Lenovo ideapad u300s review

Lenovo launches yet another baby in the ultra book series called the ideapad u300s. This is another small and compact notebook that comes with many features and is priced lesser than other heavy duty ones in the market. The more we jump into analyzing these tiny devices, we find that the expensive ones no doubt perform better and are far better in every aspect than the cheap ones.

But the cheap priced and compact notebooks do actually fulfill the regular need of the user, although they have some flaws that are generally overlooked by a regular user. The flaw could be in the keyboard or in the track pad of the device. Nevertheless, price does seem to allure people in the market and they are ready to bear few burdens for a reduced price.

Lenovo ideapad u300s fits exactly in that category where you get it for a fairly lesser price than others in the market and a good performance in general. This review was quite hard to make as the more flaws we took out in this notebook; the more difficult it was to place in its respective category.

On one hand if we say it’s a notebook with many flaws, yet on the other hand it comes in just $1095 with an awesome display, a fast boot up time and keyboard that has backlights! Tough isn’t it? Well, anyways, lets jump into the review and see what is in store for us.

ideapad u300s

Design and body

At the very outset, it appears that Lenovo ideapad u300s does not try to look very good and sleek. The design looks more like a closed book with pages stuffed in between. The center of the upper flap and the bottom flap are at a little distance more than the edges. There is nothing ergonomic about it as it weighs about 2.95 pound in hand and does really give any great grip. It appears that the makers of this notebook paid absolutely no attention to its physical design and outlook, much of which others in the market do as looks sell really well.

ideapad u300s left

The body of Lenovo ideapad u300s is made up of one complete sheet of aluminum and covers smoothly the upper and bottom lids, interior and bezels. You do not find any screws, or knobs or any openings in the entire body, except for the logo (which is metallic) on the upper cover and the four legs at the bottom. The body of this kind is prone to scratches and for a person who wants to keep it in the bag needs to buy a sleeve that protects it. Among all the colors available, the “Clementine Orange” looks cool, or rather better than others. The graphite gray is also pretty good looking.

ideapad u300s right

The overall look of the Lenovo ideapad u300s shows that it is well made just like the Acer’s Aspire S3 and MAC Book Air. It just looks a little different and appeals to a different audience altogether. There is one thing missing in this sized notebook and that is Memory card slot, which is quite uncommon for notebooks of this category. Apart from this, all other necessary ports are available on it. Lenovo did not get the memory card slot back since it omitted it in its previous model Lenovo ideapad u260. Thank God, at least the backlit keyboard is back!

Trackpad and Keyboard

The keyboard of Lenovo ideapad u300s is the similar kind that you see on any netbook, particularly the previous Lenovo netbooks. The keys are well placed and are easy to type. However, they are too flat on the surface of the keyboard. The trackpad has been improved by the makers and it is as smooth as the one you find in the MAC air book. The friction on the pad is pretty less which makes it easy for the cursor to move around.

The keypad of Lenovo ideapad u300s is the best that has been seen in any of the Ultra netbooks until now. But that doesn’t necessary make it the best in the market.

Sound and Display screen

Lenovo ideapad u300s has a 13.3” screen with a 1366×768 resolution, which is pretty low when compared to its competitors. Imagine who would prefer this netbook when Zenbook UX312 has a resolution of up to 1600 x 900? But still this shouldn’t be a drawback for U300 as it can hardly be identified.

The viewing angles of Lenovo ideapad u300s display varies between the top view and side view. The clarity is good from side angles; however, watching the screen from top is nearly impossible. Additionally, it comes equipped with the Intel wireless Display, which was not present in any of the Ultra series netbooks previously. So, this is a good add on. Now you can simply stream any video on TV or monitors without the hassles of wires.

As far as audio is concerned, Lenovo ideapad u300s gives an acceptable output. Nothing new to discuss about it except that it has SRS speakers.

Lenovo ideapad u300s is priced at $1095 and above. With such a price tag, it surely isn’t a good choice as compared to its competitors in the market. But it surely is one of the good Ultrabooks, it not the best netbook!