Lenovo commits to Android tablets after Dell abandons the Streak

OK, Dell Streak fans, this is your chance to speak up. No one? OK. After Dell stopped selling the Streak 7 tablet, essentially giving up on the Android tablet scene in America, many believe that it’s preparing to transition to Windows tablets. A new 10-inch Windows 7 slate is already coming, and Windows 8 tablets should be available in late 2012 or 2013. Dell didn’t confirm any definite plans. But either way, Lenovo appears ready and willing to become the PC manufacturer with the greatest presence in the Android tablet world.

“Our tablet strategy today is an Android operating system,” said a North American Lenovo executive in an interview with CRN, backing up the evidence of recent leaks. Lenovo’s S-series tablets and an upcoming quad-core monster labelled the LePad K2 are poised to launch in the first half of 2012, giving Lenovo one of the widest Android tablet lines this side of Samsung. It will also be one of just two PC manufacturers with a solid Android ARM-based tablet presence, sharing the stage with Acer.
Dell isn’t necessarily out of the game – there’s no confirmation that they’re done with Android. But given the vicious competition in the tablet space overall, it could be that the company is just looking to focus on its more traditional strength, a la HP. Dell still has some pretty strong showings for Android smartphones, though they only seem interested in the Chinese market at the moment. Is anyone really broken up about Dell’s probable exit from mobile tablets? Sound off in the comments.

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Lenovo LePhone S760 unveiled for China

China’s getting a lot of Android attention these days, and among its home-grown manufacturers no one’s treating them better than Lenovo. Engadget spotted the latest entry in latest entry in le smartphone line, the LePhone S760, a mid-range Gingerbread device with at least one distinguishing feature. The 3.7-inch screen uses an AMOLED panel, still relatively novel in the Chinese market.

As far as hardware goes, the phone has a 1Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM, making it roughly the equal of the original Nexus One or DROID Incredible. That’s still plenty of power to handle Android 2.3.5, and should keep the off-contract price nice and low. You can spot front and rear cameras in the trade show photos. Since it’s running a pretty heavily modified version of Android and Lenovo’s shown no hesitance to stray from the safe and happy pastures of Google in the past, we’re pretty sure this one won’t have the Android Market or its associate Google apps.
Like all of Lenovo’s smartphone offerings thus far, don’t expect this one to show up in the US, though Chinese buyers can get one before the end of the year. The company’s 5, 7 and 10-inch LePad tablets from earlier today have a much better chance of crossing the Pacific, and the Tegra 3-powered 1080p monster the IdeaPad K2 tablet is almost certain to show up in the US eventually. So why not smartphone love for Americans, Lenovo? We’re good enough for your laptops, after all.

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Lenovo gets official with LePad S2005 tablet phone and S2007/S2010 tablets

If you are a Lenovo fan that has been looking forward to some new gear, the company has gone official with new products today. There are three new items including the a 5-inch LePad/IdeaTab S2005 tablet/phone. Along with that tablet phone is also a pair of new tablets with a 7-inch offering and a 10.1-inch version. The tablets are called the LePad S2007 and the LePad S2010 and will hit China in December reports Engadget Chinese.

The tablets have decent specs with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and the screen is said to be IPS with 1280 x 800 resolution. Other hardware on the tablet includes an 8MP main camera on the back and a 1.3MP front camera. It also has 3G support with China Unicom network. The S2007 has a 3,780 mAh battery and the S2010 has a 7,670 mAh battery.
The S2007 has a battery will last for up to eight hours and the S2010 has a battery good for up to 11 hours of use. The LePad S2005 rocks a 5-inch 800 x 480 LTPs screen with 178-degree viewing angles. That screen resolution leaves a lot to be desired. The operating system is Android 2.3.5. It has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear camera, and a 1.3MP front camera. There is no pricing announced at this time. A new Lenovo tablet hit the FCC in the US recently with Tegra 2 onboard.
[via SlashGear]

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Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet with 3G compatibility reaches FCC

Lenovo’s ThinkPad has been out for a good while, but as a WiFi only device. Adding 3G compatibility to practically all US carriers will help it reach a wider audience of consumers. Expect no changes in hardware or software for the new version, as it will be essentially identical; you’ll see the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM.

The ThinkPad will support GSM 850/1900, CDMA 850/1900, and WCDMA II, IV, V bands. This will cover AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and many smaller networks. Unfortunately, it will not support any form of 4G technology according to the FCC. Considering the amount of competition in the current tablet market, 4G is a major player.


[via SlashGear]

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Lenovo Tegra 3 tablet benchmarked, may have 1920×1200 resolution full HD display

We saw out first look at Lenovo’s upcoming Android tablet earlier this week along with a few pictures and leaked specs. Among those was a 10.1″ display and as we all expected, the NVIDIA Quad-core Tegra 3 processor. Today a few benchmark results have appeared at the GLBenchmark site calling it the LePad K2 and we’ve now got a few additional details.


Obviously benchmark results are usually taken with a grain of salt. No images were available other then spec info and the details are a bit light. We are seeing Android 3.2 Honeycomb but an Ice Cream Sandwich build is probably under development but we don’t know what OS the new tablet will launch with. Most likely it will be called the Lenovo IdeaPad K2 tablet, just like the IdeaPad K1 before it.

While we don’t have any actual numbers that we can compare with other tablets currently available we did get a few added bits of information. According to the specs listed the Lenovo K2 Tegra 3 tablet will be rocking a full HD 1920 x 1200 resolution over the standard Android tablet 1280 x 800 we’ve seen lately. This goes right along with similar reports that the Acer Iconia A700 Tab will also have the same huge resolution. We are also hearing the Lenovo Tablet will rock 2GB of RAM and be quite powerful. We’ll be digging through the results and update if we find anything else juicy.
[via liliputing]

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Lenovo set to trot out 10.1-inch ICS tablet

With Android ICS on the horizon, you can bet that we are going to see everyone in the tablet market that has used Android or thinks they might want to hop on the Android 4.0 wagon. One of the tablet makers that will be offering up Android 4.0 tablets will be Lenovo according to a rumor. Engadget claims that a source has told it a new ICS tablet from Lenovo is inbound.

The tablet is said to packing Tegra 3 from NVIDIA and have 2GB of DDR3 RAM. The tablet is also said to have a USB host port with a little flap covering it. Other tidbits from the rumor source include the fact that the camera will have a rear camera and a fingerprint scanner. The camera resolution is unknown but the source says that the fingerprint scanner will also work as an optical joystick.
The is in indication on the weight and size of the tablet, but it appears to be very svelte indeed. There is no indication of when the tablet will land. Other makers are aiming for Q1 so perhaps we will see this Lenovo tablet then as well. We will be watching for more details.
[via SlashGear]

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Lenovo increases IdeaPad A1 tablet price by $30

Here’s a puzzler: why is Lenovo’s brand-spanking new Gingerbread tablet now $30 more expensive on the company’s web store? The price of the cheapest IdeaPad A1 raised from $199 to $229, but the upgraded 16GB version will still be $249. Android Community is currently waiting for a response from Lenovo regarding the price change.

If you’re hoping to get the IdeaPad A1 at the original price, you’d better look around quickly. New tablets from the Lenovo store won’t ship until November at the earliest, and many other online retailers seem to be sold out of their stock. The A1 was only released a week ago. Without an official statement from Lenovo we’re left to speculate as to the reasons for the upgrade. It’s possible that the tablet is selling so well they don’t mind adjusting the supply-demand ratio a bit, or the original $199 price could have been meant as a special to spur interest from early adopters.
Even at $229, the IdeaPad K1 is a pretty good deal when measured against more expensive options. The 7-inch, 1024 x 600 display is roughly equal to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, and the 1GHz processor should be zippy enough for most Android apps. Gingerbread is a bit of a discouragement, but it’s basically standard on tablets in the range. However, Lenovo’s adjusted pricing may come back to haunt them as the Amazon Kindle Fire release approaches. The heavily customized Gingerbread tablet lands in November for just $199, with mostly equal hardware and compelling integration with Amazon services.
[via Tablets Planet]
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Lenovo A1 7″ Gingerbread tablet just $199, available now

Lenovo is all set to start shipping their newest tablet offering. The Lenovo A1 Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet with a 7″ display and powerful 1.0 Ghz processor. First spied way back in July, it was officially announced at the beginning of September coming in with 4 awesome color options available, we have all the details below.

The Lenovo IdeaPad A1 is an affordable 7″ Android 2.3 Tab. It will feature a TI OMAP 3622 Cortex A8 1.0 Ghz single-core processor, a 5 MP rear and 2.0 front facing camera. Coming in at 11.9mm thin (0.46 inch), and weighing just 400g. Lenovo is using a magnesium alloy roll-cage internal frame design to keep the tablet strong, yet thin,light and affordable. The 7″ LED display will have a 1024 x 600 resolution similar to the Galaxy Tab 7 and offers a great visual experience.

Starting at just $199 the IdeaPad A1 comes in 4 bright colors shown above. We have 2GB of internal storage for just $199, then all available colors are being offered with 16GB storage for just $249. This may not be a powerhouse Honeycomb tablet, but for the price you have a pretty well rounded Gingerbread tablet that is portable and should fit many users budget. My only concern is the $199 dual-core Kindle Fire might have something to say here, just a thought. Although we do have dual cameras and full Google support on the A1, rather than Amazon’s ecosystem they’ve been building with the Fire.
For full details on the Lenovo A1 tablet head over to Lenovo.com, for a more detailed breakdown on colors and pricing you can click here. They are available for order right now and will begin shipping October 27th.
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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Review

Despite the similarity to an increasing number of ultra-slim notebooks, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 stands out from the crowd – especially for ThinkPad fans.
Being a ThinkPad means the X1 has a distinctive design that has been given a welcome refresh without losing its signature look and feel. The magnesium alloy chassis has the familiar soft-touch matte black rubberised paint finish, which shrugs off fingerprints, stands up well to scratches and gives you a superb grip.
The sharp angles give the illusion of being thinner and lighter than the X1 actually is -it slopes from 17 to 21mm thick and weighs in at 1.71kg, which is noticeably thicker and heavier than the Samsung Series 9. It's an evolution of the classic ThinkPad look, only sleeker, but sleek isn’t always better and here, sealing the battery tidies up the underside of the case but means you'll need to invest in the 'slice' battery if you want to carry a spare. We also don't really care about the port cover on the left-hand side, as it's as much for looks as for protection.

You do get plenty of protection though. The glossy screen is covered by Gorilla Glass which does add enough weight to be noticable and gives the same irritating reflections around the screen we disliked on the plastic bezel of the Samsung Series 9. The spill-proof keyboard has drainage holes, the chassis has an internal cage to protect it and Lenovo counts up eight military specification tests for ruggedness that the X1 passes. Sturdy doesn't mean chunky or ugly, although there's no designer bling, just practicality here.

Keyboard and trackpad ?

A ThinkPad keyboard is something you either love or hate and while the 13.3-inch size doesn't leave room for all the ThinkPad idiosyncrasies, there are still a few. The action of the keyboard is excellent, with plenty of travel -though not the full firm click of classic models. The rounded keytops with concave surfaces locate your fingers wonderfully so you don't roll off onto the next key. That's useful because there isn't much space between the isolated island-style keys.
The keyboard is also an?oddity with the function key where the control key is on almost every other keyboard. There's also a print screen key between alt and ctrl on the bottom right of the keyboard. The page up and page down keys are a little cramped in the corners of the navigation arrows, and a long way away from the home and end keys at the top of the keyboard.

The secondary commands on the function keys include microphone and camera settings as well as the usual brightness and media playback keys. Dedicated volume controls at the edge of the keyboard are a nice touch, with mute buttons for both speakers and microphone that business users will find very useful. There's also a tiny button that launches one of the many ThinkPad software tools as well as a fingerprint scanner.
The trackpad combines a ThinkPad signature feature – a second set of buttons between itself and the keyboard, to use with the TrackPoint in the middle of the keyboard. As on Apple's laptops, the usual two buttons found beneath the trackpad are gone. The Lenovo advantage here is that you can use the buttons intended for the TrackPoint, if you hate these new button-less trackpads.
Extending the touch surface over the button area gives the touch pad a square aspect ratio that doesn't fit the widescreen 1337 by 768 resolution at all and while we like the deep palm rest, the touch pad itself feels a little small. The pronounced texture does give you an excellent combination of smoothly responsive cursor and accurate clicking.
The trackpad also offers multi-touch gestures. These work as well as they ever, but their sheer number can confuse. Should you be a gesture fan, you'll be pleased to see the three-finger click, three-finger tap along with the more common pinch-zoom, rotate, scroll and flick. It's also possible to tweak the settings for the TrackPoint and use that as a button.

Inputs and ports ?

Nearly all of the ports on the X1 are on the back of the case. We find this odd on a machine designed to be ultra-portable because this layout works best for keeping cables out of the way on a desk, rather than putting ports where you need them on the move. It's also a very modest selection too. The left side has only a memory card reader, the right has a fiddly cover over the headphone socket and a single USB port.

Along the back you get power, HDMI and DisplayPort, but no VGA. There's one USB 3 port and one combined eSATA/USB 2 charging port and gigabit Ethernet. As well as Bluetooth and dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11n, you get unlocked mobile broadband too. Because the battery isn't removable, the SIM slot is conveniently on the back of the case as well.

Processor and battery

The Sandy Bridge Core i5 2520M is a full-power processor (with the business vPro option); it runs hot when you're watching video and you only get the built-in Intel HD 3000 graphics. This is an ideal everyday workhorse of a processor and you can play games at reasonable frame rates on medium detail, but a multimedia powerhouse it is not.
Battery life is disappointing. Our usual mix of streaming audio, video, continual Web browsing and general Office use gave us only two hours twenty minutes of use. You could stretch that to well over four hours without Wi-Fi though. The bright spot is that 30-40 minutes of recharging gives you an almost full battery. An SSD instead of the 320GB hard drive would improve battery life as well as boot times. From a cold boot, Lenovo's RapidDrive fast boot gets you to the login screen in 40 seconds. That's around half the time it takes most 13-inch Windows laptops, but far slower than an SSD system like the Samsung Series 9.

Screen and audio quality

The screen is crisp and bright, with excellent contrast ratios even in dark areas. We didn't like the reflections from the gloss finish or the even more distracting reflections from the Gorilla Glass surround. Streaming 1080p video from the Web played smoothly, but the details weren't as crisp and clear as we'd like to see on a premium laptop. 720p video streamed from the local network also played back smoothly but the colours are subdued and we didn't see the exceptionally crisp detail other notebooks have delivered in recent reviews.
Audio quality is generally good, with more than enough volume and reasonable bass, mid-range and treble. That said, it's good sound for a business machine rather than the highest sound quality we're hearing from the best consumer models this year. We also noted that there was a lot of distortion at high volume.
Along with the usual Office Starter, Live Essentials, Skype and Norton Internet Security, you get Internet Explorer 9 with a Lenovo-branded 'Bing bar' and a collection of 1,500 business document templates called Business in a Box.
Lenovo is one of the few PC makers to use Microsoft's Device Stage to organise the tools and utilities you get, and it works well for organising what would otherwise be hard to find but useful tools. It's confusing that there's also a PC-Doctor powered Toolbox with tools and tips in. We particularly like the power controls, instead of making you tinker with individual settings you can just drag the slider to show whether you want more performance or longer battery life. There's also a 'battery stretch' option that can eke power out for another 60-90 minutes when you just HAVE to keep working, and with this battery life, you need it.
Verdict:
Practical is the X1's middle name, along, perhaps, with pricey -although this depends from whom you buy it. The choices Lenovo has made won't suit everyone though, and at this price you start to resent something that would be a mere quibble on a cheaper system.
Overall, you get almost everything you need, from performance, sturdiness through to the ports people actually need and useful extras like 3G. Nothing is arranged the way you're used to though, and the screen and battery life are slightly disappointing.
We think X1 willl make a great business machine though, and business users will mind the price less, especially with the three year guarantee.




           

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Lenovo A1 7″ Android Tablet Revealed

Today we have some news regarding the latest tablet to come from Lenovo. They are calling this the A1 and it will be their 7″ offering in the Android tablet market. Although we have both bad, and good news regarding the Lenovo A1 we’ll share all the details below as well as plenty of pictures they were nice enough to provide.

While no official announcement has been made yet Lenovo will be bringing the A1 tablet to market coming sometime in September and what makes it stand out is the amazing price. That is part of the good and bad news. The good first, the Lenovo A1 tablet will only be $199 at launch, the bad is it will only run Android 2.3 Gingerbread — no honeycomb here. The specs are pretty impressive though and this would make a great mid-range and well priced tablet for someone on a budget.

The Lenovo IdeaPad A1 is a 7″ Android 2.3 affordable Android tablet. It will feature a Cortex A8 1.0 Ghz single-core processor, a 3 MP rear and 0.3 VGA front facing camera. Coming in at 11.9mm thin (0.46 inch), and weighing just 400g. Lenovo is using a magnesium alloy roll-cage internal frame design to keep the tablet strong, yet thin and light. The 7″ LED display will have a 1024 x 600 resolution similar to the Galaxy Tab 7 and offers a great visual experience.
As well as the usual Bluetooth, Wifi, micro SD, micro USB and stereo speakers one unique feature is it will have offline GPS and navigation with its unique chipset that will be powered by Navdroyd. Users can expect to see the device hit the shelves in September starting at $199 for the 16GB model and they will also offer a 32GB model but pricing has yet to be confirmed.
What do you guys think? A great price for a 7″ tablet or a no go without Honeycomb?
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Lenovo IdeaPad U260 review

Intro, Design and Build

One thing there's certainly no shortage of these days is thin and light laptops. From the Sony VAIO Z and Samsung Series 9 to the 13in version of the Apple MacBook Air, there are plenty of dreamy ultraportables – if you have the money and are willing to go for 13 inches. So far, the Sony VAIO S is one of the only premium candidates we've seen to come in below that magical £700 barrier, and the 11in Air is one of the few choices if you want smaller.

Well, for a bit more cash than the Sony S, Lenovo has a great option for those looking for something that's both small and affordable. Its IdeaPad U260 is a super-stylish, 12.5in ultraportable that's under an inch thick (2.5cm) and weighs a mere 1.36kg yet comes in at a very reasonable looking £780-ish. With it packing an Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD (solid state drive) under the hood (compared to the 2GB and 64GB SSD of the £850 MacBook Air 11in), this seems like it should be set to take the ultraportable market by storm.

So what's the catch? Well, that Intel CPU is actually one of the older generation models, rather than the newer Sandy Bridge type; connectivity is limited to USB2 rather than 3.0; and fancy extras like a backlit keyboard are absent. However, there's still plenty of potential and things to like, starting off with its frankly stunning design.

Sporting a unique mocha-coloured soft-touch outer shell (it's also available in orange) and leatherette black wrist-rests, the U260 is designed to look like a folio case and succeeds admirably. When closed, its flat top and bottom, which just overhang the edges of the body of the machine, and curved 'spine' excellently mimic the cover of a hardback book or folio. The result is a machine that, while not the absolute thinnest, looks particularly classy. Visually, it's especially arresting when closed but also looks the part when opened thanks to its minimalist interior.

But the soft-touch outside doesn't just look great, it feels wonderful too. We know we're gushing here, but this kind of finish is reasonably durable, doesn't suffer from fingerprints, and makes holding and carrying the U260 a real pleasure. It's so much more comfortable than glossy plastic or metal rivals.

And the good news continues when you open this ultraportable up. Inside there's a faux-leather finish on the palm-rests and around the keyboard. Again, it's durable and feels good, helping to make typing a pleasant experience.

Build quality, meanwhile, almost lives up to the legendary ThinkPads, such as the X220 Tablet. Plastics are incredibly solid, even on the wafer-thin lid. Only a little flex in the keyboard betrays that this is a consumer laptop that's not held up to the same rugged standards.

Connectivity on the IdeaPad U260 is somewhat disappointing. Don't get us wrong, it just about covers the basics and easily outdoes the previous generation Macbook Air, but most other ultraportables offer a few more options. Along the left you'll find a single USB 2 port, combi headphone/microphone jack, and – in a nice touch – a physical wireless switch. There's also a blanking plate, the use for which we haven't yet been able to ascertain, but we can but hope it offers further connectivity on other variations on this model, if they ever arrive.

The front and back are clean, while to the left we have the second USB 2 port, HDMI 1.3, Gigabit Ethernet and good old VGA. Even with Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth thrown into the mix to cover the wireless side of things, that's less connectivity than that offered by some netbooks, such as the Toshiba NB550D. Our main complaint here is the lack of a memory card reader, something pretty much every other laptop on the planet offers, with the exception of the 11.6in Air. We simply cannot understand why Lenovo left it out here. You also miss out on USB 3.0 and, looking to the future, ThunderBolt but these are more understandable ommisions.

Any resentment we might have felt about the connections dissipates when we get to actually using this little laptop. Though the keyboard is quite shallow, layout is perfect, and the keys' quirky shape helps them to cradle your fingers nicely. Though feedback is somewhat limited keys still offer a positive click, and if typing is not as superlative an experience as on a ThinkPad, it still more than holds its own against other ultraportables. Our only regret here is the lack of backlighting.



The U260's touchpad doesn't offer the multitude of multi-touch gestures and single button surfaces that some more premium models have but as a simple traditional example it is great. It's large enough for comfortable use without getting in the way when typing. Its surface is nice and smooth, and its metallic buttons offer a lot of travel and the perfect response.

We don't see too many examples of 12.5in screens around anymore these days, but on the evidence of this model, there's no reason why not. It sports the usual 1,366 x 768 resolution and, best of all, has a semi-matt finish that minimises annoying reflections – though its surround is attractively/annoyingly glossy. It offers even backlighting without significant bleed from the edges while there are no other unwanted artefacts, and sharpness is great. It also has fairly decent contrast, though it couldn't differentiate between the two subtlest shades in our greyscale test.



In typical Lenovo fashion the lid tilts back far further than most other laptop brands' screens. However, this does reveal the screen's biggest weakness: its viewing angles. Horizontally they're decent if far from flawless, but vertically they're simply below-par, with so much contrast shift that you have to angle the display's hinge just right to avoid noticing it. Still, overall we can live with this shortcoming, especially as it's one shared by many laptops using TN panels – the Samsung Series 9 excepted.



As for the speakers, the less said the better. They're about what you would expect from a slim laptop like this: underpowered, tinny and muffled. Just about usable for YouTube or an episode of Corry (shudder), but for anything more serious headphones or external speakers are a must. At least they're mounted on the top edge so aren't muffled by your lap, like on some.

As mentioned, the Core i3 CPU beating at the heart of this Lenovo IdeaPad U260 is actually a previous generation chip. This means it isn't as fast or efficient as the newer 'Sandy Bridge' CPUs, but it should still pack sufficient punch for daily tasks. Specifically, the model used here is the i3-380UM, a low-voltage dual-core variant that runs at 1.33GHz and can't 'turbo clock' higher.

The upshot is that you will notice how slow this processor is if you tend to tax your machine with "heavy" workloads, but the SSD does compensate and for normal daily use (including smooth HD video playback) it's mostly sufficient. Of course, you can always opt for a U260 model with a Core i7-680UM for a bit more muscle under the hood.


It's backed by 4GB of RAM, and a generous (for the money) 128GB solid state drive. So far then, so reasonable. But while the CPU will be adequate for most, Intel's previous-generation integrated graphics remind us of why we used to dislike them so. Even the oldest, most undemanding games will struggle to run, with a very discouraging 17.5 frames per second (fps) in our TrackMania Nations Forever test (this is run at a lowly Medium detail and at a sub-native 720p (1,280 x 720) resolution). Ouch!


With a low-voltage CPU, integrated graphics and an SSD, we were cautiously optimistic about the U260's battery life. However, it's not a particular strong point, managing only four hours and 45 minutes in our non-intensive battery test with wireless radios disabled and screen brightness set to 40 percent. Still, considering how thin and light this ultraportable is, that's not too bad – as a comparison, the new 11in Air with its more efficient CPU actually got 20 minutes less.

Value is another strong point for this Lenovo. Especially considering its premium design and large SSD, around £780 doesn't seem like too much to pay. However, like the Air it's certainly not for everyone; even Lenovo itself offers a great alternative in the X220 non-tablet 12.5in, which gives you a rugged business exterior, Sandy Bridge CPU and graphics, longer battery life and boatloads of connectivity, for around the same outlay. However, it's not as thin and you don't get an SSD. And those, along with its design, are what you're paying for with the U260. If these factors aren't particularly important, there are plenty of alternatives from as little as £500.

Verdict

With its unique 'folio' design and soft-touch finish, Lenovo's thin and light IdeaPad U260 is one of the most attractive 12.5in laptops going. However, despite nice ergonomics and a good matt screen, its last-generation CPU and GPU hold it back, connectivity is a bit disappointing, and battery life is nothing special. However, considering you get a 128GB SSD for its sub-£800 asking price, if you won't be subjecting it to heavy workloads it's still a decent buy.

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