Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

 

While jaded tech writers and reviewers have become accustomed to seeing $1,000-plus price tags on laptops, the reality is that the vast majority of the rest of the world’s buyers aren’t ready to pay such lofty prices. For years, the average selling price of a Windows laptop has hovered around a mere $500, according to NPD Group, a number that is unlikely to move significantly.

Those aren’t the kind of computers that companies like to send to publications to write about, because they don’t have all the bells and whistles that the expensive machines have and which give you something to put into the “Wired” section, and they’re slow and heavy. And yet they sell like mad, so manufacturers have no choice but to keep grinding them out.

Lenovo’s budget laptop for the Windows 8 era is this, the IdeaPad Z400 Touch. For your modest investment, you get a 14-inch (1366 x 768-pixel) touchscreen, a 2.6GHz Core i5 CPU, integrated graphics, 6GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. There’s even a dual-layer DVD burner.

All of this will set you back 600 bucks, squarely in the wheelhouse of ultra-budget laptops.

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

To be sure, the Z400 Touch isn’t exactly the state of the art. Performance is iffy, better than the cheapo Atom-based tablets but a far cry even from what you’ll get with the typical ultrabook. This is particularly noticeable with graphics work, where the Z400 struggles to muddle through even basic video tasks. The non-user-replaceable battery gives you just over three hours of running time during DVD playback, and even the port selection is on the chintzy side. Of the three USB ports, only one is a 3.0 connector, with HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, and an SD Card slot rounding out the package. As well, the screen is extremely dim versus the competition, and its resolution sits at the bare minimum acceptable on a computer today.

There are fit and finish problems to contend with. The keyboard is bouncy and has far too much “give” — a far cry from Lenovo’s usual high-grade typing surfaces. And the clickpad is jumpy and often erratic: I experienced frequent problems whereby I often accidentally switched apps due to the Z400 registering an unintended gesture, something I haven’t encountered to date on other Windows 8 machines. Built entirely of plastic, it doesn’t exactly feel sturdy (though it does manage to weigh in at a solid half-pound heavier than a comparably-equipped ThinkPad). The screen is impossible to open single-handedly, and even the CD tray (no slot-loading here, sir) is tricky to deal with.

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Despite that litany of complaints, do not write off this machine. Why? Because, in case you missed it up top, it costs $600. You can barely get an iPad for 600 bucks, much less a touchscreen-equipped laptop that features a legit Core i5 and a terabyte of on-board storage. Lenovo may have cut some corners (OK, a lot of corners), but doing so has pushed this thing down into the world of netbook pricing — and I’d far rather have this machine than any netbook on the market. To be frank, I’m not sure if there’s a better deal available in computerdom today, that is, unless you all want to start moaning about Linux in the comments.

WIRED A price tag is worth 1,000 words, or at least 600 words. Decent styling considering the plastic build. God, it’s so cheap.

TIRED Too many to list: Dim screen, rough build quality, lousy keyboard and clickpad, beastly heavy, insufficient battery life…

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired