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Artwork: Rick Rizner, John Goddard
Lenovo ThinkPad R52
- Spec Navigator
- Processor
- Memory
- Display
- Storage
- Battery
- Dimensions
- Other Features
- Networking
- Multimedia
- Software
- Interface Connections
- Included Devices
Storage
| Total HD Size | 40 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | DVD-ROM/CD-RW |
| Optical Drive Speed | 8 x |
| Removable Optical Drive | Yes |
| Slots | Express Card Slot |
| Number of Media Slots | 0 |
| PC Card Slots | Yes |
Battery
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Standard Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Type of Batteries | Lithium ion |
| Vendor Rated Battery life | 330 hours |
Networking
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Included network card | Gigabit ethernet |
| Modem Type | V.92 |
| Wireless LAN Type | 802.11g |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Laptops »
Pros
Comfortable keyboard, solid performance
Cons
Bland design
Bottom Line
The R52 has a comfortable keyboard, and its modular bay accepts many optional drives.
IBM ThinkPad R52
ThinkPad R52 Review, by Carla Thornton May 24, 2005
IBM updates the processor but not much else with the ThinkPad R52, its latest entry into its R line of laptops. A thicker version of the thin-and-light T line, the R52 is virtually the same 7-pound corporate laptop as last year's R model, only faster and with a couple of new connections, including the new ExpressCard slot, which takes the place of a second PC Card slot.
The $1749 R52 offers dual pointing devices: a well-behaved touchpad and a comfortably squishy stick embedded in the keyboard, each equipped with its own deep-depressing mouse buttons. The keyboard is firm and quiet, topped by a launch button for IBM's excellent animated manual and a handy set of volume-control buttons; unfortunately, audio from the front-mounted speakers is not especially robust.
A squarish unit with a gently beveled front, the R52 offers most of its connections on the left side, with a parallel port for legacy peripherals as the sole rear connection. Unlike with the T line, a FireWire port is included for fast video downloads. The modular right bay can accommodate any one of three devices: an optical drive such as the combination DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive in our test unit (a DVD burner is available for $299), a second battery, or a second hard drive. A pop-out tab release built into each device lets you swap it in and out using one hand. The unit's hard drive and memory are user upgradable, although only one DIMM slot is accessible.
No wide-screen wonder, our review R52 came with a sensible 14.1-inch screen capable of a native 1024-by-768-pixel resolution (models with 15-inch screens at 1024 by 768 or 1400 by 1050 are also available). The screen has one thing most others don't, though: the tiny ThinkLight LED embedded in the top edge to illuminate the keyboard in dark environments. The ThinkLight may not be IBM's most exciting invention, but I find it quite useful.
On our benchmark tests, the 1.73-GHz Pentium M 740-equipped R52 performed like the typical 1.7-GHz/600-MHz Pentium M laptop. The R52 earned a WorldBench 5 score of 77 compared with our average of 78 for notebooks using the slightly less powerful processor. Battery life was a solid 3.5 hours.
Upshot: If you've been waiting for an IBM ThinkPad R51 with improvements, you'll like the R52, a very similar black business laptop with a slightly faster processor.
Carla Thornton
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
-
64
-
70
-
80
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Laptops
64
94
62
86
Performance
| ACD Systems ACDSee | 900 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 386 |
| Adobe Premiere | 610 |
| Ahead Nero | 1714 |
| Battery Life (Office Applications) | 3:30 |
| Discreet 3ds Max DirectX | 355 |
| Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL | 450 |
| Microsoft Office XP | 582 |
| Mozilla | 385 |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | 620 |
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Roxio VideoWave | 473 |
| Windows Media Encoder | 496 |
| WinZip | 592 |
| World Bench 5 Score | 77 |
| World Bench 5 Word Score | Fair |
WorldBench Tests
| World Bench 6 Multitasking | 760 |
User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Lenovo ThinkPad R52
2 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 2 reviews
-
Reviewed by: jamesp142
Duration of ownership: 8 Months
Strengths: durability
Weaknesses: cooling off
Overall: Great laptop, Durability is amazing I dropped it on one of my steel dumbells by accident from about my waist the screen hit the dumbell and there was a small scratch on the screen only noticable if the laptop screen is off
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Reviewed by: white8989
Duration of ownership: 1 Year
Strengths: Security, Features, Usable additions, Look, function.
Weaknesses: The hard drive manufacturer.
Overall: I got the IBM R52 last year, to which I am very pleased with it. This was an upgrade from my former IBM thinkpad R40 which in it time was a good system. I had the R40 since 2003 and to this day it runs perfectly. I think that the R52 will do the same. I have had nothing but good luck with IBM thinkpads. The only problem that I had with this R52 is that the HD had been corrupted by lord knows what, however IBM was able to clean the system and get everything back with ease. This had happend 2 times. After the 2nd time IBM changed and even upgraded the hard drive from the 40gig to an 80gig. I would recomend the IBM for those that are looking into this model.
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
-
Reviewed by: sam514
Strengths: securty, cpu
Weaknesses: hd poor, 3kg
Overall: i very setesfa from this noot book.hi have a very good wi fi, and programs.runing fast and the battry is littel week/ but is avery good noot book for student or home users
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