With the Ideapad U300s, Lenovo is entering Ultrabook territory in style. “Ultrabook” is a platform for uber-light computers that Intel has been promoting recently and the U300s is part of the first generation of Ultrabooks. At 14.9mm thick, it is thinner than the Macbook Air and weights a comparable 2.91lbs. The design of the Ideapad U300s is terrific. It looks clean from any and every angle.
When closed, the edges are clean, and none of the ports look out of place. Even the backside of the Lenovo U300s looks great. When fully opened, the ultra-thin display impresses, and the Lenovo keyboard seems comfortable as it has full-size arrow keys (which I dearly miss on my Macbook Air).
I haven’t been able to try the keyboard yet, but the glass touchpad seems very interesting and comfortable as well. I wonder if the trackpad drivers and gestures commands are good. There are only two USB ports, but this is not really unheard of in this category.
There is more than meet the eye: the U300s has no air intake for cooling. Instead, it draws cool air from the “breathable keyboard”. This is an idea from Intel called Intel Advanced Cooling Technology, and Lenovo says that with it, the laptop says cool even when left on soft surface like pillows.
You can opt for a Core i5 or Core i7 processor, 4GB (max) of memory and up to 256GB of SSD storage. In terms of battery life, Lenovo expects to get 8 hours under the best conditions (a basic depletion test with screen on), but we can’t wait to try it for ourselves.
The Lenovo Ideapad U300s is a very interesting Ultrabook, and I think that Lenovo should have differentiated it more by creating a new name, instead of just adding “s”. Some people may confuse it with the Ideapad U300… As of late Lenovo has been doing well, and the U300s design is impressive. Keep it on your radar.
Filed in . Read more about Ideapad, Laptops, Lenovo and Ultrabooks.