Laptop Reviews

Being the world’s fastest growing major PC manufacture, Lenovo brings to you another excellent model in its range of laptops. Thinkpads, Ideapads and Essential are the three series in which Lenovo brands its laptops and notebooks. This particular model is from the Essential G series called the G575 43834 Laptop. Launched in 2011, G575 carries forward the purpose of the Essential series. Its laptops are manufactured with clever design, include all necessary features and are available at reasonable prices. Lenovo prefers to call them the budget-conscious laptops. A 15.6 inches HD display along with powerful processor and graphics makes this a laptop with great performance and slender design. G575 comes in two models; one is the 4383-4NU model with 500GB hard drive and an advanced model, 4383-4PU model with 750 GB hard drive. There is no difference however between the screen sizes of the models and hence one can choose any of them based on their desired hard disk capacity. We have reviewed the 4383-4NU model here.

Design:

Display: A 15.6 inches black screen with Led backlight adorns this laptop. The 720p HD resolution gives you a great experience with pictures and movies. G575 comes with a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:9.  Though not an eye-catcher or a head turner, G575 has sleek design and decent looks. The performance part however makes up for its less than pretty looks. Color spectrum isn’t impressive either. The display isn’t suitable for outdoor use as the glare type screen causes reflections.

Appearance: Lenovo Essential G575 Laptop Computer comes with a glossy screen which is quite prone to fingerprints and has a grey finish to the overall black body. Its dimensions are 14.8 x 9.8 x 1.3(width x depth x height) inches. A 0.3 MP Webcam is integrated on the top front of the laptop and allows you to make video calls. However the picture quality isn’t great and video editing is definitely not what this laptop should be used for. The lid has a matt surface and is made of smooth plastic and there are no silver shiny bars or Led lit buttons to cut down the cost. The lid can be tilted back to an angle of 135 degrees.The Lenovo logo is embedded into the lid in silver letters and that’s the only decorative element in this laptop. Weighing around 4.4 pounds (2.33 kgs) its light weight and easy to carry around with you.

Keyboard: The keyboard in G575 15.6 inch Laptop is also like the rest of the machine. It incorporates all the necessary features and keeps away from the costly ones. It’s an Accu type keyboard with concave keys and is suitable for productive typists. The stroke is firm with minimal key drop. Lenovo has installed a standard number pad on the right side of the keyboard, though the number keys are smaller than the letter keys. Also, certain keys are minimized like the Enter, Right Shift and Backspace keys but it can be compromised. The arrow keys are squeezed and are uncomfortable to use. G575 stays away from glowing power buttons due to cost reasons.  Function keys are colored red for identifying special functions.

Touchpad: The touchpad comes integrated on the arm-rest a little towards the left. It’s an industry standard touchpad and has a textured look and feel. The mouse keys are firm and have a low key drop. It’s easy to use and smooth. Two finger scroll control works fine. There is a marking for vertical scroll bar but the horizontal scroll has to be enabled.

Ports and Slots: A decent number of ports and slots are included in G575. On the left side of the chassis you find an RJ-45 Ethernet port for LAN connectivity. Three USB 2.0 ports are provided on the left of the Ethernet slot. A VGA port is given using which you can hook it up to an external monitor. There is no USB 3.0 port due to budget constraints. On the right you find two audio sockets; one for headphone and the other is the microphone jack. Next to it is the optical drive which is the basic DVD writer. Another USB 2.0 port is placed next to it and there’s a slot for AC adapter. The front features a 2 in 1 card reader which reads SD card format as well as Multimedia card format. The WLAN/switch is also put in the front and there are no interfaces on the rear side of the laptop. There is no Bluetooth connectivity in this model; however the 4PU model has one. There is neither a HDMI port nor any digital video port.

Features:

Processor:  Lenovo G575 comes loaded with an AMD dual core E350 processor. Clocking at the speed of 1.6 GHz, its performance is remarkably low when compared to an Intel i3 or i5 processor. Since it’s only a midrange processor, it provides a fairly decent performance for general tasks such as web browsing or working on Microsoft office. A 64 bit instruction set along with 1 MB of L2 cache make up the chipset. There is also an AMD A50M integrated memory controller for faster access to memory.

Memory: Lenovo has packed a 4GB DDR3 SD RAM which has a speed of 1333 MHz. The RAM can be extended up to 8 GB. A 500 GB of Serial-ATA 300 western digital hard disk lets you store a vast collection of multimedia files. It rotates at a speed of 5400 revolutions per minute (rpm). Its higher model; 4383-4PU comes with 6 GB of RAM and a generous 750 GB hard drive. The 4 GB of RAM lets you do multitasking and the transfer rates are decent.

Graphics: Like all entry-level budget conscious laptops, G575 doesn’t boast of amazing graphics. It comes with an integrated AMD RADEON HD 6310 Graphics Processing Unit. It gives good performance with the AMD E350 APU which efficiently exploits the graphic unit. Light gaming can be enjoyed on this laptop.

Speakers: A pair of 1.5 watt speakers is in-built in this laptop and is placed just above the keyboard. The codec for Audio is CX20671. The sound quality is below average and one cannot use it for entertainment purposes. Adjusting the audio settings a little however makes it suitable for office use.

Operating System: Surprisingly G575 does not come with any pre-installed operating system. Yes, that’s correct; there is no operating system installed on this laptop though there comes a free CD of DOS along with the package. One can load Windows 7 Home Premium as it works perfectly with the system’s configuration.

Software: Lenovo G575 comes with a load of pre-installed software. Lenovo ReadyComm, CyberLink Power 2Go, CyberLink YouCam, Adobe Reader, McAfee virus scan plan, Picasa 3, Windows Live Essentials 2011 and Microsoft office are to name a few. ReadyComm is utility software that lets you control your internet connection. There’s a free 60 day trial of McAfee virus protection plan. There’s a pre-loaded Microsoft Office suite present on G575 which can be activated by purchasing a product key card or disc. Two of the most impressive software included in this laptop are the VeriFace technology and Lenovo OneKey rescue technology. While OneKey lets you store and backup all your data by just a click, the VeriFace technology allows you to log-in using your face as password.  This is an amazing security feature and protects your system from unauthorized access.

Performance:

The two cores running at 1.6 GHz provide a decent system performance. The processor exploits maximum performance from the AMD graphics unit. It is suitable only for light gaming and is not the perfect system if you are looking forward to play heavy games on it. Its perfect for office use and web browsing or watching a movie. The CPU fan is quite noisy and is audible even when the system is idle. The laptop works quite slow and uninstalling McAfee helps. Using Photoshop is snappy since the screen doesn’t feature a variety of colors. For a reasonable price, this laptop gives appreciable performance.

Battery:

One of the striking features of this laptop is its long battery life. Six cell lithium-ion batteries give a powerful battery backup. G575 lasts up to five hours when connected to wireless internet. Its power consumption is low and lasts longer when compared to other laptops in this range.

Warranty:

Lenovo gives a standard one year warranty. There is also an option for additional cover available at extra cost.

Verdict:

This laptop is true to its series name; covering all Essential features. G575 is a budget laptop that can be used for basic office use. It might not be the best laptop considering sound and video quality and better laptops are available for the same price. The processor provides an average performance and graphics are plain okay. It combines good looks with clever designs for a reasonable price. It’s a recommendable laptop if you have a limited budget.

Lenovo Essential G575 15.6 inch Notebook – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Lenovo
Model Name	Essential G575 Laptop
Series	Essential g series
Dimensions  (H x W x D)	14.8 x 9.8 x 1.3 inches
Colours available	Black
Hard drive Capacity	500 GB
RAM capacity	4GB; extendable up to 8GB
Memory type	DDR3
Bluetooth	No
Graphics hardware	AMD Radeon 6310 M
Graphics Memory	Dynamic
Processor	AMD dual-core E350 processor
Clock speed	1.6 GHz
Memory Type	SATA-300 HDD
Integrated Memory Controller	Yes
Audio chipset	Stereo Audio
Built-in speakers	Yes; pair of 1.5 watt speakers
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Web Camera	Yes; 0.3MP
Networking	1 x RJ-45 Ethernet 1 X 802.11 b/g/n Wireless networking
Ports	4 x USB 2.0 port SD and MMC card reader Audio in/out port Headphone jack Microphone jack
Power Consumption	Energy Star
Warranty	1 year