It's a straightforward and lightweight 14-inch business laptop for people who need to get work done on the go.This machine offers a solid carbon-fiber and magnesium-alloy body, long battery life, and a pointing stick for extra productivity. The E7450 puts on a professional air with its no-nonsense black-on-black color scheme and rock-solid build quality. It even has high-quality design features such as a carbon-fiber lid and magnesium-alloy chassis, although you would be hard-pressed to notice them on your first pass.

The matte-black lid opens to reveal a chiclet-style keyboard, five mouse buttons and a pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard. Ports are spread among both sides and the back, while the device's E-series docking port, fans and removable battery lie on the bottom. The only component to break up the sea of black is the metallic-gray hinge and its trio of white indicator lights.At 13.3 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches and weighing 3.6 pounds, the E7450 is slightly larger than the ThinkPad T450s (13 x 8.9 x 0.83 inches and 3.8 pounds), but a tiny bit lighter and with the same level of durability as the Lenovo.

The 3.9 x 2.1-inch touchpad has a smooth surface and is surrounded by two discrete mouse buttons below and another three above in a ThinkPad-like layout. There's also a rubber pointing stick sandwiched between the G and H keys. Mousing around using both the touchpad and nub was responsive, and I easily executed such multi-touch gestures as two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom.With its integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500, the E7450 is good for some light gaming in your off time.