Lenovo G550
Specifications

Price comparison
Average of 11 scores (from 13 reviews)
Reviews for the Lenovo G550
Goodbye IBM. Lenovo's G550, part of its 'Value Line' range, was designed with the price-conscious consumer in mind. At 15.6 inches it gives you a comfortably large desktop workspace, although its high-gloss screen makes it less suitable for long-term office use, or for mobile use in poor lighting conditions. Its specs suggest that it will deliver well in terms of performance, but it was not designed for graphics-intensive applications. The G550's strengths and weaknesses are explored comprehensively in this review.
Source: PC Authority

Lenovo's iconic ThinkPad range has become synonymous with high-quality business portables, and now its Value line is trying to recreate that success with keenly priced consumer models. Lenovo's G550 fails to excel. With a poor display, average build quality and mediocre ergonomics, it simply doesn't have what it takes to compete with the Dell Studio 15.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/31/2010
Rating: Total score: 50% display: 40% workmanship: 60% ergonomy: 50%
Source: Techradar

A fantastic machine that ticks most of the boxes required of a family laptop. While Lenovo is best known for its high-end ThinkPad laptops, it also offers a small range of high-quality entry level machines. The latest is the G550, a powerful, usable and portable system that vastly exceeds all expectations at this low price point. With its impressive usability, power and mobility, the G550 ticks nearly all the boxes required of a family laptop.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 01/22/2010
Rating: Total score: 90%
Source: PC Pro

Lenovo’s iconic ThinkPad range has become synonymous with high-quality business portables, and with its Value line, it's attempting to recreate that success with keenly priced consumer models such as the G550. With its lid closed, the Lenovo is almost rather handsome. Lenovo's G550 tries to combine ThinkPad build quality with consumer-friendly features, but it's a disappointing mix
Comparison, online available, Short, Date: 01/07/2010
Rating: Total score: 50% price: 50% performance: 67% features: 50%
Source: Comp Reviews

For those that are looking for a sturdy laptop at a low price, the Lenovo G550 does an excellent job. With its well designed and comfortable keyboard, the G550 provides a very well designed layout for extended use which is good since they have improved the running time over their previous model. The downside is that the G550 has dropped a number of ports found in the previous G530 that will be missed and its $600 price tag is a bit higher than similar equipped laptops.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/09/2009
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: Notebookreview.com

The Lenovo G550 is a very solid and durable notebook, but now is missing some of the features that were standard on the previous revision. From what could only be considered cost-cutting measures, Lenovo took away one USB port, removed the ExpressCard slot, and moved to an ALPS touchpad. These types of changes might not look as bad if the retail price also dropped, but it is selling for the same price as (if not slightly more than) the previous model. I would still gladly take this model over a lot of the small-business targeted notebooks on the market, but it is just a shame that it is no longer as nice as it once was.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/17/2009
Rating: features: 50%
Foreign Reviews
Source: PC Games Hardware - 4/10

Comparison, , Length Unknown, Date: 03/01/2010
Rating: Total score: 83% price: 80%
Source: Computerbild - 5/10

Comparison, , Long, Date: 02/01/2010
Rating: Total score: 85% price: 90% performance: 86% features: 81% display: 91% ergonomy: 81% emissions: 91%
Source: Cyberbloc

User Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 01/05/2010
Rating: price: 80% performance: 80% mobility: 80%
Source: Notebookcheck

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/03/2009
Rating: Total score: 83% performance: 67% display: 80% mobility: 81% workmanship: 82% ergonomy: 87% emissions: 92%
Source: Notebookjournal

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/14/2009
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 80% performance: 50% features: 30% display: 50% mobility: 50% workmanship: 70% ergonomy: 70%
Source: Laptopy.info.pl

Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/14/2009
Rating: Total score: 71% performance: 65% display: 70% mobility: 82%
Source: CDR-Hard

Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/12/2009
Rating: price: 80% performance: 60% mobility: 80%
Comment
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M: The graphics core of the Intel GL40 and GS40 chipset features a slower clocked GMA 4500MHD (400 versus 533 MHz). Because of the slower core speed, full Blu-Ray Logo support is not given and the gaming performance is a bit worse.
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Pentium Dual Core: The return of the name Pentium, though it is a Yonah core. In fact, it is a double Core processor with a very good relation of performance to current consumption.
T4200:
Entry class dual core CPU with 1 MB level 2 cache and no virtualization technology. Compared to the Core 2 Duo line, some power saving mechanism are deactivated.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
15.60":
15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.
The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Lenovo: Lenovo ("Le" from English legend, novo (Latin) for new) was founded in 1984 as a Chinese computer trading company. As of 2004, the company was the largest laptop manufacturer in China and, after acquiring IBM's PC division in 2005, the fourth largest in the world. In addition to desktops and notebooks, the company manufactures monitors, projectors, servers, etc, and specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, enterprise solutions and related services.
In 2016, the company ranked first in the world in computer sales. It still held it in 2023 with about 23% global market share. Important product lines are Thinkpad, Legion and Ideapad.
In 2011, it acquired a majority stake in Medion AG, a European computer hardware manufacturer. In 2014, Motorola Mobility was purchased, which gave Lenovo a boost in the smartphone market.
73.45%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.