This review is specifically for an E420 1141-A24 purchased from 0FF1CE DEP0T. It's worth mentioning three things up front:(1) My configuration is nearly identical to the base specs listed here, except that my processor is a slightly slower i5 2410M
(2) I purchased mine as an advertised sale of 530 plus taxes.
(3) I found that Lenovo made a similarly spec'd configuration available for 444 with discounts/coupons back in July/August, the details of which archived on the Fat Wallet forums.
This is my third laptop in about three years, but my first to come equipped with most of the features I wanted. For reference, my first laptop was a well used T-43 Thinkpad off Craigslist with a dead battery and no real features worth mentioning, other than great Thinkpad quality and a matte (non-glare) screen that I didn't know I valued until I lost it.
I replaced the T-43 with a new, bargain priced Lenovo G530 (Core 2 Duo) which had absolutely no features, lousy battery life, and a mirror-like glossy screen that stunk in many lighting conditions (an all too common feature with just about every laptop I looked at). My experience with the discount G530 computer allowed me to create my "must have" list of features:
HC SD CARD READER for easy uploading of images from my digital camera
BLUETOOTH for tethering to my cell phone via the Tether app
HDMI OUT for connection to my TV for watching shows off of HULU, CBS, NBC and ABC websites
MATTE SCREEN because I simply couldn't stand the reflections I had to deal with on the glossy screen
GOOD BATTERY LIFE because my G530 could handle about an hour of video playback on low brightness before dying
LESS THAN 14" in width (actual width, not the screen measurement) to maintain portability
Some things I wanted but compromised on:
SSD drive, which I can actually install for less $$ than the added cost of most laptops that ship with one
Backlit keyboard, because I do a little computing in the dark
BluRay drive, which simply would have been nice (I rarely use my DVD drive as it is)
Numeric Keypad, which I came to realize simply wasn't an option until I moved up to a 15" screen size
Hi Rez screen
This laptop didn't wow me like the (beautiful) pricey 1370-do11ar SONY SA series, which has an inch smaller (13.3") high res (1600x900) screen, but came with the SSD, keyboard backlight and BluRay. Toshiba has a matte-screen Protege in the 850 range, and HP has a high-res EliteBook 8650 that costs nearly twice the Sony's price for similar spec. In the end, it came down to the great build quality and trouble-free track record of Lenovo, plus with the low cost I was able to justify purchasing a 2nd unit to give to my Pops, who's been suffering with my old Thinkpad T-series for the past year or so.
Build quality isn't quite on par with the seemingly cast-iron T43 built by IBM, but is certainly a step above the entry level G530 it's replacing. The hinges seem solid, the screen is fairly rigid, the feel of the keyboard and touchpad is spot on, and as a whole, the unit feels sturdy yet reasonably light.
Boot time is acceptable at 35s to logon screen, and 55s to desktop / ready to go. Windows Experience Index clocks at 5.7, with the hard drive write speeds being the dog, followed by the slow integrated Intel graphics and RAM speeds (5.9).
The screen is bright enough in the brightly lit windowed room I primarily work in, and the matte finish basically eliminates any problems with reflections. Viewing angles are very good side-to-side, but there is a sweet spot in the tilt that inverts quickly if not adjusted just so. Yet I find it acceptable for close-in viewing. Sound quality is decent, though not audiophile quality -i.e. loud enough, but a bit tinny and lacking in bass. It's no worse than your average clock radio, and clearly listening to video streaming services isn't a problem.
I'm simply thrilled with the built-in Bluetooth, SD reader, and HDMI-out. Previously, I was using various USB attachments for each of these regularly-used features, which simply complicated my usage and increased the amount of gear I had to carry around and keep track of.
The keyboard on this laptop is excellent. The keys have actual, visible up and down movement (hard to believe after all the chiclet style keyboards I demoed). Spacing is only a tiny bit cramped; it's really quite good for my large fingers.
Unlike my previous Thinkpads, Lenovo moved most of the functions to the function keys, then went one step further: they made the function key require a two-key press to activate (for example, instead of hitting F5 to refresh or F11 for full screen, I now have to press Fn-F5 or Fn-F11), but the auxiliary commands are now single-key press (volume, mute, screen brightness, Play/FFWD/RWD, web cam on/off). It's a little something to get used to, and a keyboard backlight would have been appreciated in darker settings to help me out. (This function can be disabled in BIOS.) Alas...
The computer has moved all ports to the sides of the body -so no more headphone plug sticking out from under my space bar. One USB, the DVD tray and the power connector are on the right; all others are on the left. The rear is reserved for an RJ45 network connection as well as an optional 9-cell battery, which would stick out the rear of the computer about an inch (without increasing its thickness). And no more confusing the headphone port for the mic port: this computer uses a single integrated "smart" port, though I suppose it requires a new single plug (or USB) headset for my Skype calls.
Lenovo even threw in a TrackPoint (eraser-head button between the G & H keys for navigation), and a finger print reader that works fairly reliably and quickly from the log-on screen.
The computer comes a little bit bloated with Lenovo's software, most of which is good, some of which is unnecessary. Fortunately, my biggest headache, Norton Anti-Virus, was easily removable via ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS. The others you'll have to pick through depending on what Lenovo features you'll find valuable. Lenovo even saw fit to ship this unit with Google Chrome installed, which manages to make an appearance before Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a chance to pop up. However, in my case, it was Chrome v12 (current version is 15), and it wouldn't automatically upgrade itself. I had to uninstall Chrome and download a clean version of the current software.
It's also worth noting that this PC doesn't come with a recovery DVD. Lenovo traditionally makes these available by mail for a modest price (auctions sites and Craigs1ist are less expensive options), but it does include the standard recovery partition on the HDD that allows the creation of a recovery DVD, should you want to swap out a hard drive right away.
For a computer I use daily for web surfing, video watching, some light Inkscape drawing, Photoshop Elements editing, and lightweight gaming, the E420 fits the bill in terms of price, value/quality, and speed/functionality. It's by no means cutting edge, it certainly isn't the best looking nor the smallest/lightest of the bunch, but it's designed to be carried around and used in any number of tasks with a minimum of headache. Five to six hour battery life is to be expected (unless under heavy video playback), and 9 hours are achievable with an upgrade to the extended 9-cell battery.
The Thinkpad Edge doesn't come with Thinkpad quality.I bought this item for my school and it works well! I love the blazing fastness when it first turns on/off or when I put it to sleep mode. The HD webcam is pretty good in good light and in low light. It would help if there were backlit keys. The trackpad is pretty good. I'm trying to get used to it still. I actually love the keyboard! The feeling is great! The lit up "i" on the thinkpad logo is pretty cool. I think it's useful. This isn't a great laptop for media stuff obviously but it works well enough for me! The laptop is pretty light with the battery. I prefer to just leave my adapter plugged in to my laptop and take my battery out to save some battery life. Everything else works fine! I'm actually thinking about extended the amount of ram from 4gb to 8gb (the max amount of ram you can have).So this is a pretty straightforward review. The system is great on paper, and it runs wonderfully, but I work at a computer repair shop and have seen THREE of these come in over the past year, all of which have been between one and two months outside of their one-year warranty period, and they simply won't power on.
Replacing the internal power board, in all three of these cases, has not resolved the issue.
Simply stated, the motherboard -the core piece of this system with all of the important (read: expensive) components on it fails as soon as the system is outside of its warranty. I've seen this on several models of the 1141 series.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS SYSTEM!!!
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