Intel 15.6" Student Review

This Intel Thin laptop is trying to be a lot of things. It's got a rose gold finish, a fingerprint reader, and a backlit keyboard, which is a lot of polish for a budget machine. But under the hood, it's running on a very basic Intel Celeron processor and just 8GB of RAM, which tells you where the compromises were made.

Let's be real, the Celeron N processor is slow. It's in the 4th percentile for CPU power, so it's only good for the absolute basics: web browsing, document editing, and maybe one streaming tab at a time. The 8GB of RAM is also in the 5th percentile, so multitasking is a no-go. The 1080p IPS screen is decent for the price, and the 256GB SSD at least makes it feel snappy when booting up.

Prices range from $275 to $379. At the lower end, it's a passable machine if you just need a portable screen for web browsing. At $379, it's a harder sell. You're paying for the rose gold look and the fingerprint scanner, not for performance. If you find it for close to $275, it might be okay, but know you're buying a very limited computer.

Don't let the 'top competitors' list fool you. This isn't competing with a MacBook Pro or a gaming laptop. Its real competition is other budget Windows machines like the Lenovo IdeaPad 1 or an older Chromebook. Compared to those, this laptop offers a more premium feel with its metal finish and extra features. But many of those alternatives might offer slightly better performance for the same price, or a much lower price for similar specs.

Buy this only if your needs are incredibly simple and you really, really want the rose gold style. It's for someone who needs a portable typing and browsing machine that looks nicer than a plastic Chromebook. Students on a tight budget for note-taking could consider it. For anyone else, even casual users, the sluggish performance and low RAM will become frustrating fast.