Mini Review: Lenovo Essential G560. Budget Arrandale.

Review: Lenovo Essential G560. A Taste Of Arrandale

Why I bought it:

I actually found this for my brother. He needed a computer that could surf the web, write in word docs, run his music score software, and occasionally play CoD 1. Just by looking at the specs, you can tell it performs these tasks great!

I found it Manufacture Refurbished on eBay for $325 or best offer. After a few offers, the seller accepted my bid of $300.

Specs

Intel Dual-Core P6200 2.13GHz
2GB DDR3(1 DIMM)
250GB 5400RPM HDD
15.6" 720p LED Screen
Webcam
Intel HD GPU
DVD+/-RW
6 Cell Battery
Wireless B/G/N Card

Price: $300

Build/Quality

In my opinion, it looks "ok" for a budget laptop, it isn't too thick, at .7"-1.4". Overall the build quality is good, but you definitely want to pick it up with two hands. It doesn't get finger prints easily. The only aspect of build I truly don't like is the lid. When closed it's not firmly closed and flops a a bit while your walking, if you don't put a hand on it.








LED Screen

From the picture, you can see there is a little glare, not bad though.



Sounds

It can easily fill a room with sound, albeit sounding tinny.

Input

Keyboard has a full numberpad! The keys are a little crackly, but not bad at all. The touchpad is fairly good, much better than the Dell Inspiron 1525 touchpad I'm using now.

Benchmarks/Temps

The Intel Dual Core P6200 scores 1611 in Passmark. On par with an Intel C2D P8600 2.4GHz and an i7 640UM 1.2GHz.

In 3dmark06 is scores 1441 points.

I ran Prime95 for about 2 minutes, then ran 3dmark06, here are the temps:



The fan isn't loud at all, very quite, especially when performing basic tasks.

Battery Life

While uninstalling 3dmark06 here's the battery life estimate:



Conclusion

There really isn't much to complain about. The screen could be better, but for what it's meant for, it's fine. It has plenty of power for basic office tasks, and enough battery life to get through at least one, if not two classes. It runs cool and quite, which is always great! Overall, for $300 it's an awesome buy!

 

for 300 dollars it is indeed a steal. Great review.

 

Does it have a full 1 year warranty or just 90 days? G series from Lenovo have always been decent laptops for the 400-500 dollar range, though the colors have always been boring grey. One major thing that bothered me was the entry level G550 only had 2 USB ports on the left hand side, and many times I have seen cracked USB ports result in neither to be working so you will need a new motherboard.

 

I just checked with Lenovo:

Serial Number : CB0588xxxx
Machine Information : LenovoG560
Manufacture Date : 2011-01-22
Receipt/Invoice Date :
Expiration Date : 2012-04-22

Service offering registered with this machine

Service offering name: IdeaPad Warranty
Service offering description: IdeaPad Warranty service

So, like 15 months total, 8 remaining.