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I’ve always been a fan of ThinkPad laptop designs.
The ThinkPad E14 falls into the latter category.
That isn’t to say that the E14 is a bad laptop.
That’s especially true considering its price, at least if you opt for the Intel-powered version.
Unless you absolutely must have an extra hard drive bay, look elsewhere.
That’s sometimes unfair, especially with the exotic materials and features of the X series.
But with the E14, you wouldn’t be unreasonable if you guessed that it was a five-year-old design.
First and foremost is the keyboard, which is standard Thinkpad through-and-through.
What else is unique about the E14?
That’s fast becoming a standard feature of nearly all Lenovo laptop designs.
And, um, that’s about it, in terms of external design.
The 1920x1080 screen feels dated, both in its 16:9 aspect ratio and its low 250-nit brightness.
The laptop has a MIL-SPEC tested body, but its external panels are all dull grey aluminum.
The wide base of the rear rubber feet makes it extra sturdy on a table or a lap.
But for today’s “sale” price, this configuration is approximately $1000.
It also cuts out the fingerprint reader, for a base “sale” price of $620.
I was also surprised to see just how much graphical power the Xe integrated GPU had.
I was able to play through several Overwatch games at 1080p at 60 frames per second.
But beauty is only skin deep, right?
(The E14 had better hope so.)
(The expensive touchscreen upgrade adds just 50 nits.)
And yes, there are many both thinner and lighter than the E14.
That extra heft might be justifiable if the hardware makes up for it.
But the rather uninspired design boasts only that user accessible RAM and double storage.
There just isn’t anything here to justify that extra bulk.
Battery life, too, is unspectacular.
I found the E14 draining in a little over five and a half hours under Chrome-heavy writing and browsing.
Some of that might be because I tended to blast the screen at full brightness.
Fans of ThinkPad’s traditionally spare software load won’t be happy here, either.
If this were my personal machine, I’d wipe it and install a fresh build of Windows 10.
This is a purely aesthetic note, but the aluminum cover of the laptop is uninspiring.
Buffing with a microfiber cloth wasn’t enough to get it looking decent for these photos.
But it’s undeniably a better deal, and much more competitive on the current market.
Note again that Lenovo’s online store prices are ever-shifting.
Secondary sellers of ThinkPad hardware tend to be in line with the sale prices.
Unless you absolutely must have dual user-accessible storage, give it a pass.
