Lenovo G500-59399508 Budget Laptop with Fast i5 CPU & 1TB HDD

With a discounted Black Friday price of $399.99 at Best Buy, the 15.6-inch Lenovo G500-59399508 from the Essentials series offers a solid Intel Core i5 processor and a capacious 1-Terabyte hard drive as its main selling points.

Lenovo G500-59399508

The otherwise budget machine comes with the 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3230M processor (4,000 PassMark benchmark CPU points) from last year. The CPU is used in the mid-range full-size laptops and offers good performance not only for the basic day-to-day web-surf, Facebook, Twitter, and office tasks, but also for complex ones like video and high-res photography editing. Of course, this dual-core chip isn’t as fast as the quad-core parts from the same generation, such as the Intel Core i7-3610QM (7,529 points). But it’s faster than the corresponding Intel Pentium and Core i3 chips, such as the Pentium 2020M (2,328) and i3-3120M (3,307). Graphics and the 1366-by-768 display are powered by the on-CPU Intel HD 4000, which is probably the weakest point of the G500-59399508 in comparison to the laptops with the 4th Generation Intel Core and its new graphics. In the real life, it means a minimal potential for playing 3D-rendering games.

For interaction with Windows 8 OS and applications, the notebook sports an ergonomic AccuType keyboard with “smile”-shaped keys and numeric pad, as well as nicely-sized multitouch trackpad with real left/right click buttons. Sound is enabled via a pair of stereo speakers and enhanced by Dolby Advanced Audio v2 technology, while for CDs and DVDs there’s a DVD burner built-in. For video chat services like Skype, it has a 720p camera on the top of the display panel. Other devices and peripherals can connect to the laptop via two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 ports, while for external displays Lenovo has embedded HDMI and VGA connectors. For media cards, there’s an SD/MMC reader. Bluetooth 4.0 sweetens the package and Internet is provided via Wi-Fi and Gigabit LAN.

The chassis is made of plastics. Texture on the keyboard deck resembles brushed metal, while the lid is decorated with an anti-slip relief pattern. Unlike the slimmed-down Lenovo G500s/G505s series with a 1″ thin profile and almost identical design, the G500 series and 59399508 configuration is 1.3″ thick. The system weighs 5.7 pounds, which is on the hefty side if you compare it to other ~5.3-pound notebooks in the same category.

The battery life for this particular model is unknown, but Lenovo claims the G500-series with their six-cell batteries sealed inside generally have a run time of up to five hours on a single charge.

Overall, the G500-59399508 is a decently-equipped machine and it’ll be probably the fastest 400-dollar notebook among those offered during the Black Friday sales. Also, it’ll have the largest HDD, but on the other fronts it’s a typical low-cost laptop with a standard set of connectivity options, plastic chassis, somewhat bulky dimensions and weight, and a lack of keyboard backlight. You can compare it against other Black Friday 2013 laptops on this page.

Lenovo G500-59399508 Specifications

  • 15.6-inch 1,366-by-768 screen
  • Intel Core i5-3230M processor with 2.6-3.2GHz clock rate and Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics
  • 4GB RAM memory
  • 1-Terabyte (~1,000GB) hard drive (5,400rpm speed)
  • DVD burner drive
  • 720p webcam
  • Stereo speakers, Dolby Advanced Audio v2
  • Full-size chiclet-style keyboard, no backlight, multi-touch trackpad with physical click buttons
  • Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless-N, Gigabit Ethernet LAN
  • 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x USB 2.0, HDMI and VGA video outputs, combo audio jack, SD/MMC media card reader
  • 6-cell battery, maximal “5 hours” of battery life
  • 1.3 x 14.8 x 9.8 inches
  • Weight: 5.7 pounds
  • Windows 8 OS
  • 1-year limited hardware warranty support

Leave a Comment