Lenovo Chromebook C340-11: A budget friendly basic student chromebook

In a sea of budget-friendly Chromebooks, the Lenovo C340-11 stands out, at least at first, by packing in all the basics a student could ever need at a low cost. Including a touchscreen and 360-degrees hinges. The C340-11 is built with a metal lid and a plastic body. The material mixing isn't off-putting, and the overall construction feels solid and durable. I mean, it beats all-plastic. The colors match up pretty well and the metal lid makes this budget Chromebook feel a little bit more premium. This one's pink but you can also get it in grey. The keys themselves have a mushy feel and occasionally let out random clicks, as if crumbs are stuck underneath. But overall it's decent, considering it's a low price starting at $250. The 11.6 inch display has a glossy ISP touch screen. It's pretty bright and sharp when used indoors and away from any sunny windows. The touch screen is precise and responsive. It's only missing a stylus for note taking, drawing or just avoiding those pesky finger print smudges. But you can't get everything I guess. Now here's where the low cost appeal starts to wear off. The display has an object gigantic bottom bezel that eats up a lot of real estate and makes the display feel smaller. It's jarring and feels out of place. Whenever anyone opens the lid of this laptop, they literally did a double take. It's like the screen of a smaller laptop built into a larger laptop's body. Convertible two in ones arguably need to leave some room to grip when using them as a tablet. But Lenovo may have taken it too far with the C340's crazy thick gen. If you can look past that, and you may not be able to, at least Lenovo didn't skimp on ports for the C340. This Chromebook has two USB C's and USB A ports one on either side, along with headphone jack and a micro USB card reader on the left. It charges via the USB C. So that's a nice modern touch. Lenovo says the Chromebooks battery will run up to 10 hours but on cnet's video streaming test it hit over 12 hours Either way it should give you more than enough battery to survive the school or work day. The C340 has 360 degree hinges that lets the lid swing around at a wide range positions, and it usually stays in whatever position you set it in. One of my favorite setups is folding it into a tent, this opens up plenty of desk space to do homework and take handwritten notes from the PowerPoint or an online textbook. It's also a great way to watch Disney plus and Netflix. The downside of using this Chromebook for entertainment is it speakers. They're very quiet. Even at 75% volume it comes out as a whisper. And when played at full volume, the speakers distort the audio. I know asking for good speakers on a budget laptop is a lot but still Take advantage of the headphone jack and Bluetooth connectivity when you can. It's the better choice. Despite a couple questionable design choices, Lenovo C340 is a feature-packed, low cost option for a student Chromebook. But that weird screen bezel is probably a deal-breaker. [MUSIC]