Lenovo ThinkPad L520 review

Among the shiny consumer laptops that are Shopper’s bread and butter, Lenovo’s ThinkPad L520 sticks out. Its blocky, angular design; matt screen and unusual range of expansion ports shout “business laptop”, but even though it also has Windows 7 Professional installed, it’s equally at home in the office or living room.

Inside the L520 is a brand new Intel Core i5-2540M processor running at 2.6GHz. It’s seriously fast and only the Core i7s of Samsung’s RF711 and Apple’s MacBook Pro are noticeably quicker. Essentially, it’s capable of running pretty much anything you can throw at it.

The L520 isn’t designed for playing games, though. It relies on the Core i5’s integrated graphics chip, which is capable of decoding HD video but not running the latest games. In any case, the 15.6in screen has a matt finish to cut down on glare from overhead lighting – perfect for office environments, but not as impressive when watching a movie with the lights down.

Colours were accurate, but not as vibrant as you’d get on a glossy screen. Still, the backlight is bright and even, and contrast was good as long as we adjusted the tilt of the screen carefully, as vertical viewing angles are fussy.

As with all ThinkPads, a tough, matt-black plastic is used throughout. There aren’t any chrome highlights or brushed-metal finishes as loved by other manufacturers. That’s not to say that the L520 is ugly. On the contrary, the ThinkPad’s pugnacious design is much loved by some, mainly because it goes hand-in-hand with excellent build quality.

Most 15in laptops have room for a numberpad, and it’s odd that the L520 lacks one. However, its large keys have a moulded shape that provides great feedback. They also have a light, crisp action and a fairly standard layout. The only black mark is the placement of the Function key in the bottom left corner, where the Control key should be.

In front of the keyboard is a small touchpad with a dimpled yet smooth surface that we found responsive. Its two buttons sit close to the edge of the case, where your thumbs naturally rest, and they have a light action. Typical of ThinkPads, there’s also a touchstick; a Function shortcut lets you disable either the touchpad or touchstick, depending on which you prefer.

As well as three standard USB ports, there’s also a shared eSATA/USB port. As well as an analogue VGA video output, Lenovo has opted for a DisplayPort output rather than the more common HDMI. DisplayPort is becoming more common in business monitors, but it’s easily converted to HDMI, adaptors coast around £10.

The L520 also has an ExpressCard/54 slot and a TPM module – a security device that lets IT administrators set up hardware encryption for business data. There’s also a memory card reader and a single audio socket that supports headsets.

The L520 may be something of an ugly duckling, but if you’re more concerned with typing long documents than watching movies, it may well appeal to you. It has enough power to handle most applications, and a long-lasting battery that will almost see you through a working day. It wins a Business Buy award.