Lenovo Z50-75 Signature Edition - Review 2022

When y'all think of Lenovo laptops, yous probably motion-picture show ThinkPads and other models found among the highest market place segments. Merely Lenovo is a player in the deal notebook space, likewise, every bit we've seen with machines similar the Ideapad 110S. The Lenovo Z50-75 reviewed here is another example, even if it's not for sale at Lenovo.com—nosotros found it for $365 at Amazon, where it's listed as "2016 Lenovo Premium Congenital High Performance fifteen.half dozen HD Laptop."

Earlier you scoff at that clarification, consider that this AMD-based desktop-replacement laptop comes with double the memory and storage of most under-$400 competitors (8GB and 1TB, respectively). It may not set whatever speed records, and information technology's not powerful plenty to play games—or to unseat our Editors' Choice for budget desktop-replacement laptops, the Acer Aspire East 15 (E5-575-33BM). But penny-pinchers may find it worth a look.

A Tale of 2 Textures

The exterior of the Z50-75 is encased in black plastic, with a fine, nubby texture that helps you become a grip on the somewhat heavy and unwieldy organization. Open the lid, and you find the keyboard tray and palm balance are black brushed aluminum, which lends a affect of class. Both the fifteen.6-inch display and the bezel around information technology are as glossy as a mirror. A chrome surroundings strip accents the touchpad. Build quality is adequate; at that place's a noticeable amount of flex if yous grasp the screen corners, but not much in the keyboard.

Like most desktop replacements, especially cheap ones, the Z50-75 is unashamedly full-size—at 0.98 by 15.1 by 10.4 inches (HWD), information technology's a chip slimmer merely otherwise a friction match for the Aspire Eastward fifteen (1.19 by 15 by 10.2 inches), and a twin in weight (five.15 pounds). A few rivals such as the Asus F556UA-AB32 (0.9 by 14.7 past ten.2 inches, 5 pounds) are a little trimmer. Yous tin can go still bigger, of class, with a 17.3-inch laptop, or lighten your load by settling for a smaller screen — Lenovo'south ThinkPad 13 measures 0.78 past 12.seven past eight.8 inches and weighs three.thirteen pounds.

Don't look for anything as modern equally a USB-C port, but expect acceptable connectivity from the Z50-75. On the laptop'southward left side, you'll detect a connector for the Air conditioning adapter, too as VGA and HDMI video outputs, and Ethernet, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 ports. There's another USB 2.0 port on the correct edge, forth with an audio jack, an SD card slot, and a DVD-RW drive. One disappointment, however, is that the laptop's Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wi-Fi adapter is express to the 802.11b/g/n spec and the more crowded ii.4GHz wireless band, rather than the more than contemporary 802.11ac and 5GHz band.

The webcam centered to a higher place the screen captures adequately bright and precipitous images, though it missed a few fine details, such as the pattern in my shirt. I was pleasantly surprised by the Z50-75's Dolby-tuned sound—the bottom-mounted speakers didn't produce booming bass, but filled a room with well-baked vocals and clear instrumentals.

Traveling Economy Class

High-terminate Lenovo laptops are legendary for their superb keyboards. The Z50-75 isn't part of that elite guild—its keys accept practiced travel, but a sort of plastic plodding feel instead of snappy response. The keyboard isn't backlit, which is no surprise at this price, and its layout is a mixed bag: Even equally an experienced affect typist, I appreciate a footling extra space or separation between the chief keys, the inverted-T cursor arrows, and the numeric keypad; the Z50-75 offers simply a big rectangular grid of keys. On the positive side, the cursor arrows are an inverted T, instead of a horizontal row, every bit on HP laptops, and in that location are dedicated Home, Stop, Page Up, and Page Downward keys above the keypad. The touchpad glides smoothly, though its twin buttons experience flimsy.

The nontouch display'due south 1,366-by-768 resolution makes icons and menus easy to read, simply will dismay anyone hoping to enjoy detailed images or watch 1080p, rather than 720p, videos; the 1,920-by-ane,080 screen of the Acer Aspire E xv carries the day here. Brightness and contrast are copious, and colors, seen straight on, are clear, if not exactly popping fresh. Seen at an angle, however—particularly a vertical angle, every bit when you lean back from your desk—colors plough from somewhat pale to photo negatives, as the twisted nematic (TN) console shows its narrow view compared with In-Airplane Switching (IPS) screens.

The Z50-75's Signature Edition status ways it's gratis of nagging pop-ups and bloatware. Except for two Lenovo utilities, plus the Keeper password director and a link to the Windows Store's $10 Drawboard PDF, the only extraneous programs are Windows' own (we're looking at you, Candy Crush Soda Saga and March of Empires: War of Lords).

Getting the Job Done

The Z50-75 is powered by an AMD FX-7500, a 2.1GHz (3.3GHz turbo) quad-core CPU with Radeon R7 integrated graphics; AMD calls it a x-core APU, with four computing cores and half-dozen graphics cores. The chip is joined by an ample 8GB of DDR3 memory and a 1TB, 5,400rpm difficult bulldoze. Broadly speaking, the AMD FX-7500 easily tops Intel Pentiums and Celeron CPUs, slugs information technology out with Intel Core i3'south, and gets schooled by Intel Core i5's.

In our PCMark eight overall productivity examination, the Lenovo's score of two,220 is a step below the Acer's score of two,491. Both are below the 3,000 score that we regularly see posted by more than strong laptops, merely nonetheless perfectly fine for programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The Z50-75 proved roughly three times as fast every bit the Intel Celeron-based Lenovo Ideapad 110S in our Adobe Photoshop paradigm-editing and Handbrake video-editing tests, turning those programs from unusable to viable (though we can quibble nigh the value of image or video editing on a ane,366-by-768 screen).

The Z50-75 likewise held its ain against the depression-cost competition in our graphics and gaming tests, just "held its ain" is a relative phrase: Fifty-fifty at medium, rather than superlative, image-quality settings, it made it only halfway to the 30 frames per 2d threshold for smooth gameplay in the challenging Heaven and Valley gaming tests. Information technology's strictly for casual and solitaire games, not fast-twitch titles.

See How We Test Laptops

Unfortunately, the Z50-75's worst showing was in our bombardment rundown examination, where information technology survived a mere 3 hours and 13 minutes, crushed past the Acer Aspire E xv'due south time of ix:49 and the Lenovo ThinkPad 13's time of 12:11. The battery is removable—a rarity these days—so you lot could theoretically buy and swap in a spare. Just in this 24-hour interval and age, if a laptop tin't last for at least five or 6 hours, it hardly seems worthwhile.

Ultimately, that'south our knock against the Lenovo Z50-75: It feels like a dated design. Practiced points, similar its audio, are outweighed by bad points, like its battery life. We tin can't fifty-fifty endorse it every bit a family-room internet and email station, due to its lack of 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Contest is tight for consumer dollars, and the Z50-75 is neither Lenovo's nor the marketplace's best. The Aspire East 15 retains our Editors' Choice for its Intel Core i3 processor, higher-resolution screen, faster productivity performance, longer bombardment life, and slightly lower price.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/first-looks/16591/lenovo-z50-75-signature-edition

Posted by: bedfordithis1954.blogspot.com

Share this post