Lenovo IdeaPad U410 14-inch Ultrabook Review

Final Thoughts
When I first received the IdeaPad U410 I was extremely excited and eager to start using it.  At first glance this Ultrabook does impress.  The Ruby Red chassis really stands out among other laptops out there.  The U410 is pretty thin and light as well with the official dimensions of 3.5 x 9.3 x 0.8-inches and weighing in at 4.2 pounds.  Now this is in fact thin in light to the normal laptop crowd, but in the Ultrabook world that is pretty bulky and heavy.  The 0.8-inch thickness is actually the maximum thickness that Intel allows for companies to use the Ultrabook name.

Initial impressions aside I started using the U410 and I really did enjoy it.  The Core i5-3317U processor and 8GB of memory can tackle all of my everyday tasks including Photoshop and video editing.  This discrete NVIDIA GeForce 610M graphics performed well and will allow you to play some games, but nothing that intensive.  The keyboard was one of my favorite things about the U410.  It is extremely comfortable and it sits in the aluminum chassis which gives it a really good feel when typing.  The trackpad is very sensitive, but you get used to it after a little while.  It is very smooth and comfortable as well.

You always have to take battery life into consideration when choosing a laptop / Ultrabook.  The U410 will give you anywhere from 5-6 hours of battery life during normal usage.  That will get you through pretty much any flight in the continental United States.

So as it seems this U410 packs a pretty good value for the price ($700), but there were some things that I did not like about the U410.  While the discrete NVIDIA graphics will give you slightly better performance than the Intel IGP, is it really needed here?  Ultrabooks are in no way gaming machines and I would expect that most people using this machine will not be playing GPU intensive games.  The IGP should be able to handle it.  I would have really liked to see Lenovo use the money wasted there on a better resolution display.

The WiFi issue is a big one because if you think about it, when are we not connected to WiFi?  This issue has been addressed by Lenovo and they are offering to service any U410 that has this issue.

The unit we reviewed today is selling for just over $700 directly from Lenovo and it does come with a 1 year warranty.  Lenovo has a great Ultrabook in the U410 and for those looking to get the most value for their money the U410 is a good choice.  Overall ThinkComputers gives the Lenovo IdeaPad U410 14-inch Ultrabook an 8 out of 10 score.

rating8 10 small

Pros:
– Sleek aluminum deisgn
– Vibrant colors
– Good performance
– 5-6 hours of battery life
– Extremely comfortable keyboard and touchpad

Cons:
– Don’t see the need for discrete graphics
– On the thick side when it comes to Ultrabooks
– WiFi issue

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