Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E325-12972FG Notebook Review

Missing Values. 420 euros for a simple Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge offers a 13.3-inch subnotebook. The anti-glare screen is the battery life lasts up to nine hours, and the merger of AMD offers a smooth introduction of HD movies. However, most of the qualities of ThinkPad type, known as robustness, has received less attention.

"Even through, thin and light", this is how Lenovo is announcing its new models of 13.3 inches in size and ThinkPad E320 E325 edge. A review of the E320 model more powerful (Core i3-2310M) is already published in Notebookcheck few days ago. Unlike the edges Lenovo ThinkPad 320, E325 (1976FG) model tested by us is AMD Fusion. Within the subnotebook an AMD dual-core processor E-350 (2x 1.60 GHz) AMD Radeon HD 6310 integrated graphics unit is included.

For an affordable € 420 which comes with an anti-glare 13.3-inch (1366 x 768), and 2 GB of RAM DDR3 (1333 MHz). The hard disk is a slow process model with 320 GB Hitachi 5400 rpm speed of rotation. An optical drive is not included. Nor is there any USB 3.0 port update. The operating system is a pre-7 Premium Edition installed Windows (64 bit) Microsoft.

So far, the Edge Series models, among other things, good stability, have been able to make a good impression on us. How does the AMD-powered subnotebook will be able to explore the fair for the next revision.

Case
Our review model has a red display cover. The case is almost identical to the previous review models E320, E125 and X121e. Unfortunately, the subnotebook Edge has become worse in terms of duration, than the older ThinkPad models. The vessel can be easily folded. Palm rest area, compared to only a few bruises and a lot of pressure. However, the keyboard can easily be eroded in places though.

The same display can be easily folded. Even the display hinges will no longer be stable and allows the screen to wobble. The bottom plate is solid otherwise. Only three screws on a separate user access to the interior of the device. Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge certainly does not belong among the heaviest subnotebook with a weight of 1.7 kg.

Connections
The Lenovo ThinkPad ports E325 unfortunately is on the left and right sub-notebooks. Interfaces on the back and front are not provided. With this connection of multiple devices can lead to a lot of cables. Use an external mouse is difficult because there is little room and the cable is easily confused with other cables.

There is a wide range of interfaces. In total there are three versions available USB 2.0 ports, one of which is a combination of eSATA ports. Otherwise, it is also a separate microphone port is missing.

Communication
Compared to its brother, the E320, the device is considered a lack HSDPA module. The module is compatible with 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n. Atheros Gigabit Ethernet controller and Bluetooth are provided by Lenovo. It even supports the upgrade from version 3.0.

Security
From the subnotebook is aimed at business users, security is important. To do so, as always, there is a Kensington security lock available. The keyboard is slightly more resistant to water. However, a fingerprint reader is missing, it is not too much of a disappointment in that price range though.

Accessories
Accessories included delivery times are very limited. Only a user with the attached self-subnotebook.

Warranty
The standard warranty for the Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge lasts 12 months. The ThinkPlus warranty extension that increases by an additional 24 months. Depending on the type of warranty service, it costs about 55 euros (bring-in) or 85 euros (on site).

Display
The ThinkPad E325 has a 13.3-inch matte screen (LEN4090). The native resolution, as is usual for the screen, 1366 x 768 pixels. The display with a 16:9 aspect ratio has a relatively low contrast. This is a simple 162:1. The black level of 1.09 cd / m² is much higher.

The results of measuring the brightness of Mavo Gossen-Monitor is disappointing. On average, the brightness was measured only 174.6 cd / m². In some places, the maximum value of cd / m² 182 was measured in the upper right corner. Subnotebooks that are connected to the power supply or battery power makes no difference in this case.

We suspect that use of the ThinkPad E325 Edge on the outside, there will be lots of fun, despite the matte screen. At least, the distribution of brightness is balanced at 90 percent.

As usual, we also tested the angle of stability in a dark room. When you move the screen horizontally, change the image displayed within the limits of tolerance. When deviant vertical image reverse quickly. Given the very small display, the result is not entirely surprising.

Performance
Lenovo is based on the AMD merger of E-350 E325 Edge APU ThinkPad. This processor has two cores, and operates at a clock speed of 1.6 GHz AMD TDP Fusion APU E-350 with 1024 KB L2 cache is only 18 watts. The AMD chipset is included A50M FCH.

The APU is an abbreviation for Accelerated Processing Unit. This means that the processor and the graphics device is coupled. In the case of AMD Fusion E-350 APU is the AMD Radeon HD 6310 with 80 shaders. The graphics device supports DirectX 11 and video decoder UVD3 for HD video (MPEG-2, H.264, VC-1) by default.

Included as standard RAM is 2 GB of RAM DDR3 (PC3-10600). The hard drive is manufactured by Hitachi, and provides 320 GB capacity, with a rotation speed of 5400 rpm.

AMD Fusion processors are among the most powerful, but more likely to make a good impression, because the integrated graphics units. CPU performance has been tested by us Maxon Cinebench benchmark. In this case, the Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge score, as was expected, the lower area of ​​the tip of the database.

With 2195 points subnotebook Results Cinebench R10 Multi (64-BT) are the benchmark for other handsets including the processor itself. Best value for money with the E-350 processor is the MSI Wind U270, which has scored 2250 points.

A similar picture emerges when it comes to Cinebench R11.5. In this case, the device also revised 0.6 points behind the CPU tests. This time, AMD also other portable score of 0.6 points.

Comparison, Lenovo E320 board with Intel i3-2310 m CPU can score 7398 points in the test itself, which is more than double what the revised model of AMD chips.

We analyze the system performance with PCMark Vantage and PCMark 7: Futuremark. Using the subnotebook PCMark Vantage Lenovo managed to score 2278 points, and are therefore the best equipment on the processor itself.

Only the model of ThinkPad x120e, including Lenovo, is better and can score 2600 points. 7 Using the PCMark Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge manages to score only 933 points. In this case, the other model, which is better than the ThinkPad x120e, which was placed in 1101 points.

Big Brother is compared with the E320 can score more than twice the amount of 2009 points. The AMD Radeon HD 6310 integrated graphics unit had to endure more Furmark 3DMark benchmarks. Use of this Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge managed to score 2048 points in 3DMark2006 a general. With this result the equipment under test is the best model with the AMD Radeon HD 6310, and is located in the center of our reference database.

Those who think the discipline in which the variant is badly beaten Intel. There i3-2310M processor and a HD 3000 integrated graphics unit is also able to highlight in this case a total of 3098 points.

A similar picture emerges with the 3DMark 11 benchmark. In this case, the unit also is considered the best in its class with 286 points. Here are the laptops with the Radeon HD 6250.

We tested the performance of the hard drive of the E325 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge with HD Tune. Hard drive subnotebooks manufactured by Hitachi. It has a storage capacity of 320 gigabytes, and a rotation speed of 5400 rpm. Thus, the average transfer rate is a meager 55.5 MB / s. SSD is not included in this price range, even if a hard drive at 7200 rpm would have been better.

Battery
The energy consumption of the E325 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge are in a good range. According to the power plan in use, it uses 5.9 Watts subnotebooks in standby mode (power saving, minimum brightness), and 8.6 watts (maximum performance, maximum brightness).

Under the maximum load on subnotebooks requires a maximum of 25.2 watts, which is twice as required by office use, but is still very low compared to other phones. To model the brother of comparison, 47.3 E320 watts under load, which is almost twice as much. Power consumption is surprisingly low in standby mode, and when it is turned off. These lies, just 0.1 watts (off), and 0.2 W (standby).

A subnotebooks to feature for mobile use, and should also have a decent battery capacity. In this case, the difference between the free state and under load for our revised unit is huge. Using the Battery Eater Readers test, we simulated the use of normal business.

According to what we have made possible the energy saving mode, disabled the WiFi, and selected the lowest brightness. Thank you to the low energy Lenovo ThinkPad E325 Edge lasted 9 hours and 57 minutes before the power cable must be connected.

Using an average brightness, and to allow the WLAN, we simulated surfing the Internet. In this scenario subnotebooks lasted 7 hours and 12 minutes. Load the battery has dropped significantly. Using the profile of maximum performance with maximum intensity, we used Battery Eater again using the conventional test. In this case, the battery still managed to keep a proud 3 hours and 17 minutes.

Related Posts by Categories



Share