A Skinny Idea
The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is only the second Utrabook to reach us, after much anticipation. The first being the Acer Aspire S3, which set some pretty high standards for a machine not sporting an SSD. From our previous positive experience of the business-class Lenovo ThinkPad X1, we were wondering if the U300s would be able to follow-up on the X1’s excellence. And we didn’t have to wonder long. The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s that was sent for our evaluation sported a Core i7-2677M (1.8GHz), which is one of the more expensive mobile CPU options and we'll get to its performance abilities soon enough. Handling the U300s was no effort at all, thanks to the uniform weight distribution of the unit.
The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is a handsome machine that comes in two colours, silver and the limited edition Clementine Orange.
This “Clementine Orange” coloured little beauty is stunning (it also comes in silver). Covered in a sandblasted (matte), anodised orange aluminium shell, the U300s strikes us as a machine that is both exciting and funky, as well as deadly serious in what it does. And what it does, is makes sure you have the most portable machine in your bag. It weighs only 1.32kg and measures 14.9mm thick throughout. Design-wise, it’s made to look like a folded book, but it’s no thicker than a magazine. Its sides are covered in black, a stark contrast to the exterior, making the “book” illusion much more profound. This unique look is quite different from the deluge of portable PCs we’ve seen lately, and could point to Lenovo’s (currently the world’s second largest PC manufacturer) increasing attention to design.
Skinny is now the word for notebooks these days, and the U300s manages a svelte 14.9mm throughout. No tapering teardrop design here though, which could be a differentiating factor for Lenovo in terms of design as it aims for a magazine-like silhouette.
On the side, you will find the bare minimum of ports. On the left, we have our favourite Lenovo button, the indispensable OneKey Recovery button. This button is something you’d be looking for once in a while when your machine acts up, decides it wants to be petulant and not work properly. While it won’t solve any hardware problems, it will help in keeping errant operating systems in check, by resetting it back to its original state - like a discipline rod for naughty software.
Look a little bit further, after the heat vent, you will find a USB 2.0 port. On the other side of the machine, you will find the headphone jack, another USB 3.0 port, as well as the power port. Unfortunately however, the U300s doesn’t feature an SD card slot, which we found very puzzling because it really takes the convenience factor down a notch.
On the left is a vent, and a USB 2.0 port. There is also our favourite button, the recovery button that let’s you start afresh if you messed your operating system up.
The right of the machine features a USB 3.0 port, a HDMI port and a headphone / microphone jack.
Nothing but some silk-screened logos at the bottom of the unit. We also can’t find the screws to open the unit up. Can you guess where they’re hiding (we’re thinking that they’re under the rubber feet)?
On the bottom of the machine, you will find nothing. That’s right, nothing. No unsightly vents, holes or anything that distracts from the overall simplicity of the machine. The only items you will find there are rubber stoppers and logos that have been printed on. This is looking to be a new norm, at least for Ultrabooks we have seen so far.
Having a clean bottom also means that the notebook's battery is built into the machine. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, since the Ultrabook blueprint is to have machines that are slim and one of the best ways to accomplish this is to integrate the battery within the chassis (like the MacBook Air that popularized this initially). Whether or not this will work in favor of the Lenovo Ideapad U300s, we will reveal that later in the review.
The lid on our test unit doesn’t close completely, leaving some space. There is no cause for alarm because we’re not sure if its a defective unit, or does the lid warp over time. Our unit was manufactured in August, according to the text at the back of the lid.
Clean Black
Right after opening the machine, you'll see an all black interior that is made of aluminum alloy, and painted black. This only applies to units that come in Clementine Orange for its exterior. For machines that come in metallic grey, you can expect the same grey inside that drabs the outer surface. At first glance, it reminds us very much of the excellent ThinkPad X1 which we reviewed a few months back. That said, if you are thinking that this design reminds you of the older black MacBooks, you won’t be alone either.
Can you see the family resemblance? We think it looks like its ThinkPad cousins, without the red trimmings.
The difference from the ThinkPads here is that there is no red pointing stick, and no trackpad buttons. What you will see is just a keyboard, a power switch on the top left corner, and a very big clickpad (because this trackpad clicks). As for the hinges that hold the monitor to the machine, it is similar to the one we’ve seen on the MacBook Air as well as the Acer Aspire S.
The vents are located at the same place as the MacBook Air’s, but we can’t think of a better location where these vents should be.
The heat vents are also situated near the hinge, like on the MacBook Air, which we think is a fantastic idea because it keeps hot air away from you. The hinge itself is also quite tight, with no looseness often associated with sub-par products. Having said that, we’d also like to applaud an engineering touch which makes opening the lid of the machine a one-handed affair. Just the way we like it.
Just look at those keys. They are not square like those found on other chiclet keyboards, but rather a nice “shield” shape, just like those found on the ThinkPad X1.
The keyboard on the Lenovo IdeaPad is also extremely similar to the one found on the X1, which is a good thing to say the least. The individual keys on the chiclet keyboard are spaced fairly far apart from each other, and individual buttons are shaped similarly, but contrary to what is found on the ThinkPad X1, the keys are not slightly concave to accommodate your fingers. The keyboard is also slight recessed to allow for the screen to close completely, which would then reduce the overall height of the machine (it’s something we’ve been seeing for quite awhile now).
The trackpad is likely the second most used part of a machine, and skimping on its usability is definitely not a good idea. Lenovo seems to agree with us and gave us a large comfortable trackpad to work with.
The best part about the machine though has to be the giant glass trackpad, which is slightly textured to allow for a very smooth tracking experience. There is a line down the middle of the clickpad that separates the left and right clicks. The functionality of the trackpad is quite similar to Apple's forward-looking take where it forgoes dedicated trackpad buttons. Even the trackpad's usage experience was a good one - it wasn't too mushy and provided just enough click for the unmistakable tactile feedback, and not being overly resistant.
The U300s isn't a multimedia notebook in a conventional sense, as in it doesn’t have discrete graphics, but it makes up for it with some pretty powerful speakers.
The dual 1W speakers found on the machine are also pretty powerful. At full volume, we found the loud audio still crisp and clear. For such a small notebook, we really appreciate that Lenovo paid attention to multimedia features like these on an ultra-portable machine. On the other hand, the screen on the machine is nothing to write home about. It’s just a standard (1366 x 768) resolution type of screen that we see in plenty of mainstream notebooks.
Be careful when handling the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s. Its edges are really sharp, and it doesn’t help that the aluminum alloy it’s covered with is really hard. Just don’t hit anyone with it, okay? Because you’re likely to cause some serious injury if you do. We're not kidding.
There is however a strange design characteristic which we’re inclined to declare a flaw. The edges along the palmrest are so sharp that resting your wrists on the edge is definitely something we won’t recommend without some third-party help. Sure the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is so thin that your wrists may not reach the edge, but if they do, it will hurt. Bad. Whether or not this is oversight on Lenovo’s part, or a strict dedication to design, we will never know. What we do know is that it is definitely something that needs to be addressed, especially if you are going to be working on this machine for a few hours.
The plastic hinges are tight here, but we’re left wondering why Lenovo didn’t choose to use metal here instead.
Performance and Benchmarking
The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s comes in two different flavors of processors. Our test unit is packing a speedy Core i7-2677M (the other flavor is a Core i5-2457M). For reference, we took performance scores from the latest MacBook Air, and the first Ultrabook to reach our labs, the Acer Aspire S3. We need to have you note that the specs are not entirely on equal terms, because while the U300s has a similar processor (though slightly faster) to the Acer Aspire S3 test unit, it has an SSD which the S3 test unit didn’t. The MacBook Air does come with a similar capacity SSD, but it doesn’t have an equivalent processor.
Specifications / Notebook | Lenovo IdeaPad U300s | Acer Aspire S3 | Apple MacBook Air (2011) |
Processor | Intel Core i7-2677M (1.8GHz) | Intel Core i7-2637M (1.7GHz) | Intel Core i5-2557M (1.7GHz) |
Chipset | Intel UM67 Express | IntelUM67 Express | Intel QS67 |
Memory | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 |
HDD | 256GB SSD | 320GB HDD | 256GB SSD |
Video | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 |
Battery | 54 Whr | 65 Whr | 50 Whr |
Dimensions | 324 x 216 x 14.9mm | 323 x 219 x 13-17.5mm | 325 x 227 x 3 - 17mm |
Weight | 1.34KG | 1.33KG | 1.35KG |
PC Mark Vantage
PC Mark Vantage is a benchmark that tests all aspects of machine, be it from how the machine handles certain tasks, like retrieving data for example. Results here would indicate which machine is better at doing what, and components like SSDs would contribute significantly to the final scores, as they increase read-write speeds by multiple folds.
The scores in which the U300s has achieved here are pretty disappointing, especially when you consider that it has a faster CPU than the MacBook Air (MBA). It also has a similar SSD capacity which technically should have given it much higher I/O output. However we found that the meticulous customisation (controllers and drivers) of the MacBook Air contribute heavily to its efficiency - hence performance - allowing it to get better scores than its component list would suggest. Besides the MBA, even when compared to other thin and light machines we've reviewed previously like the Samsung Series 9 and Lenovo's Thinkpad X1, the Lenovo U300s isn't quite as shining as it should be.
And if you pay attention to the HDD scores, you can see that the SSD that Apple uses on their MBAs are of better quality, thus much faster than what the U300s is using. However the faster or bigger capacity your SSD is, the more expensive your machine is. Of course if you look purely at numbers, the MBA is in the lead. But we’d advise against that because when doing regular tasks, the differences are not noticeable to the untrained eye, and you’d be missing out on a good machine like the U300s if you let minor things like numbers get in your way.
3DMark06
All of the machines here are using Sandy Bridge processors, as well as Intel’s very capable integrated HD 3000 graphics engine. These machines however have differing processor clock speeds, with the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s having the fastest one with a Core i7. 3DMark06 scores are traditionally affected by CPU clock speeds, but similar to the reasons stated above regarding PC Mark Vantage performance, the MBA is simply much better tweaked. Hence it beats the other two Ultrabooks by quite a margin. However we wouldn’t worry about this gap in performance, because in real-life usage, it really wouldn’t make that much of a difference. What users should take note however is that graphic processors of this caliber are barely enough to do professional editing work, but would be more than sufficient for normal daily usage.
Far Cry 2
The only way to truly gauge the gaming capabilities of a notebook, is to bench it using a game of course. And in this case, we have our trusty Far Cry 2 benchmarks. Here, the Core i7 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s doesn’t really stand out very much. In fact is is lagging behind both other machines, but just by a little. The MacBook Air again performs slightly better, just as we pointed in earlier tests. The Acer Aspire S3 also performs slightly better, but this could be because it's optimized in such a way that it gives you better raw performance, rather than battery life, which you will see later. In light of the scores you see here, we’d advise against using Ultrabooks to play anything other than Facebook games (or other casual games), and some light media editing work.
Battery Performance and Portability Index
One of the most important hallmarks of an Ultrabook is how long can the battery last. So in the previous tests, we found out that the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s doesn’t really perform as well as the Acer Aspire S3, which sports a similar Core i7 processor. In this section however, you will find out exactly why.
Battery Life
To simulate real-life intensive usage, we had a video looping test and noted down how long they can last. As you can see from the results below, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s really outperformed all other Windows machines thrown at it. It even lasted a good 50 minutes better than the Apple MacBook Air running on Windows 7 (note that it was on BootCamp). This translates to an impressive 4 hours and 48 minutes, which roughly lets you watch a couple of, two-hour movies and some light surfing on the go. Thanks to these results, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s truly showcases the long battery life capabilities of an Ultrabook.
Power Consumption
And the reason why its battery managed to last for so long, is because its power consumption is just really low. It’s not as low as the MBA when running on OSX, but it is definitely much lower than most other thin and light laptops that pass through our labs. But of course, we need to remind you that to achieve this kind of power consumption levels, processor power will have to be sacrificed. Which in our opinion, may not be a bad thing because a drop in raw power will be negligible, especially for an Ultrabook which is meant for light workloads anyway. The gain in battery life more than makes up for it. So despite the Acer Aspire S3 having a higher battery capacity than the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, the latter's low power consumption ensured it was the better notebook for longevity.
Portability Index
Our portability index chart, is unique to HardwareZone.com and you will not see it anywhere else. Essentially it takes elements like battery life, unit volume and unit weight, blends them together with a complex mathematical formula, and comes up with a 'magic ratio' to tell you if it is worth your time to carry the laptop around. Take note that it's most useful when compared within its same class of products. According to our charts, the U300s' portability ratio is right up there with the very best of them. Of course the MBA running on OSX Lion still wins everyone, but it's unfair to compare them because OSX Lion's power management is very different from Windows 7. If we were to compare directly with all other Windows machines, it definitely wins hands down.
Stamina Counts
Long story short, we are extremely impressed with the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, and to find out why, you will have to read on. Of course that’s not to say it's without its flaws. But ultimately, this is just part of the first wave of Ultrabooks to be set loose upon us, and we foresee that the road for Ultrabooks will be a long (and probably winding) one, especially after seeing the U300s, because they are that good.
One of the first of many Ultrabooks to come, the Lenovo U300s didn’t fail to impress us.
However in the bigger scheme of things, design will likely be the one differentiating factor among the Ultrabooks. Because components-wise, they will likely be the same. Core i7 here, Core i5 there - there's only that many configurations vendors can play with, thanks to the guidelines laid out by Intel, which all but mandates that SSDs (speed), and ultra-low-voltage processors (power consumption) have to be used.
The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is definitely one of the better looking Ultrabooks we have seen so far. It’s not exactly a (insert favorite supermodel) type of stunner, but more like a girl-next-door type of stunner. Its aesthetics definitely won’t appeal to everyone, but everyone will have to admit it is something different. From one look, you can tell that it has been lovingly designed; and once you open the lid, you will feel the effort put into its design.
Its machined aluminum alloy orange exterior has a matte finish which repels fingerprints for the OCD types out there, very nice indeed. It actually comes in another color - all silver - which is just as nice, but doesn’t make the folded book design of the U300s stand out.
The U300s also only requires one hand to lift the lid, without needing the other to keep the bottom down. We’ve seen this design before, and we’ve been impressed with it ever since. So needless to say, we’re pretty content that the U300s sports this too.
The U300s’ sexy matte Clementine Orange exterior won’t fail to gather envious looks from strangers, just like it did from HardwareZone staff.
Everything else besides the lid and the bottom of the machine is covered in color sucking black. It's good because when it gets dirty, you won’t feel this insane urge to clean it - unless of course it's dandruff, in which case it will drive you off the OCD cliff. Thankfully it is also a matte finish just like its exterior, so fingerprints on this machine aren’t an issue at all.
Standard ports are also found on the machine, like a HDMI port and two USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0 compliant that we’re very grateful for. There is also the famous one-click recovery button which we absolutely adore, because Windows tends to get 'messed up' after some months down the road. Unfortunately however, there are two caveats to the otherwise very impressive Lenovo IdeaPad U300s (there’s always something isn’t there?).
Firstly, there is no SD card slot. What? Why? We have no idea. Maybe it will be a spanking new feature on the next generation of Lenovo Ultrabooks, but it isn’t here now and we are not happy about it. The whole point of having an Ultrabook is that it is small enough to take everywhere with you. That means after we take photos, we’d like to view them on the bigger screen of the notebook which we brought along with us. But you can’t do it here folks, so consider carefully if this is a deal-breaker for you.
Another problem that we have, is due to the very sharp edges on both the Orange lid and bottom, as well as the black palmrest. This is the same problem that the MacBook Pro / Air has, and Acer avoided the problem by simply rounding off the edges, which makes it comfortable to hold. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the lid on the U300s is fairly hard, and any impact it does to the flesh will surely hurt. So yes we recommend the U300s, but if you get hurt by it, don’t blame us because we already warned you.
Lenovo has given us a machine that does, the question is what will you do with it when you get it? The ball is definitely in your (the consumer) court now, because the U300s is (for now) as good as it gets.
Performance of the Lenovo U300s isn’t exactly the best we’ve seen on a notebook using an ultra-low-voltage processor. However we’d like readers to note that while its benchmark scores are slightly lower than others, real-life usage of the machine won’t be noticeably affected. That said, its overall scores were also boosted by a speedy 256GB SSD, which definitely won’t let you down where response times are concerned. The SSD also allows consumers to start up the machine in an amazing 10 seconds, but that’s really not the most crucial factor.
Its real trump card is its superb battery life that is second to none (at the date of writing). NONE! So if you add the two together, you’ll likely come to the conclusion that a slight decrease in performance is a very good trade-off for ultra battery life worthy of an Ultrabook. This means that the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is the notebook you’d want to carry around with you all day thanks to its dependable battery that won’t let you down. After all, Lenovo’s new motto is “for those that do”, and you can’t do very much if your battery depletes before you do, right? But in the event that it does, the U300s has a real useful feature that allows the battery to be charged up to 50% in half an hour - which we first saw in the very delicious ThinkPad X1.
As for the review unit’s configuration price, the Core i7 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is going at a slightly high S$1899. That puts it slightly below the Apple MacBook Air’s S$2088, and even then with the MBA you’d only get a Core i5. This makes the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s a slightly better deal. And if we were to compare it with the flagship Acer Aspire S3 (for now, as Acer states that the i7 version might be coming later), it’s only about S$100 more, and for that kind of money, you’re looking at a better Core i7 processor. Though we understand that in the case of the U300s, the better hardware didn't really shine in our raw tests, the price you pay is for a better optimized notebook in terms of battery life.
The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is looking to be one of the best Ultrabook deals yet. But like we say, this is only the first of many Ultrabooks to come. Just because it wins now, doesn’t mean it will survive the Ultrabook onslaught from other vendors. If you can't quite wait to see what else is in the pipeline from the other brands, and you can handle the sharply built IdeaPad U300s, this bright little machine would be an ideal Ultrabook buy for you.
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