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The Lenovo Edge 15 (80H10004US) ($699.99 as tested) looks and acts a lot like its sibling, the Editors’ Choice Lenovo Flex 2 (15-inch)($299.99 at Lenovo)(Opens in a new window), but this midprice desktop-replacement laptop falls a bit short on performance and battery life. But even while it doesn’t get our top recommendation, the Edge 15($299.99 at Lenovo)(Opens in a new window) still has a lot to love, from its 300-degree hinge to its 1TB hard drive and 1080p touch screen.
Design and Features
The Edge 15 has a lot in common with Lenovo’s Flex lineup, and is actually sold as the Flex 2 Pro-15 in non-U.S. markets. A 300-degree hinge allows multimode functionality, letting you use the 15-inch system as a laptop or flip the screen around for Display mode. The hinge has rubber feet on both top and bottom, allowing it to sit securely in either mode, while a touch screen lets you get a lot of functionality out of the system even when the physical keyboard is folded out of the way.
When closed, the Edge 15 measures 0.8 by 15 by 10.9 inches (HWD), and weighs 5.2 pounds, which is a bit much for carrying around all day, but fine for the occasional outing or commuting to work or school. The aluminum chassis has a black finish, and holds up well to flexing. The touch screen is also quite sturdy, holding up well against forceful taps and gestures, but still moves easily enough to position the screen without trouble.
The display has full HD (1,920-by-1,080) resolution and 10-point touch capability. That resolution is actually pretty good, seeing as many systems in this price range settle for a resolution of 1,366 by 768. With wide viewing angles and good picture quality, it’s a good choice for both productive tasks and entertainment use. Taking the entertainment support further, the two built-in speakers are paired with Dolby sound enhancement, and offered crisp highs and clear lows when tested.
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The laptop features Lenovo’s AccuType keyboard, and impressed me with a comfortable typing experience and the inclusion of both backlighting and a compact numeric pad. The number keys on the pad are narrower than those of the regular keyboard, but it’s still quite usable. The accompanying touchpad is also quite good, with a smooth, clickable surface and Windows 8 gesture support.
On the right of the system you’ll find two USB ports (one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0), an HDMI output, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Kensington lock slot. On the left are another USB 2.0 port, a headset jack, and an SD card slot. The Edge 15 is outfitted with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.
For storage, the laptop boasts a 1TB hard drive, which is double the storage space of competing systems, like the Acer Aspire E5-471G-53XG( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) and the Lenovo Flex 2, which offer only 500GB drives. On the Start screen, you’ll find a smattering of preinstalled apps, like Accuweather, eBay, Evernote, Hightail, Kindle, and Zinio. The system comes with free, 30-day trials of Microsoft Office 365 and McAfee LiveSafe, and Lenovo covers the Edge 15 with a one-year warranty.
Performance
The Lenovo Edge 15 is outfitted with the same 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-4210U found in the Lenovo Flex 2 and the Dell Inspiron 14 (5447)($589.99 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), but Lenovo pairs it with 6GB of RAM while the Dell Inspiron 14 uses 8GB. The resulting performance is very similar among the three, with the Edge 15 completing PCMark 8 Work Conventional with 2,492 points. This falls just slightly behind the Lenovo Flex 2 (2,683 points) and further behind the Dell Inspiron 14 (2,732 points). Interestingly enough, the best performance we saw in this mainstream price range is a different Lenovo laptop, the Lenovo Z40($699.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), which scored (2,854 points). Similar performance was seen in Photoshop CS6, which the Lenovo Edge 15 completed in 5 minutes 16 seconds, again behind the Lenovo Flex 2 (4:57) and the Dell Inspiron 14 (4:55).
With Intel’s integrated graphics solution—an Intel HD Graphics 4400—most of the mainstream systems offer the same moderate graphics performance, optimized for basic tasks like rendering Web sites, streaming media, and editing the occasional photo. Gaming isn’t really an option in this category, but you do see better graphics capability in systems that boast a discrete graphics card, like the Lenovo Z40 or the Acer E5-471G-53XG.
In terms of battery life, the Lenovo Flex 15 will carry you through a good chunk of the day, lasting 5 hours 39 minutes on our battery rundown test. This isn’t much different than the Lenovo Flex 2 (5:30), but it falls behind the Acer E5-471G-53XG (9:12) and the Dell Inspiron 14 (7:16).
Conclusion
The Lenovo Edge 15 is a laptop with an identity crisis—it’s sold as the Flex 2 Pro 15-Inch in non-U.S. markets—but it still has plenty of the same features we love in the Flex line, like a touch screen, now with 1080p resolution and a sizable 1TB hard drive. The Lenovo Flex 2 (15-inch) is still the stronger choice, with better overall performance and battery life, but if you want something with the same 300-degree hinge, the Edge 15 is a decent alternative, and definitely a smart choice if found at a discount.
4.0
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The Lenovo Edge 15 desktop-replacement laptop looks and acts like its Flex sibling, but slightly lower performance scores hold it back from our top recommendation.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lenovo-edge-15
