Lenovo C100 Notebook
The Lenovo C100 is a notebook for small bussines buyers. This is a solid notebook. The case is made by plastics that some are thin and brittle and other are tough. The palm rest compresses about the same as a chunk of hardwood. And the framework under the keyboard only flexes when pull a very weight on it. The battery design is fits into the body, instead of sliding into the back of the unit. The optical drive is on the left the battery. The hard drive is made by Seagate, the DVD drive by Samsung, wireless card by Intel, and RAM by Hynix. This is a surprise because this notebook is aimed at the low cost laptop market.
The C100 specs :
Processor : Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz
Display : 15″ XGA screen
Memory : 512MB RAM
Graphics : Intel GMA 900
Hard Drive : 80GB 5400RPM
Wireless : Intel 2915abg (802.11 a/b/g) wi-fi card
Dimensions : 13.1″ x 10.9″ x 1.5″
Weight : 6.4lbs
The notebook performance is great. The 512MB of RAM is quite adequate. To get a benchmark of processor speed, we used Super Pi. The comparison result are Lenovo 3000 C100 1.73 GHz Pentium M took 109 seconds to calculate Pi to 2 Million digits of accuracy. IBM ThinkPad T43 1.86GHz Pentium M took105 seconds and Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 1.73 GHz Pentium M took 108 seconds to calculate the value.
The C100 operating system is Windows XP Professional. It also comes with some software like Norton Antivirus, Roxio burning software, Google Desktop, Corel Small Business, Intervideo WinDvd and IBM system software.
The C100′s screen is so bright with no dead pixels on it. But most colors seem pretty washed out. It’s color also change quickly if you move your head up or down.
The C100 keyboard is good. Key presses is feeling nice and it stay rigid when typing. The touchpad lack is it track the finger just fine, but the feel of the assembly is different than those on the business notebooks. The buttons are a bit odd with very short hard throws. It also feels super stiff and almost no texture.
The speakers are quite loud but with some midrange and lacked bass. It’s still fine for listening music or watching movies. But for more audio quality, add headphones.
During normal use, the notebook is quiet. The fan only ramp up during heavy tasking programs. Overall the notebook is cool while running, but there is a little heat at the underside.
The input and output ports in C100 are VGA, Modem, Lan, Headphone/Mic connectors, 1 S-Video, 1 Firewire, 1 PCMCIA with a SD card slot underneath and 3 USB.
The Intel 2915ABG wireless card which came with this notebook is have a good job. It’s pretty stable connecting onto wireless network. But there is no bluetooh and infrared ports.
The battery life is about 4:10 hours with screen on full brighness and the wireless connection alive. The battery is located under the palm rest.
Finnaly, the C100 although have a screen which is seems wash out and have no upgradeable battery, it’s still a good notebook. It is built so solid with many quality parts used inside the laptop and doesn’t sacrifice build quality while also being on a budget. This a notebook for the average consumer or small business buyers.
