Lenovo IdeaPad U350 - Sexy, Sleek Ideas
We're starting to see more ultrathin notebooks using Intel's Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors, so we're pleased that Lenovo's entry, the IdeaPad U350, finally made its way to our labs. Find out from our review if this charmer can perform as well.
By HardwareZone Team -
One Good Idea is All You Really Need
It's often said that the first impression is the most important moment (be it a person or a product), and it is almost always that opinion that tends to stick with you. Well, ever since we were blown away by Acer's 14-inch Timeline notebook based on the new Intel CULV processor just a couple of months back, we've been expecting a whole crop of new thin and light notebooks that would hopefully be as equally impressive. Sadly though, this wasn't the case yet and we're still waiting for more of such notebooks from manufacturers.
Lenovo's IdeaPad U350 which we first glimpsed during our Computex trip, may yet change our opinion of the current situation. The latest in the ultrathin notebook segment equipped with Intel's consumer-class ultra low voltage mobile processor, this notebook's matte, textured cover definitely grabs our attention with its stylish looks. The unit also remains remarkably gloss free on the outside, though the interior does sport a reflective LED-backlit screen. More details of the notebook on the following pages but let's first enjoy the pretty exterior pictures of the 1.6kg light notebook before we hit our usual table of specifications.
The IdeaPad U350 has a very nice textured exterior that felt great to our touch and promotes a good grip.
The right side of the unit keeps it simple with a SD card reader, the audio jacks and two USB 2.0 ports.
The left side does more for connectivity in the form of a VGA output, HDMI port, LAN port, another USB 2.0 port and the wireless switch.
Padding An Ideal
With the exterior loved by the entire team here at HardwareZone, it was time to delve into the interior, which was where our expectations were let down and met reality. Like most consumer notebooks, the U350 opted for the shiny reflective screen. Not too big a deal, but a matte screen would have been more ideal for usage in any lighting condition. Luckily, Lenovo managed to get most of the interior design right.
The interior goes for a minimalist look that's clean and sexy.
The U350 continued to impress us with its shiny metallic base that blends right into the look and feel of the notebook. While it does give a nice and polished look to the unit, the design is somewhat marred by the ordinary styled keyboard. The keyboard certainly does evoke the classic Lenovo feel, but it's strangely out of place in view of the U350's design. Putting the appearance of the keyboard aside, typing on the keyboard was a pretty decent affair. There was quite a notable bit of flex when we used the keyboard so you might want to take note if you're a fussy on the keyboard aspect or you place a lot of emphasis because of your high volume typing needs.
The lower half of the notebook is encased in a brushed metal finish that contrasts nicely against the dark finish of the exterior.
The keyboard design does look slightly out of place for a sexy looking machine, but it does give a good tactile feel when typing. A shame on the noticeable flex though.
The trackpad earns the most criticism from us this time around. Lenovo has generally gotten the keyboard and trackpad right for most of their notebooks, but the textured trackpad of the U350 leaves much to be desired this time around. It feels slightly odd on your fingers, and its responsiveness was slightly off even after a reset to the default settings in the Sypnatics trackpad program.
The trackpad too felt lackluster with less than responsive tracking and wierd feel on our fingers.
As for the audio, we're fine with the volume and output of the speakers. It's more than sufficient for entertainment purposes, though the usual caveats apply on how much you can get out from a pair of notebook speakers.
Internal Ideas
The Lenovo IdeaPad U350 comes slightly underpowered with a single core Intel Pentium SU2700 that's clocked at 1.3GHz with just a 2MB L2 cache. Sounds a little slow to us, and we'll find out how it holds up on the next page during our performance benchmarking section. To make up for the slower processor, Lenovo has included 3GB of DDR2 memory on the unit, though we don't think that will help too much. Lastly, if it's storage you're needing, the U350 comes packed with a 250GB hard drive, which should be plenty for most folks.
The back panel opens to reveal easy access to the HDD and SO-DIMM slots.
Comparative Ideals
To see how the notebook stacks up we've thrown in scores from the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T and the ASUS UX30, both of which are ultrathin machines too. We must point out that the review unit of the ASUS UX30 goes head to head with the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 with its similar light weight and specs, though the local retail version of both the U350 and UX30 are equipped with a dual-core processor like the Acer machine. Confused? Don't worry; just refer to the table below.
Satio | Aino | Yari | |
Display | 3.5-inch (640 x 360 pixels) | 3-inch (240 x 432 pixels) | 2.4-inch (240 x 320 pixels) |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV out, A-GPS, USB support | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, USB support | Bluetooth, A-GPS, USB support |
Camera | 12.1MP | 8.1MP | 5MP |
Weight | 126 grams | 134 grams | 115 grams |
Dimensions | 112 x 55 x 13.3mm | 104 x 50 x 15.5mm | 100 x 48 x 15.7mm |
Battery Life and Portability Index
The 4-cell, 14.8V 41WH battery that powers the Lenovo IdeaPad U350.
In battery life uptime testing, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 does slightly better than the ASUS UX30 here, with a running life of 158 minutes, or just over 2.5 hours. This still pales in comparison to the Acer Timeline, but the Acer unit does pack a heavier battery compared to the 4-cell of the U350.
Power consumption wise, the unit does lag behind the Acer model too with a higher power draw at 15.59W. While it's still a low figure inline with other ultraportables, we were hoping for power consumption figures lower than the Acer unit. All the more since the processor used is a single-core unit and not even a dual-core processor used on the Acer Timeline. So raking specs and battery life uptime, we think the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 is a bit poor on the power optimization.
On the portability front, after churning our formula pitting battery uptime figures against the weight and volume of each notebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 does fare decently with a ratio of 1.047. Still, it's not as good as the ASUS or Acer machines as both scored a much higher ratio compared to the U350. It looks like power optimization is poor on the U350 even despite its sexy figure. Let's see what the benchmark numbers reveal before we draw our conclusions of the notebook in general.
Performance Benchmarking
Loading up our three usual suspects: PCMark05, PCMark Vantage and 3DMark06, we put the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 to the test. Matched against a similarly specced ASUS UX30, the Lenovo unit was found to on par against the ASUS unit. Against the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T which featured much better specifications however, the differences in the performance benchmarks become very obvious. Generally speaking though, the performance of the review unit of the U350 does feel like it's holding up its end of the deal with regards to its endowed hardware specifications, so no worries there.
Not So Ideal?
In all honesty, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 impressed us with its beautiful design, form factor and appeal. It certainly serves as a notice to other manufacturers that there's really no need to imitate Apple in order to succeed. The U350 also does well to stay away from the overly used glossy exterior design seen on other laptops, while the interior finish stayed classic and chic.
We do however wish Lenovo paid more attention to the keyboard which looked slightly out of place in terms of design. While there was quite a bit of flex upon using the keyboard, the typing feedback was a good one. The trackpad also needs some work as both its surface and the responsiveness which was lackluster and not up to Lenovo's usual standards. Battery life too wasn't up to our expectations, which we pinned the reason down to its less than optimal power optimization. Given a bigger battery, we're guessing the notebook will last much longer but that would add considerably to the bulk of the unit. Performance on the whole was satisfactory, matching up to what we can infer based on a similarly configured notebook.
Lastly, the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 does have an advantage of being extremely affordable with a starting retail price of US$699 (roughly S$1015) for the base model that's outfitted similar to our review unit. Note however, that this configuration is being sold in the US and might not be available locally. If you're lusting to get a Lenovo U350 in Singapore however, there are two configurations to choose from, one using an Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 (1.4GHz) processor and another using an Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 (1.4GHz). The Core 2 Solo model should retail from a starting price of just $1199 and sounds competitive to our ears.
Overall, the IdeaPad U350 is a good notebook which could have been a great one had Lenovo paid more attention to details apart from design and performance.
The Lenovo IdeaPad U350, a sexy and slim notebook whose design hits just the right chords in our hearts.
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