Of late, Lenovo has tried to add some aesthetic appeal for ThinkPad Edge series which are laptops targeted at small businesses. This isn’t surprising because a lot of manufacturers are trying to beautiful their products. As the saying goes, first impression is the last impression. I first saw this laptop at CES earlier this year and this company also sent me the ThinkPad Edge 13 in my labs for reviewing. It was the only one available at that time.

They are back now with the 14 and 15 inch models which has the same look as its predecessor. The lid of the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 is very glossy and it is outlined by a silvery border which looks really cool. The keyboard too is different looking. The raised keys are the combination of both MacBook Pros and Sony Vaio notebooks. ThinkPad keyboard were always my favorites and this one has been made even better. I typed this entire review on the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 and got used to it pretty fast.

My only complaint on the keyboard is the presence of red nubbin on the keyboard. It is still there between the B, G and N keys and gets in the way while typing. My momentum was interrupted sometimes, when I hit this nubbin accidentally. The touchpad located below the keyboard has four buttons – two on the up and two underneath the pad. I felt that if the upper two buttons were sacrificed (they are not too useful anyways) we would have got a bigger touchpad.

For the processor of the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14, you can choose either between an AMD chip which are less expensive or Core i3/i5 chips. I would recommend the Core i3 chips for people who need fast laptops. AMD chips are meant for those who want cheaper laptops and don’t mind a little slow speed. My review unit had a Core i3 chip with 4 GB RAM and 250 GB hard disk which runs at 7,200 rpm. Hard disks with 7,200 speed is a bit rare because they eat up a battery juice quickly. 5,400 rpm hard disks are more popular but faster hard disks will be welcomed by people who yearn for faster file transfers.

Depending upon the components you choose, the price can go as low as $649. The performance of this machine is really nice; there is a finger print reader on the lower right side for people having sensitive data. However, the laptop is very bulky and feels heavier than other notebooks having Core i3 processor. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 also has a DVD burner; it is something that the 13 inch model lacked. I won’t ask for a Blu-ray drive here since this is not an entertainment based laptop.

In the end, I would say that this is a good 14 inch laptop but it is hard for me to recommend the notebook for budget users since there other less expensive Core i3 laptops out there which give better value for money.