The L-series ThinkPad is an eco-friendly business notebook made from post-consumer recycled content. With a comfortable keyboard, a second-generation Intel Core processor, and a $898 price tag, the Lenovo ThinkPad L420 is proof that "business notebook" and "value" don't have to be mutually exclusive. This 14.1-inch notebook continues Lenovo's tried-and-true design and offers strong performance for traveling executives and students alike.
Like most ThinkPads, the L420 features a simple, all-black design. The only pops of color are the red TrackPoint, which sits between the G and H keys, and a red stripe on the touchpad's left and right buttons. Overall build quality is excellent; despite its all-plastic exterior, the L420 feels solid. The plastic is thick and durable. The palm rest surface barely moves when pressed down upon, meaning there is excellent support underneath. The chassis hardly bends when twisted by the corners, which is another good indicator of a strong internal frame.
The L420 has an above average port selection for a 14-inch notebook, you'll find VGA Out, Ethernet, a combo USB 2.0/eSATA port, DisplayPort, and a headphone and mic jack. The right side features a multicard slot and two USB 2.0 ports. The back of the notebook houses a powered USB port, and a docking connector is located on the bottom of the machine. While Lenovo covers the basics, HDMI is missing, and there is no USB 3.0 on board.
ThinkPads have always been known for their legendary keyboards; the L420 proudly continues that tradition. Lenovo likely decided on the six row layout out of space concerns; adding an additional row of keys would likely cramp the touchpad. Enough about the layout - let's talk about the feel. It's fantastic. Each key is reassuringly made of thick plastic and securely anchored to the surface. There is absolutely no flex, which is another testament to the L420's build quality.
Lenovo's "UltraNav" pointing device includes both a pointing stick in the center of the keyboard and a traditional touchpad in the palm rest. The pointing stick has a grippy rubber surface and three well-placed buttons below the keyboard. The touchpad has a nicely-textured matte surface that is easy to track on regardless of whether fingers are moist or dry. All of the touchpad buttons are quiet and provide good feedback.
Business-rugged features include new metal hinges and the Active Protection System, which parks the hard drive in the event of a drop. While not fully rugged, the L420 meets eight military specifications for withstanding high and low temperatures, dust, and other extreme conditions. The L420 is equipped with a spill-resistant keyboard, which Lenovo rates to withstand up to an ounce of water. These features are comparable to what's offered by Dell and HP. Other business-friendly features include an integrated fingerprint reader, which lets you log into the notebook in an extra-secure way; TPM; BIOS port locking; and an optional smart card reader.
In addition to providing security tools to put users' minds at ease, Lenovo adds a dash of environmental consciousness to the L420. Along with the L520, the notebook features the highest amount of post-consumer recycled materials of any products from the ThinkPad line. It's also designed to consume less energy (thanks to a new thermal design) and even boasts an ENERGY STAR certification and an EPEAT Gold rating.
With a 14-inch 1366 x 768-pixel matte screen, the ThinkPad L420 offers fairly good image quality. When we streamed an episode of Parks and Recreation on Hulu, the display delivered accurate, if not overly rich, colors. Viewing angles were acceptable but not stellar; images faded when we moved less than 90 degrees to the left or right of center. The 220-nit display is also anti-glare; this came in handy when we tried streaming Hulu clips near a window on a sunny day, allowing us to see the screen without any bright reflections.
Equip with Core 2.5 GHz processor i5-2520M, 4GB RAM, and 320GB 7200-rpm hard drive, L420 ThinkPad both notched a score of 7354 in PCMark Vantage, which measure overall system performance. That score beat the average thin-and-light by more than 2,000 points, but it falls short of 8242 turned the Dell Latitude E6420 (with CPU 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5) and notched by the Fujitsu LifeBook 7983 S751 (with 2.5-Core CPU I5 GHz Intel 2410M).
The L420 ThinkPad prove too sharp on our File Transfer Test, which includes mixed-media file copying 4.97GB. Notebook has completed the task in 2 minutes and 41 seconds for the level of 31.6 MBps. This comfortably beat the average thin-and-light 24 MBps. When it came to boot up, L420 was nice and quick, launch the Windows 7 Professional in just 46 seconds. That was 18 seconds faster than the average category, and also bests times the boot of the Latitude E6420 and LifeBook S751 with 20 seconds.
With a six-cell battery, the Lenovo ThinkPad L420 lasted an impressive 6 hours and 41 minutes on our LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 40-percent brightness). Lenovo ThinkPad L420 is also equipped with Intel Centrino 6205 Advanced radio AGN-N Wi-Fi, L420 is able to deliver a fast transfer rate from an average of 45 Mbps at 15 feet from the router. This exceeds the average of the thin and light, which manages 34.2 Mbps. At level 50 feet down to 21.8, which is equivalent to the average.
Highlights first: very good build quality, an excellent keyboard and touchpad, a good selection of input/output ports, and good overall performance. Now for the downsides; the first is battery life. Four and a half hours is average at best; ideally we were looking for another hour. Secondly, the 1366x768 screen resolution is too low for office productivity and makes multitasking difficult. Lastly, the $969 asking price is a bit high; Lenovo should either knock $100 off the price or include at least a two-year warranty standard.
In the end, the Lenovo ThinkPad L420 is a very well-built machine and meets most of our expectations.
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