Performance
From the initial press of the power button, I timed the U310 as taking 18 seconds to reach the Windows 7 login prompt. It took an additional seven seconds to get from there to the desktop (matching Lenovo’s own claims of a 25-second boot time). I installed Novabench and ran its full testing suite, resulting in an overall score of 360. (On individual tests, the U310 scored 122 on memory, 162 on the CPU, 51 on graphics, and 25 for disk I/O.) The IdeaPad’s overall score ranked it along-side numerous Intel Core 2 Duo based desktops and portables; not terribly bad for an Ultrabook, but probably hampered from achieving a higher score due to the limitations of the integrated Intel HD 4000 video, plus the relatively slow 500 GB hard drive. Lenovo’s hybrid solution of using a 32 GB solid state drive as cache for the 500 GB hard disk doesn’t give nearly the disk performance possible with a pure SSD solution.
Battery life, in actual use, gave me at least five solid hours. Lenovo claims up to seven hours, which I imagine is only achievable under certain conditions. While this isn’t as impressive a runtime as some of its competitors, the AC adapter is small and lightweight — making it relatively easy to carry it with you.
The Strengths
One of the best parts of the U310 is its keyboard. In a recent article, I mentioned Lenovo’s switchover to a sculptured chiclet design it believes offers a superior typing experience. I’m happy to report that Lenovo largely succeeds. Compared to the chiclet keys of a 13″ MacBook Air, the U310’s keys felt like they had more travel and popped back up crisply when released.
Likewise, the U310 features a large glass trackpad with multi-touch finger gesture support (clearly borrowed from Apple’s original design). I like the ability to easily scroll up and down pages with a two finger swiping motion, and the trackpad is smart enough to detect one’s palm resting on it, so as not to perform false motions.
As I mentioned earlier, the overall build quality is another strong point of the U310. The IdeaPad lacks the cheap plastic feel of many entry level notebooks, and its display hinge is tight enough to hold the lid open at almost any reasonable angle a user might wish to adjust it.
The Lenovo also does a good job at staying cool. (This does, however, happen at the expense of silence. The cooling fan makes a noticeable amount of noise blowing air out of the left-hand vents.) I think the tradeoff will be welcome to those who’ve used other Ultrabooks in the past that became uncomfortably warm after 30 minutes of use.
Does the U310 come with a lock slot? I’ve heard all over the internet that there are and there aren’t, so if there isn’t a slot, what should I do?