New year, new computer: there are some refurb gaming chromebooks on amazon for $200. It's the lenovo 16" ideapad.

It's a 2560x1600 120hz screen, which is very good for a cheap chromebook, and looks very clear and bright. Matte. The speakers are pretty good, too. Propped on my lap, it's bigger than my oversized TV.

For a 16" laptop, it's pretty light. I've been using 13" or even 12" laptops for years now, because they travel well, and still bear the shoulder scars of a 15" laptop from years ago. I may not want to carry this one very far, but it's definitely forced me to reevaluate my preconceptions. It's not a seven pound monster.

It's i3-1215u CPU, which is pretty fast. The cheaper mediatek CPUs sometimes struggle IME. Fan noise is typically minimal, and even when pushing it a bit, it's a decent timbre.

The biggest downside is the keyboard has a numpad, so it's off center. I can't type accurately on it (yet). The feel is adequate.

What makes it gaming is the four zone RGB backlight for the keyboard. I just made it red, which is actually somewhat nicer at night than bright white.

I know some people hate chromebooks, but you click a button and it's a linux laptop with working sound and wifi, so... I find it useful to have a bunch of cheap computers around the house because I'm really lazy and I'll spend two hours reading wikipedia on my phone instead of moving to the next room, but if there's a laptop within reach, I'll use that happily.

This appears functionally identical to the Acer 516, which has a centered keyboard, but also sells for over $500. I think there was also an asus model (apparently google just arm wrestles these companies into new market segments, and they all do the same thing).

@tedu shit, not bad for $200. i feel like even a lot of newer stuff still ends up as functionally e-waste sometimes...