Lenovo Launches IdeaPad U310 and U410 Ultrabooks

News
By Douglas Perry
published

Lenovo unveiled two new ultrabooks that are going on sale in the U.S. this month.

The 13-inch U310 and the 14-inch U410 are between 18 mm and 21 mm thick and weigh 3.7 and 4.2 lbs, respectively.

Due to their mainstream focus, both models compromise on mass storage and use a hybrid HDD-SSD solution rather than a solid state drive alone. Lenovo chose to use 500 GB and 1 TB HDDs and a 32 GB SSD to serve as data cache that support fast-boot and fast-resume.

The systems are available with Ivy Bridge i3, i5 and i7 processors, Intel's WiDi technology, Dolby Home Theatre v4 sound, and Nvidia discrete graphics. Prices start at $750 for the U310 and at $800 for the U410.

Douglas Perry
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • HopelessNoob
    and i already spent my money on a portege :(
    Reply
  • halcyon
    More decent ultrabooks. There's now lots of choices. It'll be interesting to see how Apple has actually decided to upgrade the Air to differentiate it from all the newcomers.
    Reply
  • Pyree
    If it comes with thunderbolt and the MSI GUS II is released, it would be very attractive for people who need to game on the run.
    Reply
  • house70
    halcyonMore decent ultrabooks. There's now lots of choices. It'll be interesting to see how Apple has actually decided to upgrade the Air to differentiate it from all the newcomers.Gotta love it. Apple will probably choose to sue all of the others because the form-factor is too similar to whatever Air looks like. They're already doing this to a whole slew of phones (HTC and Samsung) trying to block their imports (read it on Google+ yesterday). Lame anti-competitive practice.
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    The blue lid is a bit cheesy.
    Reply
  • zulutech
    HopelessNooband i already spent my money on a portegeBetween which rivers are you portaging?
    Reply
  • halcyon
    house70Gotta love it. Apple will probably choose to sue all of the others because the form-factor is too similar to whatever Air looks like. They're already doing this to a whole slew of phones (HTC and Samsung) trying to block their imports (read it on Google+ yesterday). Lame anti-competitive practice.No...I don't think so. The MacBook Air's design is old now, the fact that the idea is so widely copied is a testatment to that. I think Apple will just choose to update it. To be honest, I don't know why Apple bothers with the lawsuits but there's folks smarter than I that are vested in that. iOS and Android are to vastly different experiences. Sales of both are great. I really don't think Apple should waste its time with the lawsuits but I'm not Apple.
    Reply
  • house70
    halcyonNo...I don't think so. The MacBook Air's design is old now, the fact that the idea is so widely copied is a testatment to that. I think Apple will just choose to update it. To be honest, I don't know why Apple bothers with the lawsuits but there's folks smarter than I that are vested in that. iOS and Android are to vastly different experiences. Sales of both are great. I really don't think Apple should waste its time with the lawsuits but I'm not Apple.This has nothing to do with Android; it's about a form-factor used for ultrabooks, which in my opinion are the next step in notebook evolution; netbooks lacked power, which current hardware brings on. I don't believe any of this is copied, as you do. It's just the logical next step.
    Apple claiming they have the monopoly over this is similar to their claim to own the round-edged square: plain ridiculous. Just like saying the laptop manufacturers all over the world are copying each other because they all put a screen on top, keyboard on bottom and a hinge in between; any fool that would claim royalties to that design would be laughed out of any court, and that what Apple will get to eventually.
    Besides, there are a lot of improvements in the ultrabook's design and hardware choices (from different manufacturers) that are just missing from the Air. All cars have 4 wheels, but from that to say a 911 is copied after a Honda S2000 (no offense here, folks) is just pushing it.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    house70This has nothing to do with Android; it's about a form-factor used for ultrabooks, which in my opinion are the next step in notebook evolution; netbooks lacked power, which current hardware brings on. I don't believe any of this is copied, as you do. It's just the logical next step. Apple claiming they have the monopoly over this is similar to their claim to own the round-edged square: plain ridiculous. Just like saying the laptop manufacturers all over the world are copying each other because they all put a screen on top, keyboard on bottom and a hinge in between; any fool that would claim royalties to that design would be laughed out of any court, and that what Apple will get to eventually.Besides, there are a lot of improvements in the ultrabook's design and hardware choices (from different manufacturers) that are just missing from the Air. All cars have 4 wheels, but from that to say a 911 is copied after a Honda S2000 (no offense here, folks) is just pushing it.Copied. If it wasn't copied why weren't all these ultrabooks seen 2 years ago? It doesn't matter if it was copied or not though, who cares? ...and of course there are improvements...these are brand new products. If Samsung or Asus had released their "ultrabook" designs 3 years ago I would agree with you. Timing. The timing is not irrelevant.

    If the situation were reversed many would be saying Apple copied Lenovo, Samsung, Asus, Dell, etc. ...but it is what it is...and again, who cares if someone "copied" someone else except those that dislike one tech company or another for one reason or another.

    Are you asserting that without the MacBook Air we'd have the plethora of Ultrabooks that we're now seeing? I doubt that, but you may not. Does it really matter?
    Reply
  • cold fire
    halcyonCopied. If it wasn't copied why weren't all these ultrabooks seen 2 years ago? It doesn't matter if it was copied or not though, who cares? ...and of course there are improvements...these are brand new products. If Samsung or Asus had released their "ultrabook" designs 3 years ago I would agree with you. Timing. The timing is not irrelevant.If the situation were reversed many would be saying Apple copied Lenovo, Samsung, Asus, Dell, etc. ...but it is what it is...and again, who cares if someone "copied" someone else except those that dislike one tech company or another for one reason or another.Are you asserting that without the MacBook Air we'd have the plethora of Ultrabooks that we're now seeing? I doubt that, but you may not. Does it really matter?Really! Why wasn't there thin TVs 20 years ago? It's basically the inveitible evolution of almost every piece of hardware. Flash drives get smaller. CPUs get smaller. Phones get thinner. Monitors get thinner. The same applies to laptops. The main goal of a notebook is portability and notebook manufacturers have been doing that since the introduction of this form factor. It's not copying. It's logical evolution. It just happens that now it's possible to make thin notebooks for a reasonable price tag. Besides, Apple wasn't the first to make a thin laptop. Sony made one in 2004 when most laptops were bulky and heavy.
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20020535-64.html
    Reply