Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s Review

Because its 2010 debut, Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge sequence has provided little corporations with the inexpensive selection that combines legendary ThinkPad high quality with up to date seems to be. Together with the introduction from the 12.5-inch ThinkPad Edge E220s ($869 as configured), Lenovo has turned the style volume up to 11 which has a sexy, soft-plastic physique and chrome accents. But does this luscious laptop computer complete along with it seems?

Layout

The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is the new-look Jaguar of small enterprise notebooks, offering a sporty reinterpretation of the classic aesthetic. Whilst the Edge E220s's dark color, ThinkPad logo, and red trackpoint all whisper "ThinkPad," its rubberized chassis and chrome bumpers scream "jet set." We particularly like the Edge E220's color, which appears black in dark light, but is actually an incredibly dark pool-table green when viewed in vibrant light. A red light sits previously mentioned the letter "I" in "ThinkPad" and blinks once the system is in rest mode, whilst the clean, sleek bottom can make the Edge E220s seem practically as appealing when it can be upside-down. The edge-to-edge "infinity glass" that covers the screen adds another high-end style aspect to the mix. The Edge E220's only design downside is always that its surfaces choose up fingerprints far too quickly.

At a mere twelve.3 x 8.4 x 0.85 inches and three.2 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is one of the thinnest and lightest business laptops around the marketplace, even thinner compared to ThinkPad X220 (one.25 inches thick) and just a small thicker compared to Toshiba Portege R835 and also the Lenovo IdeaPad U260 (equally 0.7 inches thick).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The island-style, spill-resistant keyboard on the ThinkPad Edge E220s has three important things going for it: strong tactile feedback, curved keys that assist you to prevent errant strokes, plus a at ease, soft palm relaxation. Due to these elements, we accomplished a powerful score of 86 words per moment on the 10 Thumbs Typing Check, far better than our normal 80 wpm score.

Like all ThinkPads, the Edge E220s incorporates a brilliant red TrackPoint pointing stick in among its G and H keys. The stick offers one of the most precise navigation of any built-in notebook pointing unit.

For many who do not like pointing sticks, the 2.nine x one.9-inch touchpad about the Edge E220s offers smooth, exact navigation around the desktop. Greater nevertheless, multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom are smooth. Rather than offering discrete buttons, the left and appropriate buttons are created in to the pad itself. Although we've complained about the inaccuracy of so-called "clickpads" inside the past, the left and correct buttons about the E220's pad had been very precise and didn't trigger the cursor to leap when clicked.

Heat

The ThinkPad Edge E220s stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. Following streaming video at total display screen for 15 minutes, we measured the touchpad at a frigid 82 degrees, the keyboard at a cool 89 degrees, and also the bottom at a sensible 96 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures over 95 degrees uncomfortable for the best surfaces of a notebook, and a hundred degrees around the underside to get too substantial.

Show and Audio

Whether or not we have been streaming a 720p episode of Fringe from Fox.com or enjoying a 1080p QuickTime trailer of Priest, the twelve.5-inch, 1366 x 768 glossy display offered sharp, vivid images, even though shades seemed a little uninteresting. Unfortunately, the 200-nit screen and its "infinity glass" coating are so reflective that left and proper viewing angles are very poor. With a light source behind us along with the display screen at total brightness, video washed out considerably at angles even much less than 45 degrees.

Lenovo uses Dolby Residence Theater v4 technological innovation to enhance the ThinkPad Edge E220s's audio performance, but even with Dolby computer software enabled and set towards the new music listening profile, sound was really tinny about the built-in speakers. Regardless of whether we ended up listening to a jazz normal this kind of as Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness," Motley Crue's "Too Youthful to Fall in Adore," or Sade's "Smooth Operator," percussion sounds had been distorted and unpleasant. Disabling the Dolby software program created the music sound entirely flat and dropped its volume to nearly inaudible amounts.