Pros & Cons
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- 300-degree hinge.
- 1080p touch screen.
- 1TB hard drive.
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- Performance and battery life lag slightly behind the competition.
Lenovo Edge 15 Specs
| Graphics Processor | Intel HD Graphics 4400 |
| Native Display Resolution | 1920 by 1080 |
| Operating System | Windows 8.1 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4210U |
| Processor Speed | 1.7 |
| RAM (as Tested) | 6 |
| Screen Size | 15.6 |
| Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes) | 5:39 |
| Touch Screen | |
| Weight | 5.2 |
| Wireless Networking | 802.11ac (2.4+5.0 GHz Dual-band) |
The Lenovo Edge 15 (80H10004US) ($699.99 as tested) looks and acts a lot like its sibling, the Editors' Choice Lenovo Flex 2 (15-inch), but this midprice desktop-replacement laptop falls a bit short on performance and battery life. But even while it doesn't get our top recommendation, the Edge 15 still has a lot to love, from its 300-degree hinge to its 1TB hard drive and 1080p touch screen.
Design and Features
The Edge 15 has a lot in common with Lenovo's Flex lineup, and is actually sold as the Flex 2 Pro-15 in non-U.S. markets. A 300-degree hinge allows multimode functionality, letting you use the 15-inch system as a laptop or flip the screen around for Display mode. The hinge has rubber feet on both top and bottom, allowing it to sit securely in either mode, while a touch screen lets you get a lot of functionality out of the system even when the physical keyboard is folded out of the way.
View All When closed, the Edge 15 measures 0.8 by 15 by 10.9 inches (HWD), and weighs 5.2 pounds, which is a bit much for carrying around all day, but fine for the occasional outing or commuting to work or school. The aluminum chassis has a black finish, and holds up well to flexing. The touch screen is also quite sturdy, holding up well against forceful taps and gestures, but still moves easily enough to position the screen without trouble.
The display has full HD (1,920-by-1,080) resolution and 10-point touch capability. That resolution is actually pretty good, seeing as many systems in this price range settle for a resolution of 1,366 by 768. With wide viewing angles and good picture quality, it's a good choice for both productive tasks and entertainment use. Taking the entertainment support further, the two built-in speakers are paired with Dolby sound enhancement, and offered crisp highs and clear lows when tested.
The laptop features Lenovo's AccuType keyboard, and impressed me with a comfortable typing experience and the inclusion of both backlighting and a compact numeric pad. The number keys on the pad are narrower than those of the regular keyboard, but it's still quite usable. The accompanying touchpad is also quite good, with a smooth, clickable surface and Windows 8 gesture support.
