I put the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 to work — it’s a great $799 laptop (if on sale)

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2026) is a laptop designed for everyday productivity. It's a great option for students and office workers, and it is currently available for $799 on sale at Best Buy, down from its original price of $1,299. This laptop features a large 15-inch touchscreen display, Intel's Wildcat Lake processor, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD for storage.

One of the key advantages of the IdeaPad Slim 3i is its spacious and bright 15-inch touchscreen display, which offers a resolution of 1920x1200 and a 120Hz refresh rate. This makes multitasking easier and more enjoyable, allowing users to open multiple windows side by side, such as spreadsheets, web browsers, and chat applications. Additionally, the touchscreen functionality provides a smooth and intuitive way to interact with the laptop.

Under the hood, the laptop is powered by an Intel Core 7 350 processor, which delivers solid performance for everyday tasks. Benchmarks show that the IdeaPad Slim 3i can handle tasks like browser encoding (using Handbrake) and gaming (Shadow of the Tomb Raider) with ease, even at 1080p resolution. While it may not outperform more expensive competitors like the MacBook Neo or Dell XPS 13, it provides more than enough performance for the price point of $799.

Battery life is also a strong point for this laptop, providing decent power to last throughout the day. However, the plastic chassis of the laptop may not feel as premium as some other options, and the included barrel charger can be an inconvenience. Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 (2026) is a reliable and affordable laptop choice for those in need of a dependable device for school or office work.