Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review

Review enough Ultrabooks and you'll start to wrestle with this idea of value. We've seen cheap ones that don't perform well and expensive ones that do. Things get really dicey when you throw in machines that cost a bit less, look good and perform well, but are nonetheless flawed in some key way -- like having a sticky keyboard or a trackpad with a mind of its own.

For more than a week now we've been testing the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s and, at the risk of spoiling this review altogether, it's made it even tougher for us to stack up one imperfect Ultrabook against another. What to do with a well-made, speed demon of a machine that boots in less than 20 seconds but starts at $1,095 without an SD slot, high-res display or backlit keyboard? Are the U300s' stately looks, brisk performance and sound ergonomics enough to make up for a handful of absent features? Find the answers to that and more in our full review after the break


At its current price ($1,095 and up), the IdeaPad U300s isn't the best value, but it is one of the better Ultrabooks we've seen. People comparing this side-by-side against other skinny laptops will note that it doesn't have a high-res display, backlit keyboard or memory card slot -- things Lenovo left out of last year's U260, too. By those metrics, both the MacBook Air and UX31 win, handily. 


Like Apple, though, Lenovo is inviting you to pay more for what it knows is a polished, painless experience. In that sense, your $1,095 will be well spent -- the U300s is fast with good battery life, Intel Wireless Display and the best keyboard / trackpad combo we've seen on an Ultrabook. That doesn't mean Lenovo's off the hook: the Air has a slightly more fine-tuned trackpad and it brings an SD slot, sharper display and backlit keys. Still, the U300s is a success where it really counts, and in areas where other Ultrabooks have struggled. We'll keep our hopes up that Lenovo adds an SD card and backlit keyboard the next go 'round, and in the meantime, we suspect the company will sell a few more of these if it trims the price to undercut all the other guys who offer better specs for your buck.


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