Lenovo: Solid First Steps
For consideration in my ongoing dual-core CPU-based system testing series, Lenovo sent me an evaluation unit of its first non-ThinkPad-branded 12" laptop, the 3000 V100, right before I went on sabbatical. Unlike the X60 ThinkPad I reviewed back in mid-May, the V100 (happily) comes in a widescreen configuration. It's also quite economically priced, particularly right now, when an in-progress conversion to the Core 2 CPU (i.e. 'Merom') is prompting rebate-enhanced closeouts of Core (i.e. 'Yonah') systems.
My test system contained a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo CPU (a Centrino Duo T2500), along with a 100 GByte 5400 RPM SATA HDD and 1 GByte of RAM. With a nod to Apple's latest laptops, Lenovo even bundled a webcam mounted on the LCD's top bezel. Although the Lenovo 3000 V100 has an entry-level price tag, this doesn't translate to entry-level performance; it's a solid-performing (and solid-feeling), impressive system. This ZIP file contains the SiSoftware Sandra 2005 benchmarks; although Sandra 2007 is now available, I ran Sandra 2005 for compatibility with my prior studies. In comparing the V100 numbers to the X60 ThinkPad stats, note that the X60 contains a slower CPU.
The news isn't all good on the V100, although the negatives are admittedly nits. I miss the ThinkPad's Trackpoint, and the touchpad's buttons are incredibly stiff (perhaps they'll loosen up with time and use). There's no PCMCIA slot. And Lenovo chose to bundle Symantec's Norton Firewall, a utility that time and time again I've found incredibly difficult to configure so that, for example, a system can simply see and be seen by other devices on my LAN. After pulling my hair out for a few hours, I just uninstalled it (along with Norton AntiVirus, which I replaced with the excellent AVG Antivirus Free Edition) and instead relied on Windows XP's built-in firewall along with the firewall in my LAN's router.
How will this system, or one like it, perform when powered by a newer, equivalently clocked Core 2 Duo CPU? Obviously, I won't be able to tell for sure until I get one in my hands. But based on tests performed by PC World and Macworld, I'm predicting that the overall system performance boost will be in the 5-10% range, with potentially even higher performance on synthetic CPU benchmarks courtesy of Merom's larger cache and tweaked architecture.
I'm encouraged to see a resurgence of ~12" widescreen dual-core systems offered by vendors; Dell's Latitude D420 (a 12" version of the Latitude D820 I reviewed back in April) and gamer-tailored XPS M1210, along with the Toshiba Satellite U205-S5022 and Apple's MacBook, are other examples. Not everyone needs a bulky, power-hungry, desktop-replacement luggable, right? With that said, I'm intrigued whenever I notice that a 12" system is hundreds of dollars more expensive than its 14" and 15" siblings….is this a reflection of higher-cost manufacturing complexity necessary to squeeze all that hardware in the smaller form factor, of lower demand (translating to a decrease in volume cost efficiency) for small form factor systems, or simply a marketing-driven assumption that it's possible to extract a higher sales price from consumers' wallets based on the perceived added value of 'tiny'?
Followup: Here's a review (thanks, Engadget, for the heads-up) of a Core 2-based version of the Latitude D820 that I evaluated back in April, if you'd like to do a Core versus Core 2 comparison for yourself.
