1.33GHz Intel Core i5-470UM
4GB RAM
320GB hard drive
None
12.5 inches (1,366x768 native resolution)
Integrated Intel GMA HD
3.3 pounds
0.8x12.5x8.1 inches
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
4GB RAM
320GB hard drive
None
12.5 inches (1,366x768 native resolution)
Integrated Intel GMA HD
3.3 pounds
0.8x12.5x8.1 inches
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
With apologies to Cole Porter, if there were one word to best describe the design of the $999 Lenovo IdeaPad U260 ultraportable laptop, it would have to be “swellegant.” Its sturdy, lightweight design, combined with smart-looking features, makes the U260 a very attractive acquisition to anyone looking for a sharp, compact laptop. Factor in strong performance for an under-$1,000 ultra portable, and you’ve got the potential makings of a real winner for frequent-traveling business users or general consumers.
But all is not so swell in one crucial aspect of this lightweight laptop: the battery. The built-in four-cell battery in this IdeaPad delivered poor battery life on our tests, and Lenovo's sealed-chassis design doesn't allow users to swap out batteries. For serious road warriors who need to work for long stretches off the AC-power umbilical, that alone might be enough to dissuade them from falling for the U260’s good looks.
Design
Measuring only eight-tenths of an inch thick, the U260 is one of the thinnest laptops we’ve seen in a while—at the moment, bested by only a few models, like the 0.75-inch-thick Dell Vostro V130 ($808 direct, in our tested configuration) and Apple's insanely thin 2010 MacBook Air. At 3.3 pounds, the U260 is also easy to cart around, but it’s not the lightest ultra portable you’re going to come across—other offerings, such as the Toshiba Portégé R705-P41 ($939.99) and Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T-68U118 ($899), are a hair lighter, at 3.2 pounds and 3.1 pounds, respectively.
The U260 is available in two colors: Mocha Brown and Clementine Orange. (We looked at the latter.) This splash of color covers the laptop lid and the bottom of the unit. Both sections are made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy, which has an almost rubbery touch. The laptop felt secure in our hands when we carried it (unlike some glossy models that seem as though they’ll easily slip through our fingers), and it was fairly impervious to fingerprint smudges. Sandwiched between the lid and the bottom of the laptop, a glossy black plastic strip runs around the front and sides of the U260, offering a stylish contrast.
Along the left side of the U260 are a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, a cable-locking security slot, and a Wi-Fi toggle switch. On the right side are a second USB 2.0 port, HDMI- and VGA-out ports, an Ethernet jack, and the AC power-adapter jack. With only two USB ports and no card-reader or PC Card slots, the U260’s physical-connectivity options are limited. Wireless connectivity is better, as the U260 comes equipped with Wi-Fi (in the 802.11b/g/n flavors) and a Blue tooth 2.1 + EDR radio.
We don’t usually go into detail about the bottom of a laptop, but in the case the U260, it bears mentioning. That's not because of what’s there, but because of what’s missing: user-accessible components. You can’t add more memory, and you can’t swap out the hard drive. But most important, you can’t remove the integrated four-cell lithium-polymer battery. When it comes to the U260’s battery life, what it gives is what you get—there’ll be no battery-swapping on long flights, like with Dell's Vostro V130. It was a deal-breaker on that notebook, and it’s a deal-breaker on this one, too, as far as we’re concerned.
Features
A unique feature of the U260 is its use of a 12.5-inch display. The U260 is, in fact, the first laptop to come to market with a 12.5-inch panel(although LG has promised that its forthcoming Xnote P210 notebook will also use a same-size display). Like many laptop screens, the U260’s 1,366x768 display is prone to catching distracting reflections—and this despite the screen’s antiglare coating. We also found that the U260’s display isn’t as bright as other ultrap ortable displays we’ve seen, which became evident when we watched some videos in a dark room.
Speaking of videos, if you want to watch movies on the U260, you’re going to have to either stream them or copy them to the laptop, as the U260 doesn’t come with an integrated optical drive. (The same goes for listening to music.) Also, for any movie-watching or music-listening you do with the U260, we recommend that you do so using headphones, as the unit’s speakers don’t get very loud and produce very tinny-sounding audio.
One of the U260’s features that we like a lot is its glass-coated, multi-touch touch pad. The slick surface helped make the pad very responsive to touch and movement. On the other hand, we found the dedicated left and right mouse buttons—which are positioned at the bottom of the touch pad—a bit too soft for our liking.
We also found the Chiclet-style keyboard a tad spongy, as well. Lenovo also shrank the width of some of the keys, such as the Tab and right-Shift keys, to get them to fit. Lenovo states that the keyboard is spill-resistant (we didn’t put this claim to the test) and that it’s a “breathable keyboard,” which allows air to flow through the keyboard and into the unit to help keep it cool. (We often found the bottom of the unit to be warm to the touch, but it never got hot.) Another feature we like is the U260’s textured wrist rest, which feels like buffed leather.
