Mark dons the disguise of the infamous El Bastardo, to review the Lenovo E50-00
Hola, y bienvenidos a mi opinión. Or 'Hello, and welcome to my review'. These pages will mainly cover my conclusions about the Lenovo E50-00, which was delivered in error to me with a Spanish version of Windows installed. After numerous attempts I couldn’t convince it to habla Inglés, so covering it turned out to be especialmente difícil.
In fact, out of the box, this machine proved to be a major head scratcher on number of levels, not least in terms of how amazingly light this small business computer was, even for its relatively diminutive size. I rapidly worked out that the reason it was so svelte was that it didn’t have an internal PSU, and therefore the box largely holds fresh air. With mobile systems becoming ever more powerful, the cross over point between them and desktop systems are embodied very precisely by this computer.
However, taking that path has an impact on flexibility, usually a strength of the Desktop PC, and something that is all but missing from this design. If the motherboard or external PSU dies in the future, then replacing those might not be straightforward as it doesn’t use standard, widely available PC parts.
Also, the only realistic upgrade paths you can take from here are the RAM (4GB installed), which – as this is laptop tech – is on a single SO-DIMM slot, or take advantage from a couple of PCI-E slots. Those slots are physically x16 and x1, though before anyone gets any ideas about putting a big discrete GPU in here I should point out that the x16 is actually x4 electrically. And, the external PSU is only rated to just 3.25A.
On this model Lenovo is offering three processor options, and unsurprisingly they’d sent the best one in the review machine. For even less money you can have the Celeron J1800 or Celeron J1900, but those with more to spend can have a Pentium J2900.
Our Español review machine had precisely that CPU, a dual-core that runs at a brisk 2.4GHz when threatened with a Piñata stick. This is Bay Trail-D silicon that is surface mounted in the FCBGA1170 form factor, fabricated using a 22nm process with a maximum power envelope of 10 watts. It also has 2MB of L2 cache, double that of the Celeron’s, and a four core DX11 compliant integrated Intel HD GPU.
What needs saying as clearly is possible is that this has precisely zero potential as a games platform, however you tweak it. While it might suffice for light office duties, it’s not going to win any favours with heavy database, spreadsheet or image manipulating users either. For the less demanding user it does come with a 500GB hard drive, a DVD writer, and Windows 7 Pro pre-installed. That qualifies it automatically for the Windows 10 upgrade – should its purchaser be ready to embrace Microsoft’s brave new vision of the future.
In terms of added value, Lenovo also threw in a mouse and keyboard. However, it also decided to pre-installed MacAfee, apparently just to restore balance in the computing universe.
The good things about this system are how light it is to carry when deploying, and how it doesn’t take up much space alongside a desk. Where I was less impressed with it was when trying to justify a few curious choices, like why it only has VGA video out and not – at minimum – HDMI or DVI? Only having a single USB 3.0 port also seems an unnecessary limitation, given the Intel Q87 Express chipset it utilises has offers six, along with eight USB 2.0 ports.
Despite these and other reservations, and the lack of any meaningful expansion, I can see lots of business people jumping at this, purely because of the price. There are lots of people looking for just such a low cost device; one that does just enough to be useful. A phrase that sums up the E50 pretty well.
Hopefully, when Lenovo delivers yours it will be configured in English, or it will inspire you to converse in another language enough to change its regional settings. So, all that remains is for me to thank Lenovo for sending me the E50: Estamos muy agradecidos estaba todo riquísimo. Mark Pickavance (aka El Bastardo)
A low cost business desktop built from laptop technology.
Specifications
Processor Intel Pentium J2900 2.41GHz Turbo boost up to 2.66GHz, Intel Q87 Express
Memory 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Expandable to 8GB (Single slot)
Hard Drive 500GB SATA
Optical Drive DVD Writer
Software Operating System: Windows 7 Pro + 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Graphics Intel HD
Audio Realtek ALC662-VD
Input Devices USB Slim Keyboard and mouse
Power Supply External Adapter
Dimensions Width 160 mm Depth 425.88 mm Height 386.50 mm
Weight 9.58kg
Interfaces 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, handset, microphone, serial port, RJ45, VGA, 3 audio, PS/2 (mouse and keyboard)
Expansion 1 x PCI-E x 16, Full Height (One x 4 link), 1 x PCI-E x 1 Full Height, 1 x 5.25" Drive Bay, 1 x 3.5" Drive Bay
Warranty 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty