Lenovo IdeaPad U400 short review

Pros: Stylish understated design; Fast wake from be dead to the world; accomplished graphics performance; Nifty four-finger touchpad shortcuts

Cons: Particular touchpad; nix SD certificate slot; Shallow piano; AMD graphics-switching not automatic

The Verdict: The 14-inch IdeaPad U400 has a lustrous design and discrete graphics, but an over-sensitive touchpad and the lack of an SD certificate slot dull our enthusiasm.
Consider it the Ultrabook's superior brother. The Lenovo laptop battery IdeaPad U400 has the same design at the same time as the slim U300s, but expands it faintly to fit in the field of a superior 14-inch screen and a slot-loading DVD drive. By the side of the same moment, Lenovo shrunk the cost to $899 and still crammed a staple i5 central processing unit, discrete AMD graphics, 750GB strict drive, and 8GB of RAM in the field of a lustrous all-aluminum armature. However, this thin-and-light notebook is not devoid of its faults. Read on to learn given away I beg your pardon? We liked and I beg your pardon? We didn't.
Design

Lenovo IdeaPad U400 more or less a superior version of the U300s Ultrabook, the Lenovo IdeaPad U400 has the same subdued but sophisticated design. The top and substructure edges protrude given away faintly, like the cover of a paperback. The notebook is made from a single case of aluminum with a sandblasted conclude. The consequence is an outdoor so as to not simply looks and feels heroic, but resists fingerprints, too. The substructure, like the top, is completely sealed, creating a unified look. Four rubber pads keep it from sliding around on the desk.
Lenovo laptop batteryWhile there's nix wavy patterns at the same time as on the ASUS U46SV, before loudspeaker grilles at the same time as on the glade XPS 14z, the U400 is elegantly understated. However, we desire it were plus presented in the field of Clementine Orange, like the U300s, before in the field of other flag.

Measuring 13.4 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches, the U400 isn't at the same time as svelte at the same time as the 0.6-inch thick U300s, but it still slid comfortably into our herald bag. By the side of 4.4 pounds, it weighs the same at the same time as the XPS 14z, and is 0.6 pounds lighter than the ASUS U46SV.
Piano and Touchpad

The Lenovo laptop battery U400's piano was identical to the plan on the U300: While the smile-shaped, AccuType chiclet-style piano was well spaced, the travel wasn't at the same time as heroic at the same time as on the ThinkPad X1. At the same time as a consequence, we found ourselves urgent harder than we liked. Plus, the rectify get rid of pitch is undersized, which seems peculiar making an allowance for the partially move slowly of liberty on either section of the piano. Making an allowance for the cost, we would plus retain liked a backlit piano.

Lenovo took a step back with the touchpad on the U400. The wineglass Cypress trackpad presented poor palm rejection. While it measures a roomy 4 x 2 inches, too often while we were letters this assessment our hired hand would brush up not in favor of the trackpad and inadvertently move the indicator all around the screen. It was infuriating, and the simply remedy was to fork inedible tap-to-click.

Multitouch gestures worked practically well, though. Pinch-to-zoom and rotate was fast and approachable, at the same time as was three-finger flick.

The U400's touchpad does permit you prepare a little nifty things. A four-finger lift rectify launches a full-screen notepad; four fingers to the gone shows a gallery of images and lets you substitute the wallpaper; and four fingers up lets you switch quickly relating applications.
Make an exhibition of and Audio

Lenovo IdeaPad U400 The 14-inch, 1366 x 768 glossy make an exhibition of on the U400 is a short time ago run of the mill. Flag were quite vivid whilst watching a 1080p promo of Mission: Insufferable streamed from YouTube, but we noticed a accomplished deal of splotchiness in the field of darker areas. We plus found viewing angles to stay somewhat narrow; images on track washing given away whilst we sat on either section of the make an exhibition of.

Using an AEMC lightmeter, we measured an run of the mill brightness of 165 lux on the U400, which is brighter than the Gateway ID47 (153 lux) and the Lenovo IdeaPad V470 (144 lux), but with a reduction of than the Inspiron 14z (194 lux) and the ASUS U46S (233 lux).

Emanating from beneath the piano, audio was purely acceptable. Even whilst we cranked Eminem's "Lose manually," from Pandora, it was underwhelming. Advanced tones were accurate and undistorted, but we missed the driving low line. The SRS control panel helped marginally; we advise leaving it on the film fixed to get a hold the on the whole low given away of the classification.
Reheat

Parallel to the U300s, the Lenovo laptop battery U400 keeps its internals cool by drawing air in the field of through its "breathable" piano and given away through the vent on the gone section and rear axis. This managed to keep the laptop relatively cool. Subsequently streaming a Hulu cartridge by the side of bursting screen representing 15 minutes, the touchpad was a chilly 78 degrees, the G and H keys measured 89, and the hub of the underside was 90. All are well beneath I beg your pardon? We consider uncomfortable: 95 degrees.
Ports and Webcam

Lenovo even manages to command somebody to the ports on the U400 look cool. The rectify section has--from front to back--a earphone jack, two USB ports, and a slot-loading DVD drive. The gone has a USB 3.0 and an Ethernet jack.
Performance

The U400's 2.4-GHz Intel staple i5-2430M central processing unit, 8GB of RAM, and 750GB strict drive provided practically stalwart performance. In the field of PCMark07, the U400 scored 2,307, which bests the thin-and-light group run of the mill by 250 points, at the same time as well at the same time as the ASUS U46SV, which has the same central processing unit and RAM. However, the U400 was on an equal footing at the same time as the glade XPS 14z (2,329) and the Gateway ID47 (2,342).

Lenovo IdeaPad U400 While it has a standard swiftness of 5,400 rpm, the 750GB drive in the field of the U400 was practically prompt. Using the Lenovo EE gumboot optimizer, the notebook's booted into Windows 7 home-based Premium in the field of 48 seconds, which is much closer than the run of the mill thin-and-light mechanism (65 seconds), but twice at the same time as extensive at the same time as Ultrabooks. However, the U400 did wake from be dead to the world in the field of a snappy 2 seconds.

The strict drive duplicated a 5GB folder of multimedia in the field of 2 minutes and 48 seconds, a rate of 30.3 MBps. That's 3 MBps closer than run of the mill, and even with the ASUS U46S.

On the OpenOffice table test, the U400 took 5 minutes and 34 seconds to match 20,000 names to their corresponding addresses, which is all but identical to the U46SV (5:33) and simply faintly slower than the Inspiron 14z (5:28) and the Gateway ID47 (5:27). The group run of the mill is 6:14.

From:http://interesting-life.over-blog.com/