Lenovo is best known for its ThinkPad range of laptops, but those machines generally command high prices that not everyone can afford. The company's Essential B series is aimed at those who aren't quite as flush with cash. Despite packing in a second-generation Sandy Bridge Intel Core i3 processor, our configuration of the 15.6-inch Essential B570 can be bought for a shade under £390 from Laptops Direct and other vendors.
Far from minging
One glance at most budget laptops will tell you where the savings have been made. They usually look duller than dishwater, with a chassis hewn from the type of plastic you used to get on Taiwanese-made ghettoblasters in the '80s. Thankfully, the B570 largely manages to avoid this fate.
Although the chassis is predominantly made from matte black plastic, Lenovo has added a subtle pinstripe pattern on the lid and keyboard surround. It really helps to improve the machine's appearance.
The keys on the isolated keyboard are unusually shaped, with a rounded design. The end result is that the keyboard looks very distinctive and not unappealing. The keys are excellent to type on, allowing you to bash out quick emails easily.
There's a full numerical keypad on the right-hand side, which may come in handy if you often have to add up figures in Excel. We've got no complaints about the trackpad either. It's very large and wide, so there's plenty of surface area to play with, and the two big, long buttons feel solid and respond with a reassuring click when pressed.
For a laptop in this price range, the 15.6-inch display's resolution of 1,366x768 pixels is pretty standard. The display is one of the better ones we've seen on a budget laptop though. Its glossy coating is rather reflective, but it produces impressively rich and punchy colours, which make photos and videos a pleasure to view.
Often the displays on budget laptops suffer from poor viewing angles, but that's not the case here. Even when viewed from pretty extreme angles, colours and contrast remain consistent across the surface of the screen.
The B570's keys have a very distinctive rounded design.
The 320GB hard drive is on the small side, but the line-up of ports isn't too bad. Along with three USB sockets, there's an eSATA port that's useful for connecting up high-speed external devices like hard drives. Alongside the standard VGA output, there's an HDMI connector, which makes it much easier to hook the laptop up to a hi-def TV, as audio and video are both carried over the same lead.
Quite the performer
The B570 is based around one of Intel's new dual-core, 2.1GHz Core i3-2310M processors, paired with 3GB of RAM.
The main advantage of the new Sandy Bridge processors is that they have improved integrated graphics. This showed in the laptop's score of 3,520 in the 3DMark06 benchmark test. That's not quite enough graphics oomph to let you play hard-core first-person shooters, but it should deliver decent frame rates with older, less-demanding games.
More surprising was the machine's performance in PCMark05. Similarly priced laptops, such as the Acer Aspire 5336, haven't managed to break the 4,000 mark, but the B570 blitzed the competition with a score of 5,904. This isn't a laptop that will be limited to menial tasks like emailing and Web browsing -- it's also got the chops for more demanding duties, like video editing.
Its battery life is none-too-shabby either. In the punishing Battery Eater Classic test, which runs the processor at full whack to simulate worst-case-scenario battery life, the machine kept running for 1 hour and 26 minutes. Under real-world conditions, you should get much longer life from the battery.
Conclusion
For such a modestly priced laptop, the Lenovo Essential B570 really does punch above its weight. Its looks much better than you'd expect, the keyboard and screen are excellent, and it's a surprisingly speedy performer too. If your budget is tight, it's an excellent bet.
23 comments:
It's remarkable to visit this web page and reading the views of all mates about this post, while I am also eager of getting experience.
Here is my page :: Free Teen Porn
I'm not sure exactly why but this website is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end? I'll
check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Here is my weblog :: http://amazingteenbabes.com
It's very straightforward to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this paragraph at this site.
My webpage: lanautica
I every time spent my half an hour to read this website's articles or reviews everyday along with a mug of coffee.
Feel free to visit my website :: get rich or die trying
Malaysia & Singapore & brunei ultimate on-line blogshop for wholesale & supply
korean add-ons, accessories, earstuds, necklace, rings, hair, trinket & bangle add-ons.
Offer 35 % wholesale discount. Ship Worldwide
Also visit my web-site ; ohiomeansjobs.com
Excellent website. Lots of helpful information
here. I'm sending it to a few pals ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks in your effort!
Also see my site :: Genital Warts Treatment
Thanks for the good writeup. It actually was a
amusement account it. Look complex to far added agreeable from you!
However, how could we communicate?
My weblog ... click the following article
Attractive part of content. I just stumbled upon your
site and in accession capital to claim that I acquire actually enjoyed account your weblog posts.
Any way I'll be subscribing on your augment or even I fulfillment you get entry to persistently quickly.
Also visit my site ; grow 3 inches
Right now it seems like BlogEngine is the best blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I've read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
My web site - website desain
Very good site you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew
of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about
in this article? I'd really like to be a part of community where I can get responses from other experienced people that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Thanks!
Have a look at my site; lose weight with HCG
That is a very good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Brief but very accurate information… Thanks for sharing this one.
A must read post!
Feel free to surf to my site: guild wars 2 gold
certainly like your web site but you have to test the spelling on several of your posts.
Many of them are rife with spelling problems and
I to find it very bothersome to tell the reality however I will surely come again again.
my website: gw2 gold
I know this web page gives quality dependent articles and other information, is
there any other site which gives these stuff in quality?
Feel free to visit my web site ... cheap gw2 gold
If you desire to obtain much from this article then you have to apply
these strategies to your won web site.
Also visit my web blog ... book promotion
Hello! Quick question that's entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I'm trying
to find a template or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Thank you!
My blog :: book promotion
Whats up are using Wordpress for your site platform?
I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started and set up my own.
Do you require any coding expertise to make your
own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
my blog post ... Http://mahsex.Com/
You can certainly see your expertise within the work you write.
The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to mention
how they believe. Always go after your heart.
my web blog - handjob-teens.com
Hey very interesting blog!
Also visit my web site: www.porninvader.net
It's amazing in favor of me to have a web page, which is valuable in support of my know-how. thanks admin
Take a look at my web blog assfucked.org
You ought to be a part of a contest for one
of the highest quality sites online. I will recommend this site!
my blog post; http://www.jnmassage.info
continuously i used to read smaller content which
as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with this
piece of writing which I am reading at this place.
Also visit my blog - http://www.nude-teensex.com/
Hi there, I discovered your blog by way of Google while searching for
a related matter, your web site came up, it looks great. I've bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, just become aware of your weblog thru Google, and found that it is truly informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of people can be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!
Also visit my weblog; hotgirlsexcam.com
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after
I clicked submit my comment didn't appear. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again.
Anyhow, just wanted to say excellent blog!
My blog - http://www.anal4firsttime.org/?s=anal+porn
Post a Comment