How is the Lenovo Essential Laptop series?

A friend of mine is looking for a new standard size laptop (no netbooks) and she want to spend under $500.

Originally I was looking into getting her a refurbished ThinkPad T61 as I heard those are excellent ThinkPads (I have little experience with the older models). She only browses the web and checks email, so I figured the dual core CPU would handle her work load without a hitch.

I started looking at some of the Lenovo Essential B series machines though as they have core i CPUs and being budget laptops have a low price point.

Any opinions?

Lenovo - Laptops - Essential - B Series

 

I would get an older Thinkpad like a T60/T61. Some of them might still be in warranty.

 

If you can get T61 that still has warranty for reasonable price and then upgrade warranty then go for ThinkPad.
If you cant then look for bargain Edge series, they tend to float around once in a while around 500$ price mark, plenty of them on ebay, last time I checked couple of days ago.
Ive used B560 for one day - mushy keyboard above dvd drive. Other than that looks nice and can be had for around 500$ with Nvidia Optimus dedicated graphics and finger print reader
But as mentioned, you can find good deals on both used and new ThinkPads, check ebay, use google product search.
Brand new ones that could fit 500$ budget could be:
SL510, 15" Core 2 Duo based
Edge 14/15, 14"/15" both AMD and Core i series based
Perhaps SL410 which is 14" Core 2 Duo laptop could also be found for around 500$

There are many good budget laptops around 500$ to choose from, just take your time and be patient, dont be affraid to ask for advices

 

Okay Thanks.

I'll go with the ThinkPad then.

Why did I question the brand?

 

Take it all with grain of salt, only few of us are actual ThinkPad experts, others are just fanatics with serious addiction regarding ThinkPads
Me included

 

The T61 is a great machine, but there are a few pointers to be weary about. Nvidia GPUs on the T61 are prone to fail due to poor solder on the chips so unless the remaining warranty is long I would recommend getting the Intel graphics version as very little has gone wrong with that (plus it runs much cooler).

Also the screen lid hinge can wear out over time so they may rock back and forth slightly, it isn't a major problem but can be common on systems that have been frequently used over time. LCD Screen Quality are a mixed bunch, on general everyday use they should be more than adequate but if color accuracy is important then you probably want to look elsewhere as T61 only have CCFL screens with limited viewing angles.

Due to the volume of T61's about you can afford to be choosy, but you may also want to consider the R61 and maybe the R400 as a lot of people tend to overlook these models in favour of the ubiquitous T-Series. The R series are built just as solid compared to its T series siblings (albeit marginally thicker), have favourable specifications and are great value.

 

o_o I was looking on Ebay and T61 are much cheaper than R61 lol and there are many more T61 than R61.

 

For 500 usd u should be able to get a decent second hand t400/r400

 

I've heard the t400 had horrible build quality.

ex) YouTube - Lenovo Thinkpad T400 Review

 

My T400 is perfect, i am not sure how that person gets the laptop to flex like that. The problem with these review is that you are trying to form a view from a few online reviews, which maybe prejudiced from the outset or that the person had a problematic machine and they wanted to vent their anger.

I can tell you that T400 has about the same quality as the T61, while the early generation (so look for the production date) have known to suffer a USB hardware problem.

My T400 have been dropped on concrete from 6 foot (it was in a bag), and the corner is cracked slightly and that is about the only damage suffered, so these machines are tough.

Maybe it is time, i start finish reviewing my Thinkpads and put it on my blog, and do a youtube video of some sort.

P.S. Hopefully that Lenovo ANZ will form a usergroup in Melbourne and Sydney, which allows many Thinkpad enthusiasts or people curious about thinkpads to come along and try the thinkpads in person. Not sure whether Lenovo NA is going to do it.

 

I thought T400 initially had the keyboard flexing issue but Lenovo quickly remedied it and people would swap in T61 keyboard.

 

I had a T400. It ran quiet, cool, and the 1440X900 LG Phillips LED was very very bright! Some people couldn't tolerate the picasso-esque asymmetrical bezel but it didn't really bother me. My roomie had a macbook that sounded like a vacuum cleaner while my T400 made virtually no noise (having an SSD also helped). I initially had the spongy keyboard but a call to Lenovo and virtually overnight the UPS guy had a replacement keyboard with solid backing. I even got to pick what FRU I wanted

 

She thought I would update... she ended up going with a ThinkPad Edge 13 from the Lenovo outlet.

It fit her budget and came with a full warranty unlike the 3 month warranty from IBM for their refurbished T60 machines.

I like the Edge units, but have never seen one in person... hopefully when she gets it I will be able to play around with it for a bit!

 

It should be decent laptop for what it is as long as build quality is fine without keyboard flex.

 

I never see any complain about keyboard flex on the edge.

@Marcham93

Make sure to post about your typing experience with the edge compare to the classic thinkpad.

 

I have, just not on the 13 inch model. The 15 inch Edge series has quite a few flex issues (as stated in NBRs review), which I can definitely confirm were present on the two demo units that I've seen.

 

the Edge 13 is fine, the only edge series of that generation i would buy, anything bigger is prone to the chassis flexes and i would especially avoid the Edge 15.

 

The only flex given its price and intended use on Edge 15 that concerns me is keyboard flex above dvd drive, more than, not the flex but rahter whole keyboard assembly not being seated properly and rattling as you hit enter key and other keys below it.
I wrote to IBM service regarding this issue and they havent contacted me back on it regarding this, perhaps because I sent 2 mails in one day and one might have gotten into their spam folder/human error. The other mail was regarding T410 keyboard issue which seems to be resolved after I replaced it.