Lenovo IdeaPad U310-437522U Pro Reviews

Compared to the laptops you'll find it next to in a PC shop, it may be that the fun looks are all that can make the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 stand out. It's not any worse than its low-priced Ultrabook peers, and the keyboard is good for those who want to do a lot of typing on a small machine. For a 13-inch Ultrabook priced at £599/US$729 (around AU$912), it's perfectly acceptable. You'll get something a fair bit snappier if you can stretch to something like the Asus Zenbook UX32A, though.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 gets many of the important bits right: the keyboard and trackpad are great, and while the display won’t necessarily blow you away, there are no dramatic flaws. The speakers will also do in a pinch -- you aren’t going to throw a party with this machine (at least, not a very spectacular one), but you aren’t going to frighten your neighbors or roommates either. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I fell for the shiny aluminum shell and stark white base. It’s a rather attractive piece of equipment, but performance is merely adequate, and the battery life is on the low end of the spectrum relative to its ultrabook brethren. Your hard earned dollars will not be wasted on the U310, especially if you’re primarily concerned with getting some writing and web browsing done. Ultimately, you’re getting what you pay for (and little else).

Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 isn't the best Ultrabook we've seen: It isn't the lightest or the thinnest, it doesn't have the biggest screen or the best battery life, and its copycat MacBook Pro style doesn't make it the most attractive (though I suppose that's arguable). In other words, this Ultrabook is just average. It performs well, as long as you're not looking to do anything fancy. It has loud, if sometimes thin, speakers. It has a good-looking but dim screen. And it has decent, but not great, battery life. At the end of the day, the U310 will most likely appeal to college students and other young, budget-minded shoppers, since it's cheaper than comparably stylish computers and it comes in bright, fun colors.

The Lenovo U310 is a solidly-built, good-looking machine. It has a passable keyboard and a great trackpad. Our configuration had a fast Ivy Bridge processor, which was a Core i5 running at 1.7 Ghz. However, our configuration also included an old-fashioned 5400rpm hard drive, which is significantly slower than the SSDs other Ultrabooks pack, and as a result the U310’s PCM Vantage Productivity score suffered. The machine’s overall responsiveness suffered too, so if you are considering the U310 I would recommend you strongly ponder upgrading to the 500 GB hybrid hard drive, which adds an integrated 32GB SSD (invisible to the user).

Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 isn't the best Ultrabook we've seen: It isn't the lightest or the thinnest, it doesn't have the biggest screen or the best battery life, and its copycat MacBook Pro style doesn't make it the most attractive (though I suppose that's arguable). In other words, this Ultrabook is just average. It performs well, as long as you're not looking to do anything fancy. It has loud, if sometimes thin, speakers. It has a good-looking but dim screen. And it has decent, but not great, battery life. At the end of the day, the U310 will most likely appeal to college students and other young, budget-minded shoppers, since it's cheaper than comparably stylish computers and it comes in bright, fun colours.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 is an all-around decent ultrabook that's perfectly priced for back-to-school shoppers, but there are plenty of alternatives with nearly identically prices and features.

Lenovo hasn’t broken the mold with the U310. Instead, they’ve followed the standard Ultrabook recipe. Low-voltage processor? Check. Slim profile? Of course. Attractive exterior? Yep. Long(ish) battery life? Also present. The laptop does, however, have two exceptional traits. One is price. At a base price of $749, the U310 is exceptionally inexpensive relative to the competition. Only the upcoming Acer Aspire M5 limbos under this laptop’s MSRP at $679. The other trait is general competence. Some laptops are good because they do a few things well, but others are good because they don’t do anything poorly. The U310 is the latter. It’s not that quick, nor does it have the best battery life, nor is it exceptionally well built – but it is absolutely adequate in every category. You don’t have to make any sacrifices beyond those inherit to the ultrabook form-factor. If you want a thin, stylish, small laptop and you don’t have a wad of cash to spend the U310 is an option you must check out. There is no competitor available today that provides more ultrabook for your dollar.