Lenovo Essential B5400: Sturdy laptop with matte screen
Pros
- Silent cooling
- Sturdy housing
- Lots of upgrade options
Cons
- Limp mouse keys
- Screen brightness is disappointing
Lenovo, best known for its business ThinkPad laptops, has been trying for some time to also gain a foothold with cheaper consumer laptops. The Lenovo Essential B590 was a popular choice for a while and with the Essential B5400 the company introduces a new series of laptops, which are equipped with the most ‘essential’ functionality.
If we compare the price against the specifications, the B5400s are competitively priced. The question then, of course, is whether the essential functionality you get offers enough value for money. We looked into that.
Appearance, keyboard, touchpad
When you hold the B5400 for the first time, you notice that it is quite a large and unwieldy thing. It’s not a laptop that you take with you every day and the weight of just over 2.3 kilograms doesn’t invite you to do so. If the laptop is mainly on the kitchen table, then that weight is of course no problem. The design is as we are used to from Lenovo: sleek, black and without frills, which gives the laptop a tidy appearance.
What is also striking are the materials used. Or rather: the material used, because everything is made of plastic. That plastic leaves a sturdy and solid impression. Even if we press hard on the housing, it hardly gives. An additional advantage is that it is not shiny, but matte plastic. The laptop therefore reflects little light, so you won’t be bothered by reflections in the housing, even in brightly lit rooms or when there is sunlight.
Like the case, the screen is matte, which we generally prefer over glossy, reflective screens. Still, we have something to criticize on the screen; the maximum brightness and contrast are not enough, so that you still have to make an effort to read the screen in brightly lit rooms, despite the absence of reflections.
The keyboard of the B5400 turns out to be very pleasant for a laptop at this price. The keys offer sufficient travel and feedback. And although the keyboard springs slightly during typing, the rest of the laptop remains rock solid. The touchpad is also satisfactory thanks to a high placement in the case and good precision. The mouse keys, which are placed under the touchpad, give a somewhat less solid impression than the rest of the laptop. A click of the buttons feels light and unclear, and what’s more, the underlying mechanics don’t feel like it’s built for heavy use.
Battery life and speed
The chunky design of the B5400 won’t appeal to everyone, but it has its reasons. Thanks to the size of the laptop, the B5400 can offer many connection and expansion options. There are three USB connections, plus d-sub and HDMI connections for external monitors. An Ethernet connection, DVD burner and SD card reader are also standard features.
For those who find the standard configuration not fast enough, the B5400 offers easy upgrade options. We opened the bottom of the laptop and found an empty memory slot, while replacing the hard drive and even the processor is also possible. If you really want to accelerate the laptop considerably, you can install an m.2 SSD with a maximum length of 42mm, a fairly unique option in this price segment.
That doesn’t mean the B5400 is slow, though. The Core i3 processor in our test configuration holds its own and the speed increase that the more expensive variant with i5 processor brings is measurable, but not noticeable during daily use.
Although the laptop is not equipped with extra economical hardware, the battery life of four hours and fifteen minutes turns out to be fine for this price range and this screen size. The cooling appears to do its job well under heavy load. The laptop hardly warms up and the warm air is blown out of the laptop at the side. In addition, the cooling produces a maximum sound pressure of only 33.4dB(A), which is very little and sounds like a soft murmur.
The B5400 surprised us positively when it comes to build quality and ease of use. We have a small comment on the mouse buttons, which don’t feel as sturdy as the rest of the laptop. A higher maximum screen brightness would also have been a valuable addition to the matte screen. In terms of speed, the B5400 performs as expected, while its expandability exceeds expectations. If you want to use a laptop for a long time and want to give it a major upgrade halfway through its life, the B5400 is the right choice.