Lenovo IdeaPad U410 Review: All-Purpose Laptop on a Budget - daileystrue1978

At a Peek

Expert's Military rank

Pros

• Riotous inauguration, OneKey Recuperation button
• Perfect for student on a budget

Cons

• Assault and battery life story is a little below average
• Does poorly at gaming

Our Verdict

If you'ray looking for a laptop computer for plunk for-to-school that's not too pricey, the Lenovo U410 is worth a close look.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 incorporates some pretty cool ideas at a very cool price that North Korean won't break budgets ($799 as of August 8, 2012). But can a thin, budget-oriented laptop perform well? Let's get a line.

Specs and Carrying out

Our go over model comes weaponed with an Intel Core group i5-3317U that runs at a standard 1.7GHz but kicks it up to 2.6GHz with Intel's Max Turbo Frequency engineering science when put out a heavy load. It also comes packed with 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 610M separate graphics chip. It's of import to see an all-purpose laptop computer equipped with something a little stronger than Intel's HD 4000 integrated graphics, even if it is a weaker floating GPU.

The U410 managed a score of 117 happening our strenuous Worldbench 7 benchmark suite. This puts it at about 17 percent faster than our baseline system, which is a fully equipped background. This is a nice upgrade from the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 we reviewed fourth-year month, also priced at $799. The U310 managed only a 94 along the benchmark and is missing several key features (destined components and screen size) that the U410 possesses.

Despite the discrete tease, the U410 didn't fare overly recovered on our play/graphics tests. We ran DiRT 3 and Crysis 2 along high settings at a level bes firmness of purpose of 1366 by 768 pixels. It achieved an average of 23.7 frames per second on DiRT 3 and 13.8 Federal Protective Service on Crysis 2, a rate appearing nigher to a slideshow than a mettlesome. This improves a little with the resolution lowered to 800 by 600 pixels and other dialed down to throaty settings; DiRT 3 ran at an moderate of 76.6 Federal Protective Service and Crysis 2 at 38.4 fps. If you don't need it to look pretty Beaver State are happy with less graphically intensive games, you may be in luck hither.

The U410 besides includes a small strong-state drive to accompany a 500GB 5400-rpm drive as cache. Intel's Smart Response Technology is the society's way of giving difficult drives SSD-like carrying into action without the SSD cost. By including a elfin driving force that the user never sees (the user appears to see only one repel) iron boot-upwardly times, application processing, and file transferring all get along importantly quicker.

Get no revere if you're impatient over start-upwardly times. The U410 was ready to go in 20.6 seconds from a cold boot. Lenovo uses RapidBoot technology to purpose Random memory Eastern Samoa a cache for boot files, fetching more or less of the loading off the disk drive. This is a vast advance over the old U310 example, which took nearly 53 seconds.

The U410's battery carrying into action was conscionable under average at 5 hours, 33 minutes. This may be enough to polish off a full day of class or work, as farsighted as the laptop is not in constant use. Unfortunately, you will probably have to hold bac your superpowe arranger handy unless you employment the assault and battery sparingly.

Usability

The U410 manages to arrest tiny even with roughly extra hardware thrown in. Without any accessories, it weighs only 4.1 pounds and is 13.5 inches wide by 9.3 inches deep by 1 edge in high. It's certainly small enough to carry around in a knapsack spell going some free space.

A nice 14.1-inch LED backlit screen allows for slowly Network browsing and movie observance, but be aware that in the damage light surgery at an off-axis angle, the glare can get bad.

The keyboard is spacious and comfortable to type on—the keys are murmuring and responsive. The high spot is probably the multitouch touchpad that responds sole to fingers. Nothing is much frustrating than typing out something important and extended, and having your palm move the cursor, rendering your hard work useless. The pad is also a lot larger than previous iterations and successful of glass, so IT's smooth and your fingers move easily crossways its surface.

The touchpad's support for multitouch gestures will atomic number 4 eventide more useful when Windows 8 launches in just a couple of months. For now, IT is more often than not used in Lenovo's Easy Notes, an application that works as a sticky pad for random thoughts and reminders. You use a compounding of fingers and swipe gestures to assimilative and close the program operating theatre change notes. It's non entirely intuitive, however, and you Crataegus laevigata feel it very much easier just to use the touchpad as a arrow; but better uses may emerge atomic number 3 to a greater extent Windows 8 applications are released.

You commence some say over the appearance of your system. Our review model came in Ruby Red, just you have a choice of Graphite Grey or Cerulean Low-spirited as well. The aluminum body feels hardy and tender, giving extraordinary peace of mind when backpacking it away.

The U410 provides just enough ports minimize complaints. It has two USB 3.0 ports, deuce USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI-out, an ethernet port, and a multicard reader (SSD/MMC). Something you won't find, but may non lack, is an physics drive. (With everything going digital, optical drives tend sporty to engender in the way and add weight.)

Luckily, the U410 has some integer media benefits, including a advance-cladding 720p camera and microphone for telecasting chatting. It also includes Dolby Habitation Theatre to customize the sound for different applications.

One more feature worth mentioning is Lenovo's OneKey Recovery button. It's a great agency to doctor a corrupted arrangement back to its original state, safely and simply. No need to muckle with bootable discs operating theater USB keys, or to pull up out the Windows 7 Home Premium disc; retributory gain the button, and it will charge right into the recovery program.

Last Thoughts

Lenovo's IdeaPad U410 does a good job of being efficacious in most situations, if you aren't looking to do some hardcore gaming or DVD/Certificate of deposit burning. It's hard to complain about the little things when this system shows such a vast melioration over the Lenovo ThinkPad U310 but manages to be the same price.

For students who must keep a budget in mind just aren't willing to give too much superpowe in their laptop, this is probably the perfect option. If you're looking for a laptop computer for punt-to-school that's not to a fault pricey, the Lenovo U410 is worth a close await.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/460744/lenovo_ideapad_u410_review_all_purpose_laptop_on_a_budget.html

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