Lenovo IdeaPad U410 Review

Our friends over at Lenovo have sent us the IdeaPad U410! And we also recently reviewed the U310, and the big difference between the devices is the screen size. The U410 has a 14-inch display while the U310 has a 13-inch display. We loved the U310, but do we feel the same way about the U410? We will answer that in the full review which begins right now!

Design, Keyboard, And TrackPad

Like the IdeaPad U310, the U410 has a ultraportable design. It is both colorful and very portable, these are both factors that have been becoming more and more important to the consumer. You can get the Lenovo IdeaPad U410 in Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue, or Graphite Grey. We are testing out the Ruby Red and it looks beautiful, the color really does pop. And the Ruby Red shows up a lot, on the top case the only thing blocking the color is a silver Lenovo logo. This is a very common design element of Lenovo devices. On the bottom case you still have the Ruby Red, and you also have 4 rubber black feet, some serial numbers, and a vent. Going around the sides of the device you have a silver siding. On the left hand side the siding has a vent, OneKey Recovery button, 2 USB ports, and a headphone jack. On the right hand side you get your charging port, ethernet jack, HDMI port, 2 more USB ports, and a SD card reader. In the front you have 2 LED notification light built-in to the siding, one is to tell you if the computer is on and the other is for battery life. The IdeaPad U410 is just 0.8-inches thick making it super slim, in fact you may notice that it is a little thicker by the ethernet jack. This shows that Lenovo really tried to make this thin and it makes the design even better. It also weighs just over 4-pounds at 4.19-pounds total. The siding design or as Lenovo calls it the “loop” design does actually make it easier to open the device up. If you were hoping for an awesome keyboard, Lenovo has granted your wish. You get the same AccuType keyboard that is found on the U310 and many of their other laptops. You have Island style keys, that are curved and space out more. This makes it easier to type and thus make your typing much more accurate. Unfortunately the U410’s keyboard is not backlight, but hopefully in the next generation they will add this in. You also have a larger and more accurate touchpad, and with that Lenovo gives you the Intelligent Touchpad. It has a sensor built-in that rejects your palm from moving your mouse and where you are on a webpage. It also optimized for Windows 8, so you are all set to upgrade when the time comes. You can launch a simple and easy notepad application, by swiping 4 fingers to the right. And the application will open and take over your desktop, this is where you can take your notes. To go back to your desktop simply swipe 4 fingers to the left. It also supports up to 5-finger gestures, this will help you accomplish tasks much faster. So far the Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is looking like a great device.

Display, Sound, Battery And Security

Like we said before the big difference between the U310 and the U410 is the display. You get a 14-inch HD display that has a resolution of 1366 X 768 and aspect ration of 16:9. You also have a dedication graphics card and that is the NVIDIA GeForce 610m 1GB Graphics and as you may have expected the quality of images on the U410 is great and I do like it better than the quality of the U310. And the viewing angles have improved a lot as well. However, while Lenovo did include the quality of the screen, they did not make the speakers any louder. The customer themselves can make them pump more sound, by playing around with Dolby Home Theater V4. You still have the integrated stereo speaker, and hopefully in the next generation of the U410 they will improve this. Just a quick note of the battery life, you get a 59 watt-hour polymer battery and Lenovo Energy Management. This will help you mange the time left you have the battery. You can set it to power-saver, balance, and high performance. It level works differently, but it is a welcomed addition to the U410. You may have noticed that the U410 also has a HD webcam, but it is not just good for video chatting. You can also use it a security tool. It gives you an added level of biometric security, and then if you do want to play around with it you do get Lenovo YouCam. You also have the OneKey Recovery system which will help you back up and create recovery disks of your important files.

Performance And Software

Now, our review model has an Intel Core i5 Processor with 8GB of RAM. We also have both a 500GB hard-drive and a 32GB-SSD. If you don’t want to get an i5 processor, you can also get an i3 or an i7. The highest amount of RAM you can get is 8GB. The 32GB SSD is optional, but it does speed up the computer. With the Intel Core i5 chip and 8GB of RAM, the U410 works very nicely and smoothly. It doesn’t freeze unless you have a lot of stuff going at once, and for this to occur they have to be big applications that take a lot to run. With that being said, the Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is a great notebook that comes in at a nice price. And it is very similar to the U310, if you want better graphics than you go for the U410. You are running Windows 7, and the U410 can run Windows 8. It is always important to know that you can get the next operating system. In terms of preloaded applications you get Windows Live Essentials 2011, Veriface 4.0, YouCam 3.0, Microsoft Office 2012, Adobe Reader, and more!

Bottom Line

The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is an awesome laptop. The design is amazing, it is super portable and its color really pops and makes a statement. It beats the U310 with graphics and it’s display, but it is pretty even with many of its other features. It runs very fast and smooth thanks to it’s Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Processor with up to 8GB of RAM. And it is Windows 8 Ready, this means you can update when it is available. It offers many great new features including security with the built-in webcam. Overall, the U410 is a great laptop and if you want better graphics I would go for it over the U310. Either way you go, you are getting a good laptop. The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is available now and starts at $679.99 online as of now. For More Information On The Lenovo IdeaPad U410, Please Click Here. We would like to thank Lenovo for providing us with a copy of the “Lenovo IdeaPad U410”.