Design and features
Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge series is an attempt to give its typically harsh angled, boxy designs a more rounded, consumer-friendly feel, complete with silver trim around the outside, while still retaining the Lenovo look.
The result isn't the radical departure you'd expect, but for a company that frets over tiny keyboard changes, it's a big step for Lenovo.
While our review sample was matte black, Lenovo is giving a nod to the consumer tendency to lean towards gloss, offering the option for a gloss black or red chassis. The screen, however, stays refreshingly matte, and out of all the screens we've seen of the sub-AU$1000 laptops so far, Lenovo's 1366x768 14-inch screen comes second only to the Asus K52F.
Lenovo has also conceded to a little extra bling: the dot in the "i" of ThinkPad on both the lip and lid of the laptop is a red light. While an interesting touch, after extended use we found it annoyingly distracting.
Another Lenovo hallmark retained is the dual-input solution, with both a TrackPoint controller and a touch pad included. Response from both was excellent, as is expected from a Lenovo.
Similarly excellent was the keyboard, which despite looking different to its stable mates, had fantastic action and response. In an increasing trend, the F keys require the Fn button to be pressed, with secondary functions like volume and brightness controls now becoming primary.
Specs and connections
Equipped with a core i3-350m @ 2.26GHz, 2GB RAM and a 250GB 5400rpm hard drive, the Edge 14 can be best described as entry level. It has a 14-inch, 1366x768 native resolution screen, DVD+-RW, webcam, and its speakers, while missing most of the bottom and mid-end range, do offer quite a lot of volume.
The ThinkPad Edge 14 is generously featured when it comes to ports, offering four USB ports, one eSATA, VGA and HDMI ports, a seven-in-one card reader, ExpressCard 34 slot and 3.5mm headphone jack.
Networking is handled by the expected triumvirate — gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
Software
Despite the consumer nods, Lenovo recognises it's a business brand and as such equips the ThinkPad Edge 14 with Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. Apparently the 64-bit version can be loaded; however, this option is not included on Lenovo's website.
Lenovo's software matches the build quality, with its Power Manager a heck of lot better than the included Windows software. When not being actively managed, this manifests itself as a huge battery icon in the task bar, which tells you approximately how much battery time is left.
The wireless connections manager is also attractive and easy to use, and also displays signal strength in the task bar.
The ThinkVantage Toolbox is a mixed bag — the diagnostic tools provided by PC-Doctor are useful, but the remaining functions are either just links to Windows tools or flat out advertising for Lenovo services.
On the subject of advertising, the Edge comes refreshingly crapware free: you can opt out of the Norton Internet Security trial during the install process, and despite other trials being installed, the desktop stays remarkably clean, empty except for the Recycle Bin. Kudos to Lenovo for this approach!
Microsoft's Windows Live Essentials, Office 2007 60-day trial, Corel's DVD MovieFactory and InterVideo's WinDVD were the only third-party software installed, making for a relatively clean system.
Performance
As mentioned above, the Edge 14 comes with an Intel Core i3-350M processor at 2.26GHz, 2GB RAM and a 250GB, 5400rpm hard drive. Given this moderate spec, we didn't expect to see it either amaze or disappoint in benchmarks.
It followed up on this expectation too, balancing right on the tip of average. With a 3DMark06 score of 1497, it's not a gaming machine, but then no sub-AU$1000 laptop will be. Its PCMark05 score of 4998 is more telling, meaning the Lenovo should handle most office and internet browsing tasks just fine. On our 720p YouTube test, the Core i3 processor held up just fine, with no noticeable frame drops.
To test the battery, we turned off all power-saving features and set screen brightness and volume to maximum, then played back an XviD movie. The Edge 14 fared reasonably well for a cheap laptop, lasting two hours, 15 minutes and 45 seconds.
Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge 14 still has the tough laptop mentality that made it famous, but manages to soften it a little through more consumer-friendly design. It offers good expandability, and for AU$999, it represents excellent value.
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