Those also work offline. Ironically, Google Docs is an app that seems challenging for cheap Chromebooks. The S330 still runs it, but it takes around ten seconds to load fully. This is annoying but not a deal breaker for me.STREAMINGI've tested Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify on this Chromebook. They all work as expected but, again, I'd recommend a set of headphones. The picture isn't especially vibrant but its good for the price.GAMESChromebooks can run web games and some Android games from the Google Play store. I played a few retro arcade games and the Android versions of Baldur's Gate and The Banner Saga. They all worked well. I did not try any of the game streaming services because I don't have a subscription to any of them.LINUX APPSMost Chromebook users probably don't mess with this feature, but I enabled Linux and installed VS Code. It worked surprisingly well. This laptop would be perfectly adequate for basic web development or learning to code. I didn't try Android Studio but I suspect it wouldn't run very well. The Android emulators can be resource-intensive, and this device just doesn't have a lot of muscle. I'll give it a try eventually and update this review if I find anything surprising.I hope this review was helpful! It's amazing what you can get for $150 these days.It's a good device for browsing the web and runs Chrome well. Office productivity depends on either the GSuite apps (Google Docs, Sheets, etc), which can work offline or else Office Online. Both work well, but they take a few seconds to load before they become responsive enough to type on. Ironically, I find that Google Docs is one of the apps that challenge cheap Chromebooks the most. Email and the like all work well.Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, etc, all work well. Again, I recommend headphones.I tried connecting to my office Slack channel, and it worked, but I wouldn't describe it as performant.Chromebooks connect well with Android Phones, and this functionality seemed solid with my (also cheap) Moto G5. No complaints.

This is my first Chromebook and I love it. The simplicity of this thing is amazing, I have an expensive Windows 10 PC that drives me crazy, I find Windows has become a very intrusive and confusing computer, that bothers you with a load of notifications and pop ups. Trying to figure out how to disable all that stuff is a real pain, Windows seems to bury all those settings, making them hard to find. This Chromebook is none of that, the ease of this is like using a smartphone. I have absolutely no problem with the screen resolution , it looks fine to me. I can't comment on the battery life because I've yet to unplug it, I use it strictly as a stay in one place computer (plugged in all the time). Google Docs and files take a little getting used to if you never used them, but once you get used to it you'll have no problem. It was not a problem for me because I was already use them on my iPhone . You can't download outside programs because its a closed system, to me , that's a good thing because I only use it to surf the web, shop, emails and files. And because you can't download programs your not gonna pick up any viruses. If you need to edit any photos you can always download a photo app from the Play store. I've found the storage and speed for this to be just fine, it doesn't seem to slow down with numerous tabs open. You have a load of apps to download from the Google play store that should keep you happy. I don't use it to stream movies or play games so I can't comment on that, I'll streams stuff from YouTube with no problems at all. If you want a laptop to do just the basics like I do, then you can't go wrong with this for the price. To me it's way better then one of those low cost Windows PC's. I had a low end Windows PC that I bought as a extra computer for me to use when my wife is working on the expensive PC, I hated it so much I gave it away before it was a month old. Besides being intrusive and confusing, it was slow as crap. This Chromebook is like having a giant smartphone with a keyboard, (IT'S THAT EASY). The only reason I took away one star is because I think it could of used one more USB port, other then that I love it, and if you use a computer like I do, you will too.PS. Keep in mind that this model S330 comes in different specs. My review is based on the model with the higher resolution screen (1920 x 1080) and more memory (64gb). They have a cheaper model called the S330 with less resolution and less memory.