Introduction: The online marketplace 11Street is getting more
and more fame as we speak. Perhaps you have seen their advertisements in the
Seoul subway, for example at Seoulleung station on the green line (Line 2). There
are loads of reasons that the site is gaining in popularity, but for me the two
biggest attracting factors are the short delivery times and the low prices. Results
on price comparison sites like www.danawa.com
often has 11Street as one of the cheapest alternatives.
Just
like for my last product review, this order arrived safely in the mail in about
a day after placing the order. I ordered the Lenovo laptop Thinkpad E535
3260-A65 for a very reasonable price http://english.11st.co.kr/product/SellerProductDetail.tmall?method=getSellerProductDetail&prdNo=693790885&xfrom=&xzone= Now, a few weeks later the price has
dropped and is a superb deal. The product comes with an added 4GB of RAM memory
(making it 8GB in total) which can be installed by yourself or by the staff
before delivery if you lack confidence in opening the interior of the laptop. I
added a keyboard cover to protect the keys from dust, spilled liquids and other
dirt.
Design: I choose the Lenovo laptop since I have heard
only good reviews about laptops from this company, especially the ThinkPad
series. ThinkPad was sold by IBM to Lenovo and the IBM-feeling is totally
there! The computer sports this old-school design which attracted me. The
design is well planned down to the smallest detail, like the dot over the “i”
in ThinkPad lighting up in red when the computer boots and runs. The computer
is all black with small red and silver features and looks sleek and sturdy
without feeling heavy at all.
Keyboard: The keyboard has all the necessary buttons and
even includes the full NumPad to the right. The F1-F12 keys are pushed by
holding down the Fn-key at the bottom left of the keyboard and pressing the
respective top key at the same time. The same top keys are used to mute or
adjust volume, turn the camera, mic or video on/off, adjust brightness, use Wi-Fi
and finally to control the playback of videos or music. Since the laptop is
bought in Korea it also features the key to change from Korean Hangul letters
to the English alphabet and vice versa. The keys feel good and are quiet enough
while typing. In the middle of the keyboard is the classic red mouse button to
control the cursor. There is also a fingerprint swipe protection system for
added security.
Screen: The screen comes in at a native resolution of
1366x768 and is of the matte type and therefore not glossy. The matte type
reflects less light and can therefore be used in environments with many lamps
and direct light toward the screen and also outdoors. Gloss type screens
reflect the background lights and can be annoying to use outdoors. Instead,
matte displays are not as crips and colorful as its gloss counterpart. The
screen of the Lenovo E535 is good and can be used in any type of environment.
Capacity: With 8GB of RAM all Windows features I have
tried up till this date feel very fluid and fast. The 500GB hard drive is just the
right size and it will take quite some time before I will feel the need for
added hard drive space. A 720p video camera is located at the top for flawless
Skype-calling. I have yet to try any games with the computer but there is a
video of a few games such as Warcraft 3 with lots of units on the product order
page. The computer comes in its basic form without Windows installed if you do
not add it for a certain cost. However an extra, unofficial CD with drivers are
included for fast installation.
Connections: 4.0 Bluetooth, WLAN, HDMI port, 4-in-1 card
reader, 3 ports for USB 3.0 and an always on, always powered USB port will keep
most of your needs covered.
Flaws: The material attracts a lot of stains from
your hands, but then again, which laptop does not? I do not find this annoying
at all but some pedantic users might. I would like to have the Fn and Ctrl-keys
change place, which could probably be done easily with some software program in
Windows.
Conclusion: A very good laptop for office or study use
which just might handle a few computer games as a bonus. The design is sleek
and I love to own a laptop which looks like an updated version of the old-school
IBM-laptops from 10-15 years ago. The low price for a computer with such high
capacity was a very attractive point for me and there’s a lot of
bang-for-the-buck indeed!
