After years of using Dell and HP laptops to mixed results, I’ve decided to give Lenovo a try. Not just any Lenovo models though, it’s their legendary ThinkPad line.
At first glance, the ThinkPad series looks tad overpriced for its specs. The cheapest ThinkPad model you can get right now is the L13 with only Intel i3, 4GB RAM and 256GB with Intel integrated graphics for a tidy RM2,837.14 from their official website. More if you buy from any of their offline resellers. But just as people don’t buy MacBook Pros for their crazy specs but for quality, the same can be said for the ThinkPad line. This hardy bunch can withstand even some of the most rigorous abuse you can throw at them. Water spill on keyboard? No problem. Dropped it from desk height? Only a few scratches.
Buying from the official Lenovo website will give you a nice discount - about 5% tops. Another trick is, if you’ve got a business registration number, you can sign up for Lenovo Pro which will give your up to 10% discount from the listed price. That’s exactly what I did so that I got a massive 300 ringgit discount on the ThinkPad E495 model. So remember, if you’d like to get better deals for ThinkPads or any other Lenovo models, buy from their website, not from Lazada or the resellers at Low Yat. They marked up the price so much, it’s 15-30% more than on the website. Even better, get somebody with a Lenovo Pro sign in (like me) to get further discount on your purchase.
The only downside of buying from the website is the long waiting time. Although it says shipped within 6 business days, I waited an agonizing 9 days for my shipment to arrive from China. It’s the price you pay I guess instead of paying extra for a cash and carry at Low Yat or similar stores.
Why the E495 though? For one thing I got the biggest bang for my buck (RM2,500.00). AMD Ryzen 5 2.10GHz, 8GB DDR3, 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe + 1TB SATA HDD, Radeon Vega 8 graphics and the most important thing of all - USB-C charging. I’ve already got a MacBook Pro with USB-C charger plus an extra so it’s a no brainer. The L14 with similar specs and price uses the old square proprietary Lenovo charger and that’s a deal breaker for me. And I don’t mind at all using AMD instead of the traditional Intel because the Ryzen 5 is comparable to Intel’s i5 in terms of performance.
On the right side you will find one ethernet port, one USB 2.0 port and a microSD card slot. On the left side you get one USB-C port, 2 USB 3.1 ports, HDMI and a headphone jack. Just the right amount of peripherals port to get all your modern day work done. The 14”FHD AntiGlare screen is nice and bright but dims a bit while on battery. Until now I have no idea how to make the screen just as bright on battery.
At first glance, the ThinkPad line looks rather outdated with its plastic built and huge bezels around the screen. The plastic feels sturdy but I’m already missing the premium unibody aluminum finish of the MacBook Pro. The plastic body also shields me from the usual heat that I feel from using the MacBook Pro keyboard. I mean I love my MacBook Pro but the heat actually gave me chapped skin on my fingers. The keypads on the E495 though is a pleasure to type on. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to using their infamous red trackpoint and the positioning of the trackpad’s left and right button which is at the top is unique but still usable. This model does not come with any fingerprint readers but that’s fine with me. And like the way the Apple logo lights up on older MacBook models, I like the way the letter i lights up at the lid of this ThinkPad.
How does it fare performance-wise? 8GB of RAM is okay by today’s standard but I ordered another 8GB online to make it 16GB total. Boot up was superfast, less than 10 seconds with the NVMe SSD drive as the main drive. I try to install most of my applications and games on the huge 1TB SATA drive to save space on the main drive. Consequently, I find my games not as blazing fast as a full-fledged gaming machine. The Radeon Vega 8 graphics shares RAM space with the main RAM so I don’t expect to blast through PUBG with the highest specs. Still, most games I play a lot like Football Manager 2020, Rise of Industry or Need for Speed: Rivals runs okay on this laptop.
Now for the negatives. The E495 feels slightly heavier than my MacBook Pro. Opening the bottom cover to reach the RAM, HDD and other parts is a pain and if you’re not careful, might scratch or chip the case. At least you don’t have to disassemble the entire keyboard like some other laptops. If there’s any part that Lenovo skimp on, it must definitely be the speakers cause they sound terrible. Did I say the bezels on this laptop is yuge?
With normal use, the E495 can last for slightly more than 3 hours on single charge. Compared to my MacBook Pro, the E495 feels a bit bulky to carry around. That said, this ThinkPad is half the price of the MBP and it is actually mine. As nice as the MacBook is, it belongs to my company and someday I will need to return it. Therefore it is prudent for me to have my own laptop to fall back on in case the unthinkable happens. I’m expecting the E495 with its current specs would last 3-4 years into the future.
Would I recommend the E495? Absolutely, if you can find it. At time of writing, you can’t find it anymore on the Lenovo website. But if you can find something similar with USB-C chargers then go for it. So far I’m pretty happy with my ThinkPad and use it all the time at home for gaming and some occasional office work.
