To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

Lenovo IdeaPad U410 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £700
inc VAT

Dedicated graphics at a great price, but the screen quality and flex in the keyboard detract

Specifications

14 in 1,366×768 display, 1.9kg, 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, 8.00GB RAM, 1,000GB disk, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.amazon.co.uk

Lenovo’s IdeaPad U410 14in Ultrabook is available in a range of colours, from hot pink to aquamarine blue. Our review sample came in a more reserved graphite grey, so there should be something to suit all tastes.

Lenovo IdeaPad U410

The case is a uniform thickness throughout, rather than the wedge shaped favoured by other manufacturers. This leaves ample room for ports: as well as two USB ports, two faster USB3 versions are also present, as is an HDMI video output, Gigabit Ethernet, a 3.5mm combination audio jack and a multi-format card reader.

Lenovo IdeaPad U410

Inside, there’s a dedicated GeForce GT 610M graphics chip. This may be one of Nvidia’s entry-level mobile GPUs, but that doesn’t mean it’s a slouch when it comes to games – it managed 25.8fps in our Dirt 3 test, an impressive feat for such a slim machine. Disabling anti-aliasing should help boost frame rates to above a playable 30fps too.

Despite the additional graphics card, the U410 still managed to last over seven and a half hours in our light use battery test – Nvidia’s Optimus graphics switching technology disables the GT 610M in favour of integrated graphics, meaning you don’t miss out on battery life compared to other Ultrabooks.

Lenovo IdeaPad U410

Desktop performance is supplied by a dual-core i5-3317U processor running at 1.7GHz. Intel’s Turbo Boost technology can increase this up to 2.6GHz in certain applications. With 6GB of system memory it completed our multimedia benchmarks with an overall score of 48 – easily powerful enough to run everyday applications such as web browsers or word processors.

Pages: 1 2

Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Processor Intel Core i5-3317U
Processor clock speed 1.7 GHz
Memory 8.00GB
Memory slots 2
Memory slots free 0
Maximum memory 8GB
Size 21x344x235mm
Weight 1.9kg
Sound Conexant SmartAudio HD
Pointing device touchpad

Display

Viewable size 14 in
Native resolution 1,366×768
Graphics Processor Nvidia GeForce 610M
Graphics/video ports HDMI
Graphics Memory 1,024MB

Storage

Total storage capacity 1,000GB
Optical drive type none

Ports and Expansion

USB ports 4
Bluetooth no
Wired network ports 1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support 802.11n
PC Card slots none
Supported memory cards SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick Pro/Duo
Other ports minijack audio output, minijack microphone input, 2x USB3

Miscellaneous

Carrying case No
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore option restore partition
Software included Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition
Optional extras none

Buying Information

Warranty one year RTB
Price £700
Details www.lenovo.co.uk
Supplier http://www.amazon.co.uk