Lenovo ThinkPad E520 review

Business laptops don't usually fall into the budget end of the price spectrum, but the Lenovo ThinkPad E520 costs just over £500 and has a fairly decent set of components, including an Intel Core i3 processor, a 500GB hard disk and Windows 7 Professional. It's also the only laptop this month that has an ExpressCard slot, which is ideal for adding extra ports, storage or a card reader. Plus, its battery lasted almost eight hours.

It's one of the larger laptops in this month's group, but, surprisingly, it's also the lightest laptop too, weighing just 2.1kg. That, combined with its excellent battery life, makes it well suited to travelling. If you're in the cheap seats when travelling, you'll be glad to know that the lid tilts back more than 180 degrees so you can always get a good view of the screen, even if you’re struggling for legroom.
You'll need the best angle possible because the E520's screen has very tight vertical viewing angles. The matt finish reduces glare from reflected overhead lights, but it dulls colours. The backlight isn't very bright either, and its contrast is fairly poor, but colours are fairly accurate, with only a mild red cast adding a bit of warmth to images.

Intel's Core i3-2350M CPU is energy efficient, but it is of average speed. The E520 scored a respectable 46 overall, which means it should be capable of handling most applications. The integrated graphics chip can decode HD video content, but it's not up to playing games. It only scored 17fps in our Dirt3 test, so you'll have to lower graphical settings to achieve playable frame rates, even in the least demanding of games.
Business laptops often have a few tricks up their sleeves that consumer models lack. Windows 7 Professional supports old Windows XP apps and it also lets you join domains, which is useful if you need to connect to a network in a large organisation. It also lets you back up to a network storage device, which is very handy if you own a NAS or a media streamer with local storage.

As well as the versatile ExpressCard slot, the E520 has four USB ports, one of which also doubles as an eSATA port. Sadly, we didn't like the fact that the USB ports are placed towards the front of the case where they might get in the way of an attached mouse. It also has an SDHC card slot and a single 3.5mm jack that supports headsets, replacing separate headphone and microphone ports.


The ThinkPad's design, as ever, is functional, and it feels well built. As is usual with ThinkPads, you get a touchstick as well as a large touchpad. Both are responsive and have large buttons. Lenovo has used the full width of the case to accommodate the keyboard and, if anything, the keyboard feels too wide. The moulded keys are slightly convex, providing good tactile feedback when you strike the key, and their action is light and crisp.

We don't like its layout, however; the Control and Function keys' positions have been swapped, while the Function key is now used to access the F1-F12 functions rather than the shortcuts it normally activates. We also don't like the small PageUp and PageDown keys because they’re tucked away above the arrow keys and recessed to half-height, which means they're almost impossible to press without also hitting an arrow key.
All in all, the E520 is fairly boring, but its low weight and long battery life make it ideal for working on the move. The keyboard is a delight to use, and our only complaint is its dull screen, which prevents movies and photos looking their best. Still, it's the ideal travelling companion for the price, and it wins our Business Buy award.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	NZ33KUK
Review Date	27 Feb 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i3-2310M
Processor clock speed	2.1GHz
Memory	4.00GB
Memory slots	2
Memory slots free	1
Maximum memory	8GB
Size	40x375x245mm
Weight	2.1kg
Sound	Conexant 20671 SmartAudio HD
Pointing device	touchpad and touchstick

Display
Viewable size	15.6 in
Native resolution	1,366x768
Graphics Processor	Intel HD Graphics 3000
Graphics/video ports	VGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory	64MB

Storage
Total storage capacity	500GB
Optical drive type	DVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion
USB ports	4
Bluetooth
Wired network ports	1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support	802.11n
PC Card slots	1x ExpressCard/34
Supported memory cards	SDHC
Other ports	eSATA (shared with USB socket), minijack headset input

Miscellaneous
Carrying case
Operating system	Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Operating system restore option	restore partition
Software included	Corel DVD MovieFactory 7, Corel WinDVD 10, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter

Buying Information
Warranty	one year RTB
Price	£502
Details	www.lenovo.co.uk
Supplier	http://uk.insight.com

[Continue reading...]

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review

The ThinkPad laptop range is essentially the de facto standard for professionals. It’s been around in one form or another for over 20 years, but until now their uniform appearance and business-centric features haven’t exactly resulted in mass market appeal. That could all change with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook, however, which is arguably the best looking ThinkPad laptop ever.

Built from a combination of soft-touch plastic and tough-yet-lightweight carbon fibre, the X1 Carbon weighs a miniscule 1.3kg and is ideal for frequent travellers that like to stay light when on the move. Only 18mm at its thickest point, it’s the perfect size for slipping in and out of a laptop bag. Despite its size, it still feels incredibly sturdy. There’s only a small bit of flex in the screen and keyboard tray, with the rest of the machine showing very little give or bend.
The keyboard was a source of much discussion in the office. Some people thought it was one of the best they’d ever had the pleasure to use on a laptop, but others thought the keys felt sticky at times. The consensus was that Lenovo had done an excellent job creating keys with so much travel in an ultra-thin laptop, using Chiclet-style keys that were firm and responsive. The entire keyboard tray is backlit with incredibly bright white LEDs, meaning we had no trouble working in low lighting conditions.

We also liked the all-in-one touchpad, which worked incredibly well despite the absence of physical buttons. It’s a comfortable size, albeit a little close to the edge of the chassis, with a satisfying click that lets you know when your inputs have registered. It fully supports multitouch gestures and sensitivity was spot-on. Of course, as this is a Lenovo laptop, you also have the option to use the integrated touch stick instead of the touchpad. It takes some getting used to if you haven’t used one before, but Lenovo veterans will appreciate its inclusion.

The display is a step above most of the competition, too. Lenovo has fitted a 14in, 1,600x900 display into a chassis roughly the same size as most 13in laptops, and it feels expansive. The extra resolution makes it easy to work on two documents side-by-side, and although the TN panel has only average viewing angles, the screen will tilt completely flat, so finding a working position shouldn’t be a problem. The matt finish helps reduce light reflections without dimming colour reproduction, so images look vibrant. It’s not quite as bright as Samsung’s Series 9 display, or up to the same high standard as the Asus ZenBook Prime UX31A, but it’s still one of the better Ultrabook displays we’ve seen.

Understandably for such a thin laptop, even by Ultrabook standards, the X1 Carbon is light on connectivity. Besides the two USB ports, 3.5mm combination audio jack and multiformat card reader, Lenovo has used mini DisplayPort for video output instead of HDMI. It might be more common in a business setting, but it means you’ll need an adaptor to run the laptop through a TV. It would also have been nice if both USB ports supported the faster USB3 standard, but unfortunately only one does. The other is a slower USB2 variant. There’s also an integrated 3G modem for wireless internet access, although you’ll need to pay extra to use it.


Inside, the Intel Core i5-3427U processor runs each of its two cores at 1.8GHz, but can reach 2.8GHz using Turbo Boost. It’s paired with 8GB of (non-removable) RAM and a 256GB SSD, so understandably it sped through our multimedia benchmarks with an overall score of 55. That isn’t quite as fast as some Core i7-powered Ultrabooks, but it’s still more than quick enough for all your everyday applications. The extra memory will help with larger applications such as databases too.
Clearly, the X1 Carbon wasn’t built as a gaming laptop, so it should come as no surprise that it relies on the integrated graphics chip built into the processor for video and 3D rendering performance. Intel’s HD 4000 might be a step up from the previous generation, but it still struggles in newer games. Our Dirt 3 test finished with a choppy average frame rate of 19.7fps. That’s a slight step up from other Ultrabooks we’ve seen, but mostly because our review sample was using a faster processor. If you opt for the less expensive X1 with a Core i5-3317U, you should expect gaming performance to be around 10 per cent slower depending on the title.

The main benefit from opting for integrated graphics is that they’re much more forgiving on battery life. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon performed admirably in our light-use test, managing a little under eight hours away from the mains. You should be able to get a full working day out of a single charge if you stick to light tasks.
It’s difficult to recommend the X1 Carbon to anyone needing a laptop purely for home use; you’d be paying extra for features that you wouldn’t need, such as the integrated 3G modem and vPro compatibility, and would perhaps be better off with the Samsung Series 9, but for business users there’s almost nothing to fault here. It’s fantastic to use, packed with useful features and software, powerful and long-lasting. If you’re after a new business workhorse, this should be it.

Basic Specifications
Part Code	ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Review Date	24 Oct 2012
Rating
Processor	Intel Core i5-3427U
Processor clock speed	1.8GHz
Memory	8.00GB
Memory slots	2
Memory slots free	0
Maximum memory	8GB
Size	331x226x19mm
Weight	1.3kg
Sound	Realtek HD Audio
Pointing device	touchpad and touchstick

Display
Viewable size	14 in
Native resolution	1,600x900
Graphics Processor	Intel HD 4000
Graphics/video ports	mini DisplayPort
Graphics Memory	384MB

Storage
Total storage capacity	256GB
Optical drive type	none

Ports and Expansion
USB ports	2
Bluetooth
Wired network ports	none
Wireless networking support	802.11n, 3G
PC Card slots	none
Supported memory cards	SDXC, Memory stick Pro, MMC
Other ports	minijack headset port, 1x USB 3.0

Miscellaneous
Carrying case
Operating system	Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Operating system restore option	restore partition
Software included	Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition
Optional extras	none

Buying Information
Warranty	three years RTB
Price	£1,107
Details	www.lenovo.co.uk
Supplier	http://shop.lenovo.com

[Continue reading...]