Digital Trends

Lenovo 3000 V100

June 7th, 2006 | by Alan Dang

IBM ThinkPad Heritage

Most people expect their notebook keyboard to be mushy and spongy. They assume that an unresponsive keyboard is a necessary sacrifice for a laptop. IBM ThinkPad owners (and Apple MacBook Pro/PowerBook owners) know a different story. Indeed, some of the most dedicated programmers use the IBM UltraNav keyboard for their desktops; when was the last time you heard someone say they wanted a non-IBM notebook keyboard for use with their desktop PC? I can't think of one. What's brilliant about the V100 is that keyboard is virtually identical to the ThinkPad. No, the keyboard may not look like one from a ThinkPad (6-rows instead of 7, and no red TrackPoint pointing stick), but it still feels like a ThinkPad keyboard. I can type faster and more accurately with the keyboard on the Lenovo V100 than I can with any other laptop I've tested. Should the quality of the keyboard be a deciding factor? Well, writers, computer programmers, and pianists will probably notice the difference the most, and I sort of fit into all three categories.

Peak words per minute (as typed by the author)

The trackpad is, sadly, a different story. The mouse buttons on the Lenovo V100 are spongy, particularly at the corners of the button. What bothered me the most was that the trackpad surface itself felt about a centimeter too short. I kept wishing that I had just a bit more room to work with and moving my finger into the keyboard.

The keyboard on the V100

The trackpad on the Lenovo 3000 V100

The inclusion of a fingerprint scanner was a surprising feature. Usually this is reserved for more expensive notebooks. Whereas the fingerprint scanners found in true business class notebooks have a dedicated encryption chip (called a TPM for Trusted Platform Module), the V100's fingerprint reader is intended primarily for convenience. Instead of trying to remember several different passwords, you can just use your finger. Although I've had an excellent experience with the fingerprint scanner found in the ThinkPad with my fingerprint being recognized the first time around, the fingerprint scanner in the Lenovo V100 was significantly more finicky. The sensor often had trouble even registering the fact that I was passing my finger over the sensor.

Unfortunately, other hallmark ThinkPad technologies such as the Active Protection System (which automatically stops the hard drive motor during a fall), the spill-resistant keyboard, and the magnesium rollcage technology are missing from the Lenovo 3000 lineup.