Lenovo IdeaPad S400 review

However, we were pleased to see a USB3 port on the S400 alongside its two USB2 ports and SD/MMC card reader, so you’ll have no problems attaching fast external storage or copying files from your camera’s memory card. There’s also an HDMI port for connecting the laptop to an external monitor, but one drawback of the S400’s portability is that there’s no VGA port to connect to older monitors or projectors – the optical drive has also been sacrificed for slimness and weight.

Unfortunately, the laptop’s battery life is fairly poor, which limits its portable pretensions. We only saw 3h 54m in our light-use battery life test, which is far below what we’d expect from a budget laptop, let alone an ultraportable.

The S400’s 14in screen has the standard 1,366×768 resolution for its size, and while we found its glossy display to be quite reflective, there’s just about enough screen tilt to help you find the perfect working position. However, while the screen is certainly bright, we found its colours looked rather washed out and lacked punch.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S400 is certainly one of the prettiest ultraportables we’ve seen, but this underpowered laptop really only cuts it for the most basic of daily computing needs. There are far better portable laptops out there for a similar price, such as the Asus VivoBook S200, and the VivoBook’s touchpad won’t make you want to scream.