Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 Review

The User Reviews

Average User Rating: 8.0

1. good bang for the buck

   

   By: jeff
   August 3, 2009 @ 10:11 AM

   I had two Thinkpads at home and was deep into the guts of one soldering it when my wife asked if I shouldn’t just buy a new one. I got the most basic version of sl400-no camera or fingerprint ID, 1.66 ghz, 1 gig ram, 160 gigs memory for $420, built and sent by Lenovo. I reformatted the drive and installed XP. I use it for all business applications, video, browsing, graphics, Dreamweaver, etc. with no problems. I do run my machines lean but am fully satisfied with how well the processing is. Solid construction with the keyboard-haven’t gotten the Thinkpad creak yet from the palm rest. I like the scroll button a lot. The only recommendation I would have for Lenovo is to replace the glossy monitor with matte. The glossy case could go matte too, but that’s not a big deal. From an ergonomic standpoint, a matte case would also provide a better grip for putting into a briefcase. I find the glossy lid to get a bit oily and slippery compared to my other Thinkpads. Is it a true Thinkpad? That’s irrelevant for me. At that price it’s an excellent build and has some bonuses (e.g., HDMI). there is also a substantial knowledge base built up online. When I downgraded to XP I had no problems, although I had to install about thirty drivers to get everything working properly. the IBM community knowledge base is perhaps the most important legacy that continues with Lenovo.

   Rating: 10 :: 1 out of 1 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

2. Very Good

   

   By: Ray
   July 19, 2009 @ 8:44 PM

   It’s a solid laptop and fulfills all my business needs. Gaming is ok, but I didn’t buy this to play games, I bought it to use it for work. Not much else to say. I’m trying to think of bad things to say about it. Oh, I wish the hinges were a little bit tighter, but it’s still good. typing is good, I didn’t find it hard connecting ports at all,

   Rating: 8 :: 1 out of 1 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

3. OK

   

   By: Stuart
   April 24, 2009 @ 1:44 PM

   I received my Sl400 about a week and a half ago, and was loving it. The boot times really weren’t that slow, the fingerprint reader worked really well, the screen was great(go for the higher pixel matte screen) and performance was good. The keyboard is also really good. However, this morning, about 10 seconds after I logged in, it blue screened, and rebooted, now every time I log in the same thing happens, and it loops till you switch the laptop off. However, this is probably just a one time bug due to too many processes at once.

   Overall it is a decent laptop, probably overpriced in my opinion, I customized it for $2,180, but I’m disappointed that a ‘reliable’ and ’secure’ laptop is blue screening under hardly any stress.

   Rating: 6 :: 1 out of 1 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

4. quite good one

   

   By: Aatish
   April 13, 2009 @ 9:37 AM

   I received my Sl400 with preloaded Windows Vista business . Processing was fast with very low heat output. As told, wi-fi was excellent with high range. I would like to mention that Lenovo tools has enhanced system performance.

   Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 1 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No

5. Lenovo SL400 a solid, budget-priced winner.

   

   By: Andrew
   October 12, 2008 @ 3:53 PM

   I just received my SL400, pretty-much configured as described; sans fingerprint reader. I opted for the solid state flash memory which was a good investment for an extra $25 since it cut my boot times down considerably to just a few seconds; definitely not as slow as reviewed. I too don’t like the shiny/glossy lid which is a fingerprint/scratch trap and would urge Lenovo to return to a matte finish. Also, I’d bag the 45 degree bevel which makes locating ports on the side a bit tedious, but not overly a big problem. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a solid 8, and it is definitely priced right; although my last year’s T61 was only #300 more and had a more solid feel; but this comes quite close. Overall a good budget laptop that can most anything, except perhaps high end gaming. I’d also suggest the WUVGA anti-glare screen rather than the high gloss LCD. Definitely a good value.

   Rating: 8 :: 1 out of 1 people found this user review helpful. Was this user review helpful? Yes | No