Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD review – is good for gaming?

Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD review

This 360⁰ convertible laptop is less than 1-inch thin and about the weight of a hardback book, with an 11-inch touchscreen display that’s perfect for day-to-day computing and multimedia, on or offline. No setup needed – Just login with a Google account so emails, maps, documents, and photos stay with you via cloud storage. Reveal more in Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD review.

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Pros & Cons – Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD

PROS

  • Low price.
  • Even with its low resolution, a better-than-expected IPS screen.
  • USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI ports.
  • SD slot for storage expansion.
  • Bright screen
  • Good size and weight
  • True 10-hour battery life
  • Good storage and memory
  • Admirable performance

CONS

  • Jumbo screen bezels.
  • Subpar sound.
  • Keyboard isn’t backlit.
  • White shows scratches and grime
  • Closer auto-update expiration date than most new models

Specs – Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD

Operating SystemChrome OS
Display11.6 inches (1366 x 768)
250 nits brightness
IPS touchscreen
ProcessorMediaTek MT8173C
Memory4GB LPDDR3
Storage64GB eMMc
Expandable StoragemicroSD card
ConnectivityWi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
Ports1x USB-C USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 2
1x USB-A USB 3.1 Gen 1
HDMI 1.4
Audio2W stereo speakers
Headphone / microphone combo jack
BatteryLi-Ion 45Wh (10 hours)
45W USB-C AC adapter
Dimensions292 x 215 x 19.6 mm
(11.50″ x 8.46″ x 0.77″)
Weight2.64 lbs (1.2kg)
ColorsBlizzard White

Price

if you’re looking for a model that can fold from laptop to tablet mode without spending a lot of folding green, Lenovo’s new Chromebook C330 is just $279.99 with 32GB of eMMC storage ($299.99 with 64GB). It’s an appealing pick for Chromebook buyers on a budget. It’s easy to find a fine 2-in-1 Chromebook if you’ve got the bucks. Tthe detachable HP Chromebook x2, is $599.99. Among more affordable convertibles, the Acer Chromebook Spin 11 and Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA are $399.99 and $349, respectively.

Compare Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD vs HP Chromebook 14-inch HD Laptop

Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 Convertible LaptopAcer Aspire 5 Slim Laptop, 15.6 inches Full HD IPS DisplayHP Chromebook 14-inch HD Laptop, Intel Celeron N4000
Computer Memory Size4 GB4 GB4 GB
CPU Model ManufacturerMediatekAMDIntel
CPU Speed2.1 GHz3.52 GHz1.1 GHz
Display Resolution Maximum1366X768 pixels1920 x 10801366 x 768 pixels
Screen Size11.6 inches15.6 inches14 inches
Hard Disk Size64 GB128 GB32 GB
Item Dimensions11.5 x 0.77 x 8.48 inches14.31 x 9.74 x 0.71 inches12.82 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
Item Weight2.64 lbs3.97 lbs3.20 lbs
Operating SystemChrome OSWindows 10 SChrome OS
Processor Count422
RAM TypeUnknownDDR4 SDRAMDDR4 SDRAM
Wireless Communication Standard802.11ac802.11ac

Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD review

Build

The Chromebook is constructed of white plastic with black keys and giant black bezels around the display; Lenovo and Chrome logos decorate the lid. Plastic through and through, the Lenovo Chromebook bears an off-white hue that reminds me of vanilla ice cream. Its chunky, glossy black bezels, though, aren’t as comforting, reminding me of the ribbon-tape inside VHS cassettes.

Design

The panel also rotates smoothly on its 360-degree hinge. The Dell Chromebook 5190 and HP Chromebook x360 11 G1 also convert between modes, while the Acer Chromebook is a standard laptop.

At 2.64 pounds, the C330 is on the light side for a convertible. (Compare the Acer Spin 11 at 3.09 pounds, though the aluminum-clad, 12.5-inch Asus Chromebook Flip C302CA is just 2.43 pounds.) It measures a compact 0.77 by 11.4 by 8.5 inches, roughly the same as the Spin 11 and a bit smaller than the Asus C213SA. None of these 2-in-1 Chromebooks is a burden in a briefcase, though all are a bit heavy to hold with one hand in tablet mode.

Ports

Along the sides of the machine, Lenovo has decked the C330 with all the ports you could ask for from a budget Chromebook. There’s a full-size HDMI port, microSD card slot, full-size USB-A ports on both sides, and two USB-C ports. Both of those can be used for charging as well as audio. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can avoid those awful speakers.

Display

The Lenovo Chromebook C330’s display may rate well for a Chromebook, but you might be used to better color or brightness. Watching the Sonic trailer, I quickly saw the telltale signs of the C330’s sub-full-HD panel, as the LED readout on a cop’s speed-tracking radar gun looked far too pixely, with lots of artifacts. Unfortunately, 1366 x 768 screens are extremely common among 11.6-inch Chromebooks, as the HP Chromebook 11 G1, the Acer Chromebook 11 and the Dell Chromebook 5190 all suffer from these low-res displays.

Memory & Storage

The screen measures 11.6 inches diagonally and has the familiar, lowest-common-denominator 1,366 by 768 resolution. Other specs include 4GB of RAM and a MediaTek MTK8173C processor, an ARM chip with two 2.1GHz and two 1.7GHz cores. The Chromebook is constructed of white plastic with black keys and giant black bezels around the display; Lenovo and Chrome logos decorate the lid.

Keyboard & touchpad

The Chromebook C330’s 4.1 x 2.4-inch touchpad tracked my taps correctly and I scrolled down web pages without a stutter. It also correctly recognized Chrome OS’ three-finger navigation gestures.

The keys offer a good clicking feel, thanks to their 72 grams of required actuation force, which is more than the 60 gram rate we hope companies exceed. That makes up for the 1.2 millimeters of vertical travel in the keys, which is a bit shallow (we look for 1.5 to 2 millimeters).

Can you make webcall with Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD?

Knowing that allowed me to accurately capture my skin tone, the greens of office plants and my trolling colleague Gia, in the background. But even with that knowledge, the photos I took featured a dearth of detail in my face and hair, with only the largest features getting much definition. The glass window behind me looks blown out because of a reflection of light bouncing in from outside.

The 0.9 megapixel webcam is the kind of boring, pedestrian sensor that laptop reviewers expect. The camera is so sensitive to lighting that small changes can create wildly varied photos: My best advice is to have light (natural, if possible) in front of you and as little light as possible behind you.

Audio

Sound from the two bottom-mounted speakers is soft and shadowy too—even with the volume cranked way up, audio remains flat and muffled with only a ghost of bass. It’s all right for streaming video, but you’ll definitely want headphones for music.

Battery life

The Lenovo Chromebook C330 can last longer than an average work day, with slightly better battery life than we expect from a Chromebook. The Laptop Mag Battery Test (web surfing at 150 nits) drained the Chromebook C330 in 9 hours and 51 minutes, which is longer than the 9:10 Chromebook average and the 9:20 from the Acer Chromebook 11. The Dell Chromebook 5190 (9:50) and the HP Chromebook x360 11 G1 posted nearly identical times.

Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 convertible laptop 11.6-inch HD Performance review

The C330’s touch screen accurately registered my taps and gestures as I navigated the desktop and web in Chrome. It also allowed for smooth scrolling.

The Chromebook C330 emits up to 250 nits of brightness, which narrowly tops the 233-nit category average. We saw a similar rating from the 258-nit Dell Chromebook 5190 and lower ratings from the HP Chromebook x360 11 G1 (200 nits) and the Acer Chromebook 11 (223 nits). While its color output held up when I watched the Sonic trailer from 33 degrees to the left and right, its glossy screen picked up a lot of glare and reflection from our office’s lighting.


According to our testing, the Lenovo Chromebook C330 produces 75% of the sRGB color gamut, which is close to the 80% Chromebook average, the 73% rating from the Dell Chromebook 5190, the 79% from the HP Chromebook x360 11 G1 and the 78% rating from the Acer Chromebook 11.

Heat

The Lenovo Chromebook C330 is one cool customer. After we streamed 15 minutes of HD video on the notebook, our heat gun registered the temperatures on its touchpad (75.5 degrees Fahrenheit), G&H keys (79 degrees) and underside (82 degrees). All of those readings fall under our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Can you send email?

It’s perfectly capable of handling the Web surfing, emailing, Google Docs/Office Online productivity work, and casual gaming of most Chromebooks. And it adds the versatility of a convertible design, plus an above-average screen and keyboard at a low price.

Is it durable?

This is not a rugged laptop and it showed in our Chromebook drop test. A corner of the Chromebook C330 broke clear off when the laptop landed on its side onto concrete from 4.5 feet. The screen also separated from the lid and we weren’t able to snap it back into place. Sadly, the laptop didn’t survive the drop and shut down at random intervals.

What is downfall?

No Chromebook is perfect, especially for $250. While the 11.6-inch screen can feel a bit cramped for split-screen work, that size is more portable and I’d rather have those wide bezels for holding the screen in tablet mode than a bigger screen. I wish it was 1080p, but the way Chrome OS and its Display Zoom was built for low-res screens, you won’t notice the C330’s 1366×768 pixel resolution much, if at all.

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