Lenovo IdeaPad U350 review

Performance

A cursory glance over the U350’s specifications make it clear that this is no slimline powerhouse, and the SU3500’s most impressive claim to fame is its 5.5W power draw. Efficient it might be, but that single 1.4GHz processor core isn’t always enough to keep things running smoothly – press the U350 a little too hard and you’ll find it struggling with the demands placed upon it by Vista Home Premium.

Graphics performance is equally hampered by Intel’s integrated GMA 4500M chipset, which, in partnership with the sluggish processor, is incapable of rendering all but the oldest of 3D titles.

Our benchmarks largely seemed to agree with our subjective opinions, with the single-core processor struggling to a final, and disappointing, result of 0.45. That leaves the U350 rubbing shoulders with Atom-powered netbooks, albeit with one crucial difference: it manages its lowly benchmark result while running Vista as opposed to making do with the less-power hungry Windows XP, a small saving grace.

Even if you flick over to Vista’s Power Saver mode, the IdeaPad also falls well short in the stamina department. The three-cell battery struggles to quench even the modest processor’s power demands, and sitting idle it barely managed four and a half hours before expiring. That’s far from acceptable for an ultraportable, and significantly behind even the average netbook. When the Acer manages just short of nine hours with a dual-core processor beavering away at its core, this Lenovo slouches well off the pace.

Conclusion

The promise of a Lenovo-branded ultraportable for just £471 is enough to get many wallets out in an instant, and if it held all the usual Lenovo hallmarks we'd have been first in the queue. The U350, however, just isn’t the budget-priced wonder you might have been hoping for. It isn’t a bad laptop by any means, with a light weight and comfortable design, but caught in the crossfire between inexpensive netbooks and the slightly pricier likes of Acer’s Aspire Timeline 4810T, the Lenovo simply fails to make its mark.

Author: Sasha Muller