Since its 2010 debut, Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge series has provided small businesses with an affordable option that combines legendary ThinkPad quality with updated looks. With the introduction of the 12.5-inch ThinkPad Edge E220s ($869 as configured), Lenovo has turned the style volume up to 11 with a sexy, soft-plastic body and chrome accents. But does this luscious laptop perform as well as it looks?
The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is the new-look Jaguar of small business notebooks, offering a sporty reinterpretation of a classic aesthetic. While the Edge E220s's dark color, ThinkPad logo, and red trackpoint all whisper "ThinkPad," its rubberized chassis and chrome bumpers scream "jet set." We particularly like the Edge E220's color, which appears black in dark light, but is actually a very dark pool-table green when viewed in bright light. A red light sits above the letter "I" in "ThinkPad" and blinks when the system is in sleep mode, while the clean, smooth bottom makes the Edge E220s look almost as attractive when it's upside-down. The edge-to-edge "infinity glass" that covers the screen adds another high-end design element to the mix. The Edge E220's only design downside is that its surfaces pick up fingerprints far too easily.
At a mere 12.3 x 8.4 x 0.85 inches and 3.2 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is one of the thinnest and lightest business laptops on the market, even thinner than the ThinkPad X220 (1.25 inches thick) and just a little thicker than the Toshiba Portege R835 and the Lenovo IdeaPad U260 (both 0.7 inches thick).
Like all ThinkPads, the Edge E220s has a bright red TrackPoint pointing stick in between its G and H keys. The stick provides the most accurate navigation of any built-in notebook pointing device.
For those who don't like pointing sticks, the 2.9 x 1.9-inch touchpad on the Edge E220s provides smooth, precise navigation around the desktop. Better still, multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom are smooth. Rather than offering discrete buttons, the left and right buttons are built into the pad itself. Though we've complained about the inaccuracy of so-called "clickpads" in the past, the left and right buttons on the E220's pad were quite precise and did not cause the cursor to jump when clicked.
Whether we were streaming a 720p episode of Fringe from Fox.com or playing a 1080p QuickTime trailer of Priest, the 12.5-inch, 1366 x 768 glossy screen provided sharp, bright images, though colors seemed a bit dull. Unfortunately, the 200-nit screen and its "infinity glass" coating are so reflective that left and right viewing angles are poor. With a light source behind us and the screen at full brightness, video washed out significantly at angles even less than 45 degrees.
Lenovo uses Dolby Home Theater v4 technology to boost the ThinkPad Edge E220s's audio performance, but even with Dolby software enabled and set to the music listening profile, sound was quite tinny on the built-in speakers. Whether we were listening to a jazz standard such as Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness," Motley Crue's "Too Young to Fall in Love," or Sade's "Smooth Operator," percussion sounds were distorted and unpleasant. Disabling the Dolby software made the music sound completely flat and dropped its volume to nearly inaudible levels.
Design
The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is the new-look Jaguar of small business notebooks, offering a sporty reinterpretation of a classic aesthetic. While the Edge E220s's dark color, ThinkPad logo, and red trackpoint all whisper "ThinkPad," its rubberized chassis and chrome bumpers scream "jet set." We particularly like the Edge E220's color, which appears black in dark light, but is actually a very dark pool-table green when viewed in bright light. A red light sits above the letter "I" in "ThinkPad" and blinks when the system is in sleep mode, while the clean, smooth bottom makes the Edge E220s look almost as attractive when it's upside-down. The edge-to-edge "infinity glass" that covers the screen adds another high-end design element to the mix. The Edge E220's only design downside is that its surfaces pick up fingerprints far too easily.
At a mere 12.3 x 8.4 x 0.85 inches and 3.2 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is one of the thinnest and lightest business laptops on the market, even thinner than the ThinkPad X220 (1.25 inches thick) and just a little thicker than the Toshiba Portege R835 and the Lenovo IdeaPad U260 (both 0.7 inches thick).
Keyboard and Touchpad
The island-style, spill-resistant keyboard on the ThinkPad Edge E220s has three important things going for it: powerful tactile feedback, curved keys that help you avoid errant strokes, and a comfortable, soft palm rest. Thanks to these ingredients, we achieved a strong score of 86 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, better than our typical 80 wpm score.Like all ThinkPads, the Edge E220s has a bright red TrackPoint pointing stick in between its G and H keys. The stick provides the most accurate navigation of any built-in notebook pointing device.
For those who don't like pointing sticks, the 2.9 x 1.9-inch touchpad on the Edge E220s provides smooth, precise navigation around the desktop. Better still, multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom are smooth. Rather than offering discrete buttons, the left and right buttons are built into the pad itself. Though we've complained about the inaccuracy of so-called "clickpads" in the past, the left and right buttons on the E220's pad were quite precise and did not cause the cursor to jump when clicked.
Heat
The ThinkPad Edge E220s stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. After streaming video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the touchpad at a frigid 82 degrees, the keyboard at a cool 89 degrees, and the bottom at a reasonable 96 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures above 95 degrees uncomfortable for the top surfaces of a notebook, and 100 degrees on the underside to be too high.Display and Audio
Whether we were streaming a 720p episode of Fringe from Fox.com or playing a 1080p QuickTime trailer of Priest, the 12.5-inch, 1366 x 768 glossy screen provided sharp, bright images, though colors seemed a bit dull. Unfortunately, the 200-nit screen and its "infinity glass" coating are so reflective that left and right viewing angles are poor. With a light source behind us and the screen at full brightness, video washed out significantly at angles even less than 45 degrees.Lenovo uses Dolby Home Theater v4 technology to boost the ThinkPad Edge E220s's audio performance, but even with Dolby software enabled and set to the music listening profile, sound was quite tinny on the built-in speakers. Whether we were listening to a jazz standard such as Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness," Motley Crue's "Too Young to Fall in Love," or Sade's "Smooth Operator," percussion sounds were distorted and unpleasant. Disabling the Dolby software made the music sound completely flat and dropped its volume to nearly inaudible levels.
