The Lenovo G550 is a great laptop if you want to go for something that is functional and affordable. The G530, its previous version, was quite well received. It remains to be seen how well the masses react to its update.

The main noticeable difference is screen aspect ratio, which is now 16:9 instead of the 16:10 that was found on the G530. However, more than the screen aspect ratio the focus here is on performance because this is supposed to be a value for money series of laptops.

Are you in the market for a good sub $600 laptop? Read on and see if the G550 from Lenovo floats your boat.

The new Lenovo G550 features a black weave-type pattern on the lid, which is different from the smooth matte finish found on the G530. The lid is strong enough to take direct hits and finger pressure without distorting the screen, just don’t take a hammer to it when the Vista (Home Premium) that comes with it crashes on your for the nth time. The interior is also black and features a rough matte finish that I like because it won’t maintain a collection of my fingerprints. The over all construction of the laptop is very strong and according to the reviewers the laptop shows no amount of flex anywhere no matter how hard your press. Now that is truly impressive for a value laptop. Nice going Lenovo.

The bottom of the laptop has the access panels that you would need if you wanted to upgrade your laptop. You thus have easy access to the CPU, the memory, the wireless card and also the hard drive at the bottom. Reviewers report that there are no ‘warranty void if sticker remove’ stickers anywhere here, so it seems like you can upgrade to your heart’s content without letting go of the warranty.

The screen is 15.6 inches diagonal and has a native resolution of 1366×768 pixels. The 16:9 aspect ratio makes it great for movie watching. The screen quality is average with nice colors representation and adequate viewing angles. The colors are further improved by a glossy coating on the surface but that also causes glare. It is not reflective enough to cause problems in a moderately lit room but the outdoors is a completely different ball game.

It has speakers located along the front edge of the laptop and they are loud and decent enough for casual movie watching and games. Go for decent headphones for better sound quality, loudness and clarity

The keyboard features traditional keys that are smooth and silent to type with. Typing is bound to be comfortable with these keys and the reviewers confirm this. The keys have a smooth matte finish and hence make for good hold on your fingertips while you are typing. Since this is a 16:9 laptop, it has a wider chassis that allows it to have a separate number pad. Other than the standard keys there are only touch controls for volume up/down and mute.  There are no dedicated multimedia keys and I do not think that the average user of this laptop is going to miss them much.

The G550 has an ALPS touchpad that seems to have greater lag when compared to the Synaptics touchpad used on the G530. Its surface is not as sensitive as the Synaptics pad and is not responsive enough to comfortably use tap and drag functions frequently. You need to tap at it harder to get things done. The buttons are average and do not give you much of a feedback except for an audible click.

Interestingly, the G550 features fewer ports than the G530, its previous model. There is no ExpressCard Slot and the USB ports are down to three 2.0 ports from four on the G530. There is also no phone-modem port, which really won’t be missed by the average user. The motive behind these cuts seems to be cost cutting on Lenovo’s part. What other reason could there be? It still has LAN and the audio in and out ports. It also has the standard VGA out as well but no HDMI. WiFi is provided via a Broadcom 802.11b/g wireless card. No N here and it’s not fair to expect it here.

According to several different benchmark tests available for the G550, it seems like the notebook handles all tasks quite smoothly. It can play HD movies, it can surf the net quite without hiccups and it can play some of the less demanding computer games out there. Thanks to the DDR3 memory, it has good response times but the benchmarks do not show much of a difference in this regard.

The battery life is decent on the G550 and even though it is slightly smaller than the G530 battery, it manages to give you a decent 4-5 hours of run time. This is managed by the enhanced overall efficiency of the notebook. However, Lenovo could have at least maintained the same battery size instead of cutting it down.

The Lenovo G550 runs on an Intel Pentium Dual-Core (not the same as Core 2 Duo) T4200 processor clocking at 2.00 GHz with 1MB L2 cache and an 800MHz FSB. That is good enough for all your standard applications with the ability to run some professional applications like Photoshop at a stretch. Just do not expect really fast processing for CPU heavy jobs. Graphics handled by the onboard Intel GMA 4500MHD.

The memory one the G550 is 3GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, which is a really snappy choice for this price range. In terms of storage the G550 has a 250GB SATA hard drive spinning at 5400rpm, which is average for this price range. It has a super/multi DVD+/- RW optical drive that will read and burn your DVDs.

At $549, this is a decent laptop for the price. The solid built and decent performance work in its favor and the iffy touchpad and the smaller battery work against it. For those who want a decent performing desktop replacement that can also be carried around, the Lenovo G550 is be a good choice.

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