I've spent the past few weeks with Lenovo's brand-new Wildcat Lake-powered IdeaPad Slim 3i laptop, featuring Intel's latest Core 7 350 processor.While I really want to love this laptop, it feels like modern hardware housed in a design from several years ago—and I have mixed feelings about that.Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 Gen 11 7 Operating System Windows 11 CPU Intel Core 7 350 GPU Integrated Intel Graphics RAM 16GB The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 Gen 11 has everything you need from work to play, offering a 120Hz display, all-day battery, and more.
Pros & Cons Excellent matte 120Hz touchscreen Built-in number pad on the keyboard User-upgradable RAM and storage Can charge over USB-C so you don't need to use the barrel jack charger Slower than other laptops in its price range, even by Lenovo Dated, plastic-heavy construction Only one USB-C port Older 5Gb/s USB and HDMI 1.4 $900 at Best Buy Expand Collapse See our process How We Test and Review Products at How-To Geek We go hands-on with every product to ensure it's worth your time and money.Posts By Justin Duino Price and Availability The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i is available from Best Buy for $900.Specifications Brand Lenovo Operating System Windows 11 CPU Intel Core 7 350 GPU Integrated Intel Graphics RAM 16GB Storage 512GB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe SSD Battery 50Wh lithium-ion Display (Size, Resolution) 15.3-inch 16:10 120Hz touchscreen display Camera 720p + IR, fixed focus, physical privacy shutter Speakers Two 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Audio; dual-array microphones Memory 16GB DDR5-5600; one user-replaceable SO-DIMM, up to 32GB Ports × USB-A 5Gbps, USB-C 5Gbps with 45–65W PD and DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm combo jack, SD reader, round-tip power connector Network Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 Dimensions 13.52 × 9.43 × 0.74 inches Weight 3.51 pounds Power 65W round-tip adapter; also supports USB-C charging Card Reader Full-size SD card reader Security Firmware TPM 2.0, Windows Hello facial recognition, physical camera shutter; no fingerprint reader Expand Collapse The Core 7 350 feels better than its benchmark results suggest Everyday work is fine, but demanding workloads reveal its limits Close If I were to just look at the benchmark results of the brand-new Intel Core 7 350 Wildcat Lake processor, I would be quite disappointed.
It's a more trimmed down platform compared to the more premium Core Ultra Series 3 Panther Lake processors, and it definitely shows in the benchmarks.However, benchmarks aren't always the telltale sign of how a machine will perform.In my day-to-day use of the IdeaPad Slim 3i, the laptop felt adequately powered for most normal tasks.
Office work, document writing, working with spreadsheets, browsing the web, even light photo editing were a breeze on this laptop.I would say that the Core 7 and the 16GB of RAM (which can be upgraded to 32GB by just taking the bottom off the laptop) are more than enough for the average user.Whether you plan to use this laptop for the upcoming school season, some remote office work, or just to browse Facebook, it is definitely plenty powerful.
Close Now, on the other side, if you're a power user, gamer, or need the power that many have come to expect from Intel's Core Ultra 7 or previous i7 processor lineup, then the IdeaPad Slim 3i might not be for you.I'd say this new Core 7 processor feels more like a Core Ultra 5 or older i5.That's not necessarily a bad thing.
It's just a marketing name, after all.But, that is something you should definitely keep in mind.Heavier workloads, like 3D CAD work, heavy video editing, or even gaming just aren't what this laptop is made for.
Speaking of gaming, I tried gaming in and on the IdeaPad Slim 3i, and it didn't turn out so well.On average, the Core 7 350 kept up with around 30 FPS in both games on low settings at the native 1920x1200 resolution.However, it was extremely laggy and stuttery in those games.
Some lightweight games, like , might run fine on this laptop, but I wouldn't expect to do any real gaming on it.The matte 120Hz touchscreen is something I simply didn't expect This is an unusually practical display for office and school work I'm so happy that 120Hz screens are becoming a default option on laptops these days.In the past, you had to pay a hefty premium to get a 120Hz screen on a laptop, but this sub-$1,000 IdeaPad Slim 3i comes with one as its only display option.
What really surprised me about the screen wasn't that it was 120Hz, but that it was a touchscreen.Most touchscreen laptops are glossy, and I'm just not a glossy screen person.Both of my monitors at my desk are matte, and I am heavily considering getting the Nano Texture MacBook screen when I buy my next laptop.
However, when I first saw the display of the IdeaPad Slim 3i, I never expected it to be touchscreen.In fact, I didn't even know it was a touchscreen until I accidentally tapped it and something happened.That's how good the matte display is.
It looks like a normal, non-touch screen.The 1920x1200 resolution is perfectly acceptable in this price range, too.I found the screen's 400-nit brightness to be perfectly fine for daily work both inside and outside, though in direct sun it does start to become a bit harder to use.
Overall, I really enjoyed the screen on this laptop far more than I expected to.I'd say it's the best part of the laptop.Related I tested all three Snapdragon X2 processors, and the cheapest one surprised me most Everyday performance makes Qualcomm’s entry tier surprisingly compelling Posts By Patrick Campanale Lenovo made the keyboard for people who actually work with numbers The keyboard, numpad, and trackpad are pleasantly competent More and more laptops are going away from having 10-key numpads built-in.
Even Lenovo's other IdeaPad Slim 5x, which is the Snapdragon brother of this IdeaPad Slim 3i, doesn't have one.Instead, the Slim 5x chose to put speaker grilles next to the normal keyboard.The IdeaPad Slim 3i, on the other hand, foregoes the underwhelming front-firing speakers that the Slim 5x had and adds a 10-key.
The 10-key is genuinely more useful here, and I'm glad that it's a part of the Slim 3i.The keyboard was fairly nice to type on.It's no mechanical keyboard, and there's definitely some flex to the keyboard base plate if you're a heavy typer.
However, it's a solidly pleasant experience, all things considered.The trackpad is a bit more of a mixed bag to me.The overall experience of the trackpad is nice, it tracks my fingers well and is large, which is a bonus.
However, it's a traditional trackpad, not a force touch trackpad, which means you have to actually click on the right or left side in the corners, not just anywhere on the right or left side.This is something that many newer laptops aren't plagued by, but it reminds me of older laptops.The laptop actually has a pivot point that the trackpad tilts on to choose the left or right button, and I found myself, many times, clicking right near that pivot point—which means I never clicked at all.
Outside of that small annoyance, the keyboard and trackpad were great to use.Personally, I rarely use a trackpad on a laptop as I travel with a Bluetooth mouse in my laptop bag and choose to use that instead as it's just a better experience for me.The trackpad of the IdeaPad Slim 3i is good enough to get the job done when you don't have another input device, but I'd definitely opt for a mouse if possible.
This new processor is surrounded by an old-school budget laptop Upgradeability and USB-C charging soften the compromises If you were to take Lenovo's brand-new 2026 IdeaPad Slim 3i and put an older i7 badge on it, you might honestly be able to fool me.The overall build quality just feels like an older laptop with newer internals, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's also not a good thing, either.On the left side there's a barrel jack.
In 2026.Why Lenovo chose to go with a barrel jack for this laptop is beyond me, because it supports USB-C Power Delivery charging too on the single USB-C port.The left side of the laptop also houses that single USB-C port, a USB-A port, HDMI, and the combination headphone/microphone jack.
On the right side, you have the power button, an SD card reader, and a USB-A port.I really would have liked to see a USB-C port on both sides of the laptop, but sadly that's just not an option.All the USB ports are also just 5Gb/s, which is the slowest speed a USB 3 port can be.
I really would have liked to see at least one more USB-C port, and maybe at least one 10Gb/s USB port on the laptop.However, while it does have that old-school budget laptop feel with the barrel jack and only 5Gb/s USB ports, the Slim 3i definitely makes up for it in a few areas.The first area is that it supports USB-C Power Delivery charging.
I know I mentioned that already, but it a big deal.Older laptops that had barrel jack chargers rarely supported USB-C charging, so it's nice to see that as an option here should you lose the original charger or just want to use a docking station to power the laptop.Close The other really nice thing is that it supports user-upgradable RAM and storage.
As I mentioned earlier, it ships with 16GB of RAM, but you can swap the single SO-DIMM stick out for a 32GB stick if you want to upgrade it.It also supports swapping the NVMe drive out for something larger.Lenovo officially says the Slim 3i supports up to 1TB of storage on its M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot, but you might be able to put a larger drive in—just know that's not officially supported.
However, being able to double the amount of storage in the laptop is a really nice option if you're someone who only buys a laptop every few years.The laptop also looks quite repairable inside.The battery is screwed down, which means it should be simple to replace if you ever need to, and the wireless card is also not soldered, which means you could upgrade it if you want more performance than the Wi-Fi 6 that the laptop ships with.
Should you buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 Gen 11? It's kind of hard to recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i over the IdeaPad Slim 5x I reviewed earlier this year.On its own, the IdeaPad Slim 3i is a really solid sub-$1,000 laptop.It has adequate performance for its price point for remote work or school tasks, and the screen is pretty great in my opinion.
However, it's less than $100 cheaper than the IdeaPad Slim 5x with the Snapdragon X2 Plus processor, which is up to 79% faster in many benchmarks, and actually feel snappier.The Slim 5x also has more premium ports, like two USB-C 10Gb/s ports, DisplayPort 1.4 vs DisplayPort 1.2, and HDMI 2.1 instead of HDMI 1.4.The biggest benefit that the Slim 3i has over the Slim 5x is that it's an Intel processor and not Snapdragon, which means certain programs will run far better since x86 is a much more robust and mature platform compared to Windows on Arm.
So, if you need an Intel-based laptop that will last most of the day on a single charge, has decent enough performance, and a solid screen, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i is for you.However, if you can work with Windows on Arm, I'd say probably go for the slightly more expensive, but also more premium Slim 5x if you can.Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 Gen 11 7 Operating System Windows 11 CPU Intel Core 7 350 GPU Integrated Intel Graphics RAM 16GB The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 15 Gen 11 has everything you need from work to play, offering a 120Hz display, all-day battery, and more.
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