Laptop-Review.eu

Keyboard and touchpad




The keyboard is large, as are the keys by extension. They are pretty easy to hit and comfortable to press. They may be a little noisy when you type – while not excessive, it is neither the most silent we have worked with. Many of the keys have an additional function which you access by holding down the FN key while pressing them.

They have added the OneKey Rescue button to the keyboard. It is a solution that can supposedly “rescue” your computer if it breaks down. It is essentially a combined antivirus, reparation and system restore button. Pretty nice to have if something goes wrong and you are not sure what.

The integrated webcam comes with Lenovo VeriFace software. It is a face recognition software that allows you to log on to the computer via your facial structure, in a similar way to using a fingerprint. You can simply associate your facial structure with your account, and then all you have to do is sit in front of the device and bam, you are logged in.

See for example this video

The touchpad is very nice to use and comfortably large. Your fingers glide easily across it and you can use a scroll-function at the right side. The two mouse buttons are located below the touchpad and tend to show fingerprints on their silvery surface. They are soft to press and go down quite far – they work well enough, but I find it a shame they did not put the same effort into the buttons as the keyboard.

Display





The display has a very nice size for travelling. 15.6” is large to look at and the resolution is great – it is particularly nice to be able to see websites in their full format. The resolution is HD and the display is LED-backlit, so it is really no wonder it looks so good. It is great for watching a movie, and if you are in a line of work that requires colours and contrast to be just so, this display will suit you just fine. In fact, you might even want to scale them down a bit.

As noted already, its greatest problem is that it is very glossy. Enjoying looking at yourself while you work is probably a fitting attribute for a display like this, but if you are outside and the sun is shining, it becomes nearly impossible to see anything on it.

There is another incredibly handy feature here – the built-in ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the brightness of the display to match your surroundings. This is a fine little feature you do not often see, and it works!

We have started testing displays for pixel errors and faults in the backlighting. For that we use a program called MonitorTest. It works by for example blackening the entire display, which will then expose dead pixels (pixels that do not change colour). It also allows you to see if the backlighting is uneven.

There are no faults in the display, which is just another point to the long list of why this product is great.

Sound and speakers




The speakers do reasonably well. They can play fairly loud and are fine for music like jazz. Hiphop and electronica will lack bass though, and rock as well to some extent. All in all though, listening to music on it is tolerable and it does well enough for a notebook.

The speakers are of course in stereo and made in collaboration with Dolby. That should tell you they are far from poor.

Noise, heat and power consumption
It does not seem like the computer gets very hot, even when strained. You could sit with it in your lap, but we never recommend this for several reasons.

It is quite silent, and we have to admit it is incredibly nice to sit with a product that does not always make a lot of noise due to a fan running amok.

The computer is very power efficient and it is quick to advertise it. The chipset is a Mobile Intel GS45 Express that falls under the platform known as CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage). It is a very power efficient processor developed by Intel and has competitors like AMD Yukon. Keeping power consumption low on a notebook is always crucial, especially for those who use them on the go. This platform is especially made for thin notebooks and ensures battery life is quite high, and since less heat is evolved, less cooling is required. That, in turn, helps keep it silent.
It was originally developed for single core chips, but has evolved into a chipset like this one where a dual-core processor is also possible.

Lenovo has embraced the future, and we consumers can only appreciate that fact...