Lenovo Thinkpad EDGE 11

While some of the best 13-inch laptops like the Sony Vaio Z, MacBook Air or Toshiba Portege R705 weigh in at 3 pounds and make good daily carry units, the typical 13-incher is closer to 4 pounds in weight. We think 11.6-inch laptops are a good size and weight for a daily carry device. The typical 11.6-inch laptop is light, being a little bit over 3 pounds in weight, and its keyboard is not as small or cramped as a 10-inch netbook.

Lenovo has several 11.6" laptops available, the Thinkpad X100e and the Ideapad U165, but the new Thinkpad EDGE 11 is the best of the bunch. The AMD powered X100e and U165 are fine laptops, but fall a bit short on battery life providing about 4 hours of real world computing. The EDGE 11 is powered by Intel Core i3 380UM processor. Mated to a six cell battery, this will give you a good six hours of battery life.

It has all the features you would expect in a current 11.6-inch notebook. A 1366 x 768 screen, the ability to play HD content, a HDMI port to output HD content, a multi-touch keyboard, card reader and the usual wireless and wired connectivity options. Like most 11.6-inch laptops, it has an optical drive. Its specifications are identical to the Acer TimelineX 1830T, and comparing the two is not hard to do.

Compared to the 3 pound, 1-inch TimelineX 1830T, it is 10% heavier and thicker (3.3 pounds and 1.1 inches). Also, the 6-cell battery sticks out the back. It does have its advantages. While this is a bit subjective, it does have a keyboard that provides better tactile feedback and the trackpad is a bit more comfortable to use. 

Our main reservation about the EDGE 11 is the price. It has a retail price of Php35,990 without an operating system which is a fair amount higher than the TimelineX 1830T which can be found for Php28,500 (cash) to Php32,500 (12-months "zero" interest) with Windows 7 Basic (64-bit) installed. The price of the EDGE 11 is about the same as the Core i5 powered  Gateway EC19C10i (which is an 1830T sold under the Gateway brand). 

The EDGE 11 comes in black and red. If you are in the market for an 11.6-inch unit, and the Acer TimelineX 1830T and  Gateway EC19C10i do not strike your fancy (given its netbook look), you may want to give the EDGE 11 a look.