Lenovo’s Z-series is designed for
‘mainstream entertainment’. Translated from Marketingese into English, that
means these laptops are a bit heavy, but provide good performance at a decent
price.
The Z500 Touch is certainly no Ultrabook.
Our review unit measured 30mm-thick when folded flat and weighed in at a hefty
2.7kg. That’s heavy even for a laptop with a 15.6in display and a built-in DVD
drive.
Lenovo
IdeaPad Z500 Touch - A Slim, Premium Entertainment Laptop
Its potential to become a travelling
companion is also compromised by relatively short battery life. We recorded
just 4 hours when streaming video over Wi-Fi. Given its size and weight,
though, the Z500 Touch will probably spend most of its life sitting on a desk
at home or in the office.
The design is neat, with a matt black
exterior and gunmetal keyboard and screen surround. The molded keys of Lenovo’s
‘accutype’ keyboard have a smooth action, while the trackpad is large and
comfortable in use. It boasts full-size cursor keys, which is something of a
rarity these days.
Prices start at $840 for a model with a
2.5GHz Intel Core i3 processor. We tested the $1,185 top-end model, which has a
2.4GHz quad-core i7 chip, 8GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive and an nVidia GeForce
GT 740M with 2GB of video RAM. The Lenovo also has an integrated Intel HD
Graphics 4000 chip and a touchscreen.
Some cost-cutting is evident, notably the
15.6m screen’s low 1366x768-pixel resolution. You might reasonably expect a
machine designed for entertainment to provide full-HD (1920x1080) video.
The
design is neat, with a matt black exterior and gunmetal keyboard and screen
surround
If you don’t need a touchscreen you can
save around $75 on one of the lower-spec models in the range.
The display is otherwise adequate for most
computing tasks. It’s bright and clear, and image quality is acceptable when
browsing the web or watching video. Our main complaint is the panel’s glossy
finish, which is annoyingly reflective, and particularly so when viewed from an
angle.
Lenovo’s other compromise is the use of a
slow 5,400rpm hard drive, which resulted in a below-par score of just 3,011
points in PCMark 7.
The Z500 Touch was able to load the Windows
8 Start Screen in about 12 seconds from hibernation, but then treated us to
another 30 secs of cursor-spinning while it worked up to cruising speed. Once
there, the Z500 Touch felt snappy and responsive, and it should be capable of
handling heavy-duty work such as photo- or video-editing.
This model could also enjoy some gaming
action too, mustering a just-playable 26fps when running Batman: Arkham City at
1366x768 resolution with DirectX 11 and High graphics settings.
We stepped down the resolution to 1280x720
and the Lenovo was able to nudge past 30fps, which is adequate for casual
gaming.
The
Z500 Touch was able to load the Windows 8 Start Screen in about 12 seconds from
hibernation
Verdict
The Lenovo IdeaPad Z500 Touch has some
rough edges - we’d happily trade the touchscreen (which isn’t crucial to
Windows 8 operation) for a full-HD display or faster internal storage. Even so,
the Z500 Touch is a well-built desktop-replacement machine that could earn its
keep for entertainment at home or more demanding work in the office.
|
Specs and
price
·
Price: $1,220
·
2.4GHz Intel Core i7-3630QM (3.4GHz Turbo
Boost)
·
Windows 8 64bit
·
8GBDDR3 SDRAM
·
1TB 5,400rpm SATA HDD
·
15.6in (1366x768) touch-sensitive TN LCD
·
Intel HD Graphics 4000/nVidia GeForce GT
740M.2GB VRAM
·
Tray-load DVD±RW
·
802.11b/g/n
·
Bluetooth 4.0
·
HDMI
·
VGA
·
1x USB 3.0
·
2x USB 2.0
·
SDHC
·
720p webcam with built-in mic
·
Headphone socket
·
10/100 Ethernet
·
48Wh lithium-ion battery (non-removable)
·
370x255x30mm
·
2.7kg
Rating
·
Build: 4/5
·
Performance: 3.5/5
·
Value: 3.5/5
·
Average: 3.5/5
|
