e1505 vs lenovo 3000 n100

After returning my e1405 after numerous screen problems and eye strain, I decided to switch brands up a little since my dad already had an e1505.

I wanted a 15.4" screen because the small resolution on the 14.1" screens continuously gave me eye strain. So I order the Lenovo 3000 n100 equipped with a 1.66 ghz Core Duo, 512 ram ( I ordered another 512 off Newegg), 80 gig harddrive, bluetooth, 15.4" WXGA (1280 x 800), etc.

Including the extra 512 mb of ram I bought the computer cost me a little over $1000. My dad's e1505 with the same specs but instead a glossy screen cost him ~$915. So very similar machines, let's see how the stack up.

Build Quality: The fit and finish on the lenovo is much higher. On my dad's e1505 and my old e1405 you could press pretty much anywhere and there was always a slight give to the casing. Not to mention my e1405 latches on the lid had a lto of play. On the Lenovo everythign feels tight and seals tightly.

Screen: Both the e1505 and n100 have the same resolution except the e1505 has the TrueLife screen. Even with the truelife screen, the colors on my n100 were much deeper with barely no difference in screen brightness. A big problem with my e1405 was the sparkle issue, my n100 displays some of this but nowhere near the amount on my e1405. This is an issue you would not notice unless you read about it on these forums or searched for it DOH! All in all this screen is easy to view and obviously has less glare problems than the truelife screens, even though that never bothered me.

Keyboard and Trackpad: As some may know, IBM/Lenovo has world renowned keyboards on their thinkpad notebooks, and they were sure to carry this over to their lenovo laptops. The key return is snappy and the n100 is considerably more ergonamic to type on. The trackpad on the Lenovo is a bit undersized and the keys are very clacky, not buttery smooth like the dells. The dells trackpad is much better in this aspect too, a little more room to work with and smoother operation.

Experience:I will tell you right now that the Lenovo is not an entertainment machine like the dell but is more professionally oriented. The Dell's speakers were awesome and I always enjoyed them, many times not hooking up my PC speakers. The n100's speakers are simply horrendous, you can barely differentiate notes and sounds on them and even the Windows Startup Sound is embarrassing. My dad's e1505 speakers sounded booming compared to them.

The Lenovo did not come loaded with bloatware like the e1505 did, but rather a nice set of utility and update software.

Battery Life on both are subpar, that is the onlhy thing I miss on my e1405

Overal both are great for the price. If you are looking for a no nonsense book get the n100, but if you like the multimedia experience go for the dell. Both companies are rated very higher in customer support also.


Cheers!!

 

Thank you for posting your experience. I believe you made the right decision by going with the Lenovo N100. Always good to get the best for your money.

 

i had the levnovo 3000 n100 and it wasn't as good as the dell performance wise. It has a better build but overall performance was disappointing.

 

The E1505 is one of the few notebooks out there that are decently priced and offer a high resolution (1680 by 1050) screen