Lenovo IdeaPad 300-15IBR review

IdeaPad 300-15IBR — a $99 Pentium-era laptop with a token graphics card

The IdeaPad 300-15IBR (2015) pairs a Pentium N3700 quad-core with a GeForce 920M — a 1GB entry card that was weak even at launch. At $99 today it is ultra-budget against a $248 class median. The CPU is the story: a score of 6.99 against a 58.99 median (an 88% shortfall) marks the N3700 as one of the slowest x86 processors in the volume catalog — it was a low-cost, low-power part when new, and a decade has not improved it.

What it can still do

The 920M gives it a nominal graphics dimension the pure-iGPU floor machines lack, but at a measured 4.55 against a 27.24 median it clears no meaningful bar — casual and older titles only. The N3700 handles single-task browsing and documents with visible patience. Realistic use: a spare machine, a first laptop for light schoolwork, a print-and-type terminal.

The trade-offs, stated plainly

Performance index at 5.77 versus 43 places the whole machine in the bottom decile. The CPU is the binding constraint on everything — pages load, slowly; video plays, at the codec's mercy; multitasking is a slideshow. At $99, the question is not "is it fast" (it is not) but "is any laptop at this price fast" (mostly no — but see the neighbors).

Price trajectory

From a $900 launch position it has declined at about 7.6% per year to $99, with a projected $85 in two years. The curve is terminal — $14 of further loss — because the machine is already priced as disposal-stage hardware.

Against its neighbors

The comparison band is thin here: a Lenovo G580 at $108 above and a ThinkPad SL500 at $88 below. The G580 at $108 is the meaningful alternative — an older design but with a genuinely stronger dual-core CPU; the SL500 at $88 is an even older business machine in the same performance basement.

Bottom line

A floor-priced machine whose CPU is the catalog's slowest tier. The 920M is a technicality, not a capability. Buy only if $99 is the hard ceiling and expectations are typing-and-video low; a $10-20 stretch to the G580 neighbor buys noticeably more CPU.