A cheap subnotebook?
With this series of Ideapads Lenovo is aimed at buyers for whom the purchase price is an important issue. With an energy-efficient CPU and built-in video card and 3GB of RAM, the sleek and lightweight U350 should be a must-have for ultra mobile use with good performance and long battery life. You will learn more about the advantages and mistakes from our review.
The Ideapad family lineup for value-conscious customers is sold in three versions worldwide. Along with the compact and standalone 10 and 12 "S series laptops, as well as the 13 and 14" U series models, there are also 14-17 "Y version laptops on sale, albeit exclusively in America. Only S and U versions can be found in Europe. This test model 2963 (M22E2GE) is equipped with an Intel Pentium SU2700, an Intel GMA 4500M HD graphics card and 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive. On the contrary, the M22E6GE version will please with 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. In America, this test version, in terms of hardware that directly impacts performance, corresponds to the U350, named 296326U. Compared to Dell's options, you will be a little disappointed with the hardware of the individual versions. Replacement of internal parts is prohibited, this only applies to warranty repairs and accessories. It should be noted that we did not find a significant selection of additional accessories.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 Laptop Case
At 238 x 228 x 24.9 mm, the 13.3-inch Ideapad is a very compact computer. The stylish design with a tapered edge at the front is eye-catching, but in terms of height, that's not much. But, the modest weight, only 1.6 kg, is suitable for walking in the park.
The combination of black and silver on the Ideapad 350 looks extremely elegant. The glossy surface, except for the black-glossy inserts of the mirror screen, perfectly harmonizing, will not be seen anywhere else. Not only the main part, but also the monitor lid is made in matte color, and the lid is also equipped with a pattern. In combination with the keyboard, which is also black, the metallic-silver modifications of the upper main part look extremely bright and, thanks to the uneven surface, are pleasant to the touch. Everything is made of ordinary plastic, for those who are really curious - polycarbonate / acrylonitrile butadine-styrene, and a little poly blend (a combination of a number of polymers).
As a result, the fortress of the main part is impressive. With light pressure, nothing will happen, but if you apply force, you will probably hear a creak. The same can be said about the area above the keys. But the laptop demonstrates good torsional rigidity, it is quite safe to lift it at any corner of the main part.
In this respect, the monitor lid was not as strong. In our experiments at maximum strength during compression and deformation, we saw a distortion of the picture on the screen.
Small attachments are also suspicious. After changing the viewing angle, which is limited to 133 degrees, the screen starts shaking. When traveling by train, for example, self-closing fasteners are unable to stabilize the tiny monitor in the desired position. I would also like more clamping force, since the 350 is completed without a lock for transportation. In general, the case pleased us greatly, since who has not encountered an accidental fall of the laptop during its frequent mobile use. It is a pity that the computer is not protected from water.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 Laptop Interfaces
With 3 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA connector, a digital HDMI port, and places for a microphone and headphone, this version, in our opinion, meets the criteria for a mobile subnotebook. The device also comes with a 4-in-1 card reader that reads the following formats Multimedia Card, Memory Stick Stangdart and Pro and SD.
The back and front sides are not used for the jacks, so they are all on the left and right sides. This scheme is not very comfortable, although it depends on the ports that you use often. Since they are on the left, you cannot do without them (video connections or power supply) and they are in the middle - for left-handers this is not very practical. And on the right, when headphones, a microphone and a 3G USB modem are connected, we will see spaghetti from the cables. By the way, this modem usually needs 2 USB 2.0 ports, which means that right-handers will not be able to connect the modem from the left side. It remains to be seen why the manufacturers had to arrange the connectors this way. They probably followed fashion trends, although this is unlikely to reassure customers.
The Ideapad U350 offers Broadcom NetLink Gigabit Ethernet (10/100 / 1000MBit) for wired connectivity and an add-on Broadcom 802.11 b / g (bg) Wireless-LAN module, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR for wireless. But you have to get used to the lack of a UMTS modem or RJ-11 interface.
1.3 MP webcam, placed in the upper part of the screen, demonstrates the possibility of using video telephony. In addition, the VeriFace Tool methodology is applied here, which adds uncomplicated authorization for clients. To enter the system, you only need to sit in front of the monitor and authorization will take place automatically when the image is recognized. With excellent light parameters and the same posture, it will pass without any difficulties and surprisingly quickly. But, when working in a faded light, this will not happen, since there will be little contrast and you will have to switch to the classic password entry.
Another interesting feature is the OneKey-Rescue technology, which saves and restores the operating system. For the production of such a service, Lenovo even made a special button, which is located to the right of the start button. When pressed, the OneKey-Rescue program is activated instead of the supplied operating system. Besides the save service and restore option, there is also an antivirus function. This technique is required for the treatment of files infected with a virus, the ability to go to a certain recovery period or return to factory settings. The latter is valid if the hard drive or master boot record is working. The laptop comes with no hardware recovery boot included. Therefore, it is advisable to enable this option immediately after purchase and after the first boot of the operating system using the OneKey-Rescue-6.0 technology, so that, in case, it can be used. Activation takes place in two steps: first, you must make a reservation in the form of an image, and then this disk can be restored from this image.
And now we will talk about the guarantee. Lenovo offers a typical one-year warranty. Extension up to 3 years with insurance against unintentional damage is possible, but at a price set by the company (up to $ 199). At $ 629, this seems ridiculous. In general, in our opinion, an additional guarantee is not required, not only because of such a price, but because of the good quality of the product. If the device has been working properly for about one year, then you will not need to change it as soon as possible.
Input devices of Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop
Keyboard
If you are used to the classic keyboard layout, or you regularly change laptops from different brands, you will notice that the Fn and CTRL buttons are swapped. But once you get used to it, it will no longer seem difficult to you. Other than that, the keys show no surprises, and we were able to type blindly when we first approached the keyboard. The advantage is the very good size of the alphanumeric symbols and the enter button. The key travel is satisfactory, with a precise point when pressed. With active use, the entire keyboard rises a little and the noise from the work turns out to be discernible. But you won't hear the ringing from typing at the standard speed. The only thing that can be said with reproach is the lack of even protection from moisture, which, of course, often happens when a mug of tea is overturned.The gaps between the keys are small, so debris will not fall under them and interfere with pressing.
Touchpad
The touchpad has an uneven surface, very pleasant with excellent travel qualities, so it is quite capable of replacing a mouse. The touchpad keys only work in the center, so, depending on the position, they are able to tilt in the right direction. When you click on it, it is difficult to calculate the minimum force. The stroke depends on the location of the hands. But the buttons move freely. In addition, a concave surface at its deepest point in an upright position comes in handy. But on the other hand, the surface of the buttons is not very happy, due to the silver glossy color, so it is desirable that they be the same as the surface of the brush rest or the touchpad. If desired, using the Fn-F6 buttons, the touchpad can be easily turned off. As an alternative to a mouse, this device will fit in principle, although I wanted to see more comfortable touches.
Hotkeys
The Ideapad U350 only demonstrates two of these keys placed above the keyboard. One of them is the OneKey-Resuce button mentioned above. Another is required to turn off the speakers. All other irreplaceable options, such as changing the screen brightness, are available with the Fn key combination. Moreover, you can find the WiFi switch on the left side, closer to the middle, to quickly activate technical resources or turn off the wireless module. Thanks to the Fn-F5, this is separately possible for WLAN and Bluetooth via software. Such a poverty of hot keys is explained by an attempt to seriously reduce the price of a laptop, which, in principle, its creators succeeded in. After all, someone wondered how often he uses these options, probably rarely. The main thing is not to accidentally press a key and not activate the data recovery service, although confirmation is always required there, an inexperienced user can accidentally press confirmation. Manufacturers should have made it less accessible and visible.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop screen
The 13.3-inch LED backlit display comes in 16: 9 format with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. Compared to 16:10 monitors, a person gets more width in the same volume, although there will not be a couple of pixels vertically. True, you can admire films without a black border around; in a standard office version, a modest height is a minus. So when working with texts, websites, mail, you should turn the wheel more often than on monitors with a 16: 9 format.
In the central part of the picture, the best brightness is recorded at 199.4 cd / m2. But at all other points, the brightness is less, especially noticeable at the top. For the central upper half, 182.5 cd / m2 was recorded, so the total backlight is 92%. It is clear from this that we did not find any errors with regard to the backlighting.
Truly, you cannot say anything negative about the embodiment of color. With a black index of 1.23 cd / m2, the maximum contrast of the picture in the center of the monitor is 162: 1.
For work outside the room, you can choose the appropriate model. Although the brightest remains at a decent value, a glossy monitor is prone to glare and reflections in poor lighting conditions. Only artificial shadows, which you will have to look for, will help to avoid, otherwise, in the scorching sun, you simply will not make out anything.
The sensitivity of the viewing angle of the monitor is favorable to work only in the vertical direction, since even small changes from this viewing angle lead to significant decreases in contrast. There is a lot of work in the horizontal plane of the workspace, but you have to come to terms with the increase in useless reflections. In order to somehow compensate for this shortcoming, the user will have to desperately change the gamma settings in order to somehow optimize the image for himself.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop performance
With the Lenovo Ideapad U350, we tested for the first time a version equipped with an Intel Pentium SU2700 CPU.Designed with a 45 nanometer lithographic process, this is a 1.3 GHz single core CPU, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz front bus that uses a 64-bit instruction scheme. With the largest loss of charge of 10 watts, it will be clear that this version is intended for autonomous use, so performance is not really needed here, rather than the duration of work without recharging.
Our test model came from Germany, although it is still unclear what type of U350 model will be sold in Europe. There are four versions available in America, most of them with the Intel Pentium SU2700 processor. Only the U350-29632JU version has an Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor (1.40GHz; FSB: 800GHz; L2-Cache: 3MB). True, it is single-core, but its performance is much higher. This is proven by the findings from our experiences with mobile processors.
Let's go back to the test version. Our computer, according to CPU-Z, has a GS45 chipset that integrates an Intel GMA 4500M HD graphics card. Even the reduced clock speed of the video card shows only 475 MHz, Everest has 400 MHz. It is known from the experiment that the data from CPU-Z is incorrect, so we look at the manufacturer's data:
Intel GS40 chipset / Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (GMA 4500M)
Typical office specs, light video card, if DVD playback is required - no question for this board. But with complex 3D anomalies such as CAD animation and computer games, it will be much more difficult. This completes the scope of this board.
For active 3D use, for example, computer games, you should find a version with more powerful graphics options. But outdated games can be played on this computer, but when it comes to current games, in relation to this version, only World of Warcraft and The Sims 3 come to mind, which at best can be cropped to the lowest graphics solutions for the set frame rate ...
The supplied 3GB DDR3 memory of the Ideapad U350 is a smart solution, especially for Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit. Adding RAM can even be done by a layman by placing it by sliding the protective cover on the back of your laptop. Due to the system limitations of the processor with a 32-bit system, upgrading to 4 GB of memory cannot be done so easily. Therefore, with such amounts of RAM, the installation of a 64-bit operating system is simply necessary, since a 32-bit one functions normally with only 4 GB of RAM. In principle, the GS45 can be upgraded to 8 GB of RAM. Knowing the typical performance characteristics of the U350 will not affect anything. The GS40 only supports 4GB in anyway.
The hard drive from Western Digital, the WDC WD2500BEVT-22ZCT, has a capacity of 250 GB and a speed of 5400 rpm. HDTune performance results are not much different from other hard drives. The memory responds perfectly to all requests and is really good in speed. However, in this case, there is also the merit of other characteristics of the laptop.
As a result, the U350 demonstrates excellent performance in the test version with popular office solutions and Internet programs. A single-core processor, however, cannot handle functions when a series of programs are running in parallel and the user wants a quick response. Moreover, one must also take into account that antivirus software and other applications that take up memory force the processor to work hard.
We used the DPC Latency Checker to compare latency on Vista. The conclusions turned out to be standard, so there should be no difficulties with the synchronization of external modules, for example, the formation of a crackle when connecting an external sound card. As a result, we can note good performance with so little system data, which is a big plus for this model.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 Laptop System Temperature and Noise
System noise
In the experiment at room temperature, somewhere around 23 degrees Celsius, the sound of the Ideapad U350 reaches 31.2 dB (A).When the fan is operating, the noise threshold fluctuates at 36.0 dB (A). When the standard programs are loaded - the processor and the graphics module - the fan increases noticeably, and the noise reaches its peak data - 43.84 dB (A). In general, all values are categorized as standard or even low. Therefore, one can speak very calmly about the characteristics of noise.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop temperature
The top half of the Ideapad U350 remains quite cold, with the highest temperature of 31.3 degrees Celsius set in the left half of the keyboard. The underside temperature is 37.5 degrees Celsius, allowing the laptop to be placed on your lap. But despite these facts, one should not expect such parameters from the device at maximum load. When working with a small load, the conclusions turned out better than stated in the documentation. The upper half reaches the highest temperature of 30.4 degrees Celsius and 35.1 degrees Celsius in the lower half. It should be noted that no significant decrease in performance was recorded. As for the battery discharge, we noted a certain tendency towards a decrease in the charge, but a simple user is unlikely to notice these changes.
Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop speakers
Both internal speakers provide a comfortable and, for the version without a subwoofer, good diffuse sound. The bass, of course, is not audible, but we highlight the excellent quality of the dual speakers. The sound when connected to the 3.5 mm jack is in line with the forecasts and represents the real world. In general, working with the speakers left a pleasant feeling, especially useful when conducting conferences when there is a lot of background noise.
Minimum battery life for Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop
Lenovo has equipped the Ideapad with a 41-watt 4-cell lithium-ion battery. An analogue has not yet been developed. In the best case, this means with the lowest brightness, switched off data transmission modules, energy-saving mode and low load, you can go to work in a mode without recharging for more than 6 hours. With the experience of BatteryEater Reader, which simulates reading data, we got 368 minutes. But, since the screen is a little gloomy in this version, you won't be able to read for a long time. And working in this mode is absolutely no pleasure, but only harm your eyes.
In the worst case, that is, with the connected devices on, highest brightness, high load, the Battery Eater Classic experience was 132 minutes or 2 hours and 15 minutes. We are, of course, very interested in the conclusions of the WLAN experiment. With the adjusted brightness, 5 out of 10, and the mode in full power saving, the battery lasts about 312 minutes, i.e. 5 hours 12 minutes. Also, this laptop can operate on additional batteries, which are not difficult to buy.
The results of the review of the laptop Lenovo Ideapad U350
Lenovo showed off a curious and challenging version of the Ideapad 350, which combines a long mobile life with excellent performance. Excellent body rigidity and sleek design make working with pleasure. It is comfortable and easy to work with the keyboard. It's a shame the 13.3-inch LED backlit monitor is not suitable for outdoor use due to its glossy design.
Two nice additions are found in this model. On the one hand, VeriFace demonstrates easy access with facial recognition. This, however, requires good light performance. On the other hand, OneKey-Rescue helps you save and restore content. True, it takes time to check this system for reliability and protection against breakdowns. In general, when the recovery system was activated, it worked properly, although it is a relative novelty in the laptop market.
Customers looking for a laptop with a relatively small size, long battery life and satisfactory performance can safely buy the Lenovo Ideapad. However, the reflective display is not suitable for regular work and outdoor use.This product is directly in line with the price-quality principle. Even the most demanding buyer will find his own peculiarity in it. For lovers of bright design, for relatively little money, they can admire the elegant design, and those who only pay attention to performance will also be pleased. It's a shame that this version doesn't come with a Blu - ray drive. This would be useful for watching films that will still be displayed, albeit with minor inaccuracies, and secondly, it would be an alternative to saving data. After all, even the most competent technology is not able to provide you with control over your materials and passwords.
You can buy the Lenovo Ideapad U350 laptop in our online store at the lowest price.
