Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14

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Pro’s: Thin & light, decent battery life, good build, solid keyboard

Con’s: Only sufficient performance, slightly odd key layout, mediocre screen

The ThinkPad Edge lineup is an interesting series, in that there are relatively few differences between each model. They have comparable if not exactly the same features, the same exact design and identical keyboards. The differences come pretty much only in screen size and processors.

If you’ve already read our ThinkPad Edge 13 review, you know most of the details about the Edge 14. The design and keyboard are the same, just with a larger chassis. Accordingly, several of the sections below are reproduced from the Edge 13 review. If you see an asterisk next to the section header, it is from the Edge 13 review.

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Design*
It says ThinkPad on it, it comes in black and it even has a red dot in the middle of the keyboard, but this is not your classic ThinkPad. Our model had the glossy black paint job, which is rather reminiscent of the paint job on a car. It’s not just black plastic, but rather actually painted. I was tempted to get my buffer out and get a nice reflection going.

The silver trim surrounding the machine is actually a nice touch, it gives some contrast without looking tacky or showy. As long as you aren’t comparing this to a “classic” ThinkPad, I think most will find the aesthetics rather pleasing. The observant will note there is no LCD latch on these models, but I wasn’t missing it. The hinges keep the LCD nice and taut, whether open or closed. There are also no traditional LED indicators on the Edge models. Rather, there is a small LED next to the power plug that indicates charging state and the controversial red LED in the ThinkPad logo has carried over from the SL series.

If someone had conceptualized the design of the ThinkPad Edge back in the early 1990′s, arguably the heydey of the ThinkPad, it would best be described as a futuristic ThinkPad. The island keyboard, the glossy black paint and the glowing logo show the age of the “classic” ThinkPad design, but that doesn’t mean classic design is a bad thing.

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Keyboard*
This is my first time with Lenovo’s new isolation / island style keyboard design, introduced on the Edge and X100e ThinkPads. We all trusted Lenovo to not mess with the feel of the keyboards and it is safe to say they didn’t. The tactile feedback and key travel on the Edge 14′s keyboard is as good as the ThinkPad T410 and previous models. The only hiccup with typing on the Edge comes from its key layout.

Like the ThinkPad X100e and SL models, the Edge models have a more compact 6 row design. As is also common with island keyboard designs these days, the F1-F12 keys have their default function over-ridden by more common system functions like screen brightness, speaker volume and more. Luckily these can be swapped back to their default F1-F12 functions via a BIOS switch, as can the functions of the Fn & Ctrl keys.

Beyond the very consumer-ish F1-F12 key changes, the Insert/Del/Home/End keys are in the fairly common upper-right corner. The Page Up & Down keys are in a convenient, if non-standard, location on either side of the arrow keys. PgUp/PgDn are also a click-type key, with the key travel is even shallower than most mice buttons.

Perhaps the weirdest key location is PrtSc, replacing the Windows key to the right of the space bar. At least 8/10 people I talk to don’t even know what the PrtSc key does, but we’ll put it front & center while gimping the F1-F12 keys? Questionable logic aside, I am glad they kept it handy, but again the overall layout is far from standard.

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Touchpad & TrackPoint*
For those who were wishing Lenovo would put the TrackPoint (red pointy thingy, for you non-ThinkPadders) on more machines than classic ThinkPads, this is it. This is the closest thing we’re going to see to a consumer laptop with a TrackPoint. The design is a little different from the revamped TrackPoint on the T400s and newer models, but works just as well as it does on any other ThinkPad.

The touchpad is very slick and smooth, so much so that it’s a bit difficult to tell if you’re on the palm rest or touchpad without looking. The response is also a bit iffy, sometimes I have to re-do my motion to get it registered. I don’t know if that is just me missing the touchpad, but it was just a bit less accurate and responsive than other ThinkPad touchpads. There is enough area for most to mouse around okay, but the width of the touchpad interfered with my large hands and I found myself resting on it regularly.

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Display
The display is one area where the ThinkPad Edge 14 actually stands out, from its Edge brothers, ThinkPad cousins and even other mid-range notebooks. There is only one screen choice on the Edge 14, a 14-inch 16:9 panel featuring 220 nits brightness, 500:1 contrast ratio and HD resolution (1366×768).

Not only does the screen have a very sufficient range of brightness for most lighting situations, the colors appear very vibrant and rich. As someone who uses a 14-inch 16:10 1280×800 display day in and day out, I do appreciate the extra horizontal pixels and don’t really notice the slight loss in vertical space. While this is a glossy display, you won’t notice it except in the harsher overhead fluorescent light environments. If you are stuck in such an environment, the reflections can become rather distracting. Unfortunately no matte display is available on the Intel Edge 14 models, but the AMD versions can be found with matte screens according to the PSREF.

Which leaves us with the rather impressive part of the Edge 14′s display: viewing angles. The horizontal angles are particularly excellent, showing only a slight darkening in the image off-center and no color inversing until about 70-80 degrees off center. Vertical viewing angles aren’t quite as good, but I was never left hunting for the sweet spot with the LCD position, unlike the Edge 13.

And while it is a relatively small point, the Edge lineup does maintain the ability to fold the display completely flat. This is more useful in preventing damage by accidentally extending the display too far, but still a nice touch on this quasi-ThinkPad.

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Multimedia

While technically built for small business on a budget, the Edge models manage to keep a respectable multimedia reputation and even have a step ahead of other ThinkPads with HDMI output. You still get VGA output too, so this machine will work with your five year old LCD monitor or your brand new HDTV. The speakers get decently loud, actually comparable with the new ThinkPad T410, but of course the sound quality is as mediocre as most other laptops.

The ever-handy 7-in-1 card reader is included on the front of the machine and you’ve got three standard USB 2.0 ports plus an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo to add extra peripherals and devices. If those aren’t quite enough, you can always drop a card into the thoughtfully included ExpressCard/34 slot.

While the Edge 14 should do for most people’s multimedia uses, truly the only way it stands out from the low end business crowd is the HDMI output. However the lack of HDMI on other ThinkPads isn’t as much of an issue, now that the DisplayPort output carries audio and can be adapted to HDMI without issue.

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Features & Technology*
If you looked quickly, you might swear the Edge 14 was a plain jane consumer box. Glossy 16:9 display? HDMI output? Island keyboard? Exterior color choices? No LCD latch?

But then you look closer and notice a few things that aren’t found on consumer models: power-on, hard drive & supervisor BIOS passwords, dual video output, Active Protection System, spill-resistant sealed keyboard, 7200rpm drives on most models, a TrackPoint and a warranty & support infrastructure that makes anything from HP or Acer’s consumer lines look like a joke.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Edge 14 is about average with most consumer and low end business laptops, when it comes to spec sheet features. But when you take in some of the finer details, the Edge 14 stands out for the more discerning user and has a rather competitive price to boot.

Connectivity & Ports

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Left side (front to rear): USB 2.0 port, Ethernet, HDMI output, VGA output, fan vent, Kensington lock slot

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Right side (front to rear): 5-in-1 card reader, combo mic/headphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, AC adapter plug with indicator LED

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Rear (left to right): Powered USB 2.0 port, battery, fan vent

Software Preload
The other good news with this being a ThinkPad model is the relative lack of junk software. You get the standard plethora of Lenovo’s in-house Thinkvantage software, MS Office and Norton anti-virus trials and some actually useful DVD playback and authoring software. While you may remove a few utilities you don’t want, there is no relentless crap-cleaning necessary when you rip into a brand new Edge 14.

Battery Life

While the Edge 13′s size makes a 9-cell option impractical, though not impossible, the Edge 14 and 15 thankfully get 4, 6 and 9-cell batteries measuring in at 32Whr, 48Whr and 94Whr respectively. Our model came equipped with the Intel Core i3 processor and 6-cell battery, though in the past few weeks Lenovo has added options for AMD processors at a decent savings. With the savings from an AMD processor, you will need to invest in the 9-cell battery to make up for the increased power usage of the AMD components.

48Whr of 6-cell lithium power unfortunately doesn’t go very far these days. Our battery test consisted of about an hour watching Netflix video, which keeps the CPU in the 80% range, and the rest of the time browsing websites and watching a number of Flash videos. The web browsing is actually a rather strenuous activity, given that most sites use a lot of Flash which taxes the CPU.

This test yielded a run time of only 3 hours. In other, less strenuous circumstances we saw a 3.5 hour runtime. Lenovo calls for 4.5 hours, which is going to be under far less strenuous conditions of course. This runtime would nearly double if you opted for the 9-cell battery, making for a reasonable experience, thought it adds nearly half a pound to the weight.

Lenovo would have done better to increase the capacity of the 6-cell battery, rather than forcing people to rely on a 5.29 lb 9-cell package that likely sticks out beyond the chassis when equipped with the 9-cell.

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Real World Usage
Using the Edge 14 is much like using any other Core i5-powered ThinkPad, though at a bit of a savings over the more traditional T or W Series. It is plenty fast in all the usual operations and its display is even a bit above average. If you can live with the 6-row keyboard, lack of LED indicator lights (a particular annoyance of mine) and slightly thicker chassis, the Edge 14 works just as well as any other ThinkPad.

Although the Edge models lack the robustness of the magnesium roll cage and carbon fiber reinforced plastic, the ABS plastic design feels rather sturdy. Heck, it withstood more abuse to its display than a Dell Vostro. The other thing you notice in handling the Edge 14 is its 1.25-1.46 inch thickness. Much like the now defunct R Series, the Edge 14 is thicker to maintain proper levels of durability with its cheaper ABS plastic.

Performance is more than sufficient with our system’s optional Core i5 processor and most will likely find the Core i3 decent as well. Boot time is even decently fast, thanks to Lenovo’s Win7 Enhanced Experience preload and the 7200rpm drive included on most models.

Noise and heat were well controlled on the whole. With extended usage, the Edge 14 got a bit warm on the left side near the fan vent, but it was nothing close to uncomfortable. When the heat did rise a bit, you could hear the fan kick on with only a small amount of additional noise.

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Conclusion
Before we get into the specifics of the Edge 14, let me reiterate a note from my Edge 13 review as it holds equally true here:

Let’s get this out of the way first: the Edge 13 and its neuvo-ThinkPad friends are not like their other “old school” ThinkPads, such as the T and X Series. They do not have magnesium roll cages, exotic chassis materials, or TPM chips for hardware-level security. If you are a “diehard” ThinkPad user, you are probably better off spending a couple hundred more bucks and getting a T Series.

That said, the Edge series are very respectable laptops. The fit and finish is nice, the keyboard as good as any other ThinkPad, and quite a good value to boot. The color options and contemporary design will actually open the ThinkPads to a whole new market: those who don’t appreciate the aesthetics of a plain black rectangle.

Given the excellent keyboard, unique trackpoint, respectable display and stout chassis, the Edge 14 is a standout in its category. Pretty much any other feature you could need is included, including eSATA and ExpressCard 34. Those needing discrete graphics will have to look elsewhere, though the AMD-based systems do have ATI 4250 graphics that put Intel HD graphics to shame.

Sure, there are thinner, lighter systems out there that run longer on the standard battery. But you’ll be hard pressed to find one that has as many features or as great a keyboard for the price. With base prices starting at $649 (or $549 for an AMD version), choosing an underpowered CULV notebook or a higher priced full-size, full-power notebook becomes a tough choice. Lenovo might as well have called the “Edge” models “Value” instead.

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