Lenovo P400 Touch – 59371991 14″ Laptop with Full Intel i5 (Specs Review)

The Lenovo P400 Touch – 59371991 14-inch touch-screen laptop from the consumer-oriented IdeaPad series delivers an exceptional cost for features, performance, and build quality. For $530, the P400 Touch – 59371991 provides users with an above average screen resolution of 1600×900 pixels, 10-finger input support on the display, an Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM instead of usual 4GB, and a standard-sized 500GB hard disk drive. The vital components are encased in an aluminum chassis, while the LCD panel lid is covered with rubber-like soft touch finish. The laptop is 1.2″ thick, so it isn’t as sleek as 14″ ultrabooks and also its somewhat hefty weight of 5.3 pounds is like on the ordinary 15.6-inch notebooks. Premium features worth mentioning are keyboard backlight and Intel Wi-Di technology for wireless video streaming to TVs.

However, the Lenovo P400 Touch – 59371991 is a full-blown notebook with a built-in DVD burner and it packs a full-voltage i5 CPU version. The included i5-3230M chip does consume more power than the ultra-low voltage i5, such as the i5-4200U, but it’s a full class ahead in terms of computing speed. The i5-3230M belongs to the last year’s Intel 3rd Generation “Ivy Bridge” family, but it is a good solution for those who use demanding programs a lot, like Photoshop, Windows Movie Maker, and such, besides normal daily operations like web browsing and office document creation. Modern games requiring 3D rendering are mostly out of question, because the machine relies only on the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.

The battery life is unknown. Given the CPU consumes 35 Watts instead of 17W on the comparable ULV processors and that the included battery has four cells instead of usual six, we wouldn’t expect an outstandingly long run time on a single charge. A turn off for some users might be inability to change the battery after it gets drained, because it is sealed inside the case.

A downside for customers entering large amounts of numeric data is absence of a dedicated numeric pad. However, the AccuType keyboard has ergonomically shaped keys, delivering one of the best typing experiences among consumer-class laptops.

All in all, the Lenovo P400 Touch – 59371991 is a little heavy to take around with you all day, but on the positive side it offers unrivaled speed if you compare it to lighter and more portable laptops and ultrabooks with ULV processors. It compensates the weight with the built-in optical drive and when you add the high-res touch-screen, backlit keyboard, and an attractive price of $530 to the mix, this system becomes really worth of consideration for laptop shoppers.

If you like the P400 but wish a bigger screen and more storage space than 500GB, the 700-dollar 15.6-inch P500 TOUCH – 59374199 with a 1-Terabyte HDD is an option from the same IdeaPad P (or Z) series. But, keep in mind that the bigger one has a lower display resolution of 1366×768.

Lenovo P400 Touch – 59371991 IdeaPad Series Specifications

• 14-inch screen diagonal, 10-point multi-touch, 1600 x 900 resolution
• 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3230M “Ivy Bridge” dual-core CPU at 2.6GHz to 3.2GHz, 3MB L3 cache; Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics
• 6GB DDR3 RAM memory
• 500GB SATA hard drive at 5400rpm
• SuperMulti DVD burner
• 720p webcam
• Stereo speakers
• Backlit full-size keyboard, multi-touch trackpad
• 802.11b/g/n wireless, Ethernet LAN
• 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 USB 3.0 port, HDMI and VGA video outputs, 2-in-1 media card reader, Intel Wireless Display technology
• 4-cell Lithium Ion battery
• 1.2 height x 13.6 width x 9.6 depth (inches)
• Weight: 5.3 pounds
• Windows 8 OS
• 1-year limited hardware warranty support