| Lenovo crafted the Lenovo G550 15.6-inch laptop | | | | keys to do so. They were smart in placing the |
| to offer business professionals reliable, affordable | | | | trackpad directly in the center of the space bar |
| and straightforward PC technology. The new | | | | to be more natural. |
| laptop expands upon this value bringing users | | | | The Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 processor |
| extra features, like style and design, making it | | | | handles the main processing. The clock speed of |
| ideal for personal computing too. The redesigned, | | | | this processor is 2GHz. There is a 3GB DDR2 |
| thinner and lighter G Series laptops feature | | | | RAM housed in this device. The hard drive has a |
| choices of either a hairline-like silver finish or a | | | | 250GB capacity. A DVD read/write drive is also |
| smooth and glossy slate-colored finish. | | | | fitted into this laptop. The operating system that |
| While the G550 uses a plastic exterior, Lenovo | | | | comes pre-loaded is the Microsoft Windows Vista |
| has done an excellent job with the texturing of | | | | Home Premium edition. |
| the material and color so that it hides any | | | | Thermal performance of the G550 is very good |
| smudges and fingerprints compared to the glossy | | | | thanks to the large chassis, slower processor, and |
| designs of many other companies. Even though it | | | | integrated graphics. Under stress the system |
| uses a plastic shell, it feels very solid with very | | | | controlled temperatures very well, and under |
| little flex in the screen or keyboard. | | | | normal loads the bottom of the notebook and |
| The 15.6" LCD is average compared to most | | | | palmrests stayed cool to the touch. Fan noise |
| 15-16" notebooks, with bright and vibrant colors | | | | was minimal, with it staying off under light system |
| and decent viewing angles. The G550's big change | | | | loads, and going just above a whisper under |
| is the transition away from the 16:10 screen size | | | | intensive use. The one hotspot that stood out on |
| to the wider (but shorter) 16:9 panels. The screen | | | | the G550 was the panel beneath the hard drive |
| offers a glossy surface, which helps improve | | | | that warmed up considerably if you were |
| colors and contrast at the cost of added | | | | stressing the disk. |
| reflections and glare. Compared to "frameless" | | | | Since this workstation supports both WiFi and |
| displays the reflections were tolerable as long as | | | | wired Ethernet, you can surf the net using either |
| you were not outside under direct sunlight. Screen | | | | of them. On board the device are 3 USB ports, |
| brightness was adequate for viewing in bright | | | | an ExpressCard slot, the audio (headphone and |
| office conditions, but might not cut it outside | | | | microphone) jacks, a Kensington lock, a VGA port |
| unless it is an overcast day. Vertical viewing | | | | and the Ethernet connector. There is a 5-in-1 card |
| angles were adequate with a broad viewing sweet | | | | reader that supports SD, Memory Stick, Memory |
| spot measuring 30 degrees forward or back | | | | Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, xD-Picture cards. Even |
| before colors started to wash out or invert. | | | | a 0.3 Megapixel camera is integrated into this |
| Horizontal view angles were much better, showing | | | | laptop. |
| minimal color distortion at steep angles. | | | | We do not expect thumping bass from a budget |
| Lenovo continues they excellent keyboard design | | | | notebook like this and it turned to be exactly |
| with the G550 using a design that is very similar | | | | matching our expectation. There was no bass at |
| to their more expensive ThinkPad lineup. With the | | | | all but the overall sound is good enough to |
| added space of the larger screen, Lenovo has | | | | conduct a webchat. Playing music on the device |
| manage to also include a numeric keypad although | | | | sounded a bit tiny and a good pair of headphones |
| they did have to shrink the size of some of the | | | | is recommended as is always. |