Lenovo 3000 N100

The Lenovo 3000 N100 is the latest addition to the company’s new line of Lenovo-branded notebooks. Unlike the nondescript C100 model, the N100 sports a stylish design and offers a nice 15.4-inch widescreen display. At 6.2 pounds, it’s relatively easy on the shoulders.
 
The 1.5-inch-thick notebook’s Premium Silver finish is offset by a black wrist rest and keyboard layout. The full-sized ThinkPad-style keyboard is spacious and responsive, and the two-button touchpad maintains the same aspect ratio as the display. As with the C100, the N100 lacks a trackpoint mouse controller—an omission that is sure to disappoint loyal ThinkPad enthusiasts. The integrated speakers will fill the bill for basic sound output, but music audio quality is subpar.
 
Above the keyboard are three well-marked speaker control buttons, the power switch, and a button with a toolbox label that opens up the Lenovo Care portal. Lenovo Care provides quick links to multimedia programs such as Roxio’s DigitalMedia LE, as well as system maintenance tools like ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery and Norton’s Internet Security AntiVirus. Here you can also search for available wireless networks, configure power and display settings, and search for updates via the ThinkVantage System Update utility.
 
The crisp 15.4-inch widescreen display has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and provides a generous viewing angle. Video is driven by an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 controller, which will handle your basic graphics workload but is not recommended for gaming or detailed 3D graphics applications. The N100 scored a lowly 1,332 on our 3DMark03 test. If you want more 3D power, order the top-of-the-line model with an Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 controller and a faster processor, which costs an additional $400.
 
We love that Lenovo placed frequently used ports on the side of the unit, where they are easy to reach. Three USB ports, a VGA connector, and two audio jacks share space with an optical drive on the right side. Left-side connections include USB, FireWire, and Ethernet ports, along with a PC Card slot and a 4-in-1 card reader. Only the modem, power, and S-Video ports are located at the rear. This configuration includes a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, but you can upgrade to a DVD burner by springing for the $949 model, which also includes a fingerprint reader.
 
A 1.66-GHz Core Duo T2300 processor and 512MB of DDR2 memory power the N100, which we recommend upgrading to 1GB ($90) to make this system ready for Windows Vista. Rounding out the system are an 80GB hard drive, an integrated 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi adapter, and a Bluetooth adapter.
 
The N100 handled MobileMark 2005 just fine with a score of 206, and the battery lasted a decent 4 hours and 6 minutes with Wi-Fi turned off. Having the Wi-Fi radio on will cost you only about eight minutes of runtime. You can’t upgrade the battery when you configure the notebook, but you can buy an extra six-cell or nine-cell battery for $129 and $149, respectively.
 
In addition to Windows XP Professional, our N100 notebook shipped with quite a bit of software, including Corel Small Business Center with WordPerfect Office 12, Diskeeper Lite, Norton Internet Security with 90 days worth of virus definition updates, PC Doctor diagnostics, Roxio DigitalMedia LE, and InterVideo WinDVD. Lenovo provides a one-year warranty, covering parts and labor with one year of carry-in service, but you can purchase one of Lenovo’s upgrade packages that give you up to three years of coverage with options for next-day on-site service.
 
For $899, the Lenovo 3000 N100 delivers dual-core processing power without breaking the bank. Although you’ll have to pay a total of $1,039 to have enough RAM to run Windows Vista Premium and to burn DVDs, this system is a good deal for budget-conscious consumers and business users.