Review: Lenovo Z40

Introduction

Going with a budget laptop will save you bit more cash at the bank, but it often also means putting up with a lot of trade offs. Whether it's an unattractive chassis, poor performance, color washed screen or a truncated battery life, computer manufacturers have to cut corners somewhere to break even on an affordably-priced machine. For the most part, it's an unavoidable process.

However, with the Lenovo Z40 I don't think its maker simply cut too many corners getting to its target price point. Starting at $599 (£399, AU$799), this dirt cheap 14-inch multimedia machine is seriously hampered by a short 3 hour battery life and low quality LCD screen.

I'm sad to say that this is a laptop you'll want to steer clear of. Let's get into what led me to be terribly disappointed with the Lenovo Z40.

Design

Once you've seen one budget laptop, you've seen them all – this couldn't be truer of the Lenovo Z40. For starters, the display lid is made of a plain, semi-glossy plastic that bends easily while catching an assortment of fingerprints and smudges with a single touch. You'll also leave plenty of fingerprints just opening up this machine, thanks to the Lenovo Z40's glossy plastic bezel.

Luckily, things look a little better with the laptop's underside, which features a slightly textured plastic and large rubber feet. Overall, the Z40 is one of Lenovo's least uniform designs yet, as the frame is comprised of five different pieces of material (six counting the keyboard deck).

The only slightly higher-end piece of material you'll find on the Z40 is an aluminum plate used for the laptop's interior. It comes as a single piece for the palm rests and surrounding the keyboard deck. Unfortunately, even this small bit of metal still flexes easily and does not add anything at all to the overall rigidity of the machine.

As ever, you'll find Lenovo's excellent AccuType keyboard but you'll feel tiny vibrations with every keystroke. The trackpad is also surprisingly small considering the large 14-inch chassis, so you'll spend a lot of time repeatedly swiping across its surface to move the cursor around.

Specifications and performance

The Lenovo Z40 is a heavy machine, considering it's 14-inch screen size and almost entirely plastic frame. Even the Z40's screen backflipping cousin the Lenovo Flex 14 is a lighter machine, tipping the scales at 4.4 pounds. The Acer Aspire V7 also weighs in at a very similar 4.41 pounds.

You'll also likely have trouble slipping the Z40 into a bag, as it measures a pudgy 13.74 x 9.6 x 0.97 inches. It was a snug fit trying to stuff the Z40 into my messenger bag designed with a medium-sized notebook sleeve.

Meanwhile, it was a fools errand to try and slip it into some of my smaller bags. The Flex 14 is ever so slightly thinner and smaller at 13.25 x 9.50 x 0.85 inches, while the Acer Aspire V7 measures in at 13.4 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches.

Here is the Lenovo Z40 configuration given to TechRadar:

Spec sheet

• CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-4200U (dual-core, 3MB cache, up to 2.60 GHz with Turbo Boost)


• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 820M (2GB GDDR5 RAM)


• RAM: 6GB DDR3L (1,600Mhz)


• Screen: 14-inch HD (1366 x 768) LED


• Storage: 500GB; 8GB SSD cache


• Optical drive: Dual-layer DVD


• Ports: 2 USB 2.0, HDMI, 2-in-1 SD/MMC card reader, Ethernet


• Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0


• Camera: Integrated HD 720p Camera


• Weight: 4.62 pounds


• Size: 13.74 x 9.6 x 0.97 inches (W x D x H)

These aren't the most exciting specs you can get on a laptop, but this is the basic configuration for the Z40 priced at $599. The unit Lenovo sent TechRadar for the purposes of this review was equipped with a slightly dated CPU, which Lenovo has since replaced with a tiny bit faster 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-4210U processor. Aside from this small chip discrepancy, every Z40 also comes with a 1920 x 1080 display standard.

Also, interested UK and Australian readers won't be able to find the Z40 in their respective home countries. Instead, those in the UK can pick up the Z50, which comes with a larger 15-inch, 1080p screen, only 4GB of memory and a slower Intel Core i3-4030U processor for £399.

Similarly, only the Z50 is available in Australia with a much worse-equipped base configuration. Starting at AU$799, the laptop comes with a lower resolution 1366 x 768 display, Intel Core i3-4005U CPU and no discrete graphics – but on the bright side, there's 8GB of RAM.

At such an affordable price point, the Lenovo Z40 falls into a large segment of equally, and in some ways, better-equipped notebooks. Take the first generation Lenovo Flex 14, for instance. That model comes priced $568 (about £363, AU$655) with a touchscreen, more RAM as well as a faster 128GB SSD storage drive. The only drawback to this cheaper, transforming multimedia laptop is that it lacks a dedicated graphics card for some casual gaming.

The $899 (about £574, AU$1,035) Acer Aspire V7 is another machine I've rated highly and would easily recommend. It's becoming increasingly hard to come by and it comes sporting a dated Nvidia GeForce GT 750M GPU, but the machine packs more enough power to get you through a day of tasks while making everything look great with its 1080p screen.

Performance

The only saving grace for this laptop is that it delivers decent performance. The Lenovo Z40 ran swimmingly with all my daily computing needs from image editing, web browsing and streaming 1080p videos.

The rig was even able to keep up with some modern games such as Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Shadow of Mordor. That said, I had to turn most of the graphical options to their lowest settings in order to run these said titles with a maximum frame rate of 30 and 50 frames per second (fps), respectively.

Benchmarks

• 3DMark: Ice Storm: 36,948; Cloud Gate: 4,456; Fire Strike: 835


• Cinebench CPU: 215 points; Graphics: 34.47 fps


• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 2,347 points


• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hours and 38 minutes

Despite running with some rather average components, the Lenovo Z40 put up some respectable scores in our benchmark tests. Thanks to a discrete Nvidia 820M GPU, the Z40 rubs the Flex 14 into the dirt in almost every benchmark test. The budget multimedia scored 835 points with the 3DMark Fire Strike test and a PCMark 8 score of 2347 points, whereas the Flex 14 only tallied up 513 points in Fire Strike and 2026 in PCMark 8.

However, the Acer Aspire V7 tops out as the best performing machine despite needing to power a higher resolution screen and being saddled with a last generation Nvidia 750M graphics card (though punchier than the Nvidia 820M). The Aspire V7 put up a Fire Strike score of 1,456 points and PCMark 8 performance of 2,306 points.

Quick and not in a good way

Don't expect any longevity out of the Lenovo Z40. The PCMark 8 battery test completely wiped out the laptop after a quick 2 hours and 38 minutes. Running a laptop with regular use usually produces better numbers. Unfortunately, in this case the Z40 once again ran short and died after just 3 hours and 4 minutes.

These results are especially disappointing, because I did not run any strenuous programs other than playing two games of Hearthstone. Otherwise, there was only some light web browsing in Chrome with just five tabs open at a time, while playing Google Music, working on a Google Drive document, and watching a short 30 minute video on YouTube.

This is a woefully poor showing even for a budget PC. The battery life of both the Lenovo Flex 14 and Acer Aspire V7 stretch past 3 hours and 30 minutes, even if just by a few minutes.

Tunnel vision

As if the inexcusable battery life wasn't bad enough, the Lenovo Z40 also packs one of the worst screens I've ever seen on a laptop. The biggest problem with the display – aside from the poor contrast and lackluster brightness – is its extremely narrow viewing angles. Just by tilting your head slightly, you can go from seeing a viewable image to an unintelligible mess of dark pixels.

With most other laptops, you can still get a good picture unless you're looking at it from rather wide angles. The Lenovo Z40, on the other hand, requires that you look at the image dead on. If you deviate even by just 10 degrees both vertically and horizontally, the picture quality drops off severely.

Bundled software

Thankfully, Lenovo kept it light with the bloatware on the Z40. Much of the included software is actually useful, aside from the 30-day trial of McAfee Internet Security, which you'll be much better off replacing with Windows Defender or another firewall program. Here's a list of the most important apps you'll want to keep around:

• VeriFace Pro: Passwords – pfft, unlock your laptop with your face.


• Lenovo Companion: This dedicated tool lets you register your machine with Lenovo and check the warranty.


• Lenovo Support: A quick guide to an electronic Lenovo Z40 manual, knowledge base and Lenovo's official discussion forums.


• Amazon Kindle: eBooks are great, but more importantly, you'll also be able to read comics on your laptop with this app.


• Evernote: This cloud-based notes and documents database app has made it into smartphones and tablets, so why not your PC too.

Verdict

Overall, the Lenovo Z40 is a disappointing machine even with the admission that it was made with affordability in mind. There simply isn't anything of note or surprising about the laptop, all the while it has too many shortcomings.

We liked

Honestly, this will be a very short section as really nothing to worthwhile to point out about this laptop. It offers some decent performance for everyday tasks, and you can even ask it to play some of the latest games to hit stores. That's the most positive thing I have to say about the Z40.

We disliked

Even at first glance, the Z40 didn't inspire much confidence. Upon opening up the laptop, I was disappointed by the laptop's poor build quality and lack of uniform design.

Using the screen is an absolute chore, as you'll have to steadily hold your neck in the same position, lest you encounter the display's extremely narrow viewing angles. Even when you do get a good picture, the screen is still hampered by its own dull brightness and washed out contrast.

Perhaps the most offensive thing users won't like about the Z40 is its well below average three hour battery life. Simply put, the Z40 is easily beat by the crop of Chromebooks out there when it comes to lasting power – and for hundreds less.

Final verdict

It's tough to recommend the Lenovo Z40 in any case, that's pretty much the long and short of it. There are plenty of better options out there. Even with its bigger price tag, I highly recommend the Acer Aspire V7 for a 14-inch laptop, if you can still find it. This model splits the difference between gaming and affordable laptops beautifully with a gorgeous screen and better performance than the Z40 overall.

I'll also warily recommend the Lenovo Flex 14 for its stronger components and better price. Having reviewed the Lenovo Flex 2 15 as well, I can attest that Lenovo's budget machines are notorious for subpar screens. With that in mind, find either laptop in a store before making the purchase. Otherwise, I would recommend looking in either direction for a laptop, whether that's affordability and longevity or power in a premium build.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1uygQlb