Lenovo Announces U300s Ultrabook and U300 and U400 Laptops Discussion

Lenovo raises the bar for style with three new luxury laptops, the IdeaPad U300s Ultrabook, and the U300 and U400 laptops. These ultraportable notebooks are designed for fashion-conscious PC users who want a well-equipped laptop with the latest technology and good looks to boot.

Read the full content of this Article: Lenovo Announces U300s Ultrabook and U300 and U400 Laptops

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they are truly gorgeous, lets hope that the battery life lives up to what they claim, or at least 6hs.

Im wondering if october is the month that intel would release the higher binned sandy bridge cpus, with such new numbers of products one can only think that way

 

Typo on the paragraph after "IdeaPad U300 and U400 Ultraportable Laptops"
"AMD Radeon HD5470M 1GB graphics", should be HD6470M.

 

How do these new Ultrabooks compare to the new Vaio Z? The more I see manufacturers announce their new ultraportables, the more I begin to feel that I overpaid for a new Vaio Z, since all of these laptops are around $1k...

 

Well your Vaio Z has higher resolution 1600x900 or 1900x1080 matte display depending on the model, vs the 1366x768 on these newer models. Additionally, if the screen is anything like the Vaio Z of the past it may still be one of the best display in the 12-14in category. The resolution for many isn't a deal breaker so it may not be for you. Also, your Vaio Z is a bit more compact as it comes with a 13.1in display vs the 13.3in displays on these models.

 

Hope the prices are not too high and the battery life is actually that long. These look like good laptops, and unlike some other OEMs, the design cues aren't entirely copied off Apple's machines. The U300s bears the most resemblance to the original U260, with its "book" design.

 

If it only has a fingerprint reader, I'd buy it.

 

You might want to look at the U300's competitor, the Toshiba Z830. Toshiba's Portege Z830 is an ultraslim, ultrasexy Ultrabook -- Engadget 2.5 lbs, full powered CPU, 8 cell 47 WH battery, .63" thick, and > $1,000. Oh, and it has a fingerprint reader. Looks incredible and has a backlit KB. If only either of these had an HD+ display option. So far, it looks like only the Asus UX31 will have a higher resolution display in an ultrabook.

 

I have to say these are very lust-worthy Lenovos. I'm eager to see review units in our lab and put them to the test but I suspect all three of these laptops will deliver on the hype.

 

I take the display is matte like the U260, but I couldn't really tell. Curious to see how the screen quality really is on this and competing ultrabooks.

 

Looks like as glossy as it gets to me (yuck):

Notebook Reviews - Laptop Reviews and Netbook News Picture

 

35W Llano Fusion Dammit!

 

This is a Lenovo?! It's beautiful! I must've been looking at the wrong ones all this time.

 

Lenovo designs some really classy-looking notebooks. I am quite find of the IdeaPad series notebook, especially the ~$500 ones. Only issues are the use of glossy plastic and 1366x768 screen resolutions. Not a single IdeaPad I know of save for the 17" one offers anything higher.

 

Look at the sleek new Apple... err... I mean Lenovo, notebooks. Seriously though those are really sleek looking, I think Lenovo might have a winner.

 

Glossy 1366x768 + no Trackpoint = no care

 

Why the large difference in battery times between the U300s and the U300? Because of the SSD?

Also does the U300s use blade SSDs or standard enclosures?

 

Agreed. Ditto Samsung, Toshiba and most of the other brands. Apple will - thank goodness - be soon relegated to the "status" of its logo and perhaps having gotten there first, but these new releases appear to prove that the MBA was not a major feat o engineering prowess. Within a month or so, both it' MBPs and MBAs will be playing in a crowded filed of Windows machines that will look as good, be as light and often have more power than their own machines, which may continue to rely on "Thunderboomer" as it's only high speed data port, with a total of 0 external storage devices compatible with it and no "legacy" eSata or USB3 port to be found for normal people who want to do backups faster than USB2 or "cloud" speeds.

Am I gloating? Yes, I most certainly am!

 

Looks like the Vostro V13

 

what is the purpose of the U300 vis-a-vis the U300s

yes it is fatter, and presumably cheaper, but why bother making it when they also have the U400 with an optical drive.

i have heard rumours that the U300 will come with a discrete GPU, is this true?

 

probably to fill a gap that they saw? the design of the series is drop dead gorgeous, so probably they are going to use it to promote more powerful solutions, while the edge line aint ugly the U lines is considerably better looking

 

what gap did they see?

the only one that makes sense to me would be the inclusion of a GPU, of which there have been rumours of a 5470.

now i'd love a GPU, and it would sell the notebook to me, but a 5470 is not really any faster than the Intel 3000..............

 

OI Im not the one with some crazy market numbers. There is probably a gap in the stylish and good built thin and light notebooks, that lenovo aint getting the finger on it. And I dislike entirely the lenovo policy regarding line ups, there are just too many models in there, too many wasted research resources

People rarely understand what makes a gpu tick, so they look and see, well its 1gb of ram gpu, it surely is good, and buy the damn thing. And its a 6470m.

Which also makes me wonder why you are considering the samsung series 7 14'' since it packs the also not so much better 6490m?

 

The U300s doesn't have a SD card reader. Deal breaker ...

 

i'd be more than happy with a 6470 in the U300 because:
1. it is a real improvement over the Intel HD 3000
2. it is capable of driving games at the screens native res

i am hesitating over the Samsung 7 14" because:
1. it houses an optical drive which i am uninterested in
2. it is not a unibody chassis as the U300 is rumoured to be
3. 6490 is lovely, but it has to drive a 1600x900 screen if games are to be run native

other factors that weigh in the balance:
1. the Samsung 7 has the slim bezel
2. the Lenovo U300 has a mSATA + 2.5" combo for storage

in short, if the U300 does come with some kind of none-Intel GPU then I will go that way, and if it doesn't i may have to accept the compromises of the Series 7.

 

you just answered why there is a spot in that market for the U300.

and the HD3000 aint that bad, 2 weeks ago I played COD4 and COD6 without an issue on medium settings in my mbp 13.

 

fingers crossed then that the U300 does indeed have a dedicated GPU of some kind.

although there is no indication of an external gpu here:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/Laptops/IdeaPad/u-series/u400/IdeaPad_U300_Datasheet_US.pdf

here is the U400 datasheet:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/Laptops/IdeaPad/u-series/u400/IdeaPad_U400_Datasheet_US.pdf

and the U300s:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/Laptops/IdeaPad/u-series/u300s/IdeaPad_U300s_Datasheet_US.pdf

 

interestingly the U300 datasheet link no longer works, whereas the links for the U300s and U400 still produce .pdf's on demand.

what does this mean.........?