Lenovo Introduces IdeaPad U300s Ultrabook
by Andrew Cunningham on September 1, 2011 4:00 PM ESTIn the next few months, thin-and-light laptops bearing Intel's Ultrabook moniker are going to begin showing up in the marketplace, and Lenovo revealed their first entry today: The IdeaPad U300s.
The U300s promises Sandy Bridge ULV processors (a 1.6 GHz Core i5-2457M and a 1.8 GHz Core i7-2677M are mentioned in the spec sheet), up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, up to a 256GB SSD, a 13.3" 1366x768 display, a 720p webcam, and up to 8 hours of battery life in a 2.9-pound 0.6-inch thick package. With the exception of screen resolution, it's roughly in 13" MacBook Air territory, but it also includes an HDMI port, a built-in gigabit ethernet port (wi-fi and bluetooth are a given), and one USB 3.0 port (along with one USB 2.0 port) - depending on your usage patterns, this port layout may be more useful to you than the Air's Thunderbolt port.
The U300s starts at $1,199, and will be available in November in two colors, the business-friendly Graphite Gray and the very distinctive Clementine Orange.
Source: Lenovo
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Andrew.a.cunningham - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
Definitely dual core. It'll be a bit before we can get quad cores in this form factor.XiZeL - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
im guessing i5 is a dual core and i7 dual with HTXiZeL - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
adding this to my guess:http://ark.intel.com/products/54616
http://ark.intel.com/products/54619/
probably these with a clock bump
Kerdal - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
or you know... these :I7 2677M (the exact model mentionned above) :
http://ark.intel.com/products/54617/Intel-Core-i7-...
1.8Ghz, 4MB cache, dual cores with HT, turbo at 2.9 GHz
Couldn't find i5 2457 though but there's a 2467 with the same clock speed, also with HT but only 3MB of cache, turbo at 2.3 GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/56858/Intel-Core-i5-...
Andrew.a.cunningham - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
The U300s spec sheet specifies a 1.6 GHz processor that turbos up to 2.1 - the extra 200 MHz in turbo may be the only difference between it and the 2467.ckryan - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
If this is similar to the 12ish inch Lenovo X220 with an eIPS display, then count me in. To me, the Mac Book Air's greatest failing is the screen -- it's pretty good for a TN, but not great in the grand scheme of things. Even more puzzling is the fact that Apple pretty much forced the mobile device high resolution IPS revolution, but seems content with the same old junk in the MBA and MBP. If Lenovo can just swap in the admittedly lower resolution but much higher quality screen in an Ultra book, say no more, and sign me up.MrSpadge - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Agreed. The resolution isn't great, but for 13" and lower I probably wouldn't want to read on a higher DPI screen anyway. But if it had an IPS (obviously non-glossy) .. yummy! Did I mention that the T420 could use an IPS as well?MrS
Alexo - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
You may want to take another look at the X220's IPS, as lots of users report serious image retention issues.http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Lapt...
Elbryan - Thursday, September 1, 2011 - link
I've been waiting for this laptop since it's predecessor, the Lenovo U260 was released last year. I was able to play with one in Microcenter, and I thought the ergonomics were spot on (.7 inches thin, great keyboard, clementine orange metal exterior, leather-like palmrest and nice screen (matte, 12.5 inches was a nice size). What held me back was the extremely poor battery life (3 hrs) and a slow first gen i5 cpu.This update addresses most of the concerns I had, though the lack of a vga port in order to shave another .12 inches limits the ability to use it with old school projectors(although there is an hdmi to vga adapter available to buy/lose).
What frustrates me is that most of the reviews ive read today about constantly compares this laptop to the mac air, and insinuates that this is a design rip-off that has to be priced lower than $1k to compete. Far from it, the u300s is an evolution from the u260, and imo, this is the sexiest notebook out right now. The quality of the materials is comparable to the mac air, so I don't know why it has to be in the air's shadow as an also-ran.
solipsism - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
The comparisons to Mac notebooks should be obvious. One-piece aluminium chassis? Chicklet-style keyboard? Large, glass trackpad?Remember when people scoffed at the one-piece aluminium chassis saying it was pointless over engineering? I do. Remember when people complained the keyboard was no good for typing? I do. Remember when people complain about glass on a trackpad with an integrated button? I do. Yet somehow these are become obvious standards in notebooks.