Lenovo Ideapad U110 review: The Ultra-portable DIVA laptop

Lenovo IdeaPad U110, the ultra-portable DIVA laptop, is a proud addition to Lenovo’s IdeaPad line. Lenovo might be celebrated for its ThinkPad notebooks, but most regular clients do not find the customary styling of the ThinkPads to be very strikingly beautiful. However, on the very first glimpse of Lenovo IdeaPad U110, consumers are forced to give up the notion that Lenovo ThinkPads cannot be elegant, slim and devouringly beautiful.

Build and Design

The Sleek and slim design with the etching of sweet tendril pattern onto its aluminium lid, is bound to catch every eye. This artistic design of Lenovo IdeaPad U110 extends to the interior of the notebook. With the black piano-keys the laptop interior is a feast to the eyes. With its glossy finish and the choice of two vibrant colours cherry red and black, these laptops are a sight to behold. It has an 11.1-inch LCD state-of-the-art screen.

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is indeed an object of enchantment and delight. It the slim dimensions of 10.8 x 7.7 x 0.72 inches, the U110 is in fact slightly slimmer than Apple’s MacBook Air, and about 2.9 pounds of weight with its 7 cell battery, which is light enough to be carried around all day long.

Display

Now that Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is sized and adapted for being ultra-portable, we can accept the graininess of the screen and be satisfied with the high accuracy of the colours. Even the viewing angle is wide and fairly satisfactory. However, what turns out to be disheartening is the lustrous screen covered with yet another glossy plastic protection layer that is set on top of the exterior of the display which causes light reflections. This creates an eye-strain because you have to constantly shift your gaze between your own reflection and the text/images on the screen behind.

Keyboard and touchpad

For its little size, you must compliment that the keyboard of Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is very spacious and very comfortable too. The keys do not click when pressed. However, they are quite glossy and initially feel slippery. As a first-timer on the Lenovo ThinkPad keyboards, the fingers brush against the wrong keys accidentally. The touchpad also has the same glossy finish resulting in slipperiness. But then it has space for two fingers and its mouse buttons provide sufficiently satisfactory feedback. You would experience no hassles connecting a Bluetooth mouse for long stretch of work time. The palm rest area has nothing we can possibly complain about.

Performance and Benchmarks

Talking in realistic terms, the IdeaPad U110 is actually a thin travel notebook which uses a low voltage processor to reduce its power consumption and heating up. Lenovo IdeaPad U110 uses the L7500 Core2Duo processor from Intel, which is capable of running most of the office applications and general tasks. It definitely is not meant to serve highly demanding tasks. Its X3100 integrated graphics supports a few light games, but in general Lenovo IdeaPad U110 can support the tasks of a general PC only like internet browsing, Office applications and photo editing etc. That is just enough for average consumers with little requirements

Specifications of Lenovo ThinkPad U110

Processor: L7500 1.60GHz Core2Duo processor from Intel

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory: 2GB (up to 3GB configurable)

Screen: 11.1-inch WXGA

Graphics: Intel X3100

Storage: 120GB 4200 rpm Parallel ATA HDD

Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion and 7-cell extended life Li-Ion batteries included

Weight: 2.42lbs

Dimensions: 10.8″x7.7″x 0.72″

Other Features: Integrated web camera with VeriFace application

Warranty: 1-year

Pros: 3 USB ports, VGA port, 6-in-1 media card reader, a FireWire port, LAN, and an Ethernet port.

CONS: HDMI and a full-size ExpressCard slot are missing. No Provision for a docking station. Lacks some of the most sought after features like an internal optical drive (However it has been compensated with an external one and a DVD±RW drive powered by the USB).

MSRP: $ 1,299.00 (base price)