Lenovo ThinkPad L380 - any views on these?

[toffee_paul]

Hi,

We are looking to invest in some new laptops and were originally looking at the ThinkPad 13 but as it's no longer available Lenovo suggest the L380. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with these?

 

I notice there's no Ethernet port but there is a USB/Ethernet adapter that supports PXE boot. How well does this work compared to an Ethernet port/cable?

 

Thanks,

Paul

[HTCPCP]

Not had an L380, but have used an L370 series laptop for a while last year (was the spare laptop, while waiting for my new one to arrive). Yes, they are quite nice laptops. Are there better ones at the price - probably. The chasis seems fine, and it feels well built, the keyboard was reasonably comfortable to use (as someone who normally has a USB keyboard in his laptop bag). Screen however was a big let down, and despite it's SSD it did feel a bit sluggish. They might have sorted that out.

 

USB to RJ45 adaptors however, just don't cut it for me. We have a Dell Precision laptop, which requires a USB adaptor, and it's just a pain. Do they work - kind of. I always feel they are slower, and more cumbersome, and just something else that can go wrong. From what I can see, they included their proprietary 'miniRJ45 port' - why couldn't they include a full size port - other manufacturers seem to be able to.

 

Other ones to look at - HP Probook 440, Dell Latitude 3380 & 3490

[box_l]

Just for info, we had trouble finding a usb LAN adater that worked.

I am sure the real Lenovo ones do, but after a BIOS update, we had one already that did work.

 

This is the adapter on amamzon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07H4N5KT3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[thimon]

Got quite a few L360's which have performed great. Can confirm that only the Lenovo USB to LAN adapters work for us, similar to how only the official Microsoft USB to LAN adapter works for our Microsoft Surface Pro's.... (to PXE boot that is)

[toffee_paul]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Heard the screen is disappointing on the L380s regards to colour output but reassuring to know the USB/Ethernet adapters work, well the Lenovo ones anyway.

[telspar]

We have these with faculty and staff and they have been working well for the most part, no complaints about speed. Ours have a motherboard issue where a USB dongle in the left side port will cause an external monitor to flash in and out, but I think this has been corrected on newly produced units. Some apps default to the keyboard camera rather than the screen camera. We have been using the official Lenovo network adapter in the few places it is needed. USB C charging is pretty quick. Had them for about 7 months, very few warranty claims so far.