Lenovo is known for business machines and has made a pretty good name for itself in this field taking up the mantle from IBM, whose PC business it acquired in 2005. The company rarely treads into the consumer market but with the release of the Lenovo U350 it has made the move with a crossover machine for both work and play.

Has it achieved this goal or should Lenovo just stick to what it knows best?

The first thing you notice about the machine is its individual design. The casing may be black but has an almost snakeskin quality texture to it with an embossed check, perhaps trying to encourage the small business customer looking for some consumer style.

Upon opening the laptop the surrounding is again very tactile with a metallic looking wrist rest and sleek, shiny black screen surround.

The only criticism we have is that it does come across a little bit mish-mash as the snakeskin, metal and glossy black don’t all fit well together.

However one feels about carrying this type of design around at least your arms won’t get too tired. The machine weighs just 1.64kg and is only 29mm thick leading to not only an easily portable machine but an incredibly sleek feel too. This is down to the lack of optical drive though, which is something one has to sacrifice for a lightweight machine unless one is willing to pay serious sums for the likes of the X301.

Rounding up the size elements is the screen. The modest 13.3in display is glossy but manages to keep the glare in check to avoid being too distracting. It offers a reasonable resolution - 1,366 x 768 pixels - and the screen is bright, clear and a pleasure to use. However, it is not mind blowing by any means, lacking that little bit of vibrancy that comes with more expensive machines such as the Acer Timeline TM8371.

A 1.3 megapixel webcam sits above the screen and Lenovo offers Easy Capture software for quickly taking snaps, which is more of a fun toy to play with than a particularly business friendly application. Perhaps of more relevance is a security application that now comes with all Lenovo IdeaPads called VerfiFace. It is face recognition software that can be used instead of a password to sign onto the computer. Admittedly it is very easy to set up and runs very smoothly but is it really necessary? We don’t think so.

Moving to the bottom half of the machine, the track pad is again very tactile with sizeable buttons below but the reaction is just not up to scratch. We often had quite a lag on the cursor, which became more and more frustrating each day and clicking to open an application also seemed to take a few attempts almost every time. It does have basic elements of gesture control though, which is a step up from other models, but multi-touch it is not – it’s limited to pinching to zoom in and out on documents and pictures.

The keyboard is yet another step up. A far from cheap looking plastic, the keys are springy and easy to type with, making the quick email or long document less of a chore. Lenovo also doesn’t seem to have scrimped on any of the key sizes and the adjusted layout for the width is well thought out.

Port wise the U350 does seem to have it covered. As well as three USB ports split across the two sides, it features standard VGA, HDMI and Ethernet ports as well as a headphone and microphone jacks and a memory card slot.

There is also a Wi-Fi on/off switch alongside the ports on the left next to a subtle and quiet fan which successfully prevents the bottom of the machine from over heating.

So that's the externals, but how about the inside of the machine?

It comes with Vista installed which we found a tad disappointing but it is pretty standard these days. There is no office suite included but a free chance to try it, in case you didn’t know what Word was like. However, there is a 90 day Norton security trial included.

The U350 is powered by a single core 1.4GHz processor and when pushed we found that this made the U350 listless, despite the 4GB of RAM.

Admittedly, the battery life made up for this somewhat, which in our benchmarks showed the four-cell battery lasting almost two-and-a-half hours with heavy use and four-and -a-half hours with light use. However, the integrated graphics chipset, Intel’s GMA 4500M, continued the feeling of pushing a rock up a hill at times rather than a leisurely stroll in the park.

All in all it’s a machine that promises more than it can give. Aesthetically it is pleasing with an eye-catching design while the light weight is appealing too. Yet the slightly lacklustre processor and the demands of Vista mean that even a casual user might find cause for dissatisfaction, let alone someone relying on the machine for business.

Therefore, even at £471, we think your money could be better spent, leaving the U350 as a disappointment from an otherwise standard setting manufacturer.

Author: Jennifer Scott

Lenovo IdeaPad U350 review