Lenovo ThinkPad T430s review

A thinner and lighter version of Lenovo's popular ThinkPad T430 business notebook, the 14-inch ThinkPad T430s provides equal doses of power, portability and usability. With its light-weight chassis, industry-leading keyboard, high-res screen and more than 8 hours of battery life, this $1,145 business system ($779 to start) is well worth the price for anyone who cares about productivity.

Specifications Lenovo ThinkPad T430s

CPU	2.6-GHz Intel Core i5-3320M
Operating System	MS Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
RAM	16GB
RAM Upgradable to	4GB
Hard Drive Size	500GB
Hard Drive Speed	7,200rpm
Hard Drive Type	SATA Hard Drive
Display Size	14
Native Resolution	1600x900
Optical Drive	DVD+/-RW DL
Optical Drive Speed
Graphics Card	Nvidia NVS 5200M
Video Memory	1GB
Wi-Fi	802.11 a/g/n
Wi-Fi Model	Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0
Mobile Broadband
Touchpad Size	3 x 1.75 inches
Ports (excluding USB)	DisplayPort; Ethernet; USB 3.0; VGA
USB Ports	3
Warranty/Support	One year standard parts and labor
Size	13.50 x 9.05 x 0.83 - 1.02 inches
Weight	4 pounds / 4.4 pounds with bay battery

Design

Click to EnlargeNo surprises here. The T430s has the same black ThinkPad aesthetic as its predecessors. While some will find this design boring, we like this classy and understated look. The soft-touch carbon-fiber reinforced plastic lid and smooth magnesium alloy bottom feel luxurious to the touch and resist fingerprints. The classic design theme continues on the all-black deck and bezel, with only the red TrackPoint and small red stripes on the TrackPoint buttons providing a splash of color.

At just 4 pounds (4.4 pounds with bay battery) and 13.50 x 9.05 x 0.83 - 1.02 inches, the ThinkPad T430s is significantly thinner and lighter than the ThinkPad T430 (13.8 x 9.13 x 1.18 inches, 4.8 pounds / 5.2 pounds with 9-cell battery) and the Dell Latitude E6430 (13.9 x 9.5 x 1.3 inches, 5.2 pounds). When we tried picking up both notebooks, the 0.8-pound difference between the larger T430 and the T430s seemed particularly great. We would much prefer to travel with the T430s.

Keyboard

Click to EnlargeLike the T430 and W530, the ThinkPad T430s's island-style, spill-resistant keyboard provides the best typing experience you can get on a notebook. The keys provide extremely strong tactile feedback and an audible clack that reminded us of the pleasant sound on IBM's old Model M keyboards. Because of the excellent feedback and key spacing, we managed a 92 word-per-minute score on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, which matched our all-time best.

Click to EnlargeThe optional backlight provided bright illumination even at the lower of its two settings. However, the glossy keys, which are necessary for the backlight, seemed slippery in comparison to the matte keys we've used on recent ThinkPads (like the T430), which came without the backlight option. Because of this slight slipperiness, we got a higher-than-normal 2 percent error rate. If you can live with the overhead light that comes standard, we recommend choosing the non-backlit, matte keys that are easier to grip.

Touchpad and TrackPoint

Click to EnlargeLike all other ThinkPads, the T430s offers two pointing devices: a TrackPoint pointing stick and a standard touchpad. We prefer the TrackPoint because it offers the most accurate way to navigate around the desktop and lets you move the pointer without lifting your hands off the home row.

Users who don't like pointing sticks will appreciate the comfort and accuracy of the 3 x 1.75-inch touchpad. In our testing, the pad's textured surface provided just the right amount of friction as we navigated around the desktop without a hint of jerkiness. We also appreciated the two discrete mouse buttons that offered firm feedback.

The pad also supports multitouch gestures, including pinch-to-zoom, rotate, three-finger flick and three finger press to launch an app of your choice. While all of these gestures worked for us, we found ourselves having to repeat the pinch and rotate gestures to make them work.

Display

Click to EnlargeThe 1600 x 900-pixel, 14-inch matte display on the T430s offers sharp, bright images and wide viewing angles. When we watched a 1080p Quicktime trailer for "The Man with the Iron Fist," the edges of objects were crisp and images barely washed out at even 90 degrees to the left or right. However, colors such as the red in curtains and walls appeared dull and pale.

At 249 lux on our light meter, the T430s's screen is about 20 percent brighter than the thin-and-light notebook category average and double the brightness of the ThinkPad T430 (with 1366 x 768 screen). The Dell Latitude E6430 comes close at 237 lux.

Audio

Click to EnlargeThe T430s's dual speakers - located on either side of the keyboard - offer sound that's accurate, but a bit hollow. When we played the bass- heavy "Forget Me Nots," the guitar-centric "Shout at the Devil" and the synth-laden "Summertine Madness," audio was accurate but flat. Still, we were able to hear a separation of sound between instruments as guitar twangs emanated from one speaker and drum beats from the other.

Even at maximum volume, the music was loud enough only for a small space. The bundled Dolby Home Theater v. 4 audio software has profiles for music, movies and games, along with an equalizer and volume leveler. Disabling the software, which is on by default, made music sound completely hollow.

Heat

The ThinkPad T430s stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. After streaming a video for 15 minutes, the keyboard measured a cool 85 degrees, the touchpad clocked in at a chilly 77 degrees and the underside hit a reasonable 90 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees comfortable and those under 90 degrees imperceptible.

Ports and Webcam

Click to EnlargeThe ThinkPad T430s has a solid selection of ports, but most of them are on the back where it's a little harder to reach them. The back side contains a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 port that can charge devices while sleeping, a mini DisplayPort, a VGA-out and an Ethernet port. Considering that many notebooks are ditching VGA and some Ultrabooks such as Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon eschew the all-important Ethernet port, we appreciated having these options on the T430s.

Click to EnlargeThe left side contains a single USB 3.0 port, a headphone / mic jack and a 5-in-1 card reader. The right side houses the optical drive, which can be replaced with an Ultrabay battery.

The 1.3-MP webcam captured sharp, bright images even in low light. When we shot pictures of our face both under the fluorescent lights of our newsroom and the shadowy corner of an unlit conference room, the camera captured bright, colorful images of our features.

Performance

Click to EnlargeConfigured with 2.6-GHz Core i5-3320M CPU, an Nvidia NVS 5200M discrete graphics chip with 1GB of VRAM and Optimus graphics switching, 500GB 7,200-rpm hard drive, and 4GB of RAM, our review configuration of the ThinkPad T430s provided solid performance that's good enough for any productivity task and even some light gaming.

On PCMark 7, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall system speed, the T430s scored a solid 2,460, slightly less than the 2,555 thin-and-light notebook category average. On Geekbench, another measure of total PC performance, the T430s scored 5,529, just slightly above the 5,425 category average.

The 7,200-rpm, 500GB hard drive booted Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) in a speedy 34 seconds, much faster than the 52-second category average and quite strong for a notebook without an SSD. On our file transfer test, where we duplicate a 4.97GB folder of multimedia files, the drive took a reasonable 2 minutes and 25 seconds. That's a rate of 35.1 MBps, slightly higher than the 33.7 Mbps category average, but far slower than systems configured with SSDs such as our review configuration of the Dell Latitude E6430. That notebook copied files at a rate of 169.6 MBps.

Its Intel 3rd Generation Core i5 CPU enabled the ThinkPad T430s to transcode an HD video to iPod Touch format in just 18 seconds using Cyberlink Media Espresso. That time is much faster than the 59-second category average, but slower than the 15 seconds turned in by the Dell Latitude E6430 and its 2.9-GHz Core i7-3420M CPU.

The T430s completed the LAPTOP Spreadsheet Macro Test, which matches 20,000 names with their addresses, in a strong 4 minutes and 26 seconds. That showing is considerably better than the 6 minute and 5 second category average, but a little slower than the Core i7-powered Dell Latitude E6430's time of 4:11.

Graphics

Click to EnlargeThe ThinkPad T430s's optional Nvidia NVS 5200M graphics chip gives it enough oomph to play some mid-range games, watch HD videos and perform graphics-oriented productivity tasks. On 3DMark 11, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall graphics prowess, the T430s returned a strong score of 1,105, significantly better than the 763 category average.

When we played "World of Warcraft," the ThinkPad T430s managed a strong frame rate of 97 fps on autodetect settings. When we turned the effects up, that rate dropped to a still-strong 44 fps.

However, the much more graphically intense "Batman: Arkham City" was barely playable at low settings, managing just 25 fps. At high settings, the ThinkPad T430s provided only a slide show-like 10 fps.

Battery Life

Click to EnlargeWith its optional bay battery attached, the ThinkPad T430s lasted a strong 8 hours and 45 minutes on the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi. That time is a few hours less than the ThinkPad T430's mark of 13 hours and 25 minutes and the Dell Latitude E6430's time of 10 hours and 37 minutes. However, both of those notebooks weigh significantly more and, on the configurations we tested, came with large 9-cell batteries that jut out of their backsides.

However, without the bay battery, the T430s managed a more pedestrian time of 5:09, more than an hour less than the 6:33 thin-and-light notebook category average. Because of the 3.5-hour improvement in battery life, we highly recommend the bay battery, even though it adds $130 to the system's price and 0.4 pounds to its weight.

Configurations

Our configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad T430s carries a street price of $1,130. For that, you get the 2.6-GHz Intel Core i5-3320M CPU, Nvidia NVS 5200 discrete graphics, a 500 GB 7,200 rpm hard drive, a 1600 x 900 screen, 4GB of RAM, and the bay battery. However, the T430s starts at just $789 and comes with a 2.5-GHz Core i5-3310M CPU, a 1366 x 768 screen, a 320GB hard drive, and the same Nvidia graphics chip as our unit, but no bay battery and no backlit keyboard.

If you buy the ThinkPad T430s from Lenovo.com, you can configure your system to order with your choice of CPU, screen resolution, storage device, backlit or not backlit keyboard, discrete or integrated graphics, and more. Whatever you choose, we highly recommend the 1600 x 900 screen upgrade ($50) and the bay battery ($130).

Software, Security and Warranty

Click to EnlargeThe ThinkPad T430s comes preloaded with Lenovo's standard set of ThinkVantage utilities, including Power Manager, Airbag Protection that stops the hard drive if you drop the notebook, Password Manager and Enhanced Backup and Restore.

Lenovo's Web conferencing utility is particularly useful because it not only controls the webcam, but also allows you to configure the dual-array microphone for single or multiple voices and keyboard noise suppression.

Lenovo also includes its SimpleTap UI, which provides a simple but attractive, tile-based environment filled with three screens of mini-apps that launch popular websites like Facebook and Wikipedia. Though this is an attractive-looking shell, it doesn't serve much purpose on a device without a touch screen.

ThinkPad T430's fingerprint reader allows users to power on the notebook and log into Windows with just a single swipe. In our testing, configuring the reader was fast and easy. We simply launched the ThinkVantage Fingerprint software, entered our Windows password and then chose to enroll one of our fingers.

After swiping a few times to register our right index finger, we powered down the computer and confirmed that the fingerprint reader remained on, with a flashing green light directly below it. The first time we swiped our finger, the system immediately recognized it and booted us right to the desktop without requiring further input.

Lenovo bundles the ThinkPad T430s with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor. As with other ThinkPads, Lenovo offers warranty upgrades, the ability to extend your warranty to four years or get on-site service.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeWith its high-res screen, speedy processor options, discrete graphics and best-in-class keyboard, Lenovo's ThinkPad T430s is a superb business notebook. Users who want longer battery life should consider the ThinkPad T430, which weighs 0.8 pounds more but lasts 13 hours on a charge. Those who want the ultimate in business portability should consider the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which weighs just 3 pounds but has fewer ports and lacks discrete graphics. However, if you want a thin-and-light business laptop that provides an optimal balance between mobility and heavy-duty productivity, the ThinkPad T430s is your best option.

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Lenovo ThinkCentre M92

It's hard not to notice the direction computing is going, both in the enterprise and at home. Notebooks are getting thinner and lighter, tablets are taking off, and on desktops Mini-ITX is becoming less of a niche form factor and more of a legitimate, mainstream option. As CPU and GPU power consumption is gradually brought in line and more features are integrated directly into the chipset, we simply have less of a need for big desktops capable of dissipating mountains of heat and supporting multiple expansion cards.

Part and parcel with this, we've had a chance to check out two small form factor systems from Puget Systems and a completely fanless kiosk-style system from Logic Supply, and today we have on hand from Lenovo their ThinkCentre M92 Tiny. Ours is the entry-level configuration, and Lenovo packs a healthy amount of flexibility into a small chassis along with a couple of wrinkles of their own. Did they get the balance right with the M92, though, or were the wrong compromises made?

Optical drives are becoming less and less relevant, and that's made abundantly clear just by the removable "cage" that ships mounted to the M92 Tiny. To actually use the DVD writer you need to connect a small external USB cable, but the entire brace is easy enough to remove. That said, the brace also adds VESA mounts to the M92, making it potentially ideal for kiosk duty (much like Logic Supply's LGX AG150), and the system runs below the noise floor of my sound meter even under load. There's a lot to like about the design, but I feel like there are some real omissions here, too.

Lenovo ThinkCentre M92 Tiny Specifications
Chassis	Lenovo Custom
Processor	Intel Core i5-3470T (2x2.9GHz + HTT, 22nm, Turbo to 3.6GHz, 3MB L3, 35W)
Motherboard	Custom Q77
Memory	1x4GB Samsung DDR3-1600
Graphics	Intel HD 2500 Graphics (650-1100MHz, 6 EUs)
Hard Drive(s)	Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400-RPM SATA 3Gbps HDD
Optical Drive(s)	Removable DVD+/-RW Drive
Power Supply	65W External PSU
Networking	Intel 82579LM Gigabit Ethernet
Audio	Realtek ALC662 Headphone and mic jacks
Front Side	2x USB 3.0 Headphone and mic jacks
Top	-
Back Side	AC adaptor DisplayPort 2x USB 3.0 VGA Ethernet jack USB 2.0
Operating System	Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
Extras	Removable VESA/ODD cage
Warranty	3-year
Pricing	Starting at $699

The M92 is a capable machine, but the Intel Core i5-3470T strikes me as being a very unusual choice. This is a dual core Ivy Bridge processor with a 35-watt TDP, and it's presently the only Ivy Bridge dual core desktop processor available. It's certainly capable enough, but it's basically an i7-3520M with a worse IGP and less L3 cache. I feel like Lenovo should've opted for a mobile CPU; the i5-3470T is definitely a money saver, but at a $699 starting price for what are really pretty skint system specs, I'd almost rather see an Intel Core i7-3612QM.

Those skint specs extend to just 4GB of DDR3, a slow 5400-RPM mechanical hard drive, and no wireless connectivity of any kind. These can all be upgraded, mind you, but you'll have to pay for each one. The system itself is next to impossible to actually dismantle, too, so you're stuck ordering these upgrades when you order the system. When we're starting at $699 we should have at least wireless ethernet and Bluetooth standard, especially given just how small and portable the M92 really is.

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Dell, Lenovo and Samsung will launch Windows RT devices

Dell, Lenovo and Samsung have joined Asus (and Microsoft) in the list of companies that are confirmed to have Windows RT systems in the pipeline. News of the confirmed manufacturers comes directly from Microsoft although as The Verge points out, HP’s name is glaringly missing among the other PC builders.

Following the introduction of Microsoft’s Surface tablets in June, HP told Bloomberg they will initially only be building Intel-based business notebooks, citing input from their customers. They feel that the established x86 platform provides the best customer experience at this time and in the immediate future.

Microsoft points out that it won’t just be ARM-friendly tablets coming from these manufacturers. Some will be producing full-sized notebooks complete with keyboard and track pads, according to Redmond.

We also are now hearing some of the early battery estimates that we can expect to see with Windows RT devices. Systems with 10.1-inch to 11.6-inch displays and 25 to 42 Whr batteries have been good for between eight to 13 hours of runtime. Tests were conducted running full-screen HD video while the system was synched to a single e-mail account. Microsoft also notes that in a “connected standby” mode, systems were able to achieve between 320 and 409 hours of battery life.

As for performance, we are hearing that Windows RT systems are capable of 60fps during operating system animations and that touchpad gestures are now supported natively in the firmware. The OS has now hit the RTM build so it’s only a matter of time before we’ll start to see some early systems show up.

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New Lenovo teases IdeaTab A2107 and A2109

New Lenovo teases IdeaTab A2107 and A2109

Lenovo's been racking up its IdeaTab portfolio with slates like the S2109 and S2110, but apparently there's a lot more where that came from. The Chinese company's currently showcasing two new US-bound, ICS-based IdeaTabs on its website, starting with the 7-inch A2107 which had previously made the rounds in China under a different moniker, and followed by a 9-inch (1280 x 800) A2109 that's said to be "full size fun on a small budget." Unfortunately, full spec and pricing details are relatively scarce at the moment, though Lenovo's product page does tell us they should both be available at some point next month. For now, feel free to head over to the source link below if you'd like to give 'em a quick view.

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New Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook

Lenovo hopes their new slim Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook will be quick hit among the professional market.

Not to leave anyone out or anything Lenovo has announced an affordable Ultrabook for business users will also be available later this month to join their new premium ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook. The upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook will be available later this month on shop.lenovo.com with a starting price of just $779, or about half what you’ll have to pay for the baseline ThinkPad X1 Carbon.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T430u laptop will be cheaper than the X1 Carbon which means you won’t be getting a Carbon fiber chassis, SSD storage standard or a 1600-by-900 resolution 14-inch screen. Instead of those things the slightly bulkier T430u (compared to the X1 Carbon) will have discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M graphics and up to 1TB of spinning hard drive storage.

Although the X1 Carbon has fast solid state storage you only have the option for up to 256GB of storage space, that might not be enough on-board storage for some users. For the more T430u Lenovo is going to offer 320GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacity options for buyers.

At this time we don’t have a full list of features to expect in the base $779 model, however we do know the general main specifications that you will have available to you with the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook line. Below is a list of those main specifications:

                - 14-inch LED back-lit display with a matte finish for fighting glare, 1366-by768 native resolution, - 200-nits max. brightness

                Windows 7 Professional

                - 3rd gen. Intel Ivy Bridge Core processors (lower voltage processors will be offered to help with               battery life, just like for the X1 Carbon)

                - Up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM

                - Up to 1TB of HDD storage, a 128GB SSD will be optional

                - Soft-touch Black aluminum chassis, Steel display hinges

                - The T430u is 0.8-inches thick and it weighs 4.1 pounds

                - Spill-resistant keyboard with chiclet keys

                - Multi-touch trackpad with TrackPoint

                - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

                - Ethernet, 2x USB 3.0 port, HDMI, Mini-DisplayPort, and 4-in-1 SD Card slot

                - Sealed battery that offers up to 7 hours of life

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Lenovo ThinkVision LT2323z Marries Your Monitor and Your Phone

Well, maybe not your phone, exactly, but it comes close enough. The new LT2323z was designed by Lenovo to serve as both display and VoIP phone, and in fact is the very first monitor to be certified for use with Microsoft Lync, which is Redmond's business-focused VoIP technology.

Perhaps more importantly for many customers, however, is the screen itself. The ThinkVision LT2323z marks a return for Lenovo to the realm of high-fidelity IPS panels. While not a color critical area, IPS displays can be a boon for VoIP users, too - with its wide, 178 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles, you can sit and use the display from any angle and still see your companion on screen.

In a busy press room, it was impossible for the company to really show off the LT2323z's VoIP cred, so they showed the next best thing - HD movies! The screen was sharp, with no visible tearing, and viewing angles were superb. As part of the VoIP package, you'll be able to screen calls - or movies - with no extra hardware. There are a set of stereo speakers as well as a FullHD 1080p webcam and dual digital microphones. Built-in noise cancellation means you'll hopefully be heard regardless of surrounding office din.

As with most Lenovo products, this VoIP display has a little quirk of its own. Strapped for space? Hook up two computers and activate dual-display mode. By attaching two devices to each of two different inputs on the LT2323z, users can split the resolution and use one computer on one half, and a second machine on the second half.

Interested? Us too. You'll be able to pick the ThinkVision LT2323z up in June - though Lenovo has yet to nail down a price. It likely won't be cheap, however, as we expect it to hit somewhere around $399.

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New Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Ultrabook

Lenovo Introduced the ThinkPad X1 Carbon back in May, now the device is in the U.S. and will reportedly be available for purchase within the month of August.  The slick piece of hardware is claiming to be the "World's Lightest 14-inch Professional Ultrabook".

Breaking away from the traditional Lenovo look, the Carbon X1 is a sight to behold. While it still has the sturdy ThinkPad roll cage that we have come to expect from Lenovo it's composed of carbon fiber, helping the machine to stay true to its claim as the lightest Ultrabook at 3 pounds.

ThinkPad X1 Specs   

• 14-inch HD+ anti-glare display (1600 x 900 and 300 nits)
• Intel Core i5-3427U dual-core low-voltage processor with vPro (1.8GHz, up to 2.8GHz Turbo Boost, 3MB cache, 17W TDP)
• Integrated Intel HD graphics 4000
• 4GB DDR3-1600 RAM (1x 4GB; non-upgradeable; max supported)
• 128GB SSD (SanDisk SD5SG2128G1052E)
• 802.11n wireless network adapter (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205s)
• Internal Bluetooth v4.0
• 3G WWAN (Ericsson H5321gw)
• Integrated 720p webcam
• No internal optical drive
• 3-year limited warranty
• 45WHr polymer battery
• Weight: 3.0 lbs.
• Dimensions: 13.03 x 8.9 x 0.74 inches

The X1 Carbon will come with a three year warranty with a starting price of $1,399. While the exact shipping date is still not yet confirmed, this business-class Ultrabook will be available for order soon on the Lenovo website.

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Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430

Design

Click to EnlargeStylistically, the ThinkPad Edge E430 is a departure from the traditional ThinkPad design. Instead of a black textured plastic lid, our Edge E430 featured a black brushed aluminum cover. It's a nice change of pace, but unfortunately turns the laptop into a fingerprint magnet. If brushed aluminum isn't your thing, you can instead opt to get the E430 in soft-touch black or red.

Lenovo decorated the E430's lid with a familiar polished silver Lenovo logo in the bottom right corner. Opposite that, you'll find the ThinkPad logo with the letter "i" that pulses when the notebook is in standby mode.

Take a look under the E430's lid and you'll see the same brushed aluminum coating on the keyboard deck. In the top left corner, you'll find the E430's circular power button surrounded by nothing but empty space. In the deck's bottom right corner, Lenovo added another ThinkPad logo complete with a backlit letter "i." Beyond those design flourishes, the Edge E430 includes the company's trademark red pointer stick and click buttons, fingerprint reader and clickpad.

Measuring 13.3 x 9.2 x 1.1-1.3 inches and weighing 4.6 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430's dimensions are on a par with those of its predecessor, the ThinkPad Edge E420 (13.3 x 9.1 x 1.4 inches and 4.6 pounds). The Edge E430 also matches up nicely with Acer's Aspire TimelineX 4830TG-6808, which measures 13.3 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches and weighs 4.6 pounds. Other 14-inch notebooks are more svelte than this Edge, especially Ultrabooks, but most of them lack an optical drive.

Display and Audio

Click to EnlargeThe E430's 14.1-inch 1366 x 768 anti-glare matte display offered a sharp but not very bright picture. Its 176 lux brightness rating is well below the average thin-and-light (201 lux). The Acer 4830TG was little better, at 186 lux. An optional VibrantView glossy display promises sharper brighter colors, but will naturally suffer from glare problems. When watching an HD trailer for "The Hobbit," we could make individual strands of hair in Gandalf's telltale gray beard. Viewing angles, however, were fairly narrow, with images washing out before 40 degrees to either side.

The ThinkPad Edge E430's stereo speakers, located on the underside of the system, are surprisingly powerful for a small business laptop. When we listened to Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap," each bass hit sounded clean and distortion-free. Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son" sounded just as good, with the blues-inspired guitar riffs and cymbal crashes coming through loud and clear. The included Dolby Advanced Audio 2 software is a definite plus. Turn it off, and the Edge's audio quality takes a significant hit.

Keyboard, Pointing Stick and Touchpad

Click to EnlargeWe've long considered Lenovo's keyboards to be some of the best in the business, thanks to their responsiveness, key spacing and overall comfort. The E430's spill-resistant, island-style keyboard lives up to that reputation. We recorded our highest score on the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor while using the E430, 80 words per minute with a 3 percent error rate, far better than our usual 75 words per minute. The layout felt somewhat stiff, but we presume this will lessen as you break it in.

The E430's rubberized TrackPoint pointing stick and associated mouse and scrolling buttons proved accurate and responsive as ever, allowing us to seamlessly transition from typing to controlling the on-screen pointer and back without ever having to take our hands off of the keyboard.

Click to EnlargeThe Lenovo's 3.5 x 2.1-inch UltraNav textured clickpad was also quite accurate. Multitouch gestures worked for the most part, but we found ourselves repeating some of them occasionally, such as using the three-finger flick function to navigate the picture gallery. Two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom, however, were spot on.

Heat

After streaming a full-screen Hulu video for 15 minutes, the ThinkPad Edge E430's touchpad reached just 79 degrees, while the keyboard registered 80 degrees. The hottest point on the Edge was its underside, which hit a relatively cool 83 degrees. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees to be comfortable.

The ThinkPad Edge E430 includes all of the ports and plugs a small business owner could need. On its left side are a VGA port, USB 2.0 slot, HDMI port and two USB 3.0 ports. Over on the right side, are the E430's power port, Ethernet jack, tray-loading optical drive, a USB 2.0 port that can charge devices while sleeping and a combination audio and microphone jack. Up front, the E430 features a 4-in-1 media card reader.

Webcam and Videoconferencing

Click to EnlargeThe Edge E430's 720p webcam provided bright, but slightly grainy images. Fine details like facial wrinkles were easy to decipher, although colors were somewhat inaccurate. When we tried using the webcam in a darker setting, image quality took a nose dive.

To help improve voice chat quality, Lenovo outfitted the Edge E430 with keyboard noise cancellation technology. Lenovo says the E430's microphone audio field has also improved to allow users to switch between conference mode, in which several people can be picked up by the microphone, and single user mode, which only picks up the voice of the person sitting directly in front of the microphone.

Fingerprint Reader

Click to EnlargeOur ThinkPad Edge E430's fingerprint reader was extremely easy to set up, and can be set to open specific websites and apps with the swipe of a finger. We could also set the reader to log us into secure websites, as well as log on to Windows.

Performance

Our configuration of the ThinkPad Edge E430 comes with a second-generation (Sandy Bridge) 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-2540M processor rather than a newer third-generation Ivy Bridge CPU. However, you can configure this laptop with one for $55 more. Still, with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, our Edge E430 proved more than capable of holding its own against the competition.

On PCMark 07, a synthetic benchmark that tests a system's overall performance, the E430 scored 2,337. That's on a par with the thin-and-light laptop category average (2,389), and about 200 points higher than the Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830TG-6808, which has the same CPU.

The Edge E430 also managed to boot faster than the competition, starting up in just 44 seconds compared with the category average of 57 seconds and the Acer 4830TG's 65 seconds. That's largely a result of the difference in rotation speeds between the E430's 500GB, 7,200-rpm drive, and the Acer's 500GB, 5,400-rpm drive.

The ThinkPad Edge E430 fared pretty well on the LAPTOP File Transfer test, duplicating 4.97GB of mixed media files in 2 minutes and 53 seconds for a rate of 29.4 MBps. That's nearly identical to the category average of 29.9 MBps.

The E430 also performed well on our OpenOffice Spreadsheet test, matching 20,000 names to their corresponding addresses in 5 minutes and 4 seconds. This showing is just two seconds slower than the Aspire TimelineX, but faster than the category average of 6 minutes.

Graphics Performance

Having Intel's HD Graphics 3000 on board means you'll be limited to watching HD movies and mostly casual games. On the 3DMark06 benchmark, the Edge E430 scored just 3,822. That's well below the category average of 5,117, and more than 5,000 points below the Acer Aspire TimelineX, which benefits from an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M GPU.

When we played "World of Warcraft" with the graphics set to autodetect, the Edge E430 managed 34 frames per second, an acceptable frame rate for a nongaming machine. But when we bumped up the graphics to the highest setting, the frame rate dropped to an unplayable 17 fps. By comparison, the average thin-and-light notebook registers 52 and 26 fps, respectively.

Battery Life

Click to EnlargeThe ThinkPad Edge E430's 6-cell 62WH lithium ion battery provides plenty of endurance for mobile workers. On the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous Web surfing with the display brightness set to 40 percent, the Edge E430 lasted 6 hours and 53 minutes. That's 33 minutes longer than Lenovo rated the battery and 25 minutes longer than the thin-and-light notebook category average.

Configurations

Our E430 came equipped with a 2.5-GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-2450M processor; 4GB of RAM; a 500GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive; an Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics chip; anti-glare display; 720p webcam ($20); 62WH battery ($10) and Windows 7 Professional for $719. The brushed aluminum coating alone cost $50. Note that some online retailers are selling this notebook for as low as $649.

If you're looking for something with a bit more oomph, you can pick up an E430 with a 2.1-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-3612QM processor, 8GB of RAM, a 750GB hard drive and a 16GB Micro SSD ($40) for improved performance for $1,154.

If your budget is tighter, you can buy the base model for just $549. That version comes loaded with a 2.3-GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2350M processor, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, no webcam, a soft-touch paint job and Windows 7 Home Premium. There's no price difference between the anti-glare display or VibrantView screen.

Software

Click to EnlargeLenovo loaded the ThinkPad Edge E430 with some helpful utilities. For instance, Power Controls lets you optimize your system's power settings, and Enhanced Backup and Restore and Airbag Protection, which turns off the hard drive when a fall or other damaging event is detected. In addition to those, the E430 features Lenovo's SimpleTap tool, which provides you with quick access to different notebook features, websites and applications by two-finger tapping the laptop's clickpad twice.

Lenovo's RapidBoot and RapidBoot Shield features help to improve the system's boot speed by using the E430's RAM to cache boot files and delaying the launch of nonessential programs until Windows is fully started.

The Edge E430's InstantResume software helps users reconnect to the Web quickly when taking the laptop out of sleep mode. Lenovo says the feature will continuously scan for Wi-Fi connections, allowing the system to connect to the web in less than two seconds when it goes back online.

One of the most useful features Lenovo packed into the E430 is its Mobile HotSpot software. The program lets users configure the E430 to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five people. The feature works by connecting the Lenovo to an available hotspot, then setting Mobile Hotspot software to begin broadcasting a wireless signal for your co-workers or friends. And since Lenovo lets you set up your own Network SSID and password, the wireless signal you send out will be secure.

Other programs loaded on the E430 include a 30-day trial of Norton Internet Security, 5GB of free online storage through SugarSync and Splashtop Streamer.

Service and Support

Lenovo provides users with its Solutions for Small Business suite. Features include the ability to schedule when you would like the system to perform updates and basic upkeep, configure the E430's USB ports to block users from attaching thumb drives or gaming controllers and set the system to shut down in the evening and restart in the morning.

If you run into any trouble with your ThinkPad Edge E430, Lenovo provides its users with a standard one-year parts and labor warranty. See how Lenovo fared in our Best & Worst Brands Report.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeWith good performance, an excellent keyboard, long battery life and top-notch speakers, the $717 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 is a system that will fit well in any office. The easy-to-use fingerprint reader and helpful small business software are other pluses. However, you might want to skip the brushed aluminum lid for the soft-touch red or black option to avoid fingerprints--and save yourself $50 in the process. The only other drawback is this notebook's display, which is dimmer than average. Overall, though, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 is a great choice for small business users.

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