Final Thoughts
The ThinkPad Edge is definitely another great offering from Lenovo, especially for people looking for a great mix of business and consumer features. As far as the business aspect goes you do get the ThinkVantage software suite that has a lot of very cool business features many people will like, especially the Active Protection System, which makes sure your hard drive does not get damaged if you happen to drop your laptop. For normal consumers the new red color on the ThinkPad Edge will definitely catch their attention. I don’t know that many other laptops that come in red!
The 15-inch size of the laptop isn’t what we would call travel easy but this laptop is pretty light compared to other 15-inch laptops out there. The 15-inch screen only gives you a resolution of 1366 x 768, which is the same resolution as the 13-inch model. I would have liked to see a larger resolution on the screen. The newer island-style keyboard is just awesome and it is very comfortable. I also like that Lenovo included both the trackpoint and the touchpad. The Intel Core i3-330M processor is definitely a step up from the processor that was in the 13-inch model, but with only 2GB of memory and integrated graphics this system is definitely not a desktop replacement.
The overall design of the ThinkPad Edge 15-inch is nice, it looks pretty sleek and you wouldn’t even think that it was a ThinkPad if you glanced over at it. As I said the glossy red finish is a nice addition to the normal black we are seeing on most ThinkPad’s. Since I had the 13-inch ThinkPad Edge here I compared them both and it seemed to me that the 13-inch was put together better and just looked better. The 15-inch looked a little boxy and just plain compared to the 13-inch.
The one thing that really bothered me about the 15-inch was the optical drive, man was it loud! As I said I rarely use optical drives these days, but I would hate having to use the one on this laptop.
Right now the ThinkPad Edge 15-inch sells directly from Lenovo starting at $649. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15-inch Notebook a 7 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Awesome red color on the lid
– ThinkVantage tools
– Comfortable new keyboard
Cons:
– Poor battery life
– Looks a little boxy compared to the 13-inch model
– Loud optical drive
