Lenovo's N22 Chromebook is an enticing little second computer for budget-conscious workers ̶ and not just because its retractable handle makes it look like the world's smallest briefcase. It was originally designed for students, but workers might want it for its long battery life and super- portable designs, not to mention the fact that it's dirt cheap. However, business users who want a sharper, brighter display or a bit more performance should skip this $160 laptop.
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The N22 Chromebook's matte black plastic case is far from luxurious, but at least it feels nice and sturdy. You won't have to think twice about putting this system in your work bag with or without a protective case. I also like the smooth, rounded corners and edges of the notebook, which look inviting and nestle comfortably on my wrists when typing.
Here's a design quirk I've never seen on a laptop: The N22 Chromebook's webcam, which sits in its usual spot above the display, can actually flip back a full 180 degrees to face in or out .That way you can point it at yourself for a remote video meeting, or point it outwards - perhaps to snap a photo of the whiteboard at the office during a meeting. It's actually a very clever design, as it's both front-facing as well as rear-facing orientations without the need for two separate cameras. This may even have helped Lenovo keep the price of the system down.
The other interesting design decision here is the inclusion of a retractable handle that, when closed, slides out of the laptop's rear hinge. I found it handy for lugging the notebook around, although it's hardly necessary for a laptop this compact. I suppose Lenovo said it included it to reduce falls when students are carrying the N22 around as the system is aimed at the education market, but it could be just as useful for carrying it from your desk to the meeting room. If that's not what you're interested in to use the grip, you can easily ignore it.
This is a seriously portable laptop, weighing in at 2.6 pounds. That's about half a pound lighter than 11-inch Windows laptops like Dell's
Inspiron 11 3000
(3.1 pounds) or HP's
Pavilion x360 11
(3.2 pounds) Among Chromebooks, Dells
Chromebook 11
comes close to 2.8 pounds.
You still get a decent selection of ports here. On the left side is an HDMI port, USB 3.0, and an SD card slot for expanding the system's measly 16GB of onboard storage. The right edge has a second USB 3.0 port and a lock slot so you can physically chain the N22 Chromebook to your desk to deter thieves.
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The N22 Chromebook has an 11.6-inch touch display that's not only small, but also matte and a bit dark - but that's typical for a laptop this cheap. The 1366 x 768 resolution doesn't leave much room either for screen-intensive tasks like viewing large documents, and multitasking with two windows side-by-side can feel claustrophobic. That's the compromise for a laptop so small and portable, though. The display is for simple productivity tasks like checking your email and editing documents more than suitable.
Touch input felt responsive. I liked using the touchscreen to open apps and navigate web pages in the Chrome browser.
keyboard
The N22 offers a surprisingly comfortable typing experience, especially compared to other budget laptops. You get a good key travel of around 1.4 millimeters, which is about what we're looking for in a work laptop. The keys could be crisper, though. So they don't offer much tactile feedback on every shot.
As with other Chromebooks, the Delete key is replaced by the system's power button (you can reach the delete function by pressing Alt + Backspace). to get used to this peculiarity.
battery life
Leave your charger at home - the N22 Chromebook's battery easily lasts until the end of the workday. The system ran a solid 10 hours and 26 minutes in our battery test, which includes continuous web surfing via WLAN. In other words, it easily lasts competing laptops like that
Asus Chromebook C202
(8:23), with the Dell Chromebook 11 almost matching it with 10 hours and 9 minutes of battery life. The overall laptop average is about 8 hours and 12 minutes.
camera
The rotating design of the N22 Chromebook's webcam is certainly clever, but the laptop's 720p camera itself doesn't capture very high-quality photos or videos. When I tested it, the images tended to be a bit grainy, without very accurate colors it's more than good enough for basic video conferencing or for taking photos or videos during a meeting.
software
Like all Chromebooks, this one runs on Chrome OS, a lightweight operating system from Google. If you've never used Chrome OS, the first thing to know is that it can't run software for Windows or Macs (at least not without cumbersome virtualization apps that wouldn't run very well on the N22 anyway). Instead, the system relies on web apps. If you've used the Chrome browser on your desktop, you know what to expect.
However, Chrome OS isn't quite as limiting as it sounds. Finally, numerous full-featured apps are available for free, including web versions of Microsoft's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint programs, all of which can be accessed and used offline. Also for that An update is planned for the N22 Chromebook sometime this year that will allow you to run any Android app on the system, which will greatly expand the software library - although it is not yet clear when this functionality will be introduced.
For workers, Chrome OS has some advantages. The operating system requires no maintenance; there are few advanced settings for you to tinker with, and updates are installed seamlessly in the background as you work, so you never have to endure a tedious update during a reboot. Plus, the system boots up in seconds, so you can get to work right away.
perfomance
The N22 Chromebook can handle basic productivity tasks with ease - think managing your email inbox, typing documents and surfing the web. However, performance suffers even with moderate multitasking. I have 10 tabs open in the Chrome browser - including one streaming HD video and another viewing a spreadsheet in the Google Sheets app - and noticed a few moments of lag when switching between tabs.
The system runs on a modest 1.6GHz Intel Celeron processor with 4GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. This configuration earned the notebook a score of 50.8 on the synthetic JetStream benchmark test, which measures Javascript performance That beats the Dell Chromebook 11, which scores 43.26. Still, both systems fall well short of the ultraportable category average of 149.5.
bottom line
Though geared toward the education market, Lenovo's N22 Chromebook isn't a bad option for workers or small businesses looking for a cheap, portable secondary computer. The system is incredibly compact and offers long battery life to get you through your longest work flights a really nice keyboard for a budget computer.
The N22's weak performance and display are its biggest drawbacks. But since it's dirt cheap (just $160), these flaws are easy to overlook.
Buy Lenovo N22 Chromebook Touch on Amazon.com
