Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 82SB0001US Review | It's On!

Who says gaming laptops need to be expensive? Over the last few years, we've seen mid-level gaming laptops emerge as a solid alternative for many users. These are attractive options not only due to the more conservative price point but also because of their typically more discreet design.

With that in mind, Lenovo's IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptops have arrived to satisfy that niche. This lineup features AMD Ryzen 6000 series processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards, delivering great performance on day-to-day tasks and gaming.

Today, we're going to review one of the most prominent models in the lineup; the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 82SB0001US.

This model packs a stunning 120 Hz Full HD screen, a powerful Hexa-Core AMD Ryzen 5 processor, a fully backlit keyboard, a long-lasting battery, and decent connectivity, among other exciting features. Couple that with an insanely great price and it's no surprise this budget gaming laptop has garnered over 1000 positive reviews.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 82SB0001US sports a premium and minimalist Onyx Grey chassis made out of plastic and polycarbonate, which is clearly inspired by the high-end gaming laptops of the brand as it rocks two stylish blue lights grills on the back end.

Unlike other 15-inch gaming models, such as the ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX507ZM-ES74, this model is bulkier and larger, weighing 5.10 pounds versus the 4.96 pounds of the above-mentioned ASUS laptop. 

This is not uncommon in a gaming laptop since the dedicated graphics card and ventilation needs make it damn near impossible to manufacture a slim gaming laptop.

Speaking of the cooling features, it comes with a quad-vent system to keep your laptop cooler. What's more, the fans aren't very loud, meaning you'll hardly hear anything if you're using this laptop alongside a pair of gaming headsets. 

The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 has a Full HD IPS 15.6-inch screen that supports a refresh rate of 120 Hz and AMD FreeSync technology, so you can enjoy stuttering and tearing-free gaming with wider viewing angles when compared to TN displays.

We appreciate that Lenovo opted for an IPS panel instead of a TN display since it allows for a 180-degree viewing angle, roughly double the viewing angle of your standard TN display, which forces you to stare directly at it at all times. 

Moreover, it comes with an anti-glare coating for a better viewing experience when working under d harsh lighting conditions. However, it should be noted that this display is not suitable for creative professionals, as it only offers a brightness of 250 nits and covers just 45% of the NTSC color gamut. 

As a point of reference, the MacBook Pro features a brightness maximum of 500 nits.

As we always say, don't expect a high-end display on a budget-friendly laptop, or you'll be in for a disappointment. 

There's also a full-sized single-colored backlit keyboard that provides a very satisfying feeling when typing since it has bigger keys and a dedicated number pad. Also, it packs a larger trackpad when compared to other gaming laptops. 

Full disclosure; it does take a bit of getting used to if you come from more traditional keyboards.

Lenovo played it safe with the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 82SB0001US, packing an AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor powered by six cores and 12 threads, reaching a burst frequency of up to 4.50 GHz on heavy workloads. It's a good processor.

There's also 8 GB of DDR5 RAM (upgradeable up to 16 GB) which increases bandwidth up to 50% (4.8 GT/s) compared to the 3.2 GT/s of the DDR4 standard in order to improve your productivity when multi-tasking.

With this set of specs, you'll be able to do 3D rendering, video/photo editing, content creation, coding, virtualization, web browsing, spreadsheet editing, video calling, 4K streaming, and many other common tasks with a performance that will exceed your expectations as stated by the users who already bought it. 

Essentially, there's very little that this laptop won't have the horsepower to do. However, keep in mind that we would still recommend you use an external monitor for visual creatives, and we do recommend upgrading the RAM to 16 GB to really get the most out of the laptop.

As for gaming, the mid-end 4 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card allows you to play in Full HD resolution some AAA games such as F1 22 (80 fps), Vampire Bloodhunt (95 fps), Ghostwire Tokyo (63 fps), Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (75 fps), and Cyberpunk 2077 (55 fps).

It's not a top-of-the-line gaming laptop. That should be clear by now. But it does offer a solid performance on most popular games, which is more than we can say for other laptops in this price range. 

Moving onto storage, the 82SB0001US features a 256 GB SSD drive. We're not huge fans of this, but we understand that Lenovo needed to cut costs somewhere. Additionally, the storage issue is easily fixed when you can upgrade up to 2 TB.

With regards to the connectivity options, you'll find an Ethernet port (RJ-45), two USB-A 3.2 ports, and a standalone high-speed USB-C 3.2 with DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0 support for connecting monitors and charging the battery via fast charge technology.

There's also an HDMI output, an Audio jack on the left side, and an HD webcam with a privacy shutter on the top bezel. As for wireless connections, you've got your standard Bluetooth 5.1 as well as the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard.

Finding a suitable budget gaming laptop can be pretty challenging. However, with the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 82SB0001US, things just got a whole lot easier. 

Barring the fact that it doesn't have an SD card reader and that any powerhouse user will need to upgrade the RAM, it's virtually impossible not to recommend this gaming laptop to those who want to buy a gaming PC but don't want to spend a bundle on it.

Besides being great at gaming, the 82SB0001US is also an excellent notebook overall which is what makes it the perfect option for most users. A superb processor coupled with a respectable battery life and a powerful GPU makes for an excellent mid-range laptop that's got everything you would need for a powerhouse laptop.

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