Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 627156U 14" LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5 i5-3210M 2.5GHz - Matte Black

Pros: I bought this for the express purpose of having a modern machine to run my personal copy of AutoCAD 2002 (retired, new version 'way out of budget). I couldn't tell from the available infor if it'd run XP emulation, but Lenovo products are pretty complete, so I took the leap. It's perfect! AutoCAD 2002 is up and running after loading Virtual PC and XP Emulation free from MS. W8Pro discs included if I ever decide to upgrade (thinking not in this lifetime). Newegg's service was flawless and quick.

Cons: There are newer and more powerful units available, but probably not for W7Pro. The only other con I can think of is I had to pay for it!

Other Thoughts: This is at least my 8th ThinkPad. Most were for work before I retired, but I still own 3 at home. I'm mainly using the new one with external keyboard, mouse, and display, but for those of us who started with pointing sticks, it's nice to have the old reliable.

Pros: I own a computer/networking installation business and I demand a lot out of a laptop. I have always liked the Lenovo brand, but this Edge series is better than expected. I put a 64gb mSata SSD drive in to run the OS, and it absolutely flys. I also increased the RAM to 16gb. All I can say is... 11 seconds from cold start to Windows login screen. This laptop is preloaded with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, but has a windows 8 sticker on the bottom as well as Windows 8 recovery discs. This is not an issue, so if you are looking for Win 7 Pro x64, here it is. It didn't matter to me though, as I wiped the included hard drive and installed an OS on the mSata SSD. Finally, the mSata port is an additional port that has its own single-screw cover on the bottom. Don't feel like you have to be tech savvy to install a mSata SSD, it literally took 10 seconds.

Other features I like:
USB 3.0
6.5 hour battery time (under actual load was around 5.5 hours)

I give Newegg 5 eggs for offering such a great laptop, and I give Lenovo (IBM) a dozen eggs for creating such a great product. I have worked on just about every single laptop model ever made, and if this laptop gets a negative review, it's from User Error, I promise. If this laptop doesn't make you happy, nothing will.

Cons: NOT A CON: Windows loads so fast that the classic Windows login chime sounds like a buzz! :) (I hate that Windows sound anyways!)

Pros: Fingerpring reader, 7200 rpm hd, 1600 mem. Nice keyboard.

Cons: Touchpad a little stiff on clicks. Designers should move the mouse buttons for the pointing stick to below the touchpad and eliminate the pointing stick altogether, imo.

Pros: - 2.5GHz hyperthreaded dual-core processor.
- 4GB of DDR3 1600.
- 7200RPM 500GB SATA 3.0 Gbps hard drive.
- 3 USB 3 ports, and a USB 2 port (which I needed for my wireless mouse to work with Linux.)
- POSTs faster than any computer I've owned in the past.
- Inexpensive.
- Great wifi signal.
- Hardware works with Linux.
- Looks much nicer than the previous ThinkPad versions.
- Nonreflective display.
- Probably the best laptop keyboard I've ever used, as far as button shape, texture, and mechanics.

Cons: - No CapsLock indicator or keyboard backlight.
- Low-contrast display, but it's acceptable for working indoors. I wouldn't use it to watch movies or to edit pictures/video.
- No option to buy it without Windows. I turned it on long enough to get the DVD drive open, then I immediately rebooted to install Linux.

Other Thoughts: After ~10 years of putting a lot of money into laptops, I finally decided to go modest on the laptop build a server to handle all of my computational needs. I'm running Kubuntu 12.10 on this laptop and as far as I can tell all of the hardware is supported. I've been using it to edit documents (locally and remotely,) to ssh into my server to work remotely, and for various things on the web. That being said, this laptop was 1/3 the price of one I bought 2.5 years ago, and this one outdoes the old one in every way except for the display. Since I primarily use Linux, the hardware requirements of my OSes don't increase very much over the years, so this laptop is still youthful in "Linux years".

Pros: Affordable and performant. This laptop is well built and runs Linux Mint 13 flawlessly (with Intel Wifi card). The keyboard is great. The i5 model is fast, quick to boot. The screen looks great.

Cons: Fan behaves strangely sometimes. No charge indicator light. Mousepad buttons above the pad take time to get used to.

Other Thoughts: I did not want Windows 8 so 7 was perfect. I dual boot with Linux Mint and use Linux 95% of the time. I suggest you make sure to get the Intel wifi card model if you want to run Linux. I almost did not buy it because of reviews complaining about flimsy build and noisy ill fitted screen. I have not experienced any of this. It looks and feels rugged to me. I am glad I bought it. I wish there was a charge indicator light for charging the laptop while it's off. I don't play games so I can't comment on that. However, for work and Internet use, it is excellent, especially with Linux Mint on it.

Pros: This is in response to commenter Brett. You CAN swap the Fn and CTRL keys if you want. This is done from "ThinkPad Setup" by pressing F1 on boot. Complete instructions on the Lenovo community board are here: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Edge-Knowledge-Base/Thinkpad-Edge-E420-Fn-and-Ctrl-button-swap/ta-p/849461

Cons: No cons

Pros: This is a great machine in a compact size. The screen is nice, not to large but not too small.

Two-fingered scrolling!

Fast-boot.

Battery is excellent! A solid 4-6 hours of continuous use of light hardware usage. (i.e surfing the web, typing documents, writing emails).

Intel HD 4000! Although this may not make a difference to some people, this certainly works wonders for people who are gamers. I would not recommend this for a gaming machine but this is certainly a great supplement for those who like to casually play games on the go.

Cons: The touchpad can be a little touchy. The response timing is great but when using the buttons at the bottom of the touchpad, it is often too easy to not realize where your clicking and may not respond properly. There is a very small separation between the touchpad and the "mouse buttons" which are a little difficult to press as they are bottom edge of the touchpad itself.

This may not be a problem to some for those who use a lot of command keys and shortcut buttons such as "ctrl + t" to open a new tab in a web browers, but on the bottom row of the keyboard, the FN and Ctrl keys are swapped. Meaning the bottom left key of the keyboard is the FN as opposed to the Ctrl button. So if your fingering is slightly off, by accidently pressing "Fn + R" will lock your computer when you are trying to press "Ctrl + T" to open a new tab.

Other Thoughts: The parts that are in my machine are not exact to this model. I custom built mine directly from the Lenovo website, but the general output from this build is fantastic and would highly recommend it! But for those are wary about the keyboard and mousepad, it can be a little touchy, but nothing that you cannot get used to.

Another random note but not worth affecting the review is no back-lit keyboard, was kind of hoping this model would have it, but you would need to get a little nicer of a model to have that.