Lenovo: The new Ideapad U-Series Ultrabooks Launch

I’m glad I held firm and not give in into buying a Mac Air months earlier when I was desperately in need of a light, slim and powerful laptop.

Look at the slew of ultrabooks hitting the market now! All sleek, all light and all comes fitted with the best specs there is for each of their individual class and pricing.

I got myself an Acer Aspire S3, first of the Ultrabooks to hit the Malaysian market when I was appointed as the Acer Aspire S3 Brand Evangelist (post–> HERE). :P

Acer aspire S3 evangelist-1

Shortly after, I attended the Asus Zenbook launch  and I had to admit that the Zenbook is delicious too. (See mini comparison –> Asus Zenbook vs Aspire S3 ). However, the Acer Aspire S3 is RM2599 (i5) while the Zenbook is RM4499 (i7) so it wasn’t really fair to compare both.

Asus Zenbook launch-08

I’m grateful for my Aspire S3, given the hectic and on- the- go lifestyle I keep. It hanged on me mostly on Firefox 8.0 so after consultations with some techies I finally got rid of it yesterday.

I substituted it with Safari for Windows and it seemed to be working fine for now.

But I digress….let’s get back to the Lenovo Ideapad U300s!

Lenovo Ideapad U300s-15

Of course, I just had to take my Aspire S3 out and did another comparison.
Who’s slimmer?
LEFT: Acer Aspire S3 (13.1mm at its thinness and 17.5mm at its thickest) . RIGHT: Lenovo Ideapad U300s (uniformly 14.9mm).

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LEFT: Lenovo Ideapad U300s. RIGHT: Acer Aspire S3.

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Keyboard.

I’m anal about this as a comfortable & responsive keyboard is a must for me.

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Lenovo Ideapad U300s.

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Acer Aspire S3.

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Next, the trackpad.
Lenovo Ideapad U300s.

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Acer Aspire S3.

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The U300s’ trackpad has a low-friction surface that makes it easy to drag the cursor across the screen and pull off multi-touch gestures. Other than the usual pinch-to-zoom, you use four fingers to open the master window that shows all the windows and docs you have open and you swipe left or right with two fingers.

Everything is better illustrated in this video. I apologise for low quality video but you’ll get the gist of it laa..

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More pictures of the dimensions.

Front: Lenovo U300s on top, Aspire S3 below.

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Back: Lenovo U300s on top, Aspire S3 below. For the Aspire S3, both the USB ports and HDMI plus the cooling vents are at the back while the Lenovo Ideapad has kept it completely clean, maintaining all interface ports at the sides.

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Right side: Lenovo U300s on top, Aspire S3 below. Aspire S3 – card reader, Lenovo U300s – HDMI, ear phone jack, power socket and a USB port.

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Left side: Lenovo U300s on top, Aspire S3 below. Aspire S3 – ear phone jack, U300s – another USB and the air vent.

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Back. Lenovo U300s on the right, Aspire S3 on the left.

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Mr Jimmy Chin, Product Manager demonstrating the weight of the Ideapad U300s.

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More information on the Lenovo Ideapad U300s.

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Seems that all ultrabooks place heavy emphasis on the startup and the resume from sleep time.

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One last picture of the Acer Aspire S3 and the Lenovo Ideapad U300s.

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Availability:  The Lenovo Ideapad U300s Ultrabook is sold starting from RM3299 and is available from late November onwards.
Lenovo Ideapad U300e Ultrabook is TBC at a later date and will be available from Jan 2012 onwards. Lenovo Ideapad U400 is sold from starting from RM2999 and available from late November onwards.

Specification : (from www.lenovo.com/)

At a glance:

  • Up to 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 ULV processor
  • Up to Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
  • Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows® 7 with RapidDrive SSD technology
  • 13.3” HD display
  • Up to 8 hours battery life*
  • Starting at 2.9 lbs
  • Up to 256GB SSD storage
  • Up to 4GB DDR3 memory
  • U300s Tech Specs

MORE:

  • Slim, Ultrabook™ design for easy mobility, from just 0.6” thin
  • Minimalist, one-piece aluminum shell, available in Graphite Gray or Clementine Orange
  • Long battery life* with up to 30 days standby time
  • Lenovo RapidCharge brings battery charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes
  • Boot in as little as 10.5 seconds with RapidDrive SSD technology**
  • Breathable keyboard uses Intel® Advanced Cooling Technology to improve airflow so PC can run cooler on your lap
  • Cool-touch palmrest and intelligent glass touchpad with easy scroll, zoom and rotate functions
  • HD graphics and stereo speakers with SRS® Premium Surround Sound™
  • USB 3.0 port, HDMI output and 1.3M (720p HD) webcam
  • Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi): wirelessly stream content from your laptop onto a big screen (requires TV adapter)
  • BIOS-embedded anti-theft protection

Comments please! You have seen the Acer Aspire S3, the Asus Zenbook and now the Lenovo Ideapad U300s. Which would you prefer??

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. lotsofcravings

    actually i would like to ask that question to you, out of the 3 which would you prefer?

    thinking of a new laptop and all 3 looks pretty tempting!

    1. rebeccasaw

      For now the Lenovo. But next week there’s another ultrabook .. so let’s see!

  2. WinnieKepala

    Awesome comparison pictures, woman. You’re turning into me – cos everyone keeps pointing out my affinity for comparisons.
    Anyways, Lenovo makes great laptops (ThinkPad fame) and I am quite certain that their keyboards and touchpad will be awesome.
    Spec wise, I think they’re all comparable between the 3 (other than Acer running on HDD now). But the Asus unibody aluminium does look incredibly sexy…

    1. rebeccasaw

      Hahah.. Can’t help comparing cos it’s all launched só near each other and I got a ultrabook myself that i happen to bring to every event.
      As you can see, I can only compare the Acer S3 to each of the ultrabooks.
      Yes, Lenovo does have a solid rep so far.

  3. Leo

    Whichever cheaper 🙂 tight budget but in dire need of a portable and light notebook right now!!
    Sigh..

    1. rebeccasaw

      The Aspire S3 is best for you then! It”s the cheapest and it works real fine. Specs are a steal for its price!

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