A solid performer but doesn’t stand out from the crowd
Despite the Lenovo IdeaPad U300S being a fantastic ultraportable laptop - with a comfortable keyboard, lightweight design and decent amount of power - it does little to stand out from rivals like the Asus Zenbook. That said, the Lenovos brushed metal body feels solid, there’s little flex and there are contours and lines which add detail, making it more interesting than the myriad Apple MacBook Air clones weve seen elsewhere.
An Intel Core i5 processor is under the hood, which we were a bit disappointed to find when other manufacturers haw added Intel Core i7 processors into a smaller chassis. There’s also 4GB of RAM and a small but fast 128GB SSD drive.
The less powerful Intel Core i5 processor showed through in our lab tests and the 7244 score in Cinebench is on the low side, when compared with the Asus Zenbook UX31 and Acer Aspire S3. These arc much more powerful systems, and the Lenovo has little in reply to make it a real winner.
The battery life made up for this somewhat with 231 minutes of use in our harsh lab tests. This translates to around five hours of web surfing and emailing, which equates to a good day on the move, but nowhere near the seven hours quoted by Lenovo on their marketing literature. However, this still beats much of the competition in this group test. The Lenovo features a 13.6-inch screen, and in a nod to true portability, there’s a matt screen with a coating to help stop reflections in direct sunlight. Matt screens tend to polarise opinion: some complain they make the panel dull and lifeless; others love the ability to work outside, and near windows, that you don’t get with a glossy screen.
Both of these statements are true: with this screen the Lenovo is unsuitable for those who want to enjoy movies and pictures, but its still a great choice for people who want to work on the move.
Frustrating to use
Two of the major complaints about Ultrabooks arc poor, uncomfortable keyboards and single button track pads that are frustrating to use. The Lenovo is little better than most. On the plus side, the keys are as comfortable and natural to use as any Ultrabook. Theyre well cushioned, well-spaced, with isolation style keys jutting through the aluminium chassis. However, Lenovo has made the Enter and Backspace keys very small, with the Home, End and Delete keys to the for right. These meant mistakes were common, and it took us a while to get used to the keyboard. The trackpad, however, is terrible and often clicking and navigating led to chaotic moments, where clicks were misregistered.
In short, the Lenovo IdeaFad U300S is a good ultraportable laptop, but doesnt offer more than its direct competition on test here. Battery life is average, performance is mediocre, despite being thicker and heavier than any other Ultrabook, and the keyboard and trackpad are still awkward to use.
The matt screen will make this Ultrabook attractive for business buyers, but the lack of a VGA and Ethernet connection found on its Toshiba rival mean that many will inevitably overlook this laptop.
| Whats It Best For | |
| WEB, MAIL AND PHOTO | Yes |
| Light and Portable | Yes |
| HD Movies and TV | No |
| Games and Editing | No |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Part Code | M6845UK |
| Review Date | 24 Nov 2012 |
| Price ex VAT | £666 |
| Price inc VAT | £799 |
| Overall rating |  |
| Features & Design |  |
| Value for Money |  |
| Performance | |
| Physical specifications | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 324 x 216 x 18mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 1.320kg |
| Travelling weight | 1.7kg |
| Processor and memory | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2467M |
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR3 |
| Screen and video | |
|---|---|
| Screen size | 13.3in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,366 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 768 |
| Resolution | 1366 x 768 |
| Graphics chipset | Intel HD Graphics 3000 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 |
| Drives | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 128GB |
| Battery capacity | 3,400mAh |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 |
| Networking | |
|---|---|
| 802.11a support |  |
| 802.11b support | |
| 802.11g support | |
| 802.11 draft-n support | |
| Integrated 3G adapter |  |
| Bluetooth support | |
| Other Features | |
|---|---|
| Wireless hardware on/off switch | |
| Wireless key-combination switch | |
| USB ports (downstream) | 2 |
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 1 |
| SD card reader | |
| Memory Stick reader | |
| MMC (multimedia card) reader | |
| Smart Media reader | |
| Compact Flash reader | |
| xD-card reader | |
| Pointing device type | Touchpad |
| Hardware volume control? | |
| Integrated microphone? | |
| Integrated webcam? | |
| Camera megapixel rating | 1.3mp |
| Fingerprint reader | |
| Operating system and software | |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| OS family | Windows 7 |
| Recovery method | Partition |
| Battery and performance tests | |
|---|---|
| Battery life, light use | 7hr 7min |
| Overall Real World Benchmark score | 0.56 |
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