Lenovo Thinkpad E545 20B20011US Laptop (Windows 8 Professional, AMD Dual-Core A6 5350M (2.9GHz) Processor, 15.6″ (1366 x 768) HD Display, SSD: 320 GB, RAM: 4 GB DDR3) Black

I decided to buy the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E545 because of the combination of features and low price.

Features that I like:

1. Keyboard – Lenovo makes the best keyboard bar none. You will notice that you can type more accurately using its keyboard. It is also spill resistant. I prefer a 15.6-inch notebook computer because it is just large enough to provide a full-size, separate numeric keypad area to the right of the letter key area. I use this computer as a desktop replacement and rarely carry it around (I use a small (11.6-inch) and light Acer Chromebook C720 running Google Chrome OS for that).

2. 4 Gb memory, expandable to 16 Gb. Many notebook PC’s can only go up to 8 Gb maximum. I use a free software called “meminfo” to indicate the percentage of memory used at any moment in the lower right area of the display. If this number goes above 50% often, I’d suggest upgrading the computer’s memory to 8Gb or more.

3. Three USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port. The USB 3.0 port is useful for connecting to external hard drives and thumb/flash drives that support USB 3.0 Super Speed data transfer. USB 3.0 is about 3.5 times faster than USB 2.0 in real world data transfer speed. The USB 2.0 port is an always-on variety, so that it can conveniently provide charging power to your other electronic gadgets like smartphone and tablet without having the computer to be turned on. The USB 3.0 ports are backward compatible, so USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices can also be plugged into them. Of course, these devices won’t work at USB 3.0 speed.

4. VGA and HDMI ports – easy connection to legacy and modern flat screen TV’s and monitors. Most notebook PC’s have either VGA or HDMI port, but the E545 has both.

5. Windows 7 installed and Windows 8 optional (included).

6. This is a complete (built-in 720p webcam, optical drive, SD card reader, etc.) and reasonably low cost laptop for everyday computing.

7. Instead of separate headphone and microphone jacks on older PC’s, the E545 has a 3.5mm combo headphone/microphone jack which will accept headphone/mic connector from your smartphone/MP3 player/tablet.

8. There is a LED to indicate power status cleverly located on the “i” of the “ThinkPad” moniker. One can be seen on the lid of the computer,and the other is on the palm rest near the right edge.

9. If you are also considering a slightly less expensive alternative 

Lenovo B590 Windows 7 Pentium 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) 59410452

, be aware that it is just a “regular” Lenovo, not a “ThinkPad” Lenovo. The “ThinkPad” line has many details and features (hardware/firmware/software) that others don’t – An important one being that the E545 has a sensor built-in to detect the computer “falling” and will park its hard drive heads to minimize damage to the data area on the drive, increasing the “recoverability” of possibly precious data.

10. Bluetooth 4.0 is built-in. You can use Bluetooth versions of wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, wireless headset, and wireless speakers with the E545.

11. The Lenovo Thinkpad E545 has an AMD A6-5350M CPU instead of the usual Intel CPU. It is plenty fast and efficient for my applications (Chrome browser with 20+ open tabs, Skype, anti-virus and firewall software, and system tuneup software). Windows DOES slow down with use, so I’d suggest using paid or free system tuneup software such as Tuneup Utilities or Glary Utilities, respectively.

Update 7-21-2014

The Lenovo Thinkpad E545 has THREE kinds of password protection that you can set to protect your privacy. This may be important, as your files are stored locally on the hard disk drive.

There is the power-on password (POP) which you can set to always ask you to enter a password before the computer will load the operating system.

There is a supervisor password (SP) that you can set to protect the BIOS settings so that they cannot be changed unless the correct supervisor password is entered.

And then there is the hard disk password (HDP) which will protect the contents of the entire drive, EVEN when the drive is installed on a different computer.

If you set the HDP, as well as the POP, then you will be asked to enter two passwords whenever you turn on the computer. You may want to skip on the POP setting to simplify the power-on process since you have set the more important HDP.

If you choose different passwords for each, I’d suggest writing them down on your “password booklet”. For convenience/manageability, I just set all three to use the same password. Be aware that if you forget your hard disk password, no one will be able to recover the contents of the drive for you.

Update 9-10-2014

I found adding another 4Gb of memory to the E545 made a lot of difference in operation smoothness, especially if I have several programs running at the same time. The cost of a 4Gb memory is currently $40, making it easily justifiable. The technical specification is 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3L PC3-12800 1.35V SODIMM.

It is easy to install this memory upgrade yourself. Make sure the computer is turned off. Remove the battery. Take out three screws securing the large bottom cover so it can be removed. There are two memory slots; one of them is already filled with a 4Gb memory module. To install an additional memory in the empty slot, push the memory module with the gold plated contacts edge at an angle into the slot and then press down until the two spring loaded metal holders snap into place. Note that the memory module has a notch so that it can only fit one way. Now you have 8Gb and the computer will automatically recognize it.

This seems sturdier than my old Acer which died of old age. I prefer the keyboard of the Lenovo for typing. I hate the touch pad and built in mouse, so I bought myself another wireless mouse and now don’t have the frustration of those two items. I disabled them both. I am advised by some younger people that I should have bought more memory 6 instead of 4, but otherwise, I got a good deal on the computer. For an older person who only does her banking and email on a computer, uses the internet just to research on specific things and plays card games for fun, I am satisfied that I made the right decision. Wish I personally had more memory, but that another thing all together.

Honestly I looked around long and hard for a laptop within a certain budget with the things I wanted in it and also upgradeable. This Thinkpad actually fell right within my criteria and still held a certain “above average” rating on Amazon.com. which is also why I am adding my review to Amazon.ca.

I ordered the laptop Wednesday night after much thought. I had it by Friday afternoon. The purchase was made through Amazon.ca to a store called ESprice. I do like how fast it was shipped out and received. Shipping was from Montreal to London.

My opinons on the product:

Pros:
The laptop is noticeably light for the size.

It has everything you need on the Chassis ( 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 one is always on, HDMI and VGA, card reader, Ethernet port, combo headphones/microphone jack. Also Optical Drive DVD RW Along with your charger port )

Full Keyboard and Number pad

Webcam and built in stereo microphone
.
The shock guard feature to protect the hard drive.

I think the processor, ram, hard drive size, and wireless card combo are a good buy for the price.

Upgradable. One thing I do like about this computer is that it is fully upgradeable, very easily with basic computer knowledge. Even a newbie who has never opened up a computer before can install the stick of ram in this machine.

Cons:
Bloat ware (easily erased)

Battery Life. even though as I type this the the battery life says there is 6 hours left on a 97 percent charge, as soon as I start to put it to work such as cruising the internet or anything else besides typing this review, the battery life will drop dramatically. I get about 3 and a half hours of battery life with a moderate workload happening. Which I still think is pretty decent for this size laptop.

I have nothing bad to say about this machine because I knew what I was getting for the price. I could go on like other people about how it could use more RAM or Bluetooth or a better processor but what your getting for the price right now is a good well built computer with pretty good performance features.

I did however add a 4 Gig stick the day after I got it. It only cost me around 50 bucks. I do plan on upgrading the laptop as time goes on as it is very capable of doing so. I am going to add more ram, install a solid state primary hard drive and convert the main 320 gig hard drive into a storage drive by un-installing the optical drive.(this will dramatically increase performance across the board.) Replacing the WiFi card with a dual-band Bluetooth WiFi card. then eventually swap out the AMD A6 APU with an A8 or even an A10.

I do play games on this laptop as it is with the extra RAM added and it handles them well. It also simply handles all my computing needs well so far. I am happy with this machine.

Excellent, great for everything even gaming to a point.