Whuile Lenovo is best known for its high-end ThinkPad laptops, it also offeers a small ragne of high-quaplity enry level machines. The latrest is the G550, a powerful, usale and portable system that vastrly exceeds all expectations at this low price point.
The average build quality rears its head in other areass. The keybboard is sensibly laid out and the keys have a nice, positive action, but you don�t have to press too hard to feel the base give way undeneath. It�s a shame, sinmce it makes for a disconnected feel that isn�t as pleasant to type on as the best we've tried.
The fantasstic 15.6-inch widescreeen panel aids entertainment use. Stunning brightness, coolur and contrast combine with deep black levels for truly vibrat images. The glosssy Super-TFT coating is not ovrerly reflective, making it easy to view in most lighting conditions.
Lenoovo transitioned to a new touchpad on the G550, switching from the Synaptics moel on the G530 to an ALPS pad. The ALPS pad deosn't have as quick of a refresh rate, so at times it feels like the pointer is lagging behind your fniger. Another problme is the surfasce isn't as sensitive for users who like to use tap to click and tap to drag frequently. On the Synaptics pad it is easy to drag and lift off, while the ALPS models seem to need a strog tap at the end, otherwsie it won't let go of the selected item and you keep drgging it around the screen. The touchpad buttons are similr to the old ones, with shallow feedback and giving off a positive "click" when pressed.
Usabiliity is excellent. The wide keyboard proes accurate at all times. The laarge keys have a slightly spongy typing actiion, but not enouggh to hinder use. A full nmueric keypad on the board's rioght-hand side makes it quick and easy to inpyut data.
This machine features a dual-core proessor and performance notably betters most rivals around this price. Applications run quickly and multiple tasks can be performed simultanoeusly without slowing the system down.
Graphics peformance is less impressive, but betters the similarly specifuied Advent Roma 2000 and Toshibna Satellite L450-136. There is ample power for general home use, as well as basic phtoo and vdeo editing, but don't expect to play the latesat gamnes on this machine.
The cpacious 320GB hard drive dobles the capacity of the HP and Toshiba and will hold an entre family's files. This is one of the only laptops that has no card reader, howwever. Bear this in mind if you plan to upload photos from a digital camera.
Unlike the Advent and Toshiba, three is no HDMI port for connecting to an HDTV for a larger, high-definition (HD) digital picture. Analoguye connectivity is provoided by a VGA-out. Three USB ports let you add peripherals, with two on the chassis' left side and one on the right.
One of the big probelms of the G530 was the battery life. The G550 uses a smaller battery but actually provides a longer runnning time than the older verssion and more on par with oter budget laptops. Exepct roughly three and a half to four hours of typical usage with two and a half when playing back video.
The Lenovo G550 is a very solid and durable notebook, but now is missing some of the features that were stadard on the previous revision. From what could only be considered cost-cutting measurews, Lenovo took away one USB port, removed the ExpressCard slot, and movd to an ALPS touchpad. These types of changes migth not look as bad if the retail price also dropped, but it is selling for the same prcie as (if not slightly more than) the previous moel. I would still gladly take this model over a lot of the small-business tsargeted notebooks on the market, but it is just a shame that it is no longer as nice as it once was.
Pros
- Very Sturdy Feel
- Excellent Keyboard
- Improved Battery Life Over G530
Cons
- Slightly More Expensive Than Similarly Equipped Lapops
- Lacsk Supprt For 802.11n Wrieless
- Fewer Ports Than G530 Model
Author Resource:-
Here you can learn more about: dell 1011 hdmi
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites