Lenovo IdeaPad U400 Review: The Latest MacBook Pro Challenger Discussion

The 14-inch all-metal IdeaPad U400 is an impressive MacBook Pro competitor that offers good performance and six hours of battery life for $879. Keep reading to find out if Lenovo can deliver a killer premium notebook at a fair price.

Read the full content of this Article: Lenovo IdeaPad U400 Review: The Latest MacBook Pro Challenger

Related Articles:

• Lenovo ThinkPad T420 Review: The Best Business Laptop?
• Lenovo Announces U300s Ultrabook and U300 and U400 Laptops
• Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 Review
• Lenovo B470 Review
• Lenovo G570 Review
• Lenovo ThinkPad E220s Review
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Review
• Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review
• Lenovo IdeaPad V460 Review

 

Looks like a nice solid design. It is easy to go to an Apple Store and checkout their machines first hand. I find it more difficult to find Lenovo's higher end laptops in stores for evaluation.

 

Consistent product availability in stores is one of the things that Lenovo (and other PC manufacturers) struggles with compared to Apple and the Apple Store. I saw the U400 at a MicroCenter store North of Cincinnati and at a Best Buy in New York but I've only seen low-end Lenovo notebooks or ThinkPads at other brick and mortar stores ... if they have Lenovo systems in stock.

I really like the U400 but I agree it REALLY needs a built-in card reader.

 

when on earth will laptop manufacturers make the effort to put the majority of the usb ports on the left hand side? its pretty ing common sense that i don't need my mouse receiver and my usb drive taking up valuable desk space by my RIGHT mouse hand.

 

yeah, I agree. Putting cooling vents on the right side is annoying thing too - blowing all that hot air into your hand. Thankfully notebook in this review has better cooling vent position. In my opinion the best position for cooling vents is on the back.

 

The U400 is a decent machine. Here's my wish list:

-Add a media card reader!
-Add status lights
-User upgradeability; please put access panels for the hard drive and RAM on the bottom .....
-Anti-glare screen coating, with a 1600x900 option (1366x768 is too low)
-Traditional touchpad with two separate buttons
-Backlit keyboard with a better feel
-Better speakers

And of course keep the same price point.

 

Hrm ... the line "anemic display" kinda kills the appeal of a machine in this general buying area for me. Other machines out there are available with much nicer screens and much better battery life.

Still - I am glad to see the mentioning about the build being durable!

 

I know it won't happen any time soon because of the parts costs involved, but I would love for a notebook manufacturer to come out and say, "All of our notebooks priced $800 and up come with IPS displays."

If any companies have the muscle to make that happen (in terms of volume and pricing with suppliers) it is Lenovo, HP or Dell. I absolutely LOVE the IPS display on the ThinkPad X220.

 

I too would like to see some better quality screens hit the market, especially in notebooks priced around the $1,000 mark. For that amount of money you should be getting better than ~60% gamut. $1,000 for a computer is a lot of money these days, the average selling price of a notebook is well below that.

If you want a good quality display, look for higher-resolution panels (1600x900 or 1920x1080). They're harder to find these days, especially in a consumer notebook, but they tend to be much better quality than the typical 1366x768 stuff.

 

I would push for higher resolution screens before I asked for higher quality screens IMO (assuming we could only push one at a time). While IPS displays are very nice, IMO real estate is more vital to work. I mean, I do graphics and I live with TN and MVA panels. As long as yo have a calibrated screen and a nice/helpful printer(not the machine, as in the person/shop), you can manage IMO.

Nice review though I agree that for the 1000$ mark lacking something as basic as a card reader is a bit of a bust. Also higher screen res is definitely something I'd wanna see more.

Are you guys planning a review of the U3000 Ultrabook btw? ^^

 

THIS! I wish a Windows laptop manufacturer can get ALL the things right for once. All these MacBook ripoffs are failing in one thing or another, and in all the wrong parts (screen for instance).

If these companies did produce a viable alternative to the MacBook with high QC, do you think they would be around the same price as an MBP?

What's stopping from creating an amazing machine? Do they feel people would just opt for a MBP at that point?

 

all good, but my one wish for lenovo is that they might put the U400's GPU in the U300.

i'd buy that in a shot!

 

I really like the battery, build, and design of the U400. The U410 seems to be a 14" cheaper version to the U300s as opposed to an upgraded U400.

My question is what is the alternative to the U400 in the sub $900 price range?