Dell Latitude E5420

Rating

4.0

Pros

• Useful hardware buttons
• Good audio
• Sturdy yet handsome case
• Excellent battery life

Cons

• Smallish hard drive in this configuration
• No webcam
• A bit pricey

Bottom Line

The business-oriented Dell Latitude E5420 offers standout battery life in a sturdy package plus lots of usability features, but it doesn't come cheap.

Dell Latitude E5420 Review: A Sturdy Business Companion

When Dell means business, it doesn't kid around. The Dell Latitude E5420 is one of the toughest-looking corporate laptops I've seen that isn't specifically designated as ruggedized. From its dark grey, brushed anodized aluminum case to its magnesium-based insides and sturdy-looking hinges and lock, everything about it screams "hard-core business tool."

But with a price tag of $1590 (as of June 15, 2011) for a 14-inch screen and an Intel Core i5-based configuration that didn't even have an integrated webcam, our 5.6-pound test unit seemed designed for enterprises willing to pay a premium for durability and excellent battery life--the E5420's best features--over portability and video-chat support.

Performance is good: Equipped with an Intel Core i5-2520M running at 2.5GHz, 4GHz of DDR3 RAM, Intel HD integrated graphics, and the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional, our test model earned a respectable score of 123 on WorldBench 6. That's in the ballpark for the top-ranked notebooks on ourall-purpose laptops chart--and the E5420's gaming scores (compared with other laptops using integrated graphics) were pretty good too--but many of those competitors cost less.

What really sets the E5420 apart is its 9.5-hour battery life, which is two to three times greater than that of the chart-toppers. If you're going places where power outlets aren't always available, the E5420 would certainly be an appealing option for its longevity alone. Note, however, that our test unit came with the top-of-the-line, nine-cell, 97-watt-hour lithium ion battery, which sticks out on the back edge; you can opt to save money and maybe lighten the load a bit by configuring the E5420 with a weaker battery, which would of course reduce battery life. I noticed a hotspot on the left underside of the E5420 after a few hours' use, but the keyboard and top surfaces stayed cool and comfortable.

The E5420 has several other features that should endear it to corporate IT buyers and their constituents. It has both a joystick and a touchpad (no need to fight that ergonomic war with a large user base); although neither input device is the best I've been, both are certainly adequate. The superb keyboard has nicely sculpted keys that are a joy to use; its backlight comes on the moment you touch a key, and goes dark after a period of nonuse to save battery life.

Small, silvery hardware audio-control buttons next to the keyboard let you quickly adjust volume or mute the sound entirely. Other welcome amenities include an external on-off hardware button for Wi-Fi (both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz flavors of 802.11n, yay!); Smart Card and SD Card slots; and even a FireWire port, presumably to support legacy storage devices since FireWire has fallen out of favor in the consumer market.

The 14-inch widescreen LED-backlit display is bright and crisp, with an unusually high resolution--1600 by 900--for its size. It's inset in a fairly wide bezel for added damage protection. The E5420's built-in speakers produce surprisingly robust audio, and although our test unit lacked a webcam, you can opt to configure the machine with one. However, while the laptop does have a built-in microphone, it offers no option to plug in separate headphone and microphone jacks--you get only a combined audio-mic port.

Our E5420 came with a somewhat small 250GB, 7200-rpm hard drive; other options include larger and encrypted drives, and smaller solid-state drives. You get the usual three USB 2.0 ports, one of which is a combined USB-eSATA port. The laptop also provides HDMI and VGA ports, gigabit ethernet, and a DVD burner.

Dell's software bundle for its business customers is minimal: You get the starter edition of Roxio Creator and CyberLink's PowerDVD for use with the DVD burner, as well as a couple of network-connection utilities (including the NetWaiting dial-up modem utility, which seems odd since this configuration had no dial-up modem) and Dell's backup, recovery, and data-protection tools.

Sony VAIO VPCEA22FX

 

Rating

3.5

Pros

• Good arrangement and variety of ports
• Excellent keyboard and touchpad

Cons

• Horrible green color
• Slightly washed-out display

Bottom Line

Sony's VAIO EA series may not be the cheapest all-purpose laptop line, but the excellent design and usability are worth the modest price premium.

Sony’s VAIO VPCEA22FX Laptop: A Great General-Purpose PC With Style to Spare

Sony targets the everyman with its VAIO EA series of all-purpose laptops. They're affordable, medium-size, general-purpose workhorses with a variety of customization options. Available in a swath of colors and configurations, the EA series is neither slim and sexy nor bulky and heavy. It's as close to the middle of the road as you're likely to get from Sony.

The VPCEA22FX model we reviewed falls somewhere in the middle of the price-and-features range for the series. EA series laptops start at $699, but the configuration we had will run you $849 (prices as of October 5, 2010). For that amount, you get a Core i3 350M CPU at 2.26GHz, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive, a DVD±RW drive, 802.11n wireless, Intel WiDi wireless display support, and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. That price also includes $50 for a premium color treatment; you can choose basic matte black for free, or pay the extra sum to go with a purple, pink, blue, green, white, or black glossy two-tone finish. The premium finishes are slick, with a nice gradient pattern that carries over to the inside. Our test model, however, came in an absolutely abysmal lime green that does more to serve as a theft deterrent than a fashion statement.

Many hardware options are available in the VAIO EA models, including the ability to add discrete graphics in the form of a Radeon Mobility 5470 ($50 extra) or 5650 ($100 extra). If you plan on playing games, I suggest you choose the latter. Our test system included only the Intel HD Graphics integrated with the Core i3 CPU, and although that's fine for basic computing tasks and standard-definition video, it doesn't quite provide the premium high-def video quality or smooth gameplay that entertainment seekers demand. Our configuration delivered a reasonable WorldBench 6 score of 95, and the battery ran for about 3.5 hours on a single charge. If you want more power, you can upgrade the CPU (up to a Core i5-580M), enhance the RAM (up to 8GB), or swap the DVD drive out for Blu-ray.

The software bundle is substantial but not overbearing. You get some trialware such as Office 2010Starter, Norton Internet Security, and a shortcut to the Shutterfly Web service. Sony bundles theChrome Web browser and sets it as the default, but Internet Explorer 8 is still present as well. Sony's built-in software and driver update utility is lean and useful, and the VAIO Care troubleshooting software (available via a dedicated button above the keyboard) is a handy way to access support, find and fix problems, and recover and restore data. Rounding out the software bundle are simple utilities such as ArcSoft WebCam Companion 3 (to make use of the VGA-quality Webcam), Evernote, and Roxio Easy Media Creator. Like all VAIOs, this model also gives you Sony's own media-gallery app, which is pretty slick. If you choose to have Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition installed, you can go for Sony's free "Fresh Start" option, which delivers your laptop to you stripped of the vast majority of this stuff. It's too bad the company doesn't offer this feature for those who select Windows 7 Home Premium.

Aesthetically, the VPCEA22FX looks good, aside from the horrible green color of our particular model. It has clean lines and a nice glossy coat over the two-tone color pattern, it isn't too thick or bulky for a 14-inch laptop, and it's lighter than it looks at 5.0 pounds. The Chiclet-style keyboard is among the better ones I've used, with keys that have good travel and a nice clicky response. The touchpad has a slightly textured, sandpapery feel that makes tracking with your fingertips smooth and accurate, and the two distinct buttons beneath it are just the right size and require just the right pressure to activate. It's loaded with ports, too. On the right side with the optical drive are three USB 2.0 ports, while the left side includes gigabit ethernet, a combo USB/eSATA port, and ExpressCard. On the front edge you'll find a pair of memory card readers on the left, and the headphone and mic jack on the right. The glossy 1366-by-768-pixel LED-backlit display is average, with good brightness and average viewing angles but a slightly washed-out tone.

If you're in the market for a basic all-around laptop, you can do a lot worse than the VAIO EA series. The Sony VAIO VPCEA22FX I tested is not too big or heavy, offers impressive style (if you choose a good color), and has a very good keyboard and touchpad. Performance is good, too, although you'll want to pick a discrete graphics card if you intend to play games. The VAIO EA series isn't exactly inexpensive for the hardware you get, but it's worth paying a little extra for the excellent design and usability.

Lenovo Essential G570

Rating

3.0

Pros

• Comfortable keyboard
• Integrated Bluetooth

Cons

• Generic design
• Poor overall performance

Bottom Line

This notebook provides the basics and is easy to work on, but performance is subpar.

Lenovo Essential G570: Budget Performance at Regular Price

Lenovo's Essential series is its budget-friendly notebook line. Unfortunately, while the Essential G570 performs like a budget laptop, it can often have the price tag of a speedier and more full-featured business laptop. Our review system, as configured, will cost you $750.

The configuration we tested sports a list of components more impressive than most budget machines. Along with the second-generation Intel Core i5-2410M processor, the G570 has 4GB of installed RAM (upgradable to 8GB) and a 500GB hard drive. The G570 also comes packed with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1.

Unfortunately, the G570's performance leaves something to be desired. In PCWorld's WorldBench 6test suite, the G570 managed a score of 84. To put that in perspective, the current tenth-ranked laptop on our Top 10 List of All-Purpose Laptops scored 111.

The G570 has no discrete graphics card. Instead, it relies on the integrated graphics of the Intel processor. This is fine for video playback, but not for gaming or other strenuous 3D rendering. In a game like Dirt 2, for example, the G570 managed a barely playable frame rate of 36.5 frames per second only at the lowest settings, including a very low resolution of 800 by 600. In our Far Cry 2 tests, the G570 did much worse, with a frame rate of 19 fps (low-quality settings, 800-by-600-pixel resolution).

Design-wise, the G570 is extremely basic, but it's simple and slick enough to pass off as a generic business laptop. You won't be turning any heads, good or bad, if you're tapping away on this baby. The notebook sports a shiny dark-brown plastic lid, which is plain except for a silver Lenovo logo in the top left corner.

The 15.6-inch notebook feels sturdy, if a bit clunky. The laptop weighs in at 5.3 pounds, and is 1.5 inches thick. Port-wise, the G570 is fairly average for its category, with four USB 2.0 ports (including one combination USB/eSATA), HDMI and VGA outputs, gigabit ethernet, and microphone and headphone jacks. It also has a multi-in-one card slot and a Wi-Fi on/off switch (always a nice touch) located on the front, and a recordable DVD drive on the right side.

Open up the G570, and the interior is unimpressive but attractive. A shiny black bezel surrounds the screen, and the palm rest is made of brushed black aluminum. Two buttons are above the keyboard: a power button, which features an LED-lit dotted power symbol, and a OneKey Recovery button. Hitting the latter will take you to Lenovo's OneKey Recovery screen, which will walk you through backing up your machine and creating recovery discs.

The G570 has a full-sized keyboard with discrete, island-style keys that have slightly rounded bottoms. The keys are a bit smaller than average, but this is one of the more comfortable island-style keyboards I've had the pleasure of using. Lenovo also includes a number pad, which is a nice addition on a 15-inch notebook and doesn't make the keyboard feel too cramped.

Below the keyboard is a medium-sized touchpad indented into the brushed aluminum wristpad. The touchpad has a silver border and a subtle texture of raised dots. It supports multitouch gestures such as pinch to zoom and two-finger scrolling, and gives excellent feedback. Below the touchpad are two discrete mouse buttons, which are big and easy to press.

The G570 sports a 15.6-inch glossy LCD screen. The LED-backlit display makes good on its promise to reduce glare, but off-axis viewing is less than ideal. Viewing the screen from above and below is fine, but viewing it from just a foot to either side drastically diminishes picture quality. The screen is a little too bright, so colors look a little washed out and blacks a little gray.

Lenovo has included some handy software, as well. Aside from the OneKey Recovery suite, there's also DirectShare, which lets you sync files with another laptop using the built-in Bluetooth. You can also protect your laptop using VeriFace facial recognition (through the built-in webcam).

If you're looking for a budget-friendly machine, this version of the Lenovo Essential G570 isn't it. The Essential G570 line starts at an acceptable $450, but that's with an Intel dual-core processor and just 2GB of RAM. Unfortunately, even with all the fancy upgrades and the i5 processor, our review model just doesn't seem to cut it. It has some nice features, such as Bluetooth, an HDMI-out port, and just over 5 hours of battery life (in PCWorld's tests), but performance is subpar.