Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066A9U

I had to do a double-take when I was comparing the specs of the Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066A9U to its listed price: $629.99 (list at Best Buy) for a 15.6-inch screen with a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor, a spacious hard drive, a plethora of connectivity options, WiDi 2.0, WiMAX, and a sleek aluminum construction. For what it offers in wireless connectivity and performance, and the price it's offered at, the Lenovo IdeaPad V570 earns our Editors' Choice for budget laptops.

Design
Typically, most budget laptop chasses are constructed of plastic, but lately we've seen laptops like the HP Pavilion dv6- 6013cl ($629.99 direct, 4.5 stars) clad in aluminum. The IdeaPad V570 follows the same path, with a muted brushed grey metal on the lid and palm rest. It weighs 5.47 pounds, making it a little lighter than the HP Pavilion g6-1a69us ($629.99 direct, 4 stars) (5.5 pounds) and HP dv6-6013cl (5.6 pounds).

The 15.6-inch screen has a 1,366-by-768 resolution, which translates to 720p HD. If you're looking to get something more along the lines of True 1080p HD, you'll have to dig a little deeper to pay for a laptop like the Dell XPS 15z ($1,534 direct, 4 stars). Above the screen is a webcam for video chatting or Web conferencing, depending on your trade. The keys on the full-size chiclet keyboard are "keycaped" or curved to mold to your finger and have a firmer feel that makes for a delightful typing experience (as far as laptop keyboards go). There's also a numeric keypad, but it's a little more cramped; the zero key has been made significantly smaller to make room for the arrow keys, and the keys themselves are smaller. Likewise, the Shift key, which will likely affect the most users, has been made smaller to make room for the arrow keys as well. The navigating experience was just as delightful: The textured multi-touch touchpad responded well to two-finger scrolling and pinch-zoom commands, and the mouse buttons offered up a soft and silent clicking experience.

Features
The IdeaPad V570 comes well connected, offering 3 USB 2.0 ports, a USB/eSATA combo drive, audio jacks, card reader, Ethernet, VGA, and HDMI. And those are just the hard-line options. The IdeaPad V570 also comes equipped with Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi 2.0), which allows you to wirelessly stream your laptop's content to your HDTV up to 1080p (Keep in mind you need to have a Netgear Push2TV receiver). WiMAX, another wireless feature, allows you to connect to the internet in the same way your 3G or 4G smartphone does. Wi-Fi 802.11n is also available.

Other features include a fingerprint reader (for those who like added security), DVD RW drive, a Wi-Fi on/off switch, and added software by Lenovo, like facial-recognition. The 640GB hard drive should provide plenty of room for your digital downloads, but the eSATA port will provide you with the ability to connect faster external hard drives if you need to clear some room. The hard drive spins at a slower 5,400rpm as opposed to 7,200rpm found in the Dell XPS 15z .

Performance
The IdeaPad V570's 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M processor and 6GB of memory did wonders for its performance scores, compared to other budget laptops. It proved itself as a multimedia laptop in our Cinebench R11.5 test, garnering a score of 2.6 compared with the Pavilion dv6- 6013cl's score 2.04. In our Photoshop CS5 test, the IdeaPad V570 went through 12 of our image filters in 4 minutes 10 seconds, trouncing the dv6-6013cl's time of 5:48.

Even though the IdeaPad V570 doesn't have a discrete graphics chip, its scores indicate it could have some value among more casual gamers. World of Warcraft enthusiasts and fans of light 3D games like Torchlight should be satisfied with what this laptop has to offer. Games like Crysis (DirectX 10) (13.35 frames per second on Medium setting) and Lost Planet 2 (17fps on Medium settings, DX9) will be unplayable without a discrete graphics chipset.

The 48Wh 6-cell battery lasted 4 hours 41 minutes on our MobileMark 2007 test. Compared with the HP dv6-6013cl's time with its larger 6-cell 55Wh battery (5:17), the IdeaPad V570 fared well.

The Lenovo IdeaPad V570-1066A9U comes with a Core i5 processor that dishes out the highest performance scores within its category. A full set of features, with wireless connection options like WiDi and WiMAX, are icing on the cake. It's for these reasons that the Lenovo V570-1066A9U earns our Editors' Choice for budget laptops.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
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