Edge 420s Review - by jjjrmy

I just got my Thinkpad Edge 420s in the mail recently. And I think it's time I submit a nice review.
My model came with (i5, 4GB (1 DIMM), Intel HD 3000).

Keyboard
The keyboard is great, it really is. It just feels nice. I love it. Originally I was worried about the FN and CTRL position but it honestly doesn't really bother me. But one thing that does bother me a little is that the function keys are toggled on to start with. So if I click F5 thinking I'm going to refresh the page, I'm really turning on/off the webcam. But other than that everything is great. The function keys have great uses.

Screen
The screen is probably the worst part about the unit, and it isn't even that bad. Yes it is glossy, but it isn't too glossy. Everything looks fine on it, and I like it.

Touchpad and Trackpoint
The touchpad is great, it has multi touch gestures. I can rotate pictures, pinch zoom, single, double, and triple finger click and even has so more options like launch applications but touching certain zones. The size of the Touchpad is really big and it doesn't leave fingerprints. The Trackpoint is cool but I adjusted the sensitivity on it because it moved too fast, lol. I like it. Back to the touchpad, I've only had one problem with this. Sometimes when I click the bottom left it doesn't register. But if I go up just a little higher it is fine. But first when I got it I had to change the settings because clicks weren't registering because the pressure level was too high and I guess I have light taps. idk.

Sound
The sound is good, haven't had any problems. Plays pretty loud at full blast.

Battery
The battery is pretty amazing. The monitor changes a lot, sometimes it'll say 2 hours then the next minute it'll say 3 or 4. I guess it just has to do how the time calculations are made. But the battery lasts for a long time. I've been doing Word and the internet for atleast 6 hours on no charge. But I have been playing with the screen brightness up and down.

Graphics
I was pretty amazed by the Intel HD 3000. Most people told me it couldn't play anything, but it actually can. I'm not saying it can play Crysis 2 or Metro 2033, but I've played Team Fortress 2 and at first I was really dissapointed. When I started playing it was only saying I was getting like 30-40fps and when I checked the settings I realized everything was on high. So that is pretty good. TF2 is the only game I've tested so far, but I'm sure it can handle the other source games.

Boot Time
Boot time is pretty fast, haven't timed it. But it is a little longer for me because I did a few modifications to some files to change how it looked. I changed the start button to the Thinkpad trackbutton and the background for the login screen to a better Thinkpad wallpaper.

Fingerprint Reader
I used this for a little, but found it to be pretty useless for me. It works, and works well, but I just didn't need it.

Bloat Ware
There was almost no bloat ware. When you start up for the first time it asks if you want to install some programs, if you click yes it does if you click no it doesn't. It still has the install file if you change your mind. But it came completely clean when I got it.

Laptop Body
The laptop just feels great. The material it is made out of is just awesome. It isn't slippery and grips well when you hold it. It feels like rubber or something, I don't know, I'm not an expert.
The laptop is slim, very slim. It also looks nice. It is also extremely light.
Another thing, it isn't flimsy at all. The keyboard doesn't sink down when you type and the hinges are perfect. It doesn't fall if you leave it at certain angles and isn't wobbly at all. Also, there are no flashy LEDs and stuff. There are 2. One on the top and one on the inside. And it is just the dot in the i for each of them. Tells you if the laptop is on or is sleeping.

Things I wished they added
I wish there were more USB ports. There is only 2.
A backlit keyboard would be cool, but they do have a feature that shines a light down from above the sreen. It works, but I think a backlight keyboard would be cool.

Other Thoughts
Aww man, this is just a great laptop. For anyone who is on the edge about buying this. Get it, it is awesome. I don't regret it one bit. BUY IT!

That is all for my ill written review. Try to get as much information from it as you can. Please excuse all my spelling errors and gramatical errors as I am too lazy to fix them. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.
I really hope this review is usefull to someone.

I attached a picture of my desktop. Because I think it looks awesome.
[IMG width='100%']http://imageshack.us/m/841/4121/desktopokl.png[/IMG]
I changed some things on the desktop like the links on the side that say Internet and stuff. And also changed the start button but didn't update the picture.

 

Thanks for the review! Sounds like you are really happy with your purchase.

What wallpaper do you have? (You may want to resize the picture so it fits a little better.)

Any chance of some pictures of it?

 

Browsing deviantART
I put it on Tile mode I think, and it happened to be in the right corner.

I'll try and upload some pictures tomorrow. Any suggestions on what I should include?

 

Wow I've been sort of on the edge about the E420s for a while, mainly because of concerns about the screen, battery life, and overall value. But after reading this and the review on HardwareGeeks, I think I'll get it.

If you have time, could you make a couple more battery life estimates? It would be incredible if it could actually get 6 hours regularly, I was expecting 5 max.

Oh, and how did you get that awesome looking desktop screen? Is that an application, or did it come with the computer?

 

I'll try to get some more estimates on the battery.

The desktop is the wallpaper I listed above. Then Rainmeter with a skin called Omni or something like that. And I put the squares at 125. For changing the start button I used a tool on Deviant Art that changes the registry files, same with the Login screen.

I'm glad my review helped.

 

zOMG thanks for the review! Can't wait for 6630m!

 

jjjrmy: You can swap FN key function in bios. There are two modes:
Legacy: standard F1-12 keys function
Default: initiates special function illustrated on keys. so you need FN key for starndard F1-F12 function.

also you can switch ctrl with fn in bios if you want to.

 

I guess the only thing that is holding me back getting the E420s is the screen, if they at least would make a effect on putting a decent option for the screen, I would not being looking at a the X220. The 13-14 inches form factor seem to be the screen size for me.

 

What about the fan noise and heat? Does the fan spin a lot and make a lot of noise? How about heat and temperatures?

I'm really considering this over a Samsung QX412, which seems to be better in someway but also have an awful display.

 

I just received my E420s on Friday. My initial impressions are very similar to the OP's in that it is a solid built machine, that is light and pretty thin. On the negative side, the "infinity glass" display is not glass and the screen is only OK. I don't have another machine in the same price range to compare it to but I find that the colors wash out if you don't look at the proper viewing angle. I find myself changing the angle of the screen (hinged portion) frequently to get it just right. The reflection of the screen is also a problem if you have any ambient light.

I've also had some problems with the touchpad. It seems to work pretty well for pointing and clicking but I've had a lot of trouble with scrolling. The 2-finger scrolling works intermittently and I can't get the slide scrolling to work at all. I'll have to mess around with the settings some more to see if I can fix it.

The only thing I have to compare it to is a macbook pro which has a great screen and trackpad, but also costs 3 times as much. I'm debating on whether to return it based on the "false advertising" of the glass screen but I'll probably end up keeping it since I can't seem to find anything better in the same price range. Seems like you need to spend over $1000 to get something with this build quality and a good screen.

 

yes what you said in last para is spot on. Don't bother spending so much on screen. If you are at home $100 external screen can resolve everything.

But when you are on road this screen will let you work... i mean it's not that bad..

most of the retail store has glossy screen which makes it hard to work in screen light but I have seen people working on that screen library and elsewhere..

 

what about the fact that its not actually an "edge to edge glass display", but simply a standard display with a really poor quality dinky layer of thin plastic over a regular screen?

This kind of blatent lying and cheapo gimics is why mine went back.

And compared to my old dell insprion 13z, which has the same resolution screen, the screen on the edge is downright blocky IMO.

Im currently looking at the Dell Vostro 3350 instead, once a review is made available.

 

Go into UltraNav's touchpad settings, and disable the three filtering settings.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it tonight. If I get that fixed it all comes down to the screen issue, which is not horrible but not great either.

 

The fan is very quite. Sometimes it will be loud for a little, then it will go back to silent. But othe rthan that is is quite.

 

A comparable model to the Edge420s is the Lattitude 6420 or something like that. It is only sold in the Dell Outlet.

 

I tried this and the only 3-finger setting I see is for 3-finger click, which you can't seem to disable. I was able to mess with one of the optimization settings and now I have edge scrolling working, which seems much smoother than the 2-finger scrolling.

I looked at the 6420 but unless there's some kind of deal I can't find, it will cost me at least another $200 to get a similar model, although I do like the option of the enhanced resolution screen.

 

Anyone have any experience with aftermarket (ebay) anti-glare filters that you overlay over glossy screens.

I remember in the Acer 3820TG people were putting them on their glossy screens with good reults- they even could use the laptop outside.

 

I thought about ordering one but I'm worried that it will just dim the display even more. Unless it's dark in the room, I have mine at max brightness most of the time.

 

My other worry would be that it makes the text fuzzy.

It seems strange that their is no matte option on the e420s when you can get it on the e420.

Anyhow, still leaning towards an e420s and adding an mSSD.

 

Yesterday I was looking at the basic Thinkpad Edge at Office Depot, the screen on it was pretty tough, I had to push on it pretty hard for it to deflect, it was stronger than the Dell latitude screen I am using now, the screen on the Dell feels paper thin, even a tiny amount of pressure deflects the screen. I was impressed with Edge screen, so if the E420S is just a regular Edge screen with another piece of plastic over it, it should be pretty durable.

 

Thread killer was here.

 

Thanks for the review
I have two questions:
1) you say that the screen is probably the worst part but what can you say about brightness? Is it enough bright?
2) I would like to know how have you presonalized your desktop like that, I sent you a PM, please answer me when you have some free time