Back in January at CES, Lenovo unveiled the IdeaPad line and its seriously fashionable ultraportable: the Lenovo IdeaPad U110. The system, which snagged our Best of CES Award in the notebook category, went on sale earlier this week and finally arrived in our offices to many oohs and aahs this morning. I left the notebook at my desk for a few moments and came back to my colleagues checking out what we think is one of the most stylish ultraportables we have ever seen (Full review here).
Unique Design
As you will see in our video, I am calling this machine the “little red corvette” (yes, I know what Prince intended the song to be about). Our $1,899, 2.4-pound U110 is clad in cherry red, but it is also available in a shiny black. The aluminum-alloy top cover on the U110 features a notched surface pattern, called Tendril, that is just eye-catching.
The engraved Tendril pattern also creeps its way to the bottom of the notebook and under the hood into the system’s hidden, touch-sensitive buttons which lie across the top of the keyboard. The “piano painting wavy keyboard,” as Lenovo calls it, is ultra-glossy and very comfortable. However, the slippery keys and touchpad are going to take some getting used to. The whole system is very glossy, as you can see in our pictures. It was hard to take shots of the system without a lot of reflection bouncing off of the screen and keyboard.
Sleek LED-Backlit Screen
For an 11.1-inch screen, the frameless display is impressive. My short time with the system shows that the screen produces good vertical and horizontal viewing angles. In fact, it’s so glossy that I could check my teeth for food in its reflection. The system also uses LED-backlit technology that should save on battery life and energy, just as we saw with the comparable ASUS U2E.
The 1.3-megapixel webcam, located on the top of the screen, supports the system’s facial recognition capabilities. I expect the facial recognition software to perform just like we saw in the IdeaPad Y510, with which I had no problem logging into the system and my e-mail using my face.
Lots of Extras
The U110 includes a host of connectivity, including a 6-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA, headphone and microphone jacks, Ethernet, modem, Mini-PCIe slot, and ExpressCard slot.
Taking a look around the system’s ports, you’ll immediately notice the lack of an integrated optical drive. However, Lenovo packages the system with an external Dual Layer CD/DVD recordable USB-powered drive. The system also came packaged with an extra four-cell battery (in addition to the seven-cell main battery) and a carrying case.
Slow Boot Up, Solid Performance
Our configuration came with a 1.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 4,200-rpm 120GB hard drive that kept us moving at brisk pace while we were listening to music in Windows Media Player 11, surfing the Web, and writing this post in Microsoft Word 2007. The system’s boot time is a bit slow at a minute and 20 seconds. [Editor's Note: Our originally reported boot time was incorrect].
All in all, this ultraportable looks to be a stellar, luxurious PC. Click here for a full review that includes our benchmarks and more info.
source laptopmag.com
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