The Lenovo IdeaPad 330S: A Surprisingly Solid Budget Laptop for Fortnite

Hey guys, this is Austin. We've done our fair share of Fortnite videos, but today we're taking a look at what might just be the best cheap laptop for Fortnite, the $450 Lenovo IdeaPad 330S. Take a look around, and this is a surprisingly solidly built laptop. So, Lenovo did opt to go with aluminum for the build, and well, for the most part it's sturdy. There's gonna be maybe a little bit of screen flex, as well as a little bit in the chassis. It does feel nicely sturdy.

There's also a reasonable selection of ports. Lenovo loaded it up with a USB-C port, there's also going to be a USB 3.0, which can charge your device even when the laptop's closed. A HDMI, and if you flip the laptop to the other side, there's one more USB 3.0 port, as well as an SD card reader. Open the IdeaPad up and there's a full-size keyboard with a number row and it's also backlit, which is especially nice to see at this kind of price point. Usually when it comes to budget laptops, there's a lot of bloatware onboard. While there's going to be a little bit on the Lenovo, I'm gonna say it's actually not going to be that bad, and of course, it's going to be totally fine.

The laptop is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, which should provide plenty of power for Fortnite, especially at lower graphics settings. It also comes with 8 gigs of RAM, which is a decent amount of memory for a budget laptop. The storage is handled by a standard SSD, which should provide fast loading times and overall performance. The idea is that this laptop will be able to handle Fortnite at around 30 frames per second, with the option to turn up some settings to get higher frame rates.

However, there's one major issue with this laptop: the screen. It's a 15.6-inch 1366 by 768 screen, which is not going to be impressive to begin with. The viewing angles are pretty terrible, and the color is just not going to be accurate whatsoever. There's also a lot of issues with the screen, such as the fact that it's almost no screen real estate at all. To be fair, when it comes to Fortnite, the screen is actually going to be totally fine, because we can play at the full native screen resolution of the laptop.

But overall, there are some pros and cons to this laptop. The price is solid, with a starting point of $450, which is definitely within budget for many people. However, if you take a look around now, it seems like they're selling for closer to $530, which is still reasonable but gets into the higher end of the budget category. There's also the issue of what this thing actually costs, because there are other laptops that offer similar specs and performance at lower prices.

In terms of performance, the laptop is able to handle Fortnite just fine, even with some settings turned up to get higher frame rates. It's not going to be as smooth as a full 60 fps experience, but it should still provide a good gaming experience. The system itself doesn't get too warm when running at this level, and the fan does a good job of keeping things cool.

However, if you're looking for an entry-level Fortnite experience, by all means pick up this laptop. It's a solid package with a Core i5 processor, 8 gigs of RAM, and a standard SSD. Just be aware that there are some issues to consider, such as the screen, which may not be ideal for gaming. But overall, it's still a good option if you're looking for a budget-friendly laptop that can handle Fortnite at a decent level.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.We've done our fair shareof Fortnite videos,but today we're takinga look at what mightjust be the best cheaplaptop for Fortnite,the $450 Lenovo IdeaPad 330S.Take a look around, and this isa surprisingly solidly built laptop.So, Lenovo did opt to gowith aluminum for the build,and well, for the most part it's sturdy.There's gonna be maybe alittle bit of screen flex,as well as a little bit in the chassis.It does feel nicely sturdy.There's also a reasonableselection of ports.So Lenovo loaded it up with a USB-C port,there's also going to be a USB 3.0,which can charge your deviceeven when the laptop's closed,a HDMI, and if you flip thelaptop to the other side,there's one more USB 3.0 port,as well as an SD card reader.Open the IdeaPad up andthere's a full-size keyboardwith a number row and it's also backlit,which is especially nice to seeat this kind of price point.Usually when it comes to budget laptops,there's a lot of bloatware onboard.While there's going to bea little bit on the Lenovo,I'm gonna say it's actuallynot going to be that bad,and of course, it's goingto be easily removable,unlike some other laptopsthat you spend hourstrying to uninstall the18th trial of McAfee on.You know what I'm talking about.- 18?- Well, they sometimes...I feel there's like threedifferent McAfee thingsthey load on laptops these days.There's like security, there'slike the internet security,and there's like sometotal something something,you don't need any of that.Just hit uninstall with theSSD, it's nice and fast.Okay, 18 was an exaggeration,I'm sorry, it's three.Open up the Ideapad, you're actuallygoing to find a few interesting things,at least if you're a nerd like me.First of all, we have our processor.Now this guy is rocking the Core i5-8250U,as well as the new 8th-gen Intel chip.That means that we're going to be gettinga full quad-core design,which is really nice in a $450 laptop.There's a lot of interestingstuff inside here though.First of all, it seems likethere's almost definitelysome version of this,maybe not this laptop,at least this board, thatdoes take advantage ofa MX150 graphics card that looks to beabout the right size for the GPU,as well as where the GDDR5 would go.But there's some otherinteresting stuff here,including the Intel-AC WIFI card,it's going to be dual-band,should be plenty powerful,plenty fast, and on top of that,we also do have a 8GB of RAM.So, there's going to be 4 gigs here,as well as 4 gigs on thebackside running a dual channel,and that is going to be very importantto keep those UHD 620 Graphicson the Core i5 nice and fed.Is that enough specs for ya,cause I've got even more.You should be wary of whichmodel of this laptop you pick up.Most are going to be rockinga 1 Terabyte hard drive,some do take advantage ofthe M.2 slot to give yousome Optane support, but whatwe've got here is instead,a 128 GB two and a 2.5-inch data drive.I say that because of course,that's going to give youthe best performance out of the box.This one performs pretty reasonable,but if you ever wanna upgrade this guy,as opposed to just throwingin an extra hard drive,you're pretty much limited to addinga second SSD in that M.2 slot.Last, but certainly not least,on Austin's Tour of the Inside a Laptop,we have the 30 Wh battery.Now that looks like a pretty large cell;however, 30 Wh isnot a lot for a laptop.Part of that is because, thisis actually partially hollow.It looks bigger than it really is.30 Wh is gonna beenough to get somewherebetween five to six hours of use,but it's not going to be a lot,and it is a very easyway to tell that Lenovowas cutting some costs whenthey designed this laptop.Put all this togetherand what you've got isa pretty decent littlelaptop, but of course,the real question iscan it play Fortnite?Jump into the game, and what we're gettingis an incredibly playable30 frames per second.Because you know, that's what all gamesshould run at, right?Real talk though, for a $450laptop, as I run into a tree,this is actually going tobe very, very playable.So, I did have to turndown some of the settings,we are running at 768p,I'll get into a little bit of that later,but we are running on mostly low settingswith the view distance bumped up,we've got motion blur on,and importantly, wehave not only Vsync on,but also the 30 frame per second cap.So this can run a littlebit higher than 30.If you uncap it, we'rerunning around like 40,but it gets a little big erratic,and when we turn on Vsync,it actually smooths outthe action quite a bit.It's not going to be as smoothas full 60 fps experience,but this is a $450 laptop,and it's going to be completelyplayable with Fortnite.And with the Core i5 inside,it's actually going tostay reasonably cool.It doesn't get above 65 degrees,for the most part on the actual processor,and because we aren't goingto be completely taxing itwith that 30 fps cap, itmeans that the system itselfdoesn't get all that warm either.Sure, it's going to be a little warmwhere that fan is underneaththe screen, but to the touch,the laptop is nice and cool.However, you might be asking yourself,why exactly am I playing at1366 by 768 on the resolution?And that, my friends, is the biggest issuewith the Lenovo IdeaPad 330S.The screen, just not that great.This is a 15.6 inch 1366 by 768 screen.And not only is thatnot going to be all thatimpressive to begin with,but it's also a really cheap TN panel.So, the viewing angels,as you can see here,are, well pretty terrible,the color is just not goingto be accurate whatsoever,there's just a lot ofissues with this screen,and that doesn't even get into the idea.This is a pretty large displaywith almost no screen real estate.Now to be fair, whenit comes to Fortnite,the screen is actuallygoing to be totally fine.In fact, it's almost aslight advantage becausewe can play at the full nativescreen res of the laptop.For almost everythingelse though, it's just notgoing to be all that great.So, there is a 1080p optionthat you can upgrade thislaptop with, but the problem there is thatonce you start upgrading the screen,the price of the laptopwill quickly get above $500,and for that kind of money,actually I do kind ofprefer the ASUS VivoBookthat I recently took a look at.Then there's the issue of whatthis thing actually costs.So I was able to pick it up for $450,and that price is solid.Unfortunately when I tooka look at it this morning,a lot of these were runningfor a little bit closerto $530, and again, at that price,it gets to be a littlebit of a harder sale.If you're able to pick this up for $450,it's a pretty solidpackage with the Core i5,8 Gigs of RAM, as well as standard SSD,but that screen is a big, big issue.So if you're looking for an entry-levelFortnite experience, byall means, pick it up.Other than that though, you may wanna lookat slightly higher-end options.