Meet Tim, a senior technician here at Laptop Broker. Like all our technicians, Tim knows his way around a laptop and has upgraded and rebuilt thousands of computers over the years. We asked Tim to review a few laptops he is familiar with and have posted them for our customers to review. We hope you find this information helpful and welcome your feedback.

IBM ThinkPad R52 Review

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 is a lightweight notebook with excellent performance levels. This laptop offers easy manageability, reliability, and is very durable. IBM has brought in few innovations into ThinkPad R52 over its predecessor ThinkPad R51. A faster RAM, latest graphics chips, and a Centrino platform have been able to make Lenovo ThinkPad R52 capable of handling any business task with ease.

Features

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 has a moderate size and weight, ideal for a business laptop. Actual dimensions are 12.4” x 10.2” x 1.3”. It weighs around six pounds. It is thicker and heavier than similar laptops. You can come across many different configurations of ThinkPad R52 series available across computer stores and online sellers. You can build your own system by offering your preferred or necessary configurations at IBM web site.

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 offers a midrange 1.73GHz Intel Pentium M 740 Sonoma processor and integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics subsystem. It has 512MB of fast 533MHz RAM. It has 1 GB RAM memory and can further support a maximum memory 2 GB RAM. It has a hard drive size of 40 GB and hard drive speed is 4200 rpm. The available operating system is Windows XP Professional. Few models come with Windows Vista™ operating system. This 56kb modem comes with 10/100/1000 Ethernet. Lenovo ThinkPad R52 includes power adapter and battery.

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 comes with embedded security system. The built-in security system enrolls fingerprints and you only have to activate the password protection feature. Additionally, it also features an active Protection System. This safeguards your hard drive in case of any accidental fall. It prevents your hard drive from spinning if your laptop falls down. 

There is a LED display strip above the keyboard. This has indicators for Bluetooth status, Wi-Fi status, hard drive activity, num lock, battery status, caps lock, and standby status. The LED strip at the back of the keyboard also gives same information except for the absence of Bluetooth status.

Rating: 4/5

The Looks on the Exterior

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 has a sturdy and durable look on the exterior. It sports matte black color on the functional outer case. The casing surface is slightly micro-texture in nature. Hence, it very well hides any minor scratches that develop overtime.

Strong metal hinges fix the laptop lid to the bottom and thereby tightly secure the laptop screen. You just have to slide a single security clip to the right. This unlocks the hooks holding the lid down.

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 is a squarish unit. It is a sturdier cousin of its predecessor with extended security and warranty features. Management interface is easy and straightforward without any confusing readings. This laptop offers a good combination of comfort, security, and affordability.

Rating: 5/5

Ports

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 offers many ports and slots. There is a single IE window in the front. On the left side, there are two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, a modem jack, microphone port, headphone port, Ethernet jack, S-Video port, 4-pin mini IEEE1394 port, exhaust vent, and two PCMCIA slots. A power port and a parallel port are at the backside. A VGA port, CD, and DVD-ROM are at the right side. Positioning of ports away from the front side offers quick connections and prevents any wires from coming in the front or causing disturbances in your work area.

Rating: 5/5

Keyboard, Touch Pad, and Pointing Stick

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 has a comfortable and user-friendly keyboard. All keys are placed as in a desktop. This allows easy typing for users accustomed to desktop computers. Keys are all full-size. All input devices are responsive and comfortable to use. Keyboard is firm and quiet. An easily accessible launch button offers an interesting animated manual.

There are not many buttons and controls on the keyboard. Lenovo ThinkPad R52 features only four buttons. These are for mute, volume high and low, and accessing support information. 

Pointing stick comes with a red eraser head and a flat tactile top. This stick has two mouse buttons. These enclose a scroll button in between. Touch pad is below these buttons. It also includes two more mouse buttons close to the touch pad. Touch pad is placed comfortably.

Rating: 5/5

Screen

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 offers either a 15-inch SXGA+ screen display or a 14.1-inch screen. Available pixel resolutions include 1024 by 768 or 1400 by 1050. Viewing angles are good and pose no apparent problems.

The screen has a small LED embedded light at the top. This offers sufficient illumination if you are working in dark surroundings. The screen is bright and sharp and supports easy viewing of DVDs.

Rating: 5/5

Wireless

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 comes with 802.11 b/g installed wireless. The wireless is operational through function key combinations. These keys allow you to switch on or off Wi-Fi adapter. Although T52 offers fast wireless access, it falls below expected performance levels.

Rating: 3/5

Software

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 comes with various preinstalled software. It includes Active Protection System, Rescue and Recovery, Access, power management and Think Vantage solutions. A power manager creates power profiles to manage system temperature, performance levels, battery life, and fan sound levels. Rescue and Recovery provides essential backup data, configures security settings and fingerprint reader, and recovers any lost data.

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 offers a single process for reinstallation of drivers. This single program can reinstall all necessary drives. You do not have to download multiple applications and drivers. This is a unique feature of R52 and less available in other similar laptops.

Rating: 5/5

Battery Life

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 can work for four hours with a six-cell battery while a nine-cell battery can help you work for six hours. It takes around three hours to charge a six-cell battery while it takes around four hours to charge a nine-cell battery completely from nil charge. However, the nine-cell battery increases weight of your laptop. Further, it sticks out from the backside of your laptop.

Rating: 4/5

Sound and Heat

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 is fairly quiet. You can only hear the occasional drum of the hard drive. Fan is on continuously, although it is hardly audible. Lenovo ThinkPad R52 has integrated speakers under the front edge. Although these speakers lack essential bass, they are loud and clear.

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 does not get heated up even after many long hours of use. The area below the CPU and Wi-Fi card can feel little warm. Yet, R52 definitely has lower heat levels than other laptops. However, if you include and use many applications within your CPU at the same time, it will definitely cause your laptop to get heated up.
 
Rating: 5/5

Support and Service

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 comes with a standard three-year warranty. You can extend the warranty period up to five years by availing different extension plans. You need to pay extra costs for such extension plans. Lenovo offers a 24x7 toll-free telephonic support during the warranty period. Additionally, you also receive free service and next-business-day repairs. IBM support web site offers troubleshooting information. However, there is no facility for online chat with official technician or through user forums.

Rating: 4/5

Overall Conclusions

Lenovo ThinkPad R52 is a good laptop for students and professionals alike. However, its weight does not allow frequent travel. This laptop may not suit the requirements of extremely mobile people. Nonetheless, it suits the tag of an all-purpose laptop aptly.

Performance levels are average and wireless connectivity is mediocre. ThinkPad 52 does not support extensive media games. However, the cost of it makes up for all shortcomings.

With ThinkPad R52, you can get repairs done at reduced rates and software enhancements are easy and hassle-free. This laptop is a good choice for day-to-day working. It offers many options that suit power users the best. Overall, it is a wise choice.

Pros:

• Excellent screen
• Good endurance levels
• Affordable
• Comfortable keyboard with dual pointing devices

Cons:

• Multimedia functions lacking
• Suits occasional mobility and cannot support frequent mobility
• Wireless connection and performance average
• Little heavier
• Mouse buttons small
• Touch pad undersized