FORGET ABOUT SUPERFISH. It was a dumb move by Lenovo and they have admitted it. Google "Lenovo SuperFish" and the first hit is the Lenovo site from which you can download a program that will search for and remove Super Fish, if it's on your machine. Even before that your Norton Security program will have found and isolated it if it's on your new laptop. (It was on this laptop and I removed it. It wasn't on my C540 Lenovo All-in-One computer.)
Since the 1980's I've owned a Commodore Vic-20, (which had less computing power than your current wristwatch), towers handmade by guys working out of storefronts, then Gateway and Dell towers, a Gateway/Verizon netbook, and HP and Lenovo Desktop units. The HP and Lenovo computers have similar specs and prices and the Lenovo screams past the HP, which is why I went Lenovo for this simple, entry level laptop. For the price, I'm very satisfied. Actually, price aside I'm happy. I wanted a plug and play laptop that did a little bit of everything well without challenges or complications. That's what I got.
The unit was up and running within fifteen minutes of coming out of the box. Microsoft registration went smoothly. WiFi connection just needed my password. I removed the McAfee because I had a license left on my Norton and I prefer that. Downloaded and updated the Norton. Updated Windows. This runs Windows 8.1 and out of the box it needed about 70 updates, which took maybe three restarts.
From there it's time to tinker. Got the brightness, the fonts, power management and all of that just right. But that's not essential to running the computer; it's just fun if you like to fine tune things. Without any tinkering it works fine.
Lenovo has a lot of bloatware, but not as much as some companies and more than others. Bloatware does slow things down a bit but I just went from charm to charm, looking and uninstalling. Every now and then you find something interesting. I got rid of most of the junk and whatever is left, (I'm too old and tired to delete anything that looks like it might be important or necessary, or fatal), doesn't appear to effect performance.
The track pad is no better or worse than anyone else's. Almost everyone uses a wireless mouse anyway. If you have to use it the track pad was serviceable.
The keyboard is great, with a solid positive touch that is sort of one of the distinguishing qualities of Lenovo products, even the less expensive ones. Sound is good if you are mostly interested in making sure it's loud enough that you can hear it.
Like any user I have a bunch of favorite programs that have to be loaded. Everything I use downloaded and installed without a hitch. I'm keeping this laptop pretty trim, so I didn't fill it up with stuff.
And that was that. It's sharp; it's fast; it's super-fast for the price. I had two open NCAA brackets updating, three NCAA gamecasts going, and a live game stream running and was still able to do some browsing and emailing without a hitch. Can't ask for much more than that.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920x1080 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 3.4 GHz core_i5_family |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 3200 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 512 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel UHD Graphics |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth, 802.11ax |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
