Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 review

With or without Lenovo's OneKey Theater mode, however, the 15.6in 1,366 x 768 display is a competent performer. There's no lack of brightness, and good colour reproduction and fine contrast made a great job of displaying our HD videos and test photographs accurately. As with most notebooks in its class, however, viewing angles are narrow.

You can save money by going for a model equipped with a Core i3 processor, but we can't see why you would, so reasonable are the prices of faster models. Our review laptop had a Core i5-450M at the helm accompanied by 4GB of DDR3 memory, with a dedicated graphics chipset, Nvidia's GeForce 310M, taking the reins from the Intel HD graphics embedded on the processor. It's a highly competent pairing. Our application benchmarks raced to a fine 1.67, and managed a modest 36fps in our Crysis gaming test, with resolution set to the native 1,366 x 768 and detail left at its lowest setting.

It's disappointing that Lenovo hasn't employed Nvidia's Optimus graphics switching technology. Instead, the power-efficient HD graphics embedded on Intel's Core i5 lie dormant; a decision that sees light-use battery life tumble to a distinctly average 3hrs 49mins. Heavy use, meanwhile, runs the battery dry in just 56 minutes.

Elsewhere there's a sizable 500GB hard disk, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, single-band 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth. Connectivity is good too, with a bevy of ports and connectors: D-SUB and HDMI monitor outputs nestle alongside three USB 2 ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port, and the increasingly rare provision of an ExpressCard/34 slot is complemented by an SD/MMC/xD/MS memory card reader.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Z560 is a confident entry into the consumer 15.6in notebook market. A few niggles preclude it from earning a Recommended award, such as the errant touchpad buttons and poor battery life, but it's nonetheless impressive that Lenovo has managed to shoehorn Intel's Core i5, a dedicated Nvidia graphics chipset and an excellent keyboard into a gorgeous looking chassis for just £554.

Author: Sasha Muller