First, at least on mine, Windows 8 experienced no problems or compatibility issues. WiFi connectivity is also smooth. There is no reason to downgrade to Windows 7 and mess with the UEFI(even with the goofy Metro interface) because of Classic Shell and/or Start8, which allow you to bypass the Metro UI and have the glorious start button back. Windows 8 is also just as easy on the processor as Windows 7, so even with the standard 2GB of RAM, few things slow down.
Second, the build quality is actually quite good, even though the front edge is a tad sharp and the construction is all plastic. It feels solid in hand like it might survive a few small drops unscathed. The weight is well-balanced and it feels lighter than its 5.5 pounds. The keyboard is the best "chiclet" keyboard I've experienced. Though I prefer the older keyboards (non-island), the concave shape of the keys makes this much easier to adjust to than Apple or HP or Samsung, which stick to flat-topped keys that allow your fingers to slide across. There are a couple of keys that are slightly smaller than their counterparts on other laptops, but my typing speed was better with the Lenovo than it was with my flagship quad-core HP!
Most importantly, this is a great media laptop. The screen is very bright and contrasty (with no color gradients), the Dolby sound is above average if you are using the advanced options (click speaker and then click the "bass boost" option in the menu), and the battery life is pretty astounding for a budget laptop. I got 5 hours of real use at 70% screen brightness performing light tasks, which means you can confidently watch a couple DVDs on a long flight. 480p video plays great, and 720p youtube stretches the APU but most 720p videos are fine. Netflix HD shouldn't be a problem (since it usually isn't real HD). The laptop also games fairly well, punching well above the weight of its 1.4 Ghz netbookish AMD processor.
As Andrew below noted, the laptop is extremely easy to work on, as the hard drive/ram/optical drive are all available with the removal of just two screws and a giant panel on the bottom.
I highly recommend this laptop, and if you follow slickdeals or the Lenovo Outlet, refurbs and scratch & dent versions of this laptop can go for under $200! This for a laptop with a DVD burner, HDMI out, USB 3.0 ports, and excellent media capabilities.
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Bought this from Best Buy in November of 2012. Within 2 weeks it was crashing with a blue screen. Eventually it started happening so frequently that I called support and they told me it was a hardware problem and I would have to pay to ship it to them. Which is BS because if this is a mess up on their part they should be paying for it and everything that comes with fixing it, including shipping. Next the battery is a joke lol it started out at 100% giveing about 6 hours, then slowly overtime it turned into 100% gives you 1 hour 12 minutes. This is only after 4 months of ownership. WTF. Do Not Waste Your Money.Best Deals for Lenovo - IdeaPad N585 Laptop / AMD Dual-Core E1-1200 processor
it met my requirements and work the way i expected it to perform,light in wgt and clear audio and visual.Honest reviews on Lenovo - IdeaPad N585 Laptop / AMD Dual-Core E1-1200 processor
I purchased this laptop as an inexpensive alternative to have windows available, simply because some of the access I need for business requires windows explorer (my other machines are Mac's). I know, you see Mac and immediately think I hate Microsoft but that's not the point of view for this article nor is it true. I like what works consistently with the least amount of my life spent wasting time attempting to get things to work. I have been working with computers since the days of the commodore Vic 20, so I have experience with operating systems, of many types.Now onward with my comments about this Lenovo N585 laptop, notebook... what ever the latest term you wish to use.
1) Build quality: This computer is all plastic and as plastic goes its not very durable, there is no latch for the screen when the laptop is closed, therefore there is a vast amount of wiggle (side to side) occurring between the surfaces of the screen and keyboard. You most likely will need a hard case to transport this laptop to keep the movement to a minimum, in order to reduce hinge wear or breakage. It is an advantage that this laptop has the larger 15+ screen, which is clear and bright enough for normal laptop use. Of course as in all laptops, this machine does not work well in direct sunlight
2) Keyboard: The layout of this keyboard is not intuitive, it has shortened, misplaced keys, arranged to allow the laptop to include an accountant style numerical key pad. I find myself constantly looking for the shift key and repeatedly hitting the caps lock or return keys instead of the shift key. Further, the location of other keys on the lower scale of the qwerty keyboard are slightly shifted, therefore someone who types using qwerty will miss those keys often.
3) Track Pad: This is one of the most single aggravating devices in have ever used on any laptop. The pad jumps from place to place erratically. Even with the palm setting turned on this pad moves all over the place while typing in any situation. Corrections with this track pad are nearly impossible to achieve. I finally wound up plugging in my trackball and turned off the track pad, because I simply could never get the device to behave. I had more success getting the track pad to settle down using Ubuntu than MS Windows 7 or 8. The other aggravating issue related to this track pad is its placement. Its placed in the center just to the left of center which is extremely aggravating as you often find yourself hunting for it. This is true of all current Laptops except Macs. Its the dumbest Idea anyone ever came up with and the PC manufacturers just won't listen to customers who absolutely can not stand this arrangement. The other problem with the trackpad is its size, its enormous, causing one to contact the pad with their palm while typing (cannot be avoided).
4) CD/DVD: This device has worked very well no matter what operating system I have used. You will have to load the country driver in order to use this device under Ubuntu, however it works well after the driver is loaded. The only drawback to the CD/DVD is the location of the button to open the door, its tiny and surface mounted so you find yourself having to use your fingernail in order to open the drive door, I have found this to be an identical issue with many other laptops as well.
5) Wireless: The Broadcom wireless card in this machine is without doubt the single worst feature of the machine. It failed under Windows 7 & 8 (just stopped working), I tore my network apart thinking I had a problem with my devices when all along it was this laptops wireless card. I finally got the Broadcom to work under Ubuntu, through Comcast ISP however when I changed to AT&T the broadcom could never acquire an IP address. Finally I removed the Broadcom wireless card and I am using a USB TPlink (ralink) wireless dongle (TL-WN321G) which solved all of my wireless problems.
6) AMD E1: Remember that this is a 1.3ghz processor therefore don't expect it to be a powerhouse. It works fine for must computing needs, however it struggles with high definition, streamed video such as Youtube. However it works fine playing movies from DVDs. When I switched from Windows to Ubuntu 12.04, I acquired much better response from the AMD GPU (you will need to load the Linux driver for AMD).
7) Ethernet: The ethernet card has worked flawlessly in this computer in every operating system I installed which includes Windows 8 (default which came with the machine) Windows 7, Linux Mint and Ubuntu (I settled with Ubuntu).
8) USB ports: I have not had any issues with the USB ports not working on this machine under all of the operating system I have place on the maching (Microsoft and Linux)
9) Video output ports (VGA and HDMI): These both worked under Microsoft and I know the VGA works under Ubuntu but I have not attempted the HDMI under Linux (Ubuntu). I don't often connect my laptop to an HD TV or monitor, so you will need to test this function for yourself if you plan on using Linux. Remember that when you connect this laptop to HDMI, its will limit the resolution to the maximum allowable by your video driver.
10) Memory or RAM: This machine came with 2gig of 1600 ram which was enough for Linux but not enough for Windows. Expect to add More ram to this machine immediately. Currently I am running 6 gig of ram which seems to be adequate. I have not experienced a Ram related failure with this machine. Like all laptops, there are only two slots for ram, which must be considered when upgrading the ram.
11) Cooling: Like most PC laptops, this machine is cooled using a fan which draws air from the bottom of the machine. The air intake duct is located on the left side of the bottom of the machine, near the screen. Therefore if you use the machine on your lap, there is a better than average chance you are going to block the air intake duct with your left leg. Why PC manufacturers have not figured this out is a mystry to me. If they would draw cooling air from the back of the machine, this issue would be resolved. At any rate you will need some type of lap table or board to set this laptop on while having it in your lap or it will overheat, because you will block the intake port off with your knee.
12) The access plate on the bottom of this machine allows for one plate to be removed in order to gain access to everything. Its the best arrangement for a PC laptop I have seen, however you will need a screwdriver to remove the access panel. Changing drives or ram is simple and straight foreword.
13) Battery: The battery on this laptop provides about 3+ hours of service, depending on what computing task you are undertaking. When the battery is charging, its gets hot to the touch so holding the laptop in your lap will become more difficult depending on the insulation layer between your laptop battery and your skin. This laptop like most of the PC style laptops, continues with the plug in battery charger although Lenovo did angel the plug which makes it less vulnerable to damage. I have no idea why most of the PC manufacturers have not moved to magnetic charging plugs like the ones found on Macs.
14) Software: The basic load for this laptop includes a vast array of bloatware as do most Microsoft machines. I could never get this machine to operate correctly under Windows 8, Further I could never understand Windows 8, it was as if it was a hodgepodge of stuff put together which was not exactly like Android but not exactly Windows 7 either. I found myself having to think tabled while operating under Metro and Thinking PC while operating the desktop its a Frankenstein attempt at an OS for sure and many people will find it very confusing. I loaded Window 7 on this machine and had the same issues with the hardware as I did under Windows 8. I was ready to return the machine until I loaded Linux on it. Once Linux was loaded, the machine settled down and worked like a computer should. I finally settled with Ubuntu 12.04 which has been working very well since I removed the broadcom wireless card and installed the TP link USB wireless driver. If you purchase one of these laptops, ditch Windows and move immediately to Linux, or you will become so frustrated with Windows, you will physically throw this laptop off the roof of your house. Ubuntu 12/04 works well with this machine (that is what I am using now) however Linux Mint worked very well when I loaded it, its really your preference as to which Linux distribution you prefer. Ubuntu seems to have its eye on the future with a software solution that covers PCs,Pads, and Cell phones as collaborative devices.
15) Customer Service: Forget it, Lenovo provides an on line forum where users bash you about with their self assigned importance and vast egos. There is really no customer service to speak of coming from Lenovo for the ideapad user, most of the help is forum based, with very little engineering expertise based upon the technical knowledge of the machines design. This is not simply a Lenovo issue, I have found it to be the up and coming standard with many PC manufactures who are attempting to copy Apple. The difference in Apple is they provide the user two pathways, one is the forum and the other technical experts. The PC manufacturers seem to have forgotten the second half of this equation.
Overall summary, this is a mediocre laptop which does not include an option for bluetooth, It will run most programming, however it struggles with high definition, streaming graphics (such as youtube). This laptop will not successfully run under Windows 8 and has major issues running under Windows 7. This laptop will run fine under Linux Ubuntu and Mint, however the bradcom wireless device will need to be removed and replaced by a ralink alternative in order to be successful for all ISP's. Failure of the boradcom wifi is not a solution which is limited to Linux, its a solution which effects Windows as well. I imagine most of these laptops are simply Chinese manufactured machines, with various manufacturing badges printed on the exterior, as this one appears to be very much like the Acer version. The other aggravating issue is centered around eliminating the use of the track pad and moving to either a mouse or track ball. Just be sure to select the option to turn off the trackpad when a mouse is plugged in in order to stop palm movement from the trackpad. If you are looking for a cheep laptop, I would not think this one not to be any worse or better than selections from other vendors as they are most likely all the same Chinese machine. If you are thinking this is equal to an older thinkpad (such as the T61) its not, as this machine is not even a shadowy reflection of the older, well built, thinkpads.
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Within two weeks of ownership, the display starts showing random dark lines on the display. I believe it is hardware issue. This one is going back to where it came from.
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