Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook: Lenovo IdeaPad U260 review

Monday, December 27, 2010

Lenovo IdeaPad U260 review

We mean this with no disrespect to Lenovo, but when you first lay eyes (or hands) on the incredibly attractive IdeaPad U260, it's pretty hard to believe that it was made by the company. Sure, the Chinese laptop manufacturer has always had a certain knack for creating very powerful and well-rounded ultraportables, but "drop-dead gorgeous" isn't exactly how we'd describe systems like the Lenovo IdeaPad U160, Edge 11, or ThinkPad X301. The U260 is indeed a total 180 for the company, and it's one of the most dapper and svelte laptops we've seen in a long time -- there's no question about it, its magnesium-aluminum alloy shell, leather palm rest, and glass touchpad even give the newest MacBook Airs a run for their money. But even better, the 12.5-inch system has the brawn to match that external beauty - its 0.7-inch shell has been injected with a Core i5 ULV processor, 4GB of RAM, and 320GB of storage. At $1,100 (the Core i3 version starts at $999), there's no denying that it's more than enticing, but is the U260 immune to Lenovo's typical ultraportable pain points, including poor battery life and tepid temperatures? We've been lucky enough to spend the last few days with the beautiful machine (yes, we took it on vacation!), so jump down below to find out in our full review!

Gallery: Lenovo IdeaPad U260