Lenovo IdeaPad U300s now Available for Online Order

The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 1080 model is the latest ultrabook to become available, it competes with the likes of the Toshiba Portege Z835, Acer Aspire S3, Asus ZenBook and of course Apple’s MacBook Air.  The specs on the IdeaPad U300s are as follows:

Screen: 13.3” HD glossy display, 1366 x 768 resolution, 200 nits brightnessProcessor: Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60GH or Intel Core i7-2677M 1.80GHzGraphics: Intel HD3000OS: Windows 7 Home PremiumGraphics: Intel HD3000Memory: 4GB RAMStorage: 256GB SSDCamera: Integrated 1.3MP web cameraBattery: 4-cell Li-Ion, up to 8 hourPorts: HDMI, 1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0Wireless: Intel 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0Weight: 2.9lbsDimensions: 12.8” x 8.5” x 0.59” (width x depth thickness)Detailed specs: Lenovo U300s Specs

The pricing starts at right now on Lenovo.com at a rather steep $1,499.   That’s certainly rich relative to the $699 you can get the Toshiba Portege Z835 at Best Buy this week.   Granted, the IdeaPad U300s does have higher end specs such as a faster Core i5 processor and larger 256GB SSD, but is it worth twice the cost?  Probably not.  The major shortcoming of the Lenovo U300s is that it does not have a backlit keyboard, meanwhile the Toshiba Z835 and MacBook Air do.  For a premium consumer notebook that stakes its claim on style, not having a backlit keyboard is almost unforgivable.  It’s like buying a Mercedes with manual locks, you just don’t expect to get “standard” features, you deserve all the bells and whistles paying this amount.  The U300s does at least offer a couple of different color options to add style.  You can choose either Clementine Orange or Graphite Grey, so either orange for those with a loud personality or grey for subtle style.

The competition among ultrabooks should heat up in 2012 and I’m guessing Lenovo will quickly figure out the U300s won’t sell at this $1,500 price so that will drop.  How can you make a case for spending twice as much on an ultrabook that’s only slightly better internally and has no backlit keyboard?  Also, Lenovo will also be releasing the ThinkPad X2 in 2012 on the business side so they’ll have some competition within their own ranks soon enough.  I predict sub $1,000 average pricing on ultrabooks at some point next year.

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Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Reviews Roundup

Yesterday the IdeaPad U300s ultrabook that had been announced in November finally went on sale.  There are already a number of reviews on the web for the U300s so you can get a pretty good idea of what this laptop is like, there are even some user reviews posted on Amazon.com that are pretty thorough and give a nice comparison of other Ultrabooks such as the Asus UX31e and Acer S3 compared to the U300s.  Here’s a quick list of reviews that are out there and a quick take from each:

J. Darji “Buck” U300s Review on Amazon.com – User reviews are some of the best.  This user posted a review on October 30th after he got an early ship model ordered via Amazon.com.  Buck gives strong praise the the U300s keyboard calling it solid and saying you will “actually love typing on it”.   The screen and ability for the laptop to remain cool are also praised.  At the end he summarizes “The Lenovo is an elegant minimalistic design that just feels and screams sophistication and reliability. It’s stylish without being so flashy like the Asus.”  That’s pretty strong support for the U300s over the Asus Zenbook, which has been reported to have a lot of wireless issue.Engadget U300s Review – Dana Wollman of Engadget got ahold of the U300s in November before it was released, some of the pros mentioned in her review were the nice design, great keyboard and very fast bootup thanks to the SSD.  The cons were predictable, there is no SD slot, no backlit keyboard and the resolution of the display was found to be disappointing, although we’ll mention the 1366 x 768 you find on the U300s is no different to any other Windows Ultrabook.TheVege.com U300s Review – Joanna Stern put together a nice review of the U300s back in early November.  Interestingly she lauded Lenovo for not copying the Apple MacBook Air design, which is a good point seeing as there are so many MacBook clones out there today.  The orange case makes it look different and black sides do not mimic the silver aluminum sides of the MacBook Air.  Once again the keyboard is praised for avoiding the common pitfall of ultrabooks, having a shallow key travel depth, by using a ThinkPad-like feeling keyboard.  Still, the final score given is a 7.8/10 and the MacBook Air is rated as the winner over the U300s.LaptopMag.com U300s Review – Michael Prospero reviewed the U300s and, just like every other reviewer, gave it a strong rating but called it “not enough to beat the 13-inch MacBook Air”.  The high price tag of $1,495 for their review configuration was called into question based on the fact certain features are missing you would expect such as a backlit keyboard.PCMag U300s Review – PCMag calls the U300s an “elegant entry into the new ultrabook category” and like TheVerge praised the design for not copying Apple.T3.com U300s Review – T3.com gave the U300s a rather low 3/5 stars.  They complained about the screen being quite dull and said that the laptop was slow to charge, which is interesting as nobody else mentioned that.  Instead of praising the design like other reviewers they actually call the design “plain and uninspiring”.  The final verdict was also that “it doesn’t offer any compelling reason to choose it over the competition”.  Ouch!

On the whole the consensus among U300s reviews seems to be that overall this is one of the better Windows ultrabooks available.  The keyboard is certainly the best of any ultrabook and the battery life is very good at between 5 and 6 hours.  The consistent complaints are in regards to a lack of an SD card slot and no backlit keyboard.  Early reviewers were also told the laptop would cost $200 less than the $1,499 it actually costs via Lenovo.com right now.  Since cost is the major factor for most buyers, that’s an important piece of misinformation seen in early reviews.  Let’s hope the price does actually fall to around the $1,000 mark originally quoted by Lenovo.

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