Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 Review

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 is a new addition to Lenovo’s ThinkPad range of business notebooks. It sports the latest specs and surprisingly comes cheaper than most Lenovo ThinkPads. At about $700, it is one of the cheapest Lenovo ThinkPads, aimed at the budget conscious customers. Well, it should definitely help Lenovo gain a foothold in the budget – business notebooks category in these recessionary times. It competes with Dell’s Vostro range of business notebooks and does manage to outprice them atleast in this case. In this review, we check out the new Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 and whether it lives up to its ThinkPad lineage in terms of reliability and durability, or is just another aggressively priced average notebook.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 Specs:

• Dimensions: 12.5 inch x 9.4 inch x 1.5 inch
• Weight: 2.4 kgs
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 clocked at 2.4 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 3 MB Cache
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS 128MB
• Screen: 13.3 inch WXGA LCD Display, 1280 x 800 px, Glossy
• Memory: 2 GB DDR2 RAM
• Storage: 250GB SATA HDD, 5400 rpm
• Optical Drive: Dual layer DVD + / – RW
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v 2.0 with EDR
• Battery: 6 cell Li-Ion 51 Wh
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, ExpressCard slot, Gigabit Ethernet, Modem, Card reader, Audio out, Microphone in, VGA out, HDMI, Kensington lock slot

Design and Build Quality:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 sports a very plain and simple design, very much like the older generation of Thinkpads. It is designed to appeal to the simple tastes of the office going crowd who choose to consider performance and price over style and looks – well, atleast that’s what Lenovo seems to think. The entire body is almost fully made of plastic which reduces the weight, and at the same time increases the durability of the notebook. The black ThinkPad SL300 has a glossy lid which gives it a clean and regal look.

The build quality is quite good just as any ThinkPad despite being made of plastic entirely. There is a bit more flex on the chassis though, but that should be a minor concern. It is very durable and can handle rough usage. It has a wide range of ports which are distributed evenly across the entire body – On the left, you find the HDMI port, a USB port, the Card reader and the Firewire. On the right, you can check out the standard Expresscard slot, 2 USB ports, LAN and the power slot. The rear surface of the body sports the Kensington lock slot, Modem and VGA out, while the front sports the Wi-Fi switch and the headphone and microphone jacks.

Display and Speakers:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 sports a 13.3 inch LCD display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It is a LED backlit display, hence thinner and more power efficient compared to a conventional display. The “VibrantView” display has superb brightness levels and also has great contrast. The display quality is excellent with vibrant images. The viewing angles are good and are adequately wide, especially the horizontal ones. The LED backlit screen has high maximum brightness levels, which makes it perfectly legible even under direct light, this despite it being a glossy screen. All in all, full marks to the display.

The speakers in the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 are strictly average, they have decent audio quality but the volume is a bit too low, even when set to the highest levels. They should suffice for normal usage, but if you take your music seriously, then we would advise you to use a nice set of headphones with the headphone out slot.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The ThinkPad range of notebooks have been known to have superb keyboards, the kind that any touch typist would die for (well, not exactly). The new ThinkPad SL300 doesn’t deviate from the legendary ThinkPad keyboard quality and offers a superb keyboard with perfect key spacing and travel, The keys have a good feel and require just the right amount of force to press. The layout is the almost the same as any standard keyboard layout, with just a few deviations. It takes just a few minutes to get familiarized with the new layout. You find the Lenovo Touchpoint just below the 2nd row, which hasn’t changed at all. It is an excellent tool for navigation once you get used to it.

The Touchpad is located just below the Keyboard. It is not as good as the keyboard. While it is nicely responsive, the touchpad sensitivity is very good. You might need to press hardly in order to register some movement or command. This can be attributed to it being a non Synaptic touchpad. The touchpad surface is nice and offers a good grip while also being adequately smooth. The touchpad buttons are excellent and offer nice feedback. It offers a vertical and horizontal scroller on the right and bottom edges. You might want to use the Touchpoint, it is a better option than the Touchpad if you are used to it.

Performance:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 has a superb spec list and comes with the latest hardware – Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz, 2 GB DDR 2 RAM, and a spacious 250 GB HDD at 5,400 RPM. The graphics department is handled by Nvidia’s latest 9300M GS 128 MB. The whole combo is very fast and can easily handle Windows Vista with SP1 along with some apps. It is also capable of HD multimedia playback as well as light gaming. You can easily play most of the older games at low settings. The superb hardware places it near the top of its category as far as performance is concerned. If you want raw performance, this should be on your list.

Despite all the performance, the ThinkPad SL300 runs very cool and rarely goes above 45C. It is properly equipped with fans and vents.

Battery Life and Other Features:

The ThinkPad SL300 sports a 6 cell Li-Ion battery rated at 51 Wh. It is adequately powerful and can easily touch 4 hours of battery life with moderate usage. You can follow common tips like lowering display brightness, switching off Wi-Fi when not in use, lower the speaker volume etc to further improve the battery life.

The Wi-Fi reception of the ThinkPad SL300 is quite nice and offers a good range with nice speeds.

Pros:

• Superb Performance
• Durable and Cool
• Nice Keyboard
• Good Battery Life

Cons:

Dodgy TouchPad

Final Words:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 is a superb notebook with great specs and performance. It is relatively cheap compared to other notebooks in its category, starting at around $700. It is an able performer and performs all daily tasks with ease. It sports a nice configuration despite primarily being a business offering. It definitely makes the ThinkPad family proud.

Our Rating: 4/5