I purchased this directly from Lenovo as a refurbished item through their outlet website about 3 months ago. I was able to get it for a decent price and it didn't have any signs of previous use. I'm posting this here because I figure it would have a much broader audience than other places.Build Quality:
I'm very impressed with the build quality. The keyboard is the standard apple/sony chiclet style. It's solid and the keys have a good amount of travel. It would be nice if it was back-lit, but I'm not surprised it's missing at this price point. The screen hinge is solid yet moves easily. The screen doesn't wobble when you're using and stays where you set it to. Overall the chassis is solid also. It doesn't flex or feel cheap when you need to pick it up or carry it around. The palm rest and keyboard surround have a nice finish that keeps smudges from being an annoyance. I haven't noticed any hotspots, though I don't do alot of intense gaming or video. The fan is generally quiet even when going at full blast. The exhaust is on the left side and can be kinda warm. If it's cold it can keep your hand toasty:) For the current round of i5 laptops the weight is average or less. Overall, I would say this is an extremely well built laptop. Lenovo knows how to put together a solid reliable machine.
input/output Quality (screen, speakers, touchpad, etc.):
The screen is a slight gripe, but not a deal breaker. The resolution is standard at 1366x768. The screen is bright and doesn't seem to have any major color reproduction issues as long as you're looking at it straight on. The viewing angles are kinda horrible. If you want to watch a movie with someone you have to have it far away for 2 people to fit in the sweet spot.
One thing that is actually horrible are the speakers. You have to keep the sound low if you don't want to hear any distortion. I've tried using them, but have given up. Really though it's not that big of a deal. When I'm at home, I just plug in a set of speakers. When I'm out and about I plug in headphones.
The touchpad is pretty good build wise, but the multi-touch software is hit or miss. When trying to use the 2 finger scroll when in a web browser it would half the time think i was doing a pinch to zoom.
The reason I got this particular model is that it had USB 3. I have an external harddrive that I used to transfer files over to this computer and with USB 3, it took half the time. Also an added bonus was that the HDMI port doubles as an extra USB port(giving you 4 in total). I haven't used the HDMI port yet, but when I do I'll add an update about that. Also included is an eSATA port(I'm sure this would be a peppy way to transfer files, but USB 3 works well enough).
A surprise was the built-in WiMax modem (which let you're computer be a wireless hotspot!). I didn't know about that when I ordered it, and I'm not sure if I'm going to sign up for it. It seems odd that it came with WiMax, but no bluetooth though. I think I would've preferred to have that instead.
So overall it's pretty good, but a little bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the screen.
Software & OS:
Not too long after I got this I switched over to Ubuntu. I just generally like Ubunutu because it runs light, restarts pretty quick and keeps everything simple, with out being overbearing like OS X. I still boot into Windows 7 though to get my civilization V fix though. There was a ton of stuff pre-loaded on here, but not all of it is bloatware. A lot of the official Lenovo software is security related including stuff to run the fingerprint scanner, one that asks for your password when you plug a USB drive. Battery saver which keeps you from charging the battery all the way to improve the lifespan of it. And finally a hard Drive saver which will lock the drive if you (Gawd forbid) end up dropping the computer. There is stuff to uninstall, but didn't take too much time to get rid of.
Ubuntu was a pain to setup because of the standard wifi issues that seem to always be there, but once that's taken care of it's been perfect.
Overall:
This is the Honda Accord of laptops. This laptop is an amazing deal and well worth the money. Is this a high end gaming machine? No, it's a mid-level, everyday machine. It will play Netflix with ease and run mid level games with out breaking a sweat. It's classy in a subdued way, solid, reliable and feels like I'll be holding on to this for a long time.
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