Dell Chromebook 11 3000 3100 11.6" Touchscreen Convertible 2 in 1 Chromebook HD 1366 x 768 Review

This Dell Chromebook is a cheap laptop that's good at exactly one thing: being small and light. If you need a tiny, portable machine for basic web browsing and nothing else, it's an option. But that's the only nice thing I can say. The one thing you need to know is that everything else about this machine is a serious compromise.

Honestly, nothing surprised me in a good way. The AMD 3100 CPU lands in the 2nd percentile, which is shockingly slow even for a Chromebook. It'll handle a few browser tabs, but try opening more than five and you'll feel it start to crawl. The 8GB of RAM is also in the bottom 10%, so forget about multitasking. It's just not built for it.

At $129, it's hard to call it a bad value, but it's a very specific one. You're paying for portability and Chrome OS, and literally nothing else. If your needs are that simple, it's worth it. If you need to do anything more, it's not.

Don't even compare this to a MacBook Pro or a gaming laptop. That's silly. The real competition is other cheap Chromebooks or used laptops. For a bit more money, you could find a used business laptop like a Lenovo ThinkPad with way better specs, but it'll be heavier. The ASUS Zenbook Duo is in a different universe entirely. This Dell only wins if your absolute top priority is being the smallest, lightest, cheapest thing possible.

I can only recommend this to someone who needs a super basic, ultra-portable web machine and has zero other requirements. Think of it as a dedicated device for checking email on the couch. For students, business users, or anyone who needs to install apps or store files, look elsewhere immediately. This is a one-trick pony, and it's not a very good trick.