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How would you change Lenovo's IdeaPad U310?
Fussy about boot times, carry-weight or weak battery life? Then you probably gave Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 a wide berth. The thing is, aside from those flaws, it was otherwise a very solid Ultrabook for those whose wallets couldn't stretch to a premium model. We want to know, did you buy one? If so, what did you think of it, and let's imagine you were dreaming up a budget Ultrabook -- what would you change?
Lenovo intros four IdeaPad laptops, all with touchscreens; prices start at $699
Remember we said lots of PC makers were going to play it safe at this year's CES, introducing touchscreen versions of their existing laptops? That definitely applies to Lenovo: the company just announced four touch-enabled notebooks, and they all look pretty similar to its earlier offerings -- save for those touchscreens, of course. First up, there's the IdeaPad U310 Touch and U410 Touch, which have the same industrial design as the U310 and U410 Ultrabooks, just with a little extra heft (the U310 is 3.85 pounds / 18mm thick; the U410, 4.4 pounds / 21mm thick). Other than that, the specs closely match the current U310 and U410: up to 4GB of RAM and 500GB of storage on the 13-inch model, and up to 8GB of memory and 1TB of space on the big guy. Both will be offered with a Core i7 processor, but only the 14-incher has a discrete NVIDIA GPU (the U310 gets by on Intel's integrated HD 4000 graphics). The U410 also offers four USB ports, while the U310 makes do with three. Finally, battery life is bound to differ: the U310 is rated for up to six hours, compared with eight on the U410. Whichever you choose, though, the screen resolution tops out at 1,366 x 768, and the hard drive can be paired with a 24GB SSD to help speed up boot times. The U310 will arrive in March starting at $779, while the U410 is slated to land in April with a starting price of $850. Additionally, Lenovo announced two mainstream laptops, the 14-inch IdeaPad Z400 Touch and the 15-inch Z500 Touch. Unlike with the U310 and U410 Touch, the specs here are pretty consistent, other than the difference in screen size. Both measure about an inch thick, even with an optical drive on board. They'll be offered with Core i7 processors (standard voltage), a 2GB NVIDIA GT645M GPU, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 1TB of HDD storage. Additionally, they'll come standard with backlit keyboards and will be available with optional 1,600 x 900 displays -- both nice-to-have features, we'd say. The two laptops will start at $699, according to Lenovo, but the Z400 will arrive in March, while the Z500 is scheduled to ship in April. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Lenovo IdeaPad U310 review: a reasonably priced Ultrabook for the masses
More Info Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 and U410 Ultrabooks start at an inexpensive $699, weigh a little more than the competition Lenovo U310 and U410 Ultrabooks now available worldwide starting at $749 For a while there, the march of Ultrabooks was comprised almost entirely of halo products: skinny, relatively expensive things designed to help Intel and its OEM partners make a good impression on the general laptop-buying public. But with 110-plus models in the pipeline, they can't all be expensive, right? By now, you may have noticed that Ultrabooks are starting to look a little less uniform: there have been larger ones, heavier ones, some with optical drives, some with discrete graphics. Next up: cheaper ones. Just in time for back-to-school shopping season, we're seeing a wave of more reasonably priced Ultrabooks, many of them with traditional spinning hard drives and slightly heavier frames. One of these is the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, a machine that brings Core i5, 4GB of RAM and hybrid storage for $799. Oh, and its design is pleasantly reminiscent of the IdeaPad U300s, a higher-end Ultrabook we reviewed late last year. No doubt, then, it'll be a tempting option for people who can't afford to spend $1,000-plus on a laptop. But is it worth it? Let's find out.%Gallery-160172%
Lenovo U310 and U410 Ultrabooks now available worldwide starting at $749
We're no strangers to Lenovo's new IdeaPads, having seen them at CES, but now the relatively cheap (and chunky) Ultrabooks are available to purchase. The starting price seems to have inflated slightly since January, with the 13.3-inch U310 base model going for $749 and the 14-inch U410 starting at $799. If size and weight are your prime concerns, be advised that even the smaller U310 comes in at 1.7kg (3.74 pounds) and 18mm (0.7 inches) thick. The 14-incher takes the Ultrabook definition to its limit at 1.9kg (4.18 pounds) and 21mm (0.83 inches) thick. Both are available with Ivy Bridge processors up to Core i7, as much as 1TB of storage, plus optional 32GB SSD cache drives and NVIDIA discrete graphics. Look to buy them starting today at retailers in the US and UK as well as direct from Lenovo's website at the source link.
Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and U410 undress for the FCC's czars
When Lenovo took the wraps off its IdeaPad U310 and U410 at CES, we were left feeling happy / sad. On the one hand, we were dismayed by the half-hearted inclusion of a memory card slot, but the company did earn high marks for sticking to that sleek Ultrabook form factor and pricing the duo at a $700 entry point. Now that luxurious-looking laptop pair's making another public appearance, stopping by the FCC for a step and repeat and splaying its guts and user manual in the process. While the filings reveal no surprise specs for these 13- and 14-inchers -- those internal goodies were divulged back in January -- this Commission pit stop is a solid indication that all systems are go for a planned May launch. Be sure to hit up the source below to trawl the RF reports if diagnostics get you hot under the collar.
