First off, I should point out that this is a no-frills functional laptop rather than a slick designer laptop (and that's definitely reflected in the price). This laptop isn't trying to be a Sony Vaio or a MacBook Pro. However, it doesn't look as dull as its business-class counterpart, the ThinkPad.
The basic machine specification is: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD (5,400 rpm), 1680 x 1050 resolution, DVD-RW, 4 x USB, 1 x Firewire, 10/100MB Ethernet, Modem, Media card reader, built in web cam and microphone.
The machine came pre-installed with a rather bewildering amount of software and most of it seemed to load at startup making the machine very slow to boot. Especially worrying was a "ThinkVantage registry monitor" process which took both CPU cores to 100% for several minutes after logging in. After uninstalling most of the pre-installed software, which seems to be aimed at non-technical users, the machine now boots fairly fast and the overall performance is satisfying.
The keyboard is excellent. One of the best I've used. In fact, this was one of the main reasons I decided to go for this model.
The screen is slightly disappointing. This is clearly an area where some money was saved. However, it is perfectly adequate. The only real issues are the viewing angle (you really need to look at the screen directly) and the brightness and contrast (the screen seems slightly dark and doesn't compare well to high end laptops I've used in the past).
The other slight disappointment is that there is no gigabit ethernet. That's not too big a deal since gigabit pcmia cards are inexpensive these days.
However, at £710+VAT this laptop offers great value for money. If screen quality is important to you then the Thinkpad T61p is the machine to go for in the Lenovo range but this costs around £1,400+VAT. Considering that I'll mostly have the laptop connected to an external LCD display the extra spend just wasn't justified in my case.
Labels: hardware
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