Think Smart, ThinkPad
 Aug 11th, 2007
Advantages:
many unique features, robust, trustworthy
Disadvantages:
more expensive than some brands
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Speed
Look & Feel
Comfort & Portability
Robustness & Durability
Value For Money
more
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About me:
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Member since:28.05.2003
Reviews:63
Members who trust:12
Review rated by 19 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
I bought this laptop on insurance, as my previous ThinkPad was stolen and I loved it so much that I couldn't bear to buy a different brand. In my opinion, the Lenovo ThinkPad is the best laptop you could possibly buy for all-round performance, reliability, and features, but I will endeavour to make this review as unbiased as possible, and I will split it into different sections for easy reading.
LOOKS/DESIGN
We all know looks do matter, and the ThinkPad is nothing if not distinctive in design.
Unusually amongst modern laptops, the ThinkPad does not have sleek silver curves everywhere. Instead, it is a matt black cuboid, with a nice texture. Some people may not prefer this, as I have been told "It looks like it's from the 80s", but the understatedness of the design is much less showy than most modern laptops, suggesting there is more to this machine than what you get on first appearance.
It also makes it appear more robust, and it does certainly seem like it'd be hard to physically break. WEIGHT/SIZE
This laptop weighs in a 2.8kg, which is a fairly average weight (I don't have facts to back that statement up, but from handling many other laptops it seems to be about normal). Not so light as to be really flimsy, but not so heavy as to destroy itself upon being dropped, or to be unwieldy to carry about.
It's a fairly small laptop too, doesn't have a widescreen or an extended keyboard,
but I find it a perfect size, just wide enough to cover both your legs when it's sitting in your laptop.
The adaptor on the AC lead is nice and small, especially compared to some I've seen (I'm looking at you, Hewlett-Packard).
SCREEN
While most laptops seem to have a plate of glass (or similar) across the front of their screens, which means almost anything is reflected in them, making viewing difficult, the ThinkPad's screen appears to be matt, in keeping with the design of the body. This means you virtually never have viewing problems.
The viewing range is almost 180 degrees in the horizontal, and maybe 120 degrees in the vertical, meaning you can have several people around the screen and all be able to view it.
The screen takes up almost all the available space on the lid, meaning it uses space very effectively, and has a viewable size of 15" diagonally (I just measured). MOUSE CONTROL
The ThinkPad has an (sadly) almost unique mouse input.
Instead of having a touchpad, where the mouse reacts to you dragging your finger across a sensitive pad,
or a 'nipple', where the mouse reacts to you dragging your finger across a sensitive point,
it has a 'TrackPoint', which is essentially a joystick.
This means to control the mouse, you place your finger upon the TrackPoint, and tilt it in any direction, to any degree.
Many people find this a little getting used to, but now that I have, the amount of control that you can get is astounding, so much better than a touch-based control system.
Moreover, it is situated between the G, H and B keys on the keyboard, which is brilliant for touch-typers, because you don't have to move your fingers from their first positions to use the trackpoint. It also means you don't accidentally knock it with your thumb whilst typing, as with a touchpad.
The buttons are situated just below the spacebar, which is ergonomically perfect when using the TrackPoint. It also features a middle button, which is used in conjuction with the TrackPoint to scroll up and down pages - very useful.
BATTERY LIFE
I must say I am very impressed with the battery life. It can (and has for me) lasted the 5.2 hours that it says in the specification for this article. However, of course this is with the screen brightness on minimum, no music playing, and not using the wireless.
In normal everyday life though, it does last a good four hours, regularly, almost no matter what you are doing.
It also comes with a range of battery saving features, apart from the normal backlight dimming and CPU speed slowing - you can alter the graphics used to improve battery life, and put less power to the wireless network adaptor also to improve battery life. KEYBOARD
A fairly standard laptop keyboard in layout and size, has a numeric keypad when you put numlock on, as well as windows key, right click key, two ctrl's and an alt gr.
It also has various machine specific keys, such as lock, monitor off, stand by, hibernate, media pause/play/forward/back, as well as three dedicated volume buttons. I like these volume controls because they make a display come up on the screen, which shows how loud it is. This is in contrast to other laptops where you just keep pressing 'up' until it doesn't seem to get any louder - you don't actually know.
FEATURES
Features is where the ThinkPad really comes into its own.
Apart from features that you're not aware of, but are there, such as the RollCage, which adds extra support to the case, and a special 'airbag', which detects when the laptop is falling, and stops the hard drive to avoid damage accordingly, there are also a number of useful features.
One unique thing is the ThinkLight, which is a light situated at the top of the screen, pointing at the keyboard, and is a low-intensity orange LED, very useful for allowing you to see the screen in low light conditions, such as watching TV at night.
There is also a special magnification button, I suppose for those with eye problems.
On top of this the ThinkPad seems to have its own security features. You can set a Power-On Password, as you can with all desktops and I suppose but don't know, all laptops. This means that it asks for a password as soon as you turn it on. However, what seems to be unique about this is that it stops you after two failed attempts on the 'e' (economy) version of this product, or blocks the laptop after three failed attempts on the more expensive version. This stops anyone from being able to use your laptop, should it be stolen.
Another password is the hard drive password, which it asks for as soon as it starts the hard drive. This has similar properties to those just stated, but I'm told that they even work if you take the hard drive out and place it in another computer, so your data should be safe from your garden-variety thieves (It may not stand up to proper thieves).
INPUTS/OUTPUTS
This model has three USBs slots, a monitor out, a line out, and a mic in. It also has bluetooth and wireless radio.
It does not have S-VIDEO, or infra-red.
OS
This ThinkPad comes loaded with Windows XP SP2 Professional, and says it is 'Vista Ready', but I think it isn't, unless you upgrade it. HARDWARE
The Intel Centrino Duo 1.66 GHz processor is perfectly suitable to everyday work and leisure based tasks, but may not be up to any hardcore gaming, but I'm sure any hardcore gamers will know what they're looking for and won't be reading this.
The memory, 512mb as standard, however is a bit small, and could do with upgrading, unless you're a really low-level user.
The HDD, 60gb on mine, is actually only 50gb, as 10 is used by storing windows backup on (you don't get given a windows installation disk). Decide for yourself whether that's enough.
DVD-writer can be handy.
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
The ThinkPad has a program installed called ThinkVantage, which is a mixture between online help and a range of system tools, like backup, diagnostic etc. This is fairly useful when you're starting out, but may just take up room if you're an advanced user. MONEY
This cost me around £540, which was a bit more than I'd've liked to pay for it (I was hoping for under £500), but it's definitely worth it. The ThinkPad does cost more than similar specifications under other brands, but in my opinion is definitely worth it.
I would recommmend this laptop to anyone, from home to business users, as it is so reliable and trustworthy.
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by (5%):
11.08.2007 19:20
Great review ♥ßeth.
11.08.2007 14:03
I enjoyed reading this review :-)
11.08.2007 13:33
l might consider this as a replacement for my Dell Latitude (which is struggling somewhat at present ~ it seems to have similar features ~ with the bonus of what it lacks . . . ~ ! ♥♥ ! ~ ........................................................... ~ jes ~ ! ♥♥ !