The Lenovo Chromebook is a compact laptop that I had the opportunity to review recently. While it's clear that the manufacturer, osda, has taken some cost-cutting measures to keep the price low, this approach has resulted in some compromises on the quality of certain components.

One area where the Chromebook falls short is in its trackpad. It's cramped and feels unpleasant to use after a couple of minutes. In contrast, both the Asus machines I tested have smooth glass trackpads that are more comfortable to use. Another area where osda has cut costs is in terms of ports, or connectivity options. The Chromebook lacks a USB-C port, which is a shame, but it does offer Wi-Fi 6, two USB 3.2 ports with power delivery and display output, and a Micro SD card reader. However, the VivoBook also offers an HDMI port, so this is not a major issue.

When it comes to battery life, however, the Chromebook has some significant limitations. After six hours of my standard full-screen video test, it ran out of power completely. In contrast, the VivoBook with its slightly lower-powered processor managed just under nine hours, while the Chromebook lasted over 13 hours. This is a significant advantage for anyone who plans to use their laptop for extended periods of time.

Unfortunately, this means that gaming on the Chromebook is not a viable option, at least not without using cloud-based services like GeForce Now. Even then, the performance will depend on your internet connection speed and the games you choose to play. If you do decide to stream games, however, I found it to be surprisingly smooth.

One area where the Chromebook does shine is in its webcam quality. It offers a wider field of view and a higher frame rate than both the Asus machines, making it look much nicer on camera. This is especially important if you plan to use your laptop for video conferencing or live streaming.

In terms of software, the Chromebook comes with Chrome OS, which may be a deal-breaker for some users who are used to Windows or macOS. However, I found Chrome OS to be surprisingly capable and user-friendly, even for those who are not familiar with it. One feature that sets it apart from other Chromebooks is its ability to run Android apps, although these are not always available or compatible.

When it comes to support and warranty, osda has taken a more minimalist approach, which may be a concern for some users. While the Chromebook does come with a 30-day return policy, I'm not confident that there will be much in terms of ongoing support or maintenance. In contrast, the VivoBook offers better warranties and support, although it's also significantly more expensive.

In conclusion, while the Lenovo Chromebook is not the worst laptop I've ever had the pleasure of reviewing, it's certainly not the best. If you have a budget of around £200-£250, it may be worth considering, but at this price point, there are better options available for Windows laptops. However, if you're looking for a compact and affordable Chromebook that can handle basic tasks and streaming services, the Lenovo Chromebook may be a good option.

The VivoBook is no doubt the worst of the three, with its low-quality webcam and lack of HDMI port. It's also been out for nearly a year now, which may mean that there are updated versions available soon. However, I would still not recommend this laptop to anyone, as it offers little in terms of value or performance.

Ultimately, if you have £200-£250 to spend on a laptop, I would recommend considering the Lenovo Chromebook. It's not perfect, but it offers a good balance of price and performance, especially for basic tasks like streaming services and web browsing.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys I'm Donald Tech jab and I bought three of the cheapest laptops on Amazon they're all around 200 pounds about 250 and they're all well as you'd probably expect not the best laptops I've ever reviewed and actually one of them I would definitely not recommend but probably not the one you're thinking so starting from over here we have this 14 inch I don't even know what this brand is it's uh some Chinese company I've never heard of is that as us then we have this another 14 inch an Asus which I've definitely heard of before VivoBook and then finally over here we actually have a Chromebook this is running Chrome OS and it is another Asus it's the Chromebook flip all 14 inches all around 200 pounds all with pretty terrible specs but for students or the office or if you're simply on a really tight budget and don't particularly care about fancy screens or tons of performance are any of these actually worth buying or do you need to spend more and if you do find this video helpful a cheeky little subscribe would be lovely now obviously being Ultra budget laptops we're looking at some pretty plasticky builds we've got tntp screens across the board and some questionable viewing angles and also some very stiff screen hinges and they're all running pretty low end Intel Celeron processors I know I felt sick just saying that however while these are all meant for casual work a bit of browsing some video streaming and maybe a little bit of photo work what actually really surprised me is how the day-to-day experience of using these three couldn't have felt more different which goes to show it really is worth picking your laptop carefully let's start with the two Windows laptops and I have to say this guy was just a bit of a punt for me I really had no idea of this it was the brand I didn't really have any expectations and I figured I'd give this a damn good thrashing in this comparison but actually I really like this and in many ways it's a lot better than the Asus and actually they are a similar price and that's despite having what I can describe as a almost comic sound logo on the back here which doesn't scream premium but everything else I've been pleasantly surprised and as I say the only reason I actually picked this is because the reviews were pretty good and the price was in line with these two to give you an idea in terms of performance the osda packs in double the number of CPU cores we also had Twice The Ram eight gigabytes versus a measly four gigabytes and four times the storage 256 versus 64. you can get models with more uh but again for the similar price this is much better value and actually the storage itself is much faster like about 80 faster as it's using an M2 SATA rather than a very slow emmc kind of storage don't worry if that doesn't mean anything to you basically this is just faster in pretty much every way plus you can expand the storage by up to one terabyte by adding a second M2 SATA SSD via this little panel underneath not too shabby and as a result there is a big difference in how these feel to use the Asus can be frustratingly slow and while the hours does CPU is only about a third quicker with multi-core and roughly the same in single core performance it does still feel much quicker and the extra storage is a nice bonus however by far the fastest and most responsive and just nicest to use was the Chromebook flip which surprisingly does use very similar Intel Celeron processors but because it's running Chrome OS which is a much lighter much simpler operating system is not as heavy as Windows 11. everything is just more efficient more streamlined and much more pleasurable to use it's just a nicer experience the good news though is all three laptops were pretty reliable and an experiencing crashes or driver issues but in terms of everyday performance and the one which made me want to tear my hair out the least it's definitely a win for the Chromebook these do have the same screen size it's just literally the smaller bezels which make this a whole lot more compact which is always a positive especially for a smaller laptop that you may be carrying around all day and I also do appreciate the top firing speakers here so they sound a little bit less rubbish than the other ones so I think in terms of being the most compact it's a win for this guy but if we come over here to back to the Chromebook I do like this glossy screen and also we have this flush glass bezel unlike the slightly protruding plasticky matte bezels that we have on these guys I think the Chromebook this is Quinn book does look the smartest but it is a bit heavier and not the most compact and this guy has a bit of an ace of its sleeve because they don't call it the Chromebook flip for nothing it has a 360 degree hinge which which means you can spin it right around and use it as a tablet of course it means we also have a touch screen here and also you can use it in tent mode which I quite like for watching videos and movies and things although I'm not sure who actually uses it in this mode but you have the option or of course just a regular clamshell laptop for literal flexibility it's a win for the Chromebook sticking with the Chromebook for a moment and if you are coming from an older Windows laptop then Chrome OS will be the biggest difference to consider Chrome OS is Google's Android based interface which is designed to run on Lower power Hardware with the Google ecosystem and the Chrome browser at its heart that means it gets their Suite of office apps like Google Docs and sheets built in and it's all synced with your Google one cloud storage plus it does run some Android apps and games although I did find a fair few weren't compatible or they just ran in a smartphone sized window but setup is easy and it took less than five minutes and this doesn't feel like a budget experience so it's a tough one I would say unless you do need a particular app or program that will only run on Windows or if you're you know connecting some sort of office or schools server or system that again only uses windows then you may be limited to a Windows 11 device like this or indeed if you're just used to using it and perhaps you're giving it to a parent perhaps who doesn't want to try something new then again probably your safest option but I think if you're happy to give it a go for this kind of price range of laptops I would definitely consider a Chromebook like this and if anything it's actually simpler to use than a Windows machine let's talk about these screens and while they all share a similar size 14 inch display the quality is not the same between them I would say this guy the hosed I'm definitely have to figure out how to say that and the Chromebook over here are my favorites I do quite like this glossy screen on the Chromebook although the downside there is it will pick up Reflections a lot more easily but in terms of viewing angles this is a definite win over here I mean just look at it compared to this Vivo book which is just horrible from pretty much every angle except straight on it looks awful it's dark it's dim it's not a touch screen unlike the Chromebook I kind of just hate it everything's washed out and considering the display is what you're looking at the whole time when you're using a laptop I think it's pretty important and so for me that's a big issue with this Viva book and why I would go for one of these two instead both of these also offer 250 nits of brightness which is okay but it's not that bright and you will struggle to see them Outdoors but thanks to all three sharing a 1080p resolution image sharpness looks identical between them as you would expect all three of these laptops have pretty basic keyboards which means cheaper rough textured plastic keycaps with no backlighting and a slightly clacky feel it's a close one but I would say the Asus Viva book just about wins here followed by the Chromebook with the hours feeling a bit cramped and the cheapest and I also can't stand this rough feeling track pad it actually kind of feels unpleasant to use after a couple of minutes it's pretty obvious this is one area that osda have saved some money compared to the smooth glass track pads on both the Asus machines here when it comes to Ports AKA connectivity this is another area the USDA has cut costs and it's a shame that it doesn't even offer a USBC Port so I think here the Chromebook wins as it's the only one with Wi-Fi 6 it has two USB 3.2s which support power delivery and display out and we do also get a Micro SD card reader although in favor of the VivoBook we do have an HDMI port but what about battery life well after six hours of my standard full screen video test the USTA had run out of power completely not great the Vivo book with its slightly lower powered processor managed just under nine hours but it was the Chromebook that absolutely smashed this test lasting over 13 hours and in general use this thing is going to easily last you a full day whereas the other two you may have to bring your charges with you you're probably wondering how am I playing Ballers Gate 3 on this laptop well this laptop isn't really running yet I'm streaming this through GeForce now which really is the only way of gaming on any of these laptops particularly the windows ones I've got back here obviously with an Intel Celeron Processor unless you're playing Age of Empires 2 on low settings you're not really going to run anything natively on the laptop so your best bet is to stream GeForce now Xbox cloud and it actually works really well obviously you do need a fast and reliable internet connection and also with Chromebooks specifically you do have access to some Android apps as well they don't all work extremely well but it's a nice extra option to have the thing is though even if you are just spending a couple hundred pounds it is still a couple hundred of your well-earned pounds and warranty and support is an important thing to consider and obviously with a no-name brand like this while you can rely on the retailers return policy I bought this from Amazon for about 200 pounds it's actually currently on a deal you'll have that 30-day return policy but beyond that uh I'm not overly confident you're going to have a ton of support or warranty from hosed they do actually have a little email that they include in the box which you could reach out to but I wouldn't hold my breath on that so that is one reason you may want to pay a little bit more for a better known brand that has Global warranties and better support at least a better track record so yes this is cheaper for the specs but there is a compromise in that regard as for the webcam well they're all pretty Ruby to be honest and I would definitely recommend buying a separate storm webcam and plugging you in via USB you'll get much better quality but between the three inbuilt cameras definitely a win for the Chromebook much wider field of view a higher frame rate it looks quite a bit nicer than these two and the Viva book isn't even HD it's 480p it's a VGA webcam which is pretty unforgivable in this day and age so two to three Chromebook wins but they're all kind of terrible okay let's wrap this up which one of these three would I actually buy well I reckon this one yes it doesn't have those windows apps and programs and there may be a deal breaker for you but at this price point around 200 pounds 250 bearish I reckon a Chrome OS a Chromebook like this is your best bet these are okay I think between them I would definitely go with the USDA which can surprise me I thought this was gonna be terrible because I've never heard of it but actually the specs the compact design it's much nicer to use than this albeit it does obviously lack that sort of support on warranty I think the Viva book is no no I was going to say okay I can't recommend this it's pretty rubbish it's also been out for nearly a year now so you may have an updated version soon but I think my takeaway would be if you can stretch your budget to maybe 400 pounds ish then you've got much better options for Windows laptops much more capable machines but at this price point well none of them are terrible I would get myself a Chromebook so for me it's one two three but what do you reckon which one of these would you go for if you had a couple hundred quid to spend let me know in the comments below hit that subscribe button if you enjoyed the video and want more laptop reviews from me and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat bush it's my script don't look at that stop ithey guys I'm Donald Tech jab and I bought three of the cheapest laptops on Amazon they're all around 200 pounds about 250 and they're all well as you'd probably expect not the best laptops I've ever reviewed and actually one of them I would definitely not recommend but probably not the one you're thinking so starting from over here we have this 14 inch I don't even know what this brand is it's uh some Chinese company I've never heard of is that as us then we have this another 14 inch an Asus which I've definitely heard of before VivoBook and then finally over here we actually have a Chromebook this is running Chrome OS and it is another Asus it's the Chromebook flip all 14 inches all around 200 pounds all with pretty terrible specs but for students or the office or if you're simply on a really tight budget and don't particularly care about fancy screens or tons of performance are any of these actually worth buying or do you need to spend more and if you do find this video helpful a cheeky little subscribe would be lovely now obviously being Ultra budget laptops we're looking at some pretty plasticky builds we've got tntp screens across the board and some questionable viewing angles and also some very stiff screen hinges and they're all running pretty low end Intel Celeron processors I know I felt sick just saying that however while these are all meant for casual work a bit of browsing some video streaming and maybe a little bit of photo work what actually really surprised me is how the day-to-day experience of using these three couldn't have felt more different which goes to show it really is worth picking your laptop carefully let's start with the two Windows laptops and I have to say this guy was just a bit of a punt for me I really had no idea of this it was the brand I didn't really have any expectations and I figured I'd give this a damn good thrashing in this comparison but actually I really like this and in many ways it's a lot better than the Asus and actually they are a similar price and that's despite having what I can describe as a almost comic sound logo on the back here which doesn't scream premium but everything else I've been pleasantly surprised and as I say the only reason I actually picked this is because the reviews were pretty good and the price was in line with these two to give you an idea in terms of performance the osda packs in double the number of CPU cores we also had Twice The Ram eight gigabytes versus a measly four gigabytes and four times the storage 256 versus 64. you can get models with more uh but again for the similar price this is much better value and actually the storage itself is much faster like about 80 faster as it's using an M2 SATA rather than a very slow emmc kind of storage don't worry if that doesn't mean anything to you basically this is just faster in pretty much every way plus you can expand the storage by up to one terabyte by adding a second M2 SATA SSD via this little panel underneath not too shabby and as a result there is a big difference in how these feel to use the Asus can be frustratingly slow and while the hours does CPU is only about a third quicker with multi-core and roughly the same in single core performance it does still feel much quicker and the extra storage is a nice bonus however by far the fastest and most responsive and just nicest to use was the Chromebook flip which surprisingly does use very similar Intel Celeron processors but because it's running Chrome OS which is a much lighter much simpler operating system is not as heavy as Windows 11. everything is just more efficient more streamlined and much more pleasurable to use it's just a nicer experience the good news though is all three laptops were pretty reliable and an experiencing crashes or driver issues but in terms of everyday performance and the one which made me want to tear my hair out the least it's definitely a win for the Chromebook these do have the same screen size it's just literally the smaller bezels which make this a whole lot more compact which is always a positive especially for a smaller laptop that you may be carrying around all day and I also do appreciate the top firing speakers here so they sound a little bit less rubbish than the other ones so I think in terms of being the most compact it's a win for this guy but if we come over here to back to the Chromebook I do like this glossy screen and also we have this flush glass bezel unlike the slightly protruding plasticky matte bezels that we have on these guys I think the Chromebook this is Quinn book does look the smartest but it is a bit heavier and not the most compact and this guy has a bit of an ace of its sleeve because they don't call it the Chromebook flip for nothing it has a 360 degree hinge which which means you can spin it right around and use it as a tablet of course it means we also have a touch screen here and also you can use it in tent mode which I quite like for watching videos and movies and things although I'm not sure who actually uses it in this mode but you have the option or of course just a regular clamshell laptop for literal flexibility it's a win for the Chromebook sticking with the Chromebook for a moment and if you are coming from an older Windows laptop then Chrome OS will be the biggest difference to consider Chrome OS is Google's Android based interface which is designed to run on Lower power Hardware with the Google ecosystem and the Chrome browser at its heart that means it gets their Suite of office apps like Google Docs and sheets built in and it's all synced with your Google one cloud storage plus it does run some Android apps and games although I did find a fair few weren't compatible or they just ran in a smartphone sized window but setup is easy and it took less than five minutes and this doesn't feel like a budget experience so it's a tough one I would say unless you do need a particular app or program that will only run on Windows or if you're you know connecting some sort of office or schools server or system that again only uses windows then you may be limited to a Windows 11 device like this or indeed if you're just used to using it and perhaps you're giving it to a parent perhaps who doesn't want to try something new then again probably your safest option but I think if you're happy to give it a go for this kind of price range of laptops I would definitely consider a Chromebook like this and if anything it's actually simpler to use than a Windows machine let's talk about these screens and while they all share a similar size 14 inch display the quality is not the same between them I would say this guy the hosed I'm definitely have to figure out how to say that and the Chromebook over here are my favorites I do quite like this glossy screen on the Chromebook although the downside there is it will pick up Reflections a lot more easily but in terms of viewing angles this is a definite win over here I mean just look at it compared to this Vivo book which is just horrible from pretty much every angle except straight on it looks awful it's dark it's dim it's not a touch screen unlike the Chromebook I kind of just hate it everything's washed out and considering the display is what you're looking at the whole time when you're using a laptop I think it's pretty important and so for me that's a big issue with this Viva book and why I would go for one of these two instead both of these also offer 250 nits of brightness which is okay but it's not that bright and you will struggle to see them Outdoors but thanks to all three sharing a 1080p resolution image sharpness looks identical between them as you would expect all three of these laptops have pretty basic keyboards which means cheaper rough textured plastic keycaps with no backlighting and a slightly clacky feel it's a close one but I would say the Asus Viva book just about wins here followed by the Chromebook with the hours feeling a bit cramped and the cheapest and I also can't stand this rough feeling track pad it actually kind of feels unpleasant to use after a couple of minutes it's pretty obvious this is one area that osda have saved some money compared to the smooth glass track pads on both the Asus machines here when it comes to Ports AKA connectivity this is another area the USDA has cut costs and it's a shame that it doesn't even offer a USBC Port so I think here the Chromebook wins as it's the only one with Wi-Fi 6 it has two USB 3.2s which support power delivery and display out and we do also get a Micro SD card reader although in favor of the VivoBook we do have an HDMI port but what about battery life well after six hours of my standard full screen video test the USTA had run out of power completely not great the Vivo book with its slightly lower powered processor managed just under nine hours but it was the Chromebook that absolutely smashed this test lasting over 13 hours and in general use this thing is going to easily last you a full day whereas the other two you may have to bring your charges with you you're probably wondering how am I playing Ballers Gate 3 on this laptop well this laptop isn't really running yet I'm streaming this through GeForce now which really is the only way of gaming on any of these laptops particularly the windows ones I've got back here obviously with an Intel Celeron Processor unless you're playing Age of Empires 2 on low settings you're not really going to run anything natively on the laptop so your best bet is to stream GeForce now Xbox cloud and it actually works really well obviously you do need a fast and reliable internet connection and also with Chromebooks specifically you do have access to some Android apps as well they don't all work extremely well but it's a nice extra option to have the thing is though even if you are just spending a couple hundred pounds it is still a couple hundred of your well-earned pounds and warranty and support is an important thing to consider and obviously with a no-name brand like this while you can rely on the retailers return policy I bought this from Amazon for about 200 pounds it's actually currently on a deal you'll have that 30-day return policy but beyond that uh I'm not overly confident you're going to have a ton of support or warranty from hosed they do actually have a little email that they include in the box which you could reach out to but I wouldn't hold my breath on that so that is one reason you may want to pay a little bit more for a better known brand that has Global warranties and better support at least a better track record so yes this is cheaper for the specs but there is a compromise in that regard as for the webcam well they're all pretty Ruby to be honest and I would definitely recommend buying a separate storm webcam and plugging you in via USB you'll get much better quality but between the three inbuilt cameras definitely a win for the Chromebook much wider field of view a higher frame rate it looks quite a bit nicer than these two and the Viva book isn't even HD it's 480p it's a VGA webcam which is pretty unforgivable in this day and age so two to three Chromebook wins but they're all kind of terrible okay let's wrap this up which one of these three would I actually buy well I reckon this one yes it doesn't have those windows apps and programs and there may be a deal breaker for you but at this price point around 200 pounds 250 bearish I reckon a Chrome OS a Chromebook like this is your best bet these are okay I think between them I would definitely go with the USDA which can surprise me I thought this was gonna be terrible because I've never heard of it but actually the specs the compact design it's much nicer to use than this albeit it does obviously lack that sort of support on warranty I think the Viva book is no no I was going to say okay I can't recommend this it's pretty rubbish it's also been out for nearly a year now so you may have an updated version soon but I think my takeaway would be if you can stretch your budget to maybe 400 pounds ish then you've got much better options for Windows laptops much more capable machines but at this price point well none of them are terrible I would get myself a Chromebook so for me it's one two three but what do you reckon which one of these would you go for if you had a couple hundred quid to spend let me know in the comments below hit that subscribe button if you enjoyed the video and want more laptop reviews from me and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat bush it's my script don't look at that stop it\n"