Lenovo's Ideapad U110 "coming soon" to the US

We got our hands on one of Lenovo's very slim and very shiny Ideapad U110 laptops way back at CES earlier this year, but it looks like the ultraportable is now finally nearing a release in the US, with at least one online retailer listing it as "coming soon." According to JR.com, the laptop will be available in both black and red versions (model numbers U110B and U110R, respectively), with each setting you back a hefty $1,999. That'll buy you a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo L7500 processor, a generous 3GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, and an 11.1-inch WXGA display. Unlike Lenovo's similarly slim X300, however, this one unsurprisingly doesn't come with a built-in optical drive of any sort, but we're guessing the 2.3-pound weight and 0.7-inch thickness will be enough for most to forgive that shortcoming.

[Via Laptoping]

[MaX PL and the 360 r4pe Tr4iN @ Apr 15th 2008 3:28PM]

That is slick, but $1999? really?

Ultraportables should not be priced like Appleware.

[schmitty338 @ Apr 15th 2008 3:38PM]

That actually sounds pretty reasonable for the class....the MacBook is almost that price for WAY worse specs...

The closest to it's class I'd say is the Sony TZ-series, which starts at $1800 for specs that aren't up to par with those on this Lenovo, and quickly works it's way up to $2500 with reasonable specs and no SSD....granted the TZ has an optical drive, but still priced well within it's class.

[pokey @ Apr 15th 2008 3:51PM]

What? The base Macbook is $1099 and has a 2.1G T8100 Penryn (L7500 is Merom), a 120GB drive, a higher res screen, and CD. How is that way worse?

[Keaton @ Apr 15th 2008 4:05PM]

@Pokey

*rolls eyes*

[gad get @ Apr 15th 2008 4:10PM]

Macbook Air.

[nd @ Apr 15th 2008 4:20PM]

@Keaton
roll your eyes if you want, but the macbook has a faster (and better) processor, 4gb ram (vs 3), 120 gb hd (same), cd drive (vs none), and is only .26" thicker and costs $1599.

apple gets a bad rep somehow for it's "overpriced hardware", but in the class that the macbook is competing it is a relative bargain- that's actually the reason that i bought mine! its about 1.5 years old now, and back then the closest pc laptop in specs was about $900 more...and now i'm hooked....

[Les @ Apr 15th 2008 4:39PM]

@nd
he meant to say macbook air
making your point pretty much moot, as the air with similar specs is the same price.

still don't see the reason to buy this class. Still not more portable than a MB or similar sized laptop. weight and thinness aren't that important, when we are only looking at 6 or 7lbs anyway

[Les @ Apr 15th 2008 4:43PM]

also, for the most part you pay way more for significantly more similar specs in a PC laptop.

My sister has a MB 12.1 or 13" screen i think with 2ghz cpu, GB of Ram and no video card. Nice little piece for checking the mail and surfing on, small and reliable. 1500$

I have a 17" 2.6Ghz cpu, 4GB Ram, 512 8600GT, 1500$
I realize these are used for different stuff, but a comparable macbook pro would have run me near $2700

[tekdemon @ Apr 15th 2008 8:20PM]

@Les"still don't see the reason to buy this class. Still not more portable than a MB or similar sized laptop. weight and thinness aren't that important, when we are only looking at 6 or 7lbs anyway"
Weight and thinness aren't that important? Maybe easy for you to say, but I'd like to see you try shoving a 7 lb laptop into a handbag, or a regular briefcase that has other stuff in it.

Or how about the fact that some people already carry around 20 lbs of stuff with them, and the last thing they need is another 7 lbs to carry around?

[cmonkey @ Apr 16th 2008 12:13AM]

Keep in mind that Lenovo pricing is basically what Dell is. While the base price may be $1999, nothing ever sells for base price.

The eternal Labor Day, End of School, Beginning of School, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Talk Like a Pirate Day, etc sales ensure that product pricing is always 20-30% lower than MSRP.

[Matt @ Apr 15th 2008 3:43PM]

word... Lenovo could charge much much more for that kind of powerportable

[gabe @ Apr 15th 2008 3:56PM]

slow day on engadget ...zzzzzzzzz

[Jeff @ Apr 15th 2008 3:57PM]

That's a pretty hot machine but its definately a bit steep. Suddenly buying the X300 doesn't look so bad...please please put a normal hard drive in it.

[shineliang @ Apr 15th 2008 4:02PM]

sorry engadget, but i am pretty sure that it comes with 64gb ssd.

[shineliang @ Apr 15th 2008 4:09PM]

CES 08: Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Ultra-portable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnxjbfa5yK0

[Rob @ Apr 15th 2008 11:43PM]

It looks over-the-top shiny in that video. Annoying.

[gad get @ Apr 15th 2008 4:20PM]

I wonder when we'll see WSXGA resolution on a screen this size?

[sinai @ Apr 15th 2008 4:29PM]

when people get superhuman vision

[gad get @ Apr 15th 2008 4:50PM]

Only a matter of time, then, is what you're saying. ;)

[ethana2 @ Apr 15th 2008 5:22PM]

At short distances like this, I can still discern pixels. Make them smaller.

[gad get @ Apr 15th 2008 4:49PM]

Sure, this thing is 2.3 pounds without a battery, but I don't know anyone who uses a laptop without a battery, do you? The weight is about 3 pounds with battery installed. That makes it about the same as the MacBook Air that everyone so loves to hate. All the other specs are very similar to the Macbook Air as well. One more gig of RAM, big deal. Running Vista instead of OS X means you need probably half a gig more anyway.

This thing really just shows how not-so-bad a deal the MacBook Air actually is. The one problem is the MacBook's single, cramped USB port. But it looks like this thing only has two of them (judging by the picture). Still, that's something, right? Right?

[Tim @ Apr 15th 2008 5:14PM]

hang on, is the mac book air still the worlds thinnest notebook?

[younes @ Apr 15th 2008 5:23PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-bhgQu-cEw&feature=related

he says a littel bit above 1000 dollars, so the price of 1999 is not correct IMO, look at what he says at 7:10

[ethana2 @ Apr 15th 2008 5:37PM]

It doesn't seem to say what OS choices there are-- perhaps because none available are beneficial to mention.

How pathetically sad.

[Ninjakamster @ Apr 15th 2008 8:16PM]

I also have the 11" Vaio TZ myself, I love the 11.1" form factor and its great to see more of this form factor entering the market.

Interesting to see it has a Low Voltage (LV) instead of Ultra Low Voltage processor (ULV) unlike the other current 11.1" laptops, Vaio TZ and Asus U2E. Should be noticably more powerful as it has the same FSB and L2 cache as the normal cousins, 4mb vs 2mb in ULV and 800mhz FSB vs 533mhz in ULV.

But then I wonder how the battery life compares to the Vaio TZ and also its screen, I hear its not LED backlit unlike the TZ and U2E. Everyone who has seen the TZ knows it has one of the best screens around.

[B.B. @ Apr 15th 2008 9:58PM]

I would never buy one of these commie-made machines. There's probably all kinds of malicious code and wormware inside all these Chinese-made laptops. Thankfully the US government does not allow sensitive or classified information to be on Lenovo machines.

Allowing Lenovo to get the Thinkpad division was perhaps one of the stupidest decisions made by the US gov't in recent years. Then again, what else could you expect from the guys who brought us the $3 Trillion dollar Iraq War (tm)

[foodle @ Apr 15th 2008 11:15PM]

You're going to have a lot of trouble finding any laptop that hasn't passed through China during some part of its manufacturing. Welcome to the global economy ...

[snife @ Apr 16th 2008 4:00AM]

I've not read such a xenophobic rant for a while - i'm assuming your one of the 90% of americans who don't have a passport. I'm not sure if your comments on spyware are simply for shock value or if you really are that stupid. Try and boycott everything from China - I dare you.

Anyway.......back to the post. I've not seen a consumer laptop look so good for a while, i'd never own anything with a glossy screen personally but it does look good (especially when compared with Lenovo 3000 range).

[darkstar @ Apr 15th 2008 11:40PM]

im kinda disappointed.
i sold my lenovo x61 to get the u110 for 1,200. turns out its 800 bux more than i expected.

[Valgas @ Apr 16th 2008 1:35AM]

damn I wish it would cost.... $500. I hope Dell's EEEkiller looks something like this baby.

[myke6699 @ Apr 16th 2008 5:27AM]

another mba beater. it seems like lenovo is producng a laptop a day and while this one look less plasticky then the X--- whatever, it still looks like crap to me.

[simbiot @ Apr 16th 2008 7:13AM]

Check this promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQK3jFUc7U4

I thought maybe it had a gyroscope, but it's probably using the the webcam for xy coordinates.

[Perry @ Apr 16th 2008 12:12PM]

wow, another ultra portable.

I have an old Asus S5Ne. So far that is the best ultra portable with lots of connectors. But, it is old now. Really have to replace it with something else. This would be one of my candidate for sure. So, when X300 got down to $2100 again.

[Che @ Apr 17th 2008 10:57AM]

It doesn't look like its keyboard is as usable as the X300 or any of the Thinkpads.

[symetry @ Apr 19th 2008 12:47PM]

Looks like J&R pulled the details.

[symetry @ Apr 25th 2008 5:35PM]

Looks like they are officially releasing the IdeaPad U110 this coming Tuesday.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207402170

[Christian Lippert @ May 4th 2008 5:21PM]

Oh god, its beautiful