So, basically my old notebook (Lenovo G230)’s now a no-no for me. It’s actually a pretty good notebook, pretty durable, work nicely for casual notebook user, had almost everything, but. It’s been more than 5 years, Its battery couldn’t stand for more than half an hour, RAM couldn’t fulfil my dire need of RAM, outdated processor and graphic card that make Matlab and The Sky weep, it’s nice while it lasted, but we had to cut ties.

After some saving, there was the day for a new notebook. I’d tell you a secret, you can say that my family is a Lenovo-based family. From my father’s old IBM ThinkPad until this Z400, there has been many Lenovo notebooks bought, currently 6 and counting (update: there are some Lenovo smartphones also) (Lenovo, I’m waiting for endorsement opportunity, ahah). Because I’m quite content with their product, their price range that’s not that heavy in bank account, and my usual faithful tendency, then Lenovo notebook was my go to product.

After so much thinking and staring at Lenovo website, review blogs, and price brochures, I was actually decided on ThinkPad Edge E430. Basically my requirement for this was quite picky (maybe?), i5 Intel, either Sandy or Ivy Bridge, DVD-writer, all connectivity option (wi-fi, bluetooth, ports), USB 3.0, and decent graphic card for video and graphic design, 13 inch or more, no need for big hard disk drive or SSD. It was, ThinkPad, however, although it’s Edge, meaning more sophistication like fingerprint reading (but nicer durability and more guarantee, those I’ll miss) . The day when I decided to order the notebook however, there was a shiny new brochure with an offer that made me question my decision. There’s this Lenovo Z400 that fulfil all my requirement before with 1 TB of hard disk drive with similar price and 2GB graphic card. After deciding and thinking, I asked about it and actually it was quite a new product, so I had to wait for a while to order from Jakarta (forget). After a week, I got the notebook, in chocolate (that seems like black). There were three colour options, grey, blue, or pink, and Z400 would basically covered with that one colour. Before they said that I couldn’t ask for the colour because it’s kind of limited at that time and they said that I’d get blue one. I actually planned to cover the lid with black sticker if I get other colour than black, and would feel helpless with other blue finish ( and thinking that at least it wasn’t pink), but when I picked it up, surprise surprise it was chocolate, so I was happy.

Review (also written for Lenovo Website with some change)

This (Z400) is a fairly new IdeaPad with many combinations to choose for. Before I was considering other series, but this one inviting me very much specs-wise with similar price range and so far don’t disappoint.

Performance-wise it’s very good, mine is black (or is it chocolate?)-i5-4 GB-NVIDIA 2 GB-1 TB-DOS-no touch screen combinations. There is also a touch-screen option. It’s written that the battery life is 3-5 hrs (touch-screen ver. ?) and the HDD speed is 5400 rpm but lasts more than 7 hrs in medium use and the storage is normal . The battery is around 3-4 hours max, so, ready for some charge while traveling. Speed of 5400 rpm is okay actually, but with HDD of 1 TB, my suggestion is that not to have big-sized folders. IMO sound and temperature are minimum.

IdeaPad lines mean for entertainment. Speakers are Dolby, headphone and mic are combo and screen is 1366×768, can give mixed reactions. Ready for combo headphone or audio jack for recording need. 1366×768 means ready for black lines when watching movies and some adjustment for wallpaper, I don’t know why they choose this dimension.Design-wise it’s very sleek, thin, and light, my bag is more spacious now no dedicated buttons though. It seems very wide, maybe because it’s thin. If you buy blue or pink version, the polish will cover both top and bottom, other parts will be silvery, so choose your colour wisely.

I do feel that the right-and-left clicks on the touchpad very hard to click because it’s flat so I prefer using mouse. The outer polish is easily catching fingerprints, but I give mine cover so it’s alright. I can’t see the battery and I do think that it will be harder to open because the screws under are hidden behind the rubber, I don’t know whether this’ll be good in the long run (update: it’s not that good. One problem I experienced was that I pressed the on/off button while it’s still blinking when I put it on stand-by. The button kept lighting up and didn’t respond when I pressed it, meaning I couldn’t turn it on and couldn’t turn it off either. Need to wait until it lost all battery or opened the notebook to take the battery off)

There are 3 USB ports, 2 on the right side and 1 on the left and sometimes I can only use one on the right with bigger devices because they’re quite closely placed. I sometimes put my USB drive wrongly to HDMI port in the left side. The keyboard is chiclet-styled and I’m still trying to get used to the positioning of the Home-End-PgUp-PgDn buttons. For hardcore F-buttons user, need to press Fn while pressing those, giving some inconvenience. In the other hand, the F-buttons are doubled as dedicated buttons for volume, connection, and everything, so, it’s okay, I guess. Size and typing-wise it’s OK.

Price-wise, it’s a good bargain, because before I was thinking of choosing series with similar price but less offers.

TL:DR

(+) price to specs value

(+) performance

(+) hard disk capacity

(+) DVD-writer

(+) complete connection ports

(+) thin

(+) dedicated media and setting buttons

(+/-) design

(-) fingerprint magnet

(-) touchpad

(-) USB ports

(-) hidden battery

(-) on/off button

(-) F-buttons

Overall, I can compensate for the cons, so it’s very worth it.

(Pictures: shop.lenovo.com, e27.co)

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