Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Review

by Jerry Jackson

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is the latest addition to the IdeaPad family and has recently been garnering a lot of attention. Lenovo might be famous for the ThinkPad line of notebooks, but most average consumers don't find the traditional styling of the ThinkPad line to be very attractive. Our First Look Review IdeaPad U110 showed you how gorgeous this compact notebook is. How did the U110 ultimately perform in our final review? Take a look and see whether this diva is a super model or destined for the D-list.

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Our IdeaPad U110 has the following specifications:

• Processor: 1.60GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 (800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
• Graphics: Intel X3100
• Screen: 11.1-inch WXGA (1366 x 768, 370 nit) display
• Memory: 2GB (up to 3GB configurable)
• Storage: 120GB Parallel ATA HDD (4200rpm)
• Optical Drive: None internal (external Dual layer CD/DVD recordable drive)
• Wireless and Communications: Intel 4965AGN (802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi), BlueTooth 2.0 EDR
• Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion and 7-cell extended life Li-Ion batteries included
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, IEEE 1394 Firewire, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard/34, VGA monitor out port, AC adapter, headphone/line-out, microphone/line-in, Gigabit Ethernet
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 7.7" x 0.72" - 0.88"
• Weight: from 2.42lbs with 4-cell battery and 2.92lbs with 7-cell battery
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Other Features: Integrated web camera with VeriFace application
• Warranty: 1-year

The pricing on the U110 starts at around $1,899, and that is the configuration we are reviewing. Needless to say, this isn't something the average consumer will be dropping their money on in place of an $800 Dell. Still, if having a stylish, compact notebook is important for you then the U110 makes an attractive choice.

Build and Design

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The IdeaPad U110 is surprisingly solid in terms of build quality. The aluminum etch display cover and magnesium aluminum chassis provide both strength and light weight. You can press as hard as you want anywhere on the body of the notebook and it simply will not flex. Like the ThinkPad line, the IdeaPad U110 is designed for (accidental) abuse and drops, and we're guessing the U110 might be the most rugged laptop in the IdeaPad lineup. Unlike with the ThinkPads, you don't get a double latch mechanism with button release to make sure the screen is held down when it is closed and being carried. Instead, the U110 uses hinge tension to hold the screen in place.

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The etched aluminum display cover (available in both black and red) is probably the most interesting design element on the U110. Lenovo calls this their "Tendril texture" and it looks like an intricate floral and vine pattern. The IdeaPad designers even went the extra mile with the design by extending the "Tendril" pattern onto the bottom of the notebook and the touch-sensitive media buttons. Even the heat exhaust vents feature an extra touch of class. This certainly isn't a boring ThinkPad.

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Although the U110 doesn't have an internal optical drive, Lenovo does supply an external USB Dual layer CD/DVD recordable drive with the purcahse of the U110. The drive itself is equally stylish with a rubberized ThinkPad-like black texture and polished silver vents on the sides. The drive is USB powered so there's no need for a separate power adapter. That said, the drive requires two USB connections (one for power and one for data) so you will lose two USB ports if the drive is connected.

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Input and Output Ports

The number of ports the U110 has is fairly good, certainly much better than the Apple MacBook Air provides, but you're still left a bit wanting. Here's a run down of the ports:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• Firewire
• ExpressCard/34 slot
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Audio out, microphone in
• VGA monitor out
• Kensington lock slot

Key things missing are HDMI and a full-size ExpressCard slot. There's also no option for a docking station, you have to go with a USB-based port replicator (or ExpressCard/34) to get the additional ports you would want at a desk. Obviously engineers had to make design trade offs and you can't have it all on a notebook this small. Personally, I feel like the U110 provides an excellent balance of ports for its size. (The images below show the U110 with the larger 7-cell battery.)

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Performance and Benchmarks

Let's be fair, the IdeaPad U110 was not built to compete with your desktop loaded with a quad core processor. Thin travel notebooks like the U110 use low voltage processors to conserve power and reduce heat build-up. The IdeaPad U110 uses an Intel 1.60GHz Core 2 Duo L7500 processor that's quite capable of running office applications and performing any general web related tasks, but will not serve well for 3D graphics applications or any heavy duty rendering tasks.

Likewise, the Intel X3100 integrated graphics will allow you to play a few light games, maybe even Half Life 2 on low settings (see our Intel X3100 review for more details), but in general you'll want to stick to e-mail, web browsing, Office and photo editing tasks. That's enough for most average consumers ... particularly if you already have a powerful desktop.

The hard disk storage could have supplemented performance if it was a 5400rpm or 7200rpm drive. Better still, a super fast SSD would have given the U110 some additional "snappiness." Unfortunately, the slow 4200rpm hard drive on the U110 only made the system that much slower during everyday use.

Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the U110 stacks up.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, this processor benchmark program is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, it measures the amount of time to run a set amount of calculations.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.60GHz)	52 seconds
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7100 @ 1.20GHz)	98 seconds
Apple MacBook Air (Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 @ 1.6GHz)	68 seconds
Asus Eee PC 701 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz)	200 seconds
Sony VAIO TZ (Intel Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76 seconds
Dell XPS M1330 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.20GHz)	38 seconds

You can see from the results in WPrime the L7500 processor in the IdeaPad U110 is slower than the typical Core 2 Duo processor found in larger notebooks like the Dell XPS M1330.

PCMark05 is a benchmark that measures the overall system performance, so it considers the processor, hard drive, memory and OS as part of the mix. Although the IdeaPad U110 has a slower hard drive it actually fairs pretty well with this benchmark:

PCMark05 benchmark results (higher scores are better)

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.60GHz, Intel X3100)	3,445 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7100 @ 1.20GHz, Intel X3100)	3,467 PCMarks
Apple MacBook Air (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7500, Intel X3100)	2,478 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

3DMark06 is a benchmark that measures graphics performance, or more accurately measures the notebook's ability to play 3D computer games. The score is based in part on overall performance, but the single most important factor in this benchmark is the performance of the dedicated or integrated graphics. In the case of the U110, the integrated graphics performance wasn't bad ... but you certainly won't be playing Crysis on this notebook.

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 (Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 @ 1.60GHz, Intel X3100)	620 3DMarks
HP 2133 Mini-Note (1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV, VIA Chrome 9)	93 3DMarks
Averatec 2575 (2.2 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-64, ATI RS690T)	377 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune measures the storage performance of a PC, the numbers from the HDD are pretty standard for a 4200rpm PATA drive, but performance is sub par compared to most 5400rpm and 7200rpm hard drives found in other notebooks. This benchmark goes to show why the IdeaPad U110 might not be as fast as some other notebooks when accessing data:

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Screen

The 11.1" WXGA (1366 x 768) screen on the U110 is nice and bright, but suffers from a significant degree of "graininess." There is a constant "shimmer" to the screen that makes reading text or watching movies a little frustrating. The U110 also suffers from the same "frameless" glossy display seen on the IdeaPad Y510. The screen isn't just glossy, it's a glossy screen covered with a second glossy plastic layer which sets slightly above the surface of the actual display. This causes major reflections and serious eye strain problems because your eyes are constantly shifting focus between the reflections on the glossy protective layer and the text/images displayed on the screen underneath. Below are images showing just how reflective the protective layer is:

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Other than the graininess and severe reflection from the protective layer, the screen performance was acceptable. The color was accurate, backlighting was even across the entire surface, and viewing angles were good.

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Still, the reflective protective layer over the screen genuinely makes this screen quite horrible to view on a regualr basis.

Here's a quick video highlighting the reflective nature of the display on the U110:

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Keyboard and Touchpad

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The keyboard on the IdeaPad U110 has zero flex and excellent key travel with quiet presses. Lenovo has added a glossy &quot;piano paint&quot; finish to the keys so that they don't wear and get all shiny over time ... they start out shiny. Beyond the glossy finish on the keys, there's little to complain about here other than the lack of separation for the keys. Touch typists may have problems with the keyboard on the U110 since the keys are so flat and close together that it's hard to feel which keys you're pressing.

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The palm rest area is pretty neat, it has a glossy paint finish so it both feels and looks nice. It's very smooth and the touchpad is nicely textured with the same high-quality paint finish. Lenovo decided to omit the standard fingerprint reader in favor of their new &quot;VeriFace&quot; facial recognition application.

Speakers and Audio

The stereo speakers on the U110 are actually quite nice for a notebook of this size. You won't be getting surround sound quality out of the dime-sized speakers located beneath the display hinges, but the quality is perfectly acceptable for video chat or short YouTube videos. The speakers are capable of getting nice and loud with minimal distortion, but like most small notebook speakers the sound is basically just highs and mid ranges ... no bass.

The audio out port was free from any static or distortion and I recommend a good set of headphones or earphones if you plan to use the U110 for listening to music or feature-length videos.

Software and Security

While the IdeaPad U110 comes preloaded with a fair amount of trialware (bloatware) applications, most of these programs can be classified as helpful or only a minor annoyance. If you don't like any of the bloatware that comes with the notebook it's quite easy to uninstall the applications inside Windows Vista.

In terms of security, observant readers will notice that the U110 lacks a fingerprint reader common to most Lenovo notebooks. Instead of traditional biometric security, the IdeaPad series of notebooks uses the &quot;VeriFace&quot; security application. This is an innovative program that runs during startup and uses the laptop's built-in webcam to scan your face and determine if you are authorized to use the notebook. I was actually quite impressed with VeriFace's ability to identify me. However, the one unfortunate side effect of VeriFace is that it causes a significant delay of about 10 seconds during startup.

Heat and Noise

The thermal design of the U110 is surprisingly good. Keyboard and palmrest surfaces remained in the double-digit temperature range and the bottom of the notebook barely crossed into triple digits after stressing the system by running benchmarks. The temerature readings below are listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

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Battery

Lenovo supplies both the standard 4-cell battery and the 7-cell extended life battery with the U110. The 4-cell is lighter and has a quoted life of up approximately 2 hours while the 7-cell is heavier and has a quoted life of up to 6 hours. Our tests show these estimates are quite accurate. The 4-cell battery was drained after 2 hours and 9 minutes with the notebook set to &quot;Balanced&quot; power management in Windows Vista. With similar power management settings the 7-cell battery lost its charge after 5 hours and 48 minutes.

While most extended life batteries tend to be significantly larger than standard batteries, we were pleased to see that the 7-cell battery only adds a minor increase to the overall size of the U110. In fact, the increase in size is so minor that we will probably recommend that people just use the 7-cell battery all the time.

A view of the 7-cell battery on the
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Conclusion

Overall, the IdeaPad U110 is a nice notebook with an amazingly stylish design and reasonable performance in a small footprint. Consumers with some extra disposable income and a desire for an attractive laptop will be hard pressed to find a nicer overall choice than the IdeaPad U110. However, Lenovo made a few questionable choices with this notebook.

The display on the U110 is quite simply one of the worst we've seen in our office. Sure, color and brightness were fine, but the shimmering graininess and horrible levels of reflection made the screen physically painful to view for more than about 30 minutes. Likewise, while the keyboard feels fantastic and looks cool, the glossy surface picks up smudges from your fingerprints and the keys are too flat and too close together. Lastly, there's the issue of price. At the starting price of $1,899 most consumers won't be able to justify this purchase.

In the end, the IdeaPad U110 is an innovative notebook with some very attractive design elements and a solid feature set. Unfortunately, the display, keyboard and price make it an unlikely choice for most laptop shoppers.

Pros

• Cool design

• Light weight

• Nice battery life with extended battery
  

• Acceptable overall performance

Cons

• Horrible screen

• Slow startup (VeriFace causes significant startup lag)

• Keyboard not good for touch typists

• Expensive

 

too bad, the screen isn't very good

 

yeah,screen part sucks!what about sound,Jerry?

 

Haha, great video. The gloss on that screen is rather unfortunate.

 

The speakers aren't bad ... actually better than the mono-speaker sound we've been seeing on a lot of smaller notebooks. I updated the review with info on the speakers for those who are interested.

 

What reason could there have been for adding a second glossy layer?
Any idea what this was intended to accomplish?

Andrew

 

A lot of manufacturers are trying to copy the Iphone idea and other similar devices, having a screen, and then putting a shiny plastic/glass material over it to protect it from scratches, it's fine in mobile phones that get shuffled about a bit, but in a notebook it just seems like a nuisance

 

There are two reasons that Lenovo, HP, and Dell are doing this with some of their new notebooks in 2008:

1) The second, separated plastic layer over the display provides an extra layer of protection against screen damage.

2) Apparently market research indicates that most consumers like shiny, glossy things.

Granted, while most people do find bright, shiny objects to be appealing, manufacturers are ignoring a very practical problem. The fact that the second glossy plastic layer is setting a short distance in front of the screen causes reflection on the top layer to be separated from the surface of the screen where text and images are being displayed. Even when you try to ignore the reflections your eyes naturally shift focus from the reflections on the top protective layer to what is being displayed on the actual screen behind the protective layer ... which causes severe eye strain.

 

I think Lenovo should stay out of the stylish consumer market and stay in the "Screw looks, functionality pwns" thinkpad idea

 

Jerry you've a very artistic mind, your shaving in front of the screen couldn't signify more how reflective the screen could get, very well done.

The screen on my MBA is amazing by the way.

 

+1!

Still, the IdeaPads appear to be some of the better consumer-oriented notebooks out there IMO....

As for the U110, it looks nice, but the "tendril" inlay pattern a bit too "girly" for guys' tastes, including mine. They should probably come out with a version of the U110 that has an inlay pattern that is less girly (Then we'd have 'his and her' U110s!)

 

I think women would be particularly interested in being able to do makeup touch-up without having to pull a mirror out if they were to have the U110. It's not really practical for men to shave at their desks though, like Jerry, you'd have to be especially careful not to get shaving scum in the keyboard.

 

I may never shave again!
Scary, scary video!!

Andrew

 

Is that Jerry in the video ???

Nice review btw.

 

lol @ video :laugh:

Kinda disappointing they overglossified [if there's such a word] the IdeaPad laptops.

 

Yes, my mother always told me I had a face for radio, not TV.

Although the distorted reflection of the not-so-perfectly-flat protective plastic layer didn't help my appearance in the video.

 

You look good though

I don't know what the engineers at Lenovo thought when they put that layer on the screen . Well, just like the off-center screens on the thinkpads....

 

I'm glad NBR took a stand on this issue , and even more happy it matches mine .

 

Someday they will introduce screens that are 33% reflective (glossy), 33% opaque and 30% see through - it will cover ladies, gentlemen and spy who need to look working.

Great video by the way.

 

That only makes sense if the 2nd layer is replacable. Is it? Can you remove it?

Marketing guys ruins another product ...

 

Good point. The answer is no ... at least, you're not supposed to. I'm sure you can disassemble the screen if desired, but the protective layer is not meant to be user-replaceable.

 

Heres another review of the U110,slightly more optimistic I think
http://www.geek.com/review-lenovo-ideapad-u110-notebook/

 

Yeah. I love the mirror reflection of the ceiling light fixture in the screen of the U110 in that review.

 

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want this laptop. It seems like the perfect little laptop for someone as shallow as me! Is the screen really so unbearable that I should wait for a refresh? Cause this is probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in the computer industry... Again.... I'm shallow.... If you wanna bash it and make me hate it so I don't drop $2000 on it... That'd be nice too. =D

Edit: Also, any word on an SSD or a CTO version coming in the near future? I personally don't see the point of this not having an SSD option.

 

No word on an SSD or CTO version at this time. As for the screen, I'll direct you to the review (and the video). My opinion stands. I love glossy screens but I cannot tolerate these glossy protective layers in front of the actual screen which create reflections in front of the display. Your mileage may vary.

 

*Groannnnnnn* That's such a deal breakerrrrrr! It's such a beautiful machine, I don't understand how they could just let such a major flaw into the consumer market like that.

Thanks for the information. I am just going to wait for Lenovo to refresh this series because I am head over heels for the design of this laptop. And it's not as expensive as a TZ which made me want it even MORE. I am definitely looking forward to a refresh.

 

Sprintguy,I suggest you try one out for yourself,One of my laptops is a Lenovo Y510,same screen design as the U110.I use it everyday,and the reflection does not bother me at all,no headaches etc. In an office enviroment maybe would pose more of a problem.If the U110 had 54/expresscard slot I would have bought it.

 

Really? Well that is a bit relieving then. I've been checking out stores but I haven't seen any on display. I'm going to look around a little but more, I'm still really interested in this laptop cause I'm amazingly shallow. Thank's for keeping my hopes alive!!!

 

Jerry, thanks for the review!

One question: as a macbook owner, I'm interested to know how does the ideapad's screen's glossiness compare to the macbook's screen?

 

Most glossy screens (such as the ones in the MacBooks) are just standard screens with a glossy plastic surface rather than a matte plastic surface ... which seems to help with color saturation and contrast. I actually LIKE these "traditional" glossy screens rather than matte screens ... I have two notebooks with glossy screens and two large external monitors with glossy screens.

The difference between typical/traditional glossy screen and the ones on the IdeaPad U110, IdeaPad Y510, HP 2133 Mini-Note, and soon-to-be-released laptops from Dell (unless something changes at the last minute) is that the actual screen is behind a second glossy layer. A second, separate reflective layer of plastic sits in front of the actual display screen. This causes reflections that show up in front of what is being projected behind them. Imagine watching a TV screen from about 2-3 feet away and then having someone wave a photo in front of the TV screen. Your eyes tend to shift focus from the image being waved in front of your face and the images being projected behind them.

Some people claim the reflections from this second layer don't bother them, but most of the people in our editorial office have had serious trouble with these types of screens.

Bottom line, try to find a store that sells these notebooks so you can see them in person before you buy.

For some people this style of screen is an instant deal breaker. For others, it isn't a big deal.

 

Can't reconcile the price.

 

just saw the u110 at Micro Center in Cincinnati, ohio...

beautiful machine...3gb ram, etc. BUT AS JERRY SAYS, THE SCREEN IS HORRIBLE......I MEAN CRAPOLA.

damn shame since the machine is built like a brick ***thouse, and the specs (other than not having an internal dvd player) blow away the sony tz-270 that they had sitting next to it. However, that was a fatal marketing flaw, as anyone who sees the sony's screen next to the u110 will never buy the u110.

the ony plus the u110 had over the sony tz is that it's keyboard is much more comfortable to type on that the sony's fcuked up small keys....

my $.02...ymmv

 

Does $1649 make it any better? They have a $200 coupon that expires today. 1849 - 200 = 1649. Probably need to add tax for most. The coupon code is USPIDEAJUNE.

 

I was able to get it down to $1507 using the SPP site and coupon code US XIDEAJUNE.

 

So I own this laptop, and have been using it for about a month now. Here are some thoughts...

General:
I like it. I'm running Vista Business on it, and it's more than fast enough for everyday use. It croaks a bit with PowerPoint 2007, especially with large slide shows (25MB+ file size). 3GB of RAM is an absolute necessity on this machine, to make up for the slow processor. The screen glare everyone talks about is simply not an issue at all, unless you live in a glass house! It was annoying not to be able to buy it with Vista Business pre-installed, but wiping and reinstalling it was not a problem. The shiny black paint is not a problem - I just wipe it down with the included microfiber cloth every couple of days. People really like the looks, and it gathers a lot of attention wherever I take it... people think it's a net-book when they first see it, and are surprised to learn it is a fully fledged wide-screen dual core vista equipped machine.

The Good:
It is incredibly light and portable, and I find myself taking it places where previously I would be unwilling to bring a laptop along. The battery life is superb. The included carry case is great. The power supply is tiny and a very welcome thought on Lenovo's part. The durability seems good - no scratches after a month. Connectivity (e.g. with a docking station, with a projector) is fantastic. The screen resolution is really good. Sound is good with the dolby, but a bit "small" - the volume isn't that loud. The integrated card reader is not something I saw as a selling point, but I've ended up using it a lot more than I thought, and now I couldn't live without one.

The Bad:
Overheating / failing to sleep. This is my first vista laptop, so I'm unsure if this is a vista problem or a Lenovo problem. On at least 3 occasions, I have put the computer to sleep (e.g. when leaving work), and about an hour later have opened the case to find it almost on fire! The computer appears to have an amazing ability to either not sleep properly, or wake itself back up and overheat because the heat dissipation from the fan cannot occur inside the carry case! I am seriously worried about permanent damage, especially to the battery, and I think this is a serious design flaw - I'd be interested to see if it occurs with other Vista Laptops?

Docking. It doesn't have a dock connector, so you're forced to use a USB port replicator. The one IBM sells for this purpose is great, but it can be a bit slow at times, and occasionally when doing graphics intensive things over the internet, you get the feeling that shoving everything (mouse, keyboard, screen, net access, sound) through a single USB port is a bit restrictive - sometimes the mouse pointer hesitates.

Hard disk. It comes with some very odd partitioning. The 120GB is divided into 3. 20GB goes to the "novo" bit (Lenovo's private disk for catastrophic failure recovery), and the rest is partitioned in two.. a C: drive for the programs and Vista OS, and a D: drive for your data and files. I was able to de-partition C & D into a single drive (my preference) for installing vista business, but the windows disk partition utility absolutely will not allow the "novo" partition to be deleted. This is very annoying, because essentially 20GB of a 120GB drive is completely lost! Tech support indicated that removing this with a 3rd party app' would void the warranty.

Overall - very pleased, well worth the price, lighter than the Macbook Air, very functional as an everyday business computer and even more fantastic when on the road. Sucks to lose so much HD space to proprietary crap, and the overheating issue means it has to be completely shut down when transporting, just-in-case it fires up inside the case. I can live with these issues because of the increased functionality that the size affords, but for others it might be a deal breaker. The shiny screen is a non-issue after 10 seconds of using the machine.

 

why can't i find anywhere to buy this in the UK?

the 11.1" formfactor is perfect for me, and it has two huge advantages over the similar sony TZ laptops: X3100 GPU and one quarter less in price allegedly.

so where is it?