Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s

The 14-inch member of Lenovo's small-business-oriented ThinkPad Edge family of laptops, the ThinkPad Edge E420s promises a strong combination of sleek looks, portability, performance, and typing comfort. But is this 14-inch Core i5-powered notebook ($889 as configured) the best choice for mobile professionals on the move? Heck yeah.

Design

The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s business laptop offers a sporty reinterpretation of the classic ThinkPad motif. While design elements such as the Edge E420s' Lenovo logo, bright red TrackPoint, and dark color are all ThinkPad staples, the notebook's chrome trim, end-to-end infinity glass, and rubberized chassis breathe new life into this tried-and-true aesthetic.
If you look at the deck in bright light, you'll also notice that the Edge E420s is actually a very dark green--Lenovo calls it "moss black"--rather than the traditional ThinkPad black. We particularly like the small touches, such as the red light that sits above the "I" in the ThinkPad logo and blinks when the system is asleep and the soft-touch bottom.
At 4.4 pounds and 13.7 x 9.3 x 1.2-inches, the ThinkPad Edge E420s is one of the most portable 14-inch notebooks on the market, weighing less than the Toshiba Tecra R840 (4.6 pounds), the Lenovo ThinkPad L420 (5.2 pounds), and the Dell Latitude E6420 (6.2 pounds).

Keyboard, TrackPoint, Touchpad

The ThinkPad Edge E420s features a spill-resistant, island-style keyboard that provides the same legendary quality and responsiveness we've come to expect from Lenovo business notebooks. With curved, "smile-shaped" keys that make it easy to avoid adjacent-key errors, a comfy rubberized palm rest that cradles your wrists, and a heavy dose of tactile feedback, the Edge E420s allowed us to achieve a high rate of 86 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, 8 percent above our typical score. Too bad the keyboard isn't backlit, like the new HP ProBook 5330m.

Like other ThinkPad notebooks, the Edge E420s has both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a touchpad. In general, we prefer the TrackPoint, because it provides the most precise navigation available on any notebook while allowing touch typists to keep their hands on the home row.
The Edge E420s' 3.7 x 2.4-inch touchpad provides comfortable, accurate navigation around the desktop. And though the buttons are built into the pad, we had no issues with jumpiness like we've experienced on many other notebooks with "clickpad"-style designs. Multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom worked fairly smoothly, though we sometimes needed to repeat the gesture for rotating images in order for it to register.

Heat

The ThinkPad Edge E420s stayed extremely cool throughout our testing. After streaming video for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured a chilly 81 degrees, the keyboard a frigid 85 degrees, and the bottom a mere 87 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees Fahrenheit comfortable and below 90 degrees imperceptible.

Display and Audio

The 14.1-inch, 1366 x 768 glossy display on the ThinkPad Edge E420s provided bright, colorful images and decent viewing angles. However, because the 200-nit display is covered end to end in glossy infinity glass, the screen can be a bit reflective and colors wash out at angles greater than 45 degrees to the left or right.
The ThinkPad E420s's Intel HD Graphics 3000 chip allowed it to handle any video we threw at it with great aplomb. From a 1080p QuickTime trailer for Thor to a 720p streamed Flash episode of Fringe, videos were smooth and sharp.
In our testing, the quality of the ThinkPad E420s's audio playback varied based on the type of music played. When we listened to bass-heavy tunes, playback was accurate, though not overly rich. However, when we queued up a heavy-metal tune, the sound was noticeably tinny and we could feel the speakers quaking. At maximum volume, anything we played was loud enough to fill our entire one-bedroom apartment.
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