User experience
Open the lid, and things begin to get really interesting. Continuing its adventurous approach, Lenovo equips the ThinkPad Edge with what it calls a "contemporary style keyboard". Featuring a chiclet-like keycap design, it's said to "reflect modern usage patterns" and is designed to appear more welcoming than the classic, tried-and-trusted Thinkpad keyboard.
The good news is that it's still spill resistant and it does look more modern. But there's a sprinkling of negatives that detract from the overall experience.
Despite Lenovo's best efforts, the ThinkPad Edge keyboard is in our estimation inferior to the classic design. The number of rows has been reduced from seven to six - but that's just one of many features lost in this new layout.
Unlike modern ThinkPads, the Edge has no keys with built-in LEDs and there are no status LEDs on the chassis itself. Your only indication as to what's on or off is on screen, and there's no visible indication of hard-disk activity. Instead, only the dot on the "i" of the ThinkPad branding lights up red to indicate power.
Continuing the loss-of-features trend, there's no integrated ThinkLight, and the bottom edge of the notebook is no longer tapered for comfort - the abrupt "edge" can become uncomfortable after long periods of typing.
In general use, however, the input experience can be quite pleasant. The ThinkPad Edge 15 keyboard does show small signs of flex - particularly to the right side above the optical drive - but the keys themselves are well sized and have just the right amount of spring to them.
We'd prefer the classic keyboard if we had a choice, but as far as chiclet-style implementations are concerned, the ThinkPad Edge does a decent job - and we like the fact that its function keys have been changed to act as system shortcuts by default, as opposed to F1 to F12, which are now available by holding the Fn key.
What's particularly useful is that the keyboard is accompanied by a familiar trackpoint and an excellent, large, multi-touch trackpad that's highly responsive to common gestures. And, if you need it, an integrated fingerprint reader is available as an optional extra.
It's been something of a love-hate relationship thus far, and the same has to be said about the system's 15in display. It's bright enough head-on, but viewing angles are average and the 1,366x768 resolution feels inadequate at this size.
Making desktop real estate feel ever more constrained, Lenovo's pre-installed ThinkVantage Tools occupy a fair amount of the Windows taskbar. The ThinkPad Edge 15 is crying out for a 1,680x1,050 display option, but it just isn't available. At least, not yet.
Aside from the unnecessary taskbar clutter, there's a tidy selection of pre-loaded applications. As standard, the ThinkPad Edge 15 ships with Norton Internet Security, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Skype for Business, Microsoft Windows Live Essentials, Microsoft AutoCollage, a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 2007 and of course Lenovo's own ThinkVantage Tools.
Tweaked to allow small business users to manage the notebook independently, the ThinkVantage Toolbox provides one-stop access to the support and management features you'd come to expect from a ThinkPad.
Through the bundled utility, the end user can check warranty status, send/receive messages direct from Lenovo Support, as well as carry out a multitude of maintenance tasks. These include the ability to adjust the hard-drive shock protection system (which suspends the hard disk when shock is detected to prevent damage), create/restore rescue and recovery disks, obtain system updates and drivers direct from the ThinkVantage servers, and check Wireless connectivity status.
As with most ThinkPad's, the Edge 15's excellent ThinkVantage software provides plenty of added value and may be enough to sway the small business user.
