Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review: A sexy, sexy ultrabook

Submitted by Simon Khoury on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 17:43

The IdeaPad U300s, available in the UAE since January 17, is an exciting ultrabook laptop. Hows does it fare against the likes of MacBook Air?

Lenovo U300S: Design

Let us start by saying that this laptop is a breath of fresh air in terms of Ultrabook design. The thin-book-look it conveys is a lesson in understated beauty, taking a totally different approach than the efforts of Apple, Acer, and Asus (maybe it's a coincidence, but Lenovo doesn't start with an A). And we loved both colors on offer, the clementine orange and the pure gray.

Dressed in an attractive aluminum shell, the U300S is a sturdy machine. The palm rest area is also metallic, with no unsightly stickers on sight.

It is obvious from the start that the Lenovo IdeaPad U300S is designed for people wanting the best laptop for working on the move. But to deal with the popularity of the Apple MacBook Air, and with stiff competition from the likes of the great Asus Zenbook UX31, Lenovo has to offer more than captivating looks. Read on.

Lenovo IdeaPad U300S: Features

If you suffered from third-degree burns in the past from using your laptop in your... lap, you'll know the importance of a cool running machine. The U300S is not just that: Using a "breathable keyboard", air is sucked in from the top and dissipated from a vent to the left. This means that the palm area stays cool to the touch, and you can use this laptop on a mattress or pillow without running the risk of a meltdown. Kudos Lenovo!

Another cool feature to rave about is the liquid-resistant keyboard. If water is accidentally spilled over your precious, no harm will be done as it flows out from below. Another highly desirable feature in a business oriented machine.

One of the few concerns we had about the U300S was the lack of connections. There are two USB ports, with one USB 3.0 offering, and an HDMI port, but no ethernet or memory card port on offer. Although both omissions are easily remedied by a external USB dongles, we were surprised Lenovo chose not to include them on a a machine of this caliber.

The keyboard on U300S is one of the best we've used, surely benefiting from Lenovo's experience in making keyboards. they keys are ergonomicvally shaped, and have the right amount of travel. It even beats those found on the Air, although we instantly missed the backlighting feature.

The trackpad is good, not flawless. Better than the Asus UX31's, but still not quite on par with Apple's.

All in all, if work is what you intend to achieve on this machine, then you're well covered.

Lenovo IdeaPad U300S: Performance

The Lenovo IdeaPad U300S features an Intel Core i5 2467M 1.6GHz processor, which can be upgraded to an i7 processor if you're so inclined.

The low voltage family of processors are part of Intel’s Sandy Bridge range. You will get results on the same range as other ultrabooks, but don’t expect the same performance in demanding applications as on full laptop systems like the Dell XPS 15z. The processors are clocked at 1.6GHz, but have some cunning tech built in to keep the system optimised.

That said, modern processors, even of the low-voltage (ULV) variety, have more than enough processing grunt to keep up with everyday tasks such as web browsing, document editing, music and HD video playback, etc. What matters the most for the regular user is having an SSD drive for quickly waking up from off/sleep states and launching programs almost instantaneously, coupled with enough RAM.

The U300S doesn't disappoint in this regard: It has 4GB of RAM, the current standard on laptops. Keeping the system feeling super zippy and responsive, there’s a 128GB SSD drive - We’re also glad to say is becoming standard on Ultrabooks, but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to stick to this, and external storage is always an option for those - ahem - legally acquired movies and games.

Our test unit had the less powerful Intel Core i5 processor. It scored 7244 points in Cinebench, falling behind the Asus Zenbook UX31, and Acer Aspire S3.

In real-world terms, this is more than enough to run advanced programs such as Photoshop, although rendering will take longer than full-powered Intel Core processors, and Ultrabooks with the Core i7 processor. You'll have absolutely no problem running multiple applications at the same time. And should you go for the Core i7 equipped model, then only the 2011 MacBook Air would be able to out-perform you.

Like most Ultrabooks, there’s no dedicated graphics card, relying instead on the GPU found on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor. While not match for a dedicated Nvidia or ATI GPU, the latest generation of Intel built-in GPUs fare much better than their predecessors, and you might even want to try some older games or newer ones at low detail levels.

There’s enough graphical power to deal with HD video, so you can catch a movie or two on the move.

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s: Screen

The Lenovo has a 13.6”-inch screen with a sharp 1366x768 resolution, which also has a matte coating, so it won’t dazzle you with reflections in direct sunlight.
Glossy screens do look better when watching movies (better contrast), but we tend to prefer matt displays if you intend to use your laptop for work, productivity or reading purposes. It's easier on the eyes, and will not remind you that you're looking like crap when firing up emails in the morning or cramming for the midterms.

However we were slightly disappointed with the quality of the display. In terms of Resolution, it falls short of the Air's 1440x990 panel, and the 1600x900 on the Asus Zenbook. We're not saying the screen is bad by any means - in fact, we were impressed by its brightness. It's just that blacks weren't as deep as we would like, and off-angle viewing left the colors a bit washed-up.

In any case, watching movies on a 13.3 inch screen is not an ideal setup. You can always hook up your large HD television via HDMI, or even stream it via Intel's WiDi system (of course you will need a special USB adaptor for the TV to make use of that feature).

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s: Battery

The battery life is very decent. In our lab test consisting of looping images and websites at 65% screen brightness, the U300-S lasted 5 hours and 30 minutes. So this would give you 6-7 hours of real world usage, making the U300S the number one among Windows ultraportables, and only slightly behind the class-leading MacBook Air.

Lenovo didn't put the same amount of effort that Asus did in designging the power brick (adaptor), so you're stuck with the old brick-and-cable setup. But we did like the cool battery LED indicator on the front of the laptop.