Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Hands-on

Lenovo had their new lineup of IdeaPad notebooks on display at CES last night. The U110 is particularly interesting as an 11.1-inch subnotebook, a first for Lenovo (at least in the U.S.). The U110 could also qualify as the shiniest laptop going.

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The most striking thing about the IdeaPad U110 design-wise is probably the lid, it's red and has sort of a flowery pattern to it -- nothing like we've seen in a Lenovo notebook before. The next rather striking thing is the keyboard. It's very shiny and very different to any other Lenovo keyboard I've ever used. Notice that the keys are flushed right up against each other and the keyboard has a glossy finish. During a quick first test I found the keyboard hard to use and quite mushy. The advantage is that since each key on the keyboard is flushed up against the next, theaverage key size is bigger than what you'll get on most ultraportables with an 11.1-inch screen form factor. However, the space bar is shrunken in size and hard to use. Overall, at first blush this keyboard is nowhere near the usability of a ThinkPad style keyboard and would seem it take some getting used to -- which is often the case with ultraportable keyboards.

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The good news with the U110 is that it's incredibly easy to carry around at only 2.4lbs of weight. It was simple to hold and palm in the hand for the purpose of taking pictures for instance.

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The IdeaPad U110 should be coming out around April time, the specs for the initially released version are below:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Low Voltage
• Screen: 11.1” Glossy widescreen WXGA ( 1366x768)
• Video Card: Intel X3100 (up to 256MB shared)
• HD: 160GB 1.8” or 32GB - 64GBSSD
• Webcam: 1.3MP
• Sound: two speakers, 1.5W
• Network: 10/100 Ethernet, Intel 4965AGN wireless, Bluetooth
• Warranty: 1 year system/1 year battery
• Battery: up to 8 hours
• Availability: April 2008

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Below is a look at left side of the notebook:

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And a look at the right side:

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-Shiny keyboard and palmrest doesn't sound like a good idea to me; smudges show up easily.
-The short space bar also may be bad until you get used to it. The left ctrl key could have been made smaller to give back a little real estate to space bar.
-I hope Lenovo is going to have an option of lids, the red flower lid and a plain glossy black one?

The things I like are:
decent resolution - 1366x768 is great for an 11.1" monitor
3 usb ports
exclusion of PSTN port

Otherwise the specs look good to me. I wonder what the price will be though.

 

Fingerprint magnet... hackers are advised not to buy this piece of hardware....

 

Thanks for the info Andrew. Did you have a chance to try out the speakers? According to the Lenovo web site, the U110 has 'Dolby® Home Theater™ audio' which sounds quite impressive and unusual for an ultraportable. I'm curious what it means in practice.

 

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny. Really, with that kind of glossiness on the interior, you could use the thing as a pretty decent mirror. And that lid is pretty tight, I like that.

And for clarification, is it the LV Core 2 Duos as stated (ala the X61s) or ULV processors like every other ultraportable on the market?

 

I like it. A very refreshing design.

 

Very interesting design. Kind of makes me think of some HP models. The keyboard definitely looks like it would take some time to get used to.
Tim

 

I like it! Especially if the sound turns out to be good, this could qualify as a smallest media lappy.

 

i like it!! it looks good!

 

I don't understand how you guys like this thing, it's awful. If it had the keys and cover like the x61 then this would be the best.

Is this supposed to be the the next x61 but in widescreen?

 

Definitely almost looks like an HP with the glossiness. I really like the design, but I could also see the keyboard (as Andrew said) being very "mushy" and uncomfortable to type on. Is this new line of notebooks supposed to be one of Lenovo's higher up model of notebooks?

 

IMHO shiny keyboard is bad idea in office lighting...
(or any environment where there is a light right above keyboard)

p.s. lid coloring remembers me traditional chinese women dress coloring

 

No, this is in Lenovo's consumer line, hence the shininess of everything and the extra media features that you wouldn't find on a ThinkPad. I do hope the next X series is a widescreen chassis though - that would fix the resolution problem with it.

 

Hm nice on the outside but it's waaaay to shiny on the inside. Ideal for women though. The keyboard looks ok.

 

Yeah, Chinese traditions are something good, aren't they?

*SIGH*

 

they didn't mention anything about the next x-series, did they?

 

Why they would? The NOIdeaPads have nothing to do with ThinkPad, that's just a... $*(&^&$&^% .. completely different consumer (budget) line.

In other word, IBM ideas aren't here but Lenovo is trying to benefit from the name in one or another way.

 

Looks nice-But it is not ... well i dont know...it just doesn`t attract like ThinkPads...

 

I dunno... It's kind of nice. I don't like the shiny keyboard and surface there. Keyboard reminds me of the MBP keyboard. The keyboard and trackpad look much better than the sorry one on Lenovo's R series.

Hrm... wish it had DVI out. Thats the big problem with the smaller portable units.

 

My thoughts exactly. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny. Would distract me all the time.

 

The consensus is that this will use CCFL, not LED backlighting, unlike the similar 11.1" Vaio TX/TZ and Asus U1/U2.

Thats very strange, to give this notebook a high end option like SSDs but no LED backlighting? How about as an option like for the XPS M1330?

And no built in optical drive too, thought they could have fit one in there.

 

If I were a betting person I would say that it has LED backlighting. Reason being that the only other machines in the world, currently sold (TZ and U1), that have that size screen with that funky resolution are LED backlit. There are very few manufacturers of LCDs and even fewer that produce LCDs with LED backlighting.

 

Too shiny. I don't like that at all!

 

Does it have one of those new 16:9 ratio screens? From the specs and the screenshots, it looks like it does. I hope the tend doesn't start happening on the other notebooks, I don't like loosing the vertical resolution. But you do gain some horizontal resolution yet it doesn't seem like a worth while trade-off.

I also think its too shinny; they should of just left the gloss on the screen and cover rather then bringing it to the dirt prone keyboard. It'll probably be a big hit with consumers though, shininess impresses people at first glance. Lenovo needs something to get attention in the US market, so it makes sense they would come out with something like this to get attention.

 

Yes, but thats not really new. Every 11.1" screened notebook (starting with the TX back in 2005) has had a 16:9 ratio screen, with a resolution of 1366x768.

 

ill buy this if its all black

 

I have to say, the glossy keyboard looks quite pretty at first glance, but would get fingerprints and micro scratches on it so fast, but it does look pretty, I'll admit and I also like the frameless screen, the screen is flush with the bezel, also like the glowing orange power button.

If only it would come out this month, I may buy it, still want to know its price and configurations. Would people mind buying it without a built-in DVD drive?

Also, are those media buttons above the keyboard with the red, Chinese dragon like pattern? And what is the small button right on the right of the power button?

This will be an exciting year, a really nice year for ultraportables for sure!

 

people buy the x61 and it doesnt have an optical drive?, or does it, idk

 

Aww.... that's a deal breaker. NEEDS an LED screen imo. If they could squeeze eSATA and and HDMI and keep the price to a sane level it would be perfect.

 

The only thing I like about the u110 over the sony tz is that it has the Intel X3100 video card.

That should help quite a bit when running vista.

Sony should really move the tz line over to that card.

 

I am very happy another big firm like Lenovo enter the Ultra Portable 11.1 PC market. It's always nice to have competition so there is incentive for lazy frims like Sony to improve their TZ series .

I also agree with everyone on this thread about the shinny palm rest.

The only thing I am a big surprise is the keyboard. IBM / Lenovo has always known for their superior keyboard design and this time they decided to their entire keyboard structure. They should kept the old keyboard from their ThinkPad / 3000 series.

 

Exactly, we have WAY, WAY too many 14 to 17" laptops crowding the market and only a couple of the 10/11" ultraportables, we need more players in that segment, more competition to bring more innovation.

The current 11.1" Asus U1E and upcoming U2E also have the 965 chipset/X3100 graphics. I do wonder why Sony hasn't moved theirs yet to it.
Well, the TZ is selling extremely well and don't fix something that isn't broken or has stopped selling yet! Most users of it wouldn't even notice the newer chipset but I'd still like it. : (

I still think the U110 looks really nice, would like to see more info on it, probably would buy it if it came out earlier. : (

 

LOL !!! NOIdeapad sounds really good
I think many people would appreciate Lenovo if they concentrate on improving the Thinkpad quality rather than their shiny eye candy. Where is the good old day when we can buy a Thinkpad without any worries ????
I'm wating for the first glance of the other Ideapad models

 

No IBM/Lenovo UPs have optical drives since the PIII X20 and possibly before.

 

Pretty sleek design. I really like the look of the screen and how its hinged. Although i could do without the glossy look.

 

I kind of like it. It reminds m of a HP TX1000 i had with all its shinyness. I think the shiny keyboard is a brilliant idea as the keys on every laptop i own get shiny from wear anyway after about 3 months of use. The small spacebar wont bother me becuase i only use one spot on my spacebar anyway the now shiny part . I think they made the righ decisions on the keyboard e.g. sacrificing th space bar for the ctrl key.

I think there is a shortage of decent usable widescreen ultraportables out there, so i cant wait to see how this one turns out. I hope it performs and is offered with a non-intel graphics card.

 

I like it. What's not to like it? It looks nice, it will come in black or red, the shiny thing it's fine with me, as my thinkpad t61 got all grease on it. I can see it will be really easy to clean if it's shiny. I played with tz a lot, and really like its form factor, but it's just too expensive. This thing is from Lenovo and it's not thinkpad line, so should expect it will be really cheap, so I might get one when it's released.

 

Nice! If it's correctly priced, I might snag one for my sister: she like shiny stuff.

 

I want to see this come out already. I'm anxious to see some impressions.

 

It's April 1st and still no news on when U110 would be available (Lenovo's site said March 2008) - anyone has an ETA? Or updates?

 

This article from Digitimes.com says it won't be out until May.

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20080326PD218.html

 

It's been out for 2 days peoples. Any early adopters?