What is it? A potential misprice from Amazon. A brand Lenovo ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 laptop is currently on sale for $399.99. This particular model (21B3003NUS) is not available from Lenovo direct but given that the cheapest ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 laptop costs more than $1200, I think that we’re on a good deal especially with the mind boggling array of features that the L13 includes. More on that later. Popular corporate retailer Provantage sells it for around $750 and list it with a suggested retail price of $939, meaning that you’re looking at a potential $539 discount - a 57% saving.
What makes it special? There’s a lot of things that stand out on this laptop and the one that probably wowed me the most is the screen resolution. I am not omniscient but I haven’t seen a laptop with an WUXGA IPS display sold at this price. Purists prefer the aspect ratio (16:10) as they claim that it delivers a better visual experience as well as 11% more pixels. The 13.3-inch screen is also an IPS one, not a VA/TN model found on entry level laptops.
What else should you know? Where to start. This laptop comes with an Intel Core i3-1215U, probably my preferred best value mainstream processor. Thanks to its six real cores, it is faster than the Core i7-1165G7 which powers premium laptops like the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ and the 2021 edition of the Dell XPS 13 (9310/9305). It includes a Thunderbolt 4 port, yes, the same one found on the expensive Apple MacBook Pro. And speaking of Pro, there’s even Windows 11 Pro, which makes it a great candidate for our best business laptop buying guide especially as it has been tested to meet stringent MIL-STD-810H ratings. Other notable features include a privacy shutter on the webcam, spill resistant keyboard, backlit keyboard, six ports in total, a weight of 2.78 pounds and Wi-Fi 6.
Any cons? None about the laptop pe se: The memory is soldered and you can’t upgrade it. 8GB may be a bit too small for those that are heavy web browsers with plenty of tabs opened. Likewise the 256GB SSD doesn’t offer too much wriggle room; it offers hardware encryption (OPAL 2.0) something that’s rarely available at this price point. There’s no card reader (I can live with that) and the battery is a small 46WHr.
What have others said about it? I couldn’t find any review of this particular model (L13, Gen 3, Intel powered) and we haven't reviewed it. Laptopmedia mentions the great laptop and a premium build quality while cursing the soldered RAM and the lack of card slot. The author also adds that Lenovo “redesigned the machine’s form factor, now making it slightly thinner and lighter”.
What about aftersales support? There’s also a blurb in the product description that may put off some potential buyers. “The computer is professionally upgraded and customized. The manufacturer box will be opened by our professional engineers for customizing and testing. Factory defects and blemishes are significantly reduced by our in-depth inspection and testing”. Technically, it is a second-hand laptop but comes with full warranty from a third party. Bear in mind that the laptop ships straight from Amazon and comes with free product support, which according to the product page includes “live phone/chat with an Amazon associate, manufacturer contact information, step-by-step troubleshooting guides, and help videos”. If you need extra protection you can always buy a multi year laptop protection plan backed by Asurion LLC. At $56.99 for a 2-year protection and $92.99 for a 4-year one, it is really a no-brainer.
Anything else? There are cheaper laptops with this processor but all suffer from one or more major weaknesses (e.g. 4GB RAM, inferior construction, HD display etc). But if you find a better new deal, let me know.
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