Thinkpad Edge E420 owners.

Can the e420/e420s drive two external monitors using only the integrated ports (HDMI and VGA)?

Sorry if it's been asked, I tried searching but couldn't find an answer.

 

Yes, you should have no problem doing this using the Intel Graphics control panel. Certain things like games might cause only one monitor to be able to function (the other will turn off until exiting said application).


For the rest of you, as promised, my review of the newModeus.com optical bay to hard drive bay adapter:

 

6eSamsung
Thanks for the review.
Maybe you can answer a few more questions:
1. Did you (or maybe you still can) measure the weight of the caddy and optical drive?
2. Is it possible to just remove OD, close the hole with faceplate?

And, maybe someone has any thoughts about such topic: I will buy one of those configurations:
ThinkPad Edge E420 (1141-RK3)
i5-2430M(2.4Ghz),4GB RAM,750GB 5400rpm HD,14in 1366x768 LCD,Intel HD Graphics,CDRW/DVDRW,802.11bgn wireless,Bluetooth,1Gb Ethernet,UltraNav,Fingerprint reader,Camera,6c Li-Ion,No preload
or
ThinkPad Edge E420 (1141-RK6)
i3-2330M(2.2Ghz), 4GB RAM, 750GB 5400rpm HD, 14in 1366x768 LCD, Intel HD Graphics, CDRW/DVDRW, 802.11bgn wireless, Bluetooth, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Fingerprint reader, Camera, 6c Li-Ion, No preload

as you can see the only difference is about CPU:
Compare Intel® Products

E420 with i5-2430M costs $65 more that with the i3-2330M.
But, mainly I'm worrying about laptop noise and battery usage with more powerful CPU. What do you think about it?

 

I am happy to answer.

First, the drive adapter was of negligible weight.. A few grams at the most. You could install the adapter empty with the stock face-plate but you won't be able to install just the face-plate without either the adapter or the optical drive. Fyi, the optical drive is very lightweight and you won't notice much of a difference in weight with it removed but out is an option. Like I said in my review though, the entire right side of the laptop feels much more secure in hand with the adapter installed (with the factory face-plate) in contrast to the wobbly dvd slot.

Next, using the power source optimized mode, power manager reports five hours of use available. I've seen it drop to just under four hours during intensive usage but not any lower than that.

Personally, I would recommend the i5 only if you do processor intensive work. I do 3d with and that is why I chose the i5 processor. Also I'm a bit of a geek who likes the 'best of the best' and would have purchased the i7 had it been within budget. The real benefit of the i5 is the turbo boost feature. Both processors are capable of going into a power-saving low frequency state which is capable of getting the most out of your battery and so I think in 'best case scenarios' (i.e. light web browsing) that battery usage will be very similar.

Another thing to consider... between the upgrade from i3 to i5 and the upgrade of HDD to SSD I would say the SSD wins hands down. You will see much more of an improvement in responsiveness from the SSD in an all around sense and will only really benefit from the i5 when plugged in to a wall (when you unleash its full performance).

 

I don't do such "heavy" job as 3D, but I'm a software developer and I can see delays every time I load some win/web form design, or making a build, so I'm expect that boost technology can make my work more smooth (because CPU should overclock exactly in such moments). From the other side 3.0 GHz is only 25% increase from basic 2.4 GHz, so maybe i will not notice the difference.

Anyway, thanks for reply. Definitely I'm going to get an SSD - so, maybe, I'll invest the difference between i3 and i5 into newModeus caddy.

 

Grossmeister - what processor are you using currently during your development work where you see the slowdowns?

CPUBenchmark.net is a great website for comparing processors (CPUs). A benchmark, while not the perfect way to evaluate a processor's performance, gives you a single number which could be equated to the 'horsepower' of the CPU in car-terms. While there are other things to consider such as power efficiency and TDP when picking out a chip, the benchmark gives you a great place to start. You can compare the processor you have now with its score to the ones you are considering purchasing. Generally an improvement of only a couple hundred points is not that noticeable but an improvement of 500-100 is sizable and over 1,000 will be noticeably quicker.

Of course, you can buy local like I did and evaluate for yourself. I originally purchased a Samsung Series 3 with the i3-2357M (which is ultra low voltage and much slower than the i3 you are considering) thinking it would be powerful enough for my requirements. Thankfully I purchased it at a local store and was able to return it and pick up this Lenovo instead. From my experiences though, most people would be fine with that model of processor but to me, speed is king.

 

According to that website my current (desktop) CPU Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz gets 2419 points, i3-2330M - 2795 and i5-2430M - 3471. The difference between i3-2330M and i5-2430M is 24% which I think is really good for boosted i5 (i5-2430M max frequency is 36% higher than the i3-2330M frequency).

OK, it looks like i5 performance can be useful for me.

Than, I think, the last question - which i5 do you have and what can you say about cooling system noise when you are doing your job?

 

I'm glad you found the benchmarks useful. They really simplify matters, especially when you are deciding between a family of similar processors like the current Sandy Bridge lineup from Intel (i3, i5, i7).

I don't know how to quantify the noise levels on this notebook. They are definitely low in my opinion. More importantly though the notebook does not get very warm when sitting on your lap. Also, setting it to high performance does not crank up the fans immediately like it would on some older Lenovo laptops. The processor is, by nature, adaptive and will only go full throttle when necessary.

Another point of interest would be that the power manager is setup to mostly use 'passive cooling' (no fans) when in battery mode for the majority of the power plans. For the most part I would say it is silent, especially since moving Windows to the SSD and getting rid of the optical drive but it is not something I have been looking for.

Also, there are so many settings in the power manager it will make your head spin the first time you use it. But if you are the type of person who wants to get the best blend of low noise, low heat, and high power you might find that it is your best friend.

 

6eSamsung - Thanks for that excellent post detailing installation of your SSD, using the adapter provided by newModeus.com! I respect the time required to create quality documentation and appreciate your generous contribution

In Philip Bloem's review,

SSD vs Hard Drives: A Beginner's Guide to SSD Upgrades, performance of the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB (ST95005620AS) and the Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB 7200rpm (WD5000BEKT) HDDs was better than I anticipated. But net value for an individual user seems to depend on their typical use. What has your experience been?

Also, what influenced your decision to exchange the Samsung Series 3 for the e420? Are you satisfied with the e420 now that the SSD is installed?

The e420 seems to have a superior keyboard and trackpad/trackpoint/buttons. Overall, above average build quality for a consumer-grade price. Value wise, seems very hard to beat. But my two main reservations are display quality and ease-of-access for maintenance (bottom panel does not appear to allow fan access, to clean debris that accumulates).

 

You are welcome, these communities only work to their full potential if everybody plays their part.

I do hope that everybody realizes that they must put the HDD into the newModeus adapter and the SSD into the HDD's original position... that was probably the most important discovery when reviewing this product (the SATA port in the HDD position is SATA 6Gb/s and the optical SATA is only 3Gb/s.

I'm not sure what the question is in regard to the source link. I'll tell you that the SSD's benchmarked in that review are fairly slow by today's standards. While a hybrid drive might be perfect for many, I prefer the raw speed and silence of the pure SSD. With that said, I can not afford more than one or two per system and have at least one traditional platter-based hard drive in each of my machines.

My experience with SSD's is that they are the quickest way to add speed/responsiveness to a computer. The laptop was almost unbearable to me without an SSD as someone who uses one on a day-to-day basis. Try one, you will like it and almost instantly know what I mean.

The Samsung had really poor battery life. If it were not for that I would have been able to justify the smaller screen, only one memory slot, the lack of an extra place to shove a hard drive, and the slower processor .... but not with less than 2.5 hours of battery life. It's either ultra-portable or it's not, and since I don't have any ultra-portable electricity sockets, the Samsung was not portable enough for me.

I am extremely satisfied with the E420. I do have one complaint and that is the screen is extremely hard to use outside at sunrise/sundown and other areas where you would be getting an extreme degree of sunlight. Everything else is rock solid in my opinion.

While you may not be able to access the fan from that main hatch, the laptop is quite easy to disassemble compared to other brands. I say this mainly because Lenovo puts detailed maintenance instructions on their website. My last E420 (an AMD X2 model) had the fan and heatpipe assembly in plain view when opening the main hatch and that would be a nice addition here I suppose.

Yeah, the keyboard is great. I find myself addicted to the trackpoint. I hardly ever use the mousepad. The thing could stop working and I wouldn't care/notice.

About the display, while I voiced my concerns regarding direct sunlight earlier... I would like to stress that it is a rather good display indoors/in-shade. The colors are great and I personally have no back-light bleeding issues or dead pixels.

 

6eSamsung - thanks again for sharing your experience and insight

I greatly appreciate the wealth of information everyone has contributed! There seems to be a consensus the E420 is an excellent value that compares favorably to more expensive machines.

Given a reasonable choice, I prefer to shop locally. Unfortunately, the local selection of business machines is very limited. As a workaround I can live with a glossy, low-resolution display. But lately, the market seems flooded with screens that exhibit a distracting mesh/grid pattern (screen-door effect). And responsive trackpads with soft, quiet, buttons seem elusive as well.

My current machine has a 15.4-inch display that measures 14-inches wide. I am not enthused about moving to a 15.6-inch display that measures 15-inches wide. Somehow that extra inch seems substantial. So I have been looking at smaller displays. Regrettably, 13 inches seems a bit too small, since I spend a lot of time working with detailed graphics like Visio drawings. A 13-inch MacBook Air with 1400x900 resolution might work, but I am not confident about using a Mac in Windows full-time.

A 14-inch display seems like a good compromise size, except I have not found a 14-inch display with quality comparable to a premium 15-inch display. And I am reluctant to buy an expensive 14-inch machine that has a mediocre display. So the E420 looks very appealing with good features and outfitted with a SSD, it may well be the biggest bang for the buck . . .

 

Sorry if it was asked before but i want to ask what 9-cells batteries are compatible with E420. Is there cross compatibility with other models for example? like the t400 or others?

Thanks

 

the only 9 cell battery that works with the e430 is the 25++ from lenovo, no t series batteries or other batteries will work with the e420 as far as I can see.

 

Hi there,

I've read the first post where it is mentionned that the battery life is around 4hrs with wifi on.
On the other hand, I've read a couple of tests on internet where they say that the battery life is between 5h30 and 6h30 with wifi on.

I don't know which model to chose between the e320 (which has a good battery life, round 6h30 while browsing internet/working on excel) and this one.

Could you please let me know what's the battery life of your E420S please ? (When I mean battery life, I mean battery life with wi fi on and while working on the PC, not playing/watching videos !)

And does the 6630 affect battery life even if it is turned off ?

Many thanks !

 

has the e420 an mPCIexpress slot? like the t520 in wich is the wireless modul connected to? so i can remove the wlan, and replace with mSATA SSD disk?

 

My battery is already down to 86% life, that is after 5 months of use. Using the laptop in the real world, with wifi on and with screen brightness at 15, my laptop gets around 4 hours, I also have the battery settings at max performance and have turned off most if not all of the battery saving features. The laptop is too slow for me with battery saving features turned on, also some of the features change screen brightness I do not like them so I just set everything to maximum.

 

People should really at least try and read a few pages of posts before asking questions, the e420 has an msata slot open and ready to be used with an msata ssd, you do not have to take out the wifi card.

 

@Thomas :

Thanks for the input. I guess if you're only web browsing+using excel, you can afford to set your computer on "energy saving" mode and therefore get 1 or 2hrs more ?

Do you have the i3 or the i5 version ? With or without the ATI 6630 graphic card ?

Thanks,

Aout

 

Btw I'm talking about the E420S version, is it the one you have ? (I know I'm not on the right topic )

 

This thread is based on the E420, not the E420S, so when I answer questions I am referring to the E420, as that is the laptop I have and I am the one who started this thread.

I do not use max power savings modes because the laptop seems too slow for me, but yes with max battery settings enabled and the wifi off and the screen on a very low setting, the E420 and E420S should be able to get about 6 hours of battery life when new.

The E420 and E420s do not have the 6630M available in the USA. But if you have a 6630M, if it is off it should not drain the battery "at all." If it does use some power just by he virtue of the fact that it is attached to the mobo, it should be negligible.

 

My impression of the battery life is that it is more than adequate. Sometimes under light usage my laptop projects a 15 hour battery life. I have never had it last less than a whole day at school with at least an hour to spare. I'd say I average ~6 hours.

Everybody's own findings will vary based on their usage patterns. Personally I keep it in power-source optimized and have the screen dim after a minute of inactivity and go black after 2 minutes. I keep brightness cranked up all the way and wifi on unless I'm connected to ethernet which is rare.

If I turn on maximum performance and start rendering (using 100% of the 4 processing threads) I can probably drain the battery in as little as two and a half hours but I have not tried.

 

Yeah I got 6 hours when I was trying to get good battery life when I first got the laptop. But in real life situations, at school, i get about 4 hours. I am hoping to get a 9 cell battery sometime this year.

 

So after getting only a little over 3 hours of battery life the other day, I decided to turn back on some battery saving features, mostly I set the laptop back onto balanced mode.

 

Awesome Lenovo finally released a new driver for Intel Graphics, it fixed the screen brightness issue. 15 is much brighter than before, and the scale works, 0 is the darkest and it gets brighter from there up, instead of 0 and 1 being brighter than 2 and 3 etc.

The new driver is 8.15.10.2476

 

Has anyone checked under the cpu heat sink? just wanted to know if the cpu is soldered or can it be removed and swapped.. heard it can be done on the dell lats e6540.. Will be getting mine this weekend after a long wait.. was just curious about this..

 

Go here,
Lenovo Service and Support Training

click on Notebooks, Thinkpad, Edge etc...

The Cpu is not soldered in, it is a latch type system and removes very easily.

 

What's up,
Thanks for all the great info. I also had a few questions (forgive me if they were answered in this thread already, but I promised I looked haha). I was planning to go with the SSD/Caddy combo for my e420, and I was planning to purchase the intel 320 80gb ssd. My question about this was if it mattered if I bought the OEM version or the retail version (OEM is cheaper). Do I need anything special to install the SSD into the main hard drive bay (say a bracket or cable that comes with the retail version) or is it just straight plug and play?
Another question I had was about the RAM. I also got the configuration with the 1x4gb stick and am planning to get another one. Any recommendations on what will match well with the stock ram stick in there? I've used crucial before, but I see alot of people using g.skill and was wondering if that was compatible with the oem ram.
Well thanks for reading, and thanks again for all your help!
Jake

 

You shouldn't need a bracket or cable to install a SSD. Just reuse the old one.

ThinkPads are pretty brand agnostic these days. Buy whatever is cheaper. I usually find the best deals on used memory via eBay.

 

Are you going with the MSATA Intel SSD? If not there are better options (faster) available such as the Crucial M4 when looking at 2.5" SSDs.

Which part are you thinking about going OEM?

Otherwise, like the guy above me said, you can mount another 2.5" SSD using the same bracket/sleeve that the factory hard drive is mounted with.

 

What's up,
Yes I plan to go with the 2.5" SSD (since I read your comment about how msata isn't as fast haha) and will install it in the factory hard drive slot. I was planning to get the OEM version of the intel 320 80gb ssd (brown box I think they call it) from newegg. They say the OEM version doesn't come with cables or mounts but your right Zaz, I think I would only need those if I put it into a desktop and of course the laptop already has a caddy!
As for the ssd I'm interested in it is $149.99 right now and there's also a $25 off promo code right on the product page bringing it down to $125. It expires on November 8th though. Here's the link:

Newegg.com - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW080G310 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Internal SSD

Well I appreciate your guys responses (will start looking for RAM on ebay right now!) and I hope my installation of the optical drive caddy goes as well as yours 6esamsung! I'm just scared of putting on the stock faceplate onto the caddy... I always break those little parts haha.

 

Oh cool, so you're getting one of those caddies as well. I'm still really loving mine for the record.

It's really not too hard to install the face plate onto the caddy but removing it from the optical drive can be a little tricky if you're the impatient type. Basically there were just a couple of clips that needed to be disengaged and almost no force was needed. If you follow those guidelines you should be alright.

One other thing I thought I would mention since you are going to be using the caddy with the optical drive faceplate: The caddy comes with HDD activity indicator LEDs that are soldered/glued to a small printed circuit board in the caddy. You have to rip them out but you should be able to reattach them if you ever need to.

The only reason I mention this is because it took me by surprise and I spent too much time trying to find a way to disconnect them non-destructively when it is simply not possible.

The Intel SSD you are purchasing is not bad by the way, especially for the price. Plus Intel is a good brand in terms of SSDs (and processors of course ). While it is a bit slower you would have a hard time finding anything faster, cheaper, and ~80GB - the closest I can come to that is the 64GB M4 - and while it is considerably faster (read speeds), it's 16GB smaller than the Intel. For what it is worth though, I have about 30GB free of 64GB after installing all of the programs I use onto the SSD (including Windows 7 of course).

*edit* I just remembered something else. When you receive the caddy there are several screws that are not yet installed to keep the top plate on the caddy. Don't do what I did and immediately secure these screws into place. It is much easier to put the HDD into the caddy before, rather than after, you put these screws into place.

Also - don't forget to put the mechanical HDD into the optical drive caddy as it does not have a SATA III port, just SATA II (plenty fast enough for HDD, but not quite fast enough for SSD).

 

Thanks for all the tips! I am a little worried about ripping those LED indicator wires off though haha. Is it possible for me to damage the caddy by ripping the wires off? I will be as careful as possible though to only remove the wires and not take the whole circuit board off with it!
Also is the M4 much faster than the intel ssd? And how is the speed of the msata in comparison to the intel ssd? I might go with the M4 because I don't plan to install much on my laptop other than the OS, Antivirus software, itunes, and maybe MS office. Did you put the windows 7 OS your laptop came with onto the SSD drive (via restore disks I assume) or did you do a clean install with a retail version? I will be going with the restore disk route and I am not sure if the windows 7 OS that comes with the laptop takes up alot of space!
Oh and one more question since I have an expert of SSDs helping me out! I've read that you cannot update an SSDs firmware while it's the primary OS drive and that you would have to take it out and connect it to another computer in order to do this. So I was thinking to put my brand new ssd into a 2.5" external enclosure and updating the firmware using my desktop before installing it into my laptop. Is this the right way to do it? Also instead of using restore disks to install the OS on the new SSD drive can I somehow copy the OS onto the SSD drive after I update the firmware and while it's still in the external enclosure?

 

Alrigth so Thursday my HDD failed, Lenovo is telling me they have them on backorder and do not know when they will be able to get me a new one. So I am going to pick up a Momentus xt at Bestbuy tomorrow, it is 150, 500gb hd with 4gb ssd built in, it is a hybrid drive. Pure ssd are too expensive. So I will use the momentus xt in my laptop and use the new hdd they are eventually going to send me as a backup drive, I will get an external esata caddy for it. I will let you guys now if they hybrid drive is really faster or not.

 

There does not seem to be much of a speed difference with the Momentus XT, I would say, save your money and get a sata 3 ssd.

 

Hi Guys

this is a nice thread about the E420, but i cannot deside between the E320 and the E420

i only know, that it will be an i5 CPU, 4(later 8GB) RAM, 7200 rpm HDD(later 2.5' SSD and maybe an mSATA SSD, not figured out yet) and the radeon 6630 HD combo with the integrated 3000.

on the go the battery life is good either of the notebooks, the DVD rom isnt a big issue for me, i dont remember when i used it last time(probably it would be swapped for a HDD caddy

and the usage, most of the time i would play WOW Cataclysm on it, and rowse, maybe some pictures and video editing. planning to buy an LCd display to connect it via HDMI os VGA.

and here is the BIG question, wich one to buy? wich one is better constructed? or reliable?

Help me Samsung or Thomas or anyone else

 

From my perspective, the 13.3 inch 16x9 laptop screens are just too small, especially for playing video games. The construction on the E420 is rock solid to me. Also they do not sell the E320 and the AMD 6630M in the USA, but from what I have seen from benchmarks, the 6630 looks like a great card for me, I only play Civ 5, and it will definitely play WOW. I like my E420 my biggest problems are boot up time, and the battery life, both of which can be fixed, get a 2.5 ssd, forget the msata unless you have money to spare. The 2.5 sata 3 ssd's are up to 550mb/s now. The intel msata only run at 150 or so if I remember correctly. I don't know about the E320, but you can get a 9 cell battery with the E420 and I will be doing that one day...

So the flaws with the E420 can be remedied. Also the screen is not perfect, but I have yet to see a screen on a laptop that was, that much better, except the ones on the MBP's. But I have never seen an IPS screen, and I know some people are going to go on about how good IPS screens are if I do not say that I have never seen one.

So for me get the biggest screen you can that is portable enough for you. For me that screen size is 14 inch, for my brother that screen size is 15.6. For you a 13.3 inch screen may be big enough. Also I know that you can use an external screen, I have a very nice 23' LG that is full 1080p, but I use my laptop on the go alot, and I would hate it if I had a 13.3 inch screen.

 

yes, i think youre right, maybe the 13.3' would be alittle small, but if u compare the two, it is 'only' 0.7' smaller.

in the UK theyre selling the E320 with the 6630 card too. so you have already the 6630 card in your E420? the civ 5 is great, but on this NTB i can only be on almost minimum settings, and WOW too. Before the cataclysm expansion (cata) i wax playing on MAX settings. and ten i had to set almost al of the settings to low, to have atleast 40fps. but now when the Pandaria expansion is announced, i have to prepare

and my battery life is too short (less than 2Hrs) to call my book a portable. i hate it. so wit wifi on it is real to get a 4-5 hr with the E420 6cell? i already read all the rewiews on note bookcheck and elsewere, and it would be great to have that kind of battery life.

On the SSD i would have the windows (7 or XP) and the programs and the wow. maybe Civ5. just wondering , i saw a comment here i dont know wich topic, that XP is better for gaming. it is logically true, becuse your hardware isnt that much used by the system. i dont know there are so many combinations but only one is fitting one person

 

Hi, I just bought this e420 on ebay
apparently this one has i3-2310 cpu with 6630m gpu which I find quite
interesting as I can't find the review with this spec.

Sadly, my seller said he lost the recovery disc or something so does that mean that I can't factory format it?

thank for the reply,

 

.7 inches does not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference to me. We cannot get the 6630 in the USA, I only have the Intel HD3000 and it plays CIV 5 on low settings fine, with the 6630M getting double the score in testing I have to assume it would be a great card for the E420, a good balance between battery life and gaming. You can easily get 4 hours with wifi on and the screen about 50% brightness. Windows 7 is a good OS, I wouldn't try and go back to XP, I do not think it will really play games any better.

 

4hr is great. but on the other hand the 7hr is better. but yes, i definitaly want the E420, with the 6630, but i dont want to pay over £600. i found one offer on the ebay with in the UK, but when i would go for the E320, the new from Lenovo shop would be £590 with the same configurations(i5/4GB ram/6630) i am overconfused

 

anyone ?

does it matter so much if I can't factory format it ?would it still work the same if I install manually with windows 7 disc and download the driver manually ?

thank for the help in advance guys!

 

You can more than likely download and burn the back up disks from Lenovo website.

If not call them and ask for some, they just sent me some when my hdd went out.

 

Hello to all, I just bought a E420 at Office Depot, i5 w/turbo, 4gb, 500gb hd, fingerprint reader, for $529. I was looking for a lighter, smaller machine than my Sony Vaio and bought it primarily on the salesman advice who said it was on sale this week, a good buy, and they only had two left.

I have not opened the box yet, doing some research on it now to see if I will keep it.

I am 45 yo, not that technical, will never alter it, dont play games, will use it for word processing, email, web browsing wirelessly, to listen to music on Pandora, and occassionally to watch a DVD movie.

I assume this machine will work for my needs, what I would like to know is if this is a RELIABLE machine. I have found some posts tonite on HD failure, motherboard failures, keyboard and trackpad issues and battery problems. And it seems parts are delayed from Lenovo in some cases. Just wondering if this is the majority or the exceptions. Honestly, my Sony has worked perfectly, far better than my daughters Mac's.

Thank you for answering a question from an "old" guy.

Craig

 

My HDD failure may have been more of a virus than an actual mechanical failure. They did not delay my part either, they said it was on back order but I got i three days. This machine will do all that you want it to do. I have not had any mobo, keyboard, trackpad, battery, issues or failures. This laptop has the best keyboard I have ever used. The trackpad works etc...

The reliability of this laptop should be as good or better than any other laptop. For the price you paid it is a good deal and worth the money. Most people who would go to forums and talk about laptops are either hardcore techies, people who like to complain, or people who are very studious in what they have and use and want to know as much as possible about what they buy. These people (I am one of them) are obsessed with knowing every single problem or feature of everything that they own. It is close to an obsession with these people. So many of the comments you will find are from people like me who have to talk about and complain about every little problem they come up with.

This is a good laptop, and with all of the updates it is working as good as it ever will now. This is not a good laptop for people who want: longer battery life, brighter/higher quality screen, the ability to play games.

 

Thanks so much for that response. I will keep it, open the box and charge it up when I get home. I have a Lenovo desktop in my home and two in my office, all work fine, so I was actually very comfortable to buy their laptop also.

I do understand the "obsessive" manner in which we become attatched to our material posessions . . . and I have been that way for years with my cars, motorcycles, and audio/video equipment. However, I leave the computer research to people like you who have far more computer knowledge and expertise "in one toe than I will ever have in my entire body".

Thanks for taking the time to respond so quickly - I REALLY appreciated it.

Craig

 

I don't go out of my respond quickly, I just check this place often. I am also obsessed with cars and motorcycles and a/v equipment, I just like to know about everything.

 

only one thing blocks me to buy an E420s rather then a E320. that thing is the battery. it is non replacable. its shame. and i dont find any E420 (whitout s) in the UK official LENOVO site. anybody has E420s and having worryes about that?

so in a week i will order the new piece.

E320 for £600 or E420 for £700. i will upgrade it with Crucial M4 SSD (256 GB ) . for my old notebook i will recieve £190 . so maybe i go with the cheaper one, and buy the SSD right with the book

what would you do? save the £100 and go for smaller,lighter,more battery life---or get a biggerscreen,not much heavyer,with DVD rom?

 

In your case I would go with the 13 inch E320. I am on the go daily, with a full time job and school full time, I spend hours everyday looking at my laptop screen. But if you have the ability to be at home more and hook your laptop up to a nice external display I would say get the E320. You only said that you play WOW, that game is not one that is intense or as they say twitch based, so having a smaller screen should not effect your ability to play it, and if you have a bigger screen at home, then you can appreciate the look of the game better, for instance I have an LG 23 1080p screen at home and I love playing Civ 5 on it, the game looks really good on the glossy screen, this si an LG screen and it is has really good colors etc...

Anyway some days I wish I had a slightly smaller and lighter laptop, so with the price savings and better battery life I say get the E320. And just get an external DVD drive, and 256gb is a big enough hard drive for me, especially when you can use the one that is going to come in your new laptop for a backup. That is what I did, I got a Momentus XT 500gb hdd, and used the one that came with the machine as a back-up, I bought a 10 dollar external HDD case/caddy from Newegg.

 

with the data i havent problem, i have an external WD 1TB HDD, whrough USB 3.0
it is shame that the Edge books dont come with USB3.0. so i think it wont be overheating on the E320, then ill go for the cheaper one, and get an exteranal display too. the performance difference between the two books are none. its the same i5, same ram, same 6630m. ty for the posts, and i write here whats the deal

i can go with the savings up to 8GB ram....or i can buy i from ebay or etc. in notebooks, the brand of the memory is markable choice or not? found one type of ram , that 100 accepts the E320 for £70 (2x4GB) and the otion in the lenovo laptop build is from 4Gb to 8Gb upgrade goes for £63 . so ill pay £63 for an extra 4GB. what brand is that memory? Lenovo what kind of memory uses. btw i found later Crucial DDR3 204 pin rams 8gig for about £40. what is the best manufacturer for the RAMs ?

 

what is the difference with the displays. one is matte other is glossy?

13.3" W HD (1366 x 768)LED, Anti-Glare, Low-light sensitive HD Webcam, Midnight Black (w/o WWAN)
13.3" W HD (1366 x 768)LED, VibrantView, Low-light sensitive HD Webcam, Midnight Black (w/o WWAN)