Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook gets official: on sale August 21st for $1,399 and up

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon has been a known entity since May, when the company gave us a look at the 14-inch, Ivy Bridge-packing Ultrabook. Up until now, though, the successor to the ThinkPad X1 remained somewhat shrouded in mystery, with no pricing or specific availability information to its name. But no more -- Lenovo's just raised the official curtain on the Carbon, announcing a pricing scheme of $1,399 and up and targeting an on-sale date of August 21st at Lenovo.com. The entry-level model will run a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U CPU with 4GB, and it includes a 128GB SSD and Intel's HD integrated graphics. Like on the ThinkPad X1, 3G connectivity will be an optional feature. Head past the break for more info on the business-centric Ultrabook.
A $1,499 configuration has 1.8GHz Core i5 CPU and a 128GB SSD, while the $1,649 model includes the same processor but 256GB of solid-state storage. The top-of-the-line configuration offers a 2GHz Core i7 chipset for $1,849.
In addition to getting Ivy Bridge processors, the laptop steps up from the ThinkPad X1 with a higher-res 1,600 x 900 display (versus 1,366 x 768), and though its panel is an inch larger, the Carbon still weighs 0.7 pounds less and is 0.13 inches thinner than the original X1 (3 pounds and 0.71 inches versus 3.7 pounds and 0.84 inches). And if the name isn't a giveaway, Lenovo crafted this Ultrabook with a carbon fiber shell.
The company is marketing the ThinkPad X1 Carbon as the lightest business Ultrabook, and it included Intel's vPro management technology and BIOS locker to give the machine some corporate cred. Lenovo also stocked the Carbon with its RapidCharge utility, which can juice up the laptop's 45Wh battery to 80-percent capacity in 30 minutes. Speaking of the battery, Lenovo rates the system for up to 6.3 hours of runtime.

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Acer Aspire S5 review: is this innovative Ultrabook worth $1,400?

With dozens and dozens of Ultrabooks on parade, you'd be forgiven if one skinny laptop with an ultra-low voltage processor started to look like the next. Even so, it's tough to forget the Acer Aspire S5: of all the ultraportables we've seen these last nine months, this is the only one with a motorized port cover. Yeah, that one. It's an intriguing product, to be sure, and the stakes are especially high given that $1,400 price: you'd have to really enjoy that form factor (and everything else) to choose it over some less expensive ultraportable. So is it worth it? Is that drop-down door anything more than a gimmick? Questions for the ages, and ones we'll tackle in our full review after the break.

Back in January when it was announced at CES, the S5 was touted as the "world's thinnest" Ultrabook, at 15mm (0.59 inches) thick. Nearly seven months later, we're not sure the S5 still qualifies for that title (the 13-inch Samsung Series 9 widens to 0.5 inches), but no matter: it still cuts a skinnier figure than most of the Ultrabooks we've tested. In contrast to last year's Aspire S3, which costs about half the price, the S5 marks an improvement in craftsmanship, with magnesium alloy now covering the lid, bottom and palm rest.

No doubt, it feels sturdier than the S3, but the build quality is still unremarkable compared to other Ultrabooks, especially other high-end ones. You might argue, for instance, that the S5's plastic keyboard deck and bezel are part of the reason it weighs a light 1.35kg (2.98 pounds), but the Series 9 is made of unibody aluminum and still weighs about four-tenths of a pound less. Ditto for the new MacBook Air, which weighs 2.96 pounds, or the metal-clad ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, which comes in at 2.86 pounds. We could go on, but you get the point: the S5 feels durable, but lacks the design flair you'd expect from a premium machine.

Obviously, the conceit of the S5 is that most of its ports are tucked behind MagicFlip, that motorized drop-down door on the laptop's rear edge. Ignoring for a moment how annoying it is to have all the key sockets located back there, it's a pretty good selection of ports: in addition to two USB openings, it has Thunderbolt and full-sized HDMI sockets, both rarities for Ultrabooks (heck, Thunderbolt ports on PCs are rare, period). Not all the openings are hidden, though: on the notebook's right edge, you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the power button and memory card reader sit on the left. Thought you'd find the power button on the keyboard deck? That space is home to the button controlling the drop-down door (much more on that later, of course).

Since Acer released its first Ultrabook last fall, the company has unveiled two more models, each of them marking a step up in overall quality. But one thing's remained constant: that flat, cramped keyboard. The keys here are quite lacking in travel, though they're easy enough to master. All told, they're no shallower than the ones on the Series 9, which we neither loved nor hated. The problem is, unlike Samsung's layout, which is fairly well-spaced, the S5's arrangement gets mighty crowded, especially toward the periphery were many essential buttons lie. The Tab key is tiny, for instance, as are Caps Lock and the four arrows, which you could easily miss if you tried to hit them without looking. Also, this keyboard isn't backlit, though you'd probably expect it to be on a machine this expensive.

As much as we wish Acer would re-think its Ultrabook keyboards, the company at least got the trackpad right. The large pad responds smoothly to one-finger navigation, as well as multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolls and pinch-to-zoom. Occasionally, the cursor would stop short on the screen before we got to whatever it was we meant to click on, but we mostly carried on without many incidents. We'd also add that the built-in touch button is easy to click and makes a quiet, low-pitched sound when pressed.

Given how pricey this machine is, you'd expect Acer would have gone all out (or at least met us halfway) when it came to display quality. A high-resolution screen would seem to be in order. IPS quality, too, or perhaps one of those Shuriken panels with the narrow bezels. Instead, what we have here is a run-of-the-mill, garden-variety TN screen with 1,366 x 768 resolution. Everything about this display is common, from the standard resolution, to the reflective finish, to the width of the bezels. It would've been fine on an $800 system, but given that you can find lovely, higher-res screens on the MacBook Air, HP Envy Spectre 14, Samsung Series 9 and the entire ASUS Zenbook Prime family, we don't understand why Acer cut corners here. (Actually, we do: this could be a trade-off to going with a more complex design and a RAID 0 SSD configuration, but we're not sure either of these was worth settling for a mediocre screen.)

The sound coming out of the Dolby-enhanced speakers is a bit tinnier than we're used to, which is quite the feat. Aside from a metallic sound, we were able to make out a faint, buzzing distortion even at medium volumes.

One other interesting thing to note before we sign off on display and sound quality: the S5 is one of the few Ultrabooks we've tested recently that does not include Intel's Wireless Display technology. If you had no intention of streaming 1080p video to a big screen, carry on, but it does seem like an odd omission from what's supposed to be a high-end machine.

Acer Aspire S5 (1.9GHz Core i7-3517U, Intel HD Graphics 4000)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000)MacBook Air (2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000)Note: higher scores are better

At $1,400, the S5 comes with some top-shelf specs to match its lofty price tag, including a 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U CPU, 4GB of RAM and -- here's the kicker -- dual 128GB, LiteON-branded SATA III SSDs arranged in a RAID 0 configuration. Cutting straight to the chase, this is the speediest disk performance we've logged on any laptop, of any size. We actually ended up running ATTO more times than usual because we initially couldn't believe the scores: at their best, the two SSDs reached peak read speeds of 875 MB/s and writes as fast as 700 MB/s. In real-word use, those numbers are matched by a 12-second boot-up. And yes, our scores landed in this ballpark every time we ran these tests. No flukes here, kids.

For those of you who are curious, Acer confirmed to us that you cannot switch to a RAID 1 configuration: in the BIOS, you'll see options for RAID, along with IDE and AHCI.

When we switched to our other standard benchmarks, the S5 still notched some stellar numbers, though this time they fell a little more in line with other top-performing Ultrabooks. For example, its score of 12,895 in PCMark Vantage falls less than 600 points short of the 2012 MacBook Air's high mark -- hardly a dramatic difference. Likewise, its score of 5,071 in 3DMark06 is among the highest we've seen from an Ivy Bridge machine. Not that that's saying much: even with the default settings (read: 1,024 x 768 resolution) Call of Duty 4 chugged along with frame rates in the twenties -- just good enough to be playable.

In practice, pressing a button to expose key ports is more tedious than innovative. Imagine, for instance, that you want to connect a portable hard drive. You can't just plug it in; no, you need to press the button, wait a second or two for the door to open and then reach around to the back of the laptop to find the USB socket. If you can't do it by feel, you'll have to turn the laptop around so you can see the ports -- an awfully big hassle just to plug in a peripheral.

One thing we weren't aware of when we first got hands-on with the S5 is that the motorized door will open on its own to expose the vents when the machine gets too hot. And yes, we mean "when," not "if." We first experienced this within minutes of unboxing our system -- installing a program and running Chrome was enough to trigger the overheating mechanism. It happened again about 30 seconds into a game of CoD 4. The good news is that the machine stayed tepid enough that we could use it comfortably for extended periods of time, but in exchange for cool operation you'll have to put up with a good deal of fan noise.

To be fair, once the ports are fully exposed, it shouldn't have much bearing on your ergonomic experience and obviously, we'd all rather our machines not overheat. Still, as brief as this interruption is, it can be distracting to feel your computer rise beneath your fingers while you're trying to work. And there is, of course, an easy solution for that: just build the ports into the sides of the laptop and not worry about laying claim to the "thinnest Ultrabook" title.

When the S5 was first announced, one of the most common responses from our readers and editors alike was, "What happens if the motor gives out?" Acer rates the door for 15,000 cycles, tested with 50 pounds of pressure -- a claim we naturally didn't have the time or automated equipment to test. We will say that the motor makes a grating sound that doesn't inspire much confidence in the resilience of the various underlying parts. On the bright side, we appreciate that the door automatically closes when you shut down the computer or close the lid, even if you forgot to press the button to do it manually.

Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012)Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011)

The S5's three-cell battery is rated for up to 6.5 hours of battery life, which is shorter than what many other 13-inch Ultrabooks promise. Indeed, its runtime is as uninspiring as the performance is fast. In our standard video playback test, it barely made it four and a half hours -- a poor showing compared to the 13-inch Series 9, which lasted seven hours, and the new MacBook Air, which managed six and a half. Even middling ultraportables can outlast the S5 by at least an hour. In fact, this is, quite literally, the shortest runtime we've recorded on a 13-inch Ultrabook since we tested Acer's own S3 laptop last fall.

Though it might not be the worst offender, the S5 does come with a good deal of bloatware. Pre-installed programs include CyberLink's MediaEspresso media converter, an eBay shortcut, Evernote 4.5.2, Fooz Kids (a children's gaming platform), Norton Online Backup, Skype 5.5, Nook for PC and a trial of McAfee's Internet Security suite. And, like other Acer machines, the S5 comes with the company's clear.fi media streaming software.

Additionally, it's worth mentioning that the S5 is the first Acer laptop to support AcerCloud, the company's recently launched service that backs up your photos, music, videos and documents online. It's free, and storage is unlimited -- well, limited only by how much you can store on your local machine. You can, of course, access all this stuff remotely, provided your computer isn't completely powered off. In particular, with the help of a mobile app you can see your files on an Android phone, even if the two devices are not connected to the same WiFi network. Rather, AcerCloud attempts to create a peer-to-peer connection whenever possible and, failing that, uses a security token in the laptop to play middleman between your notebook and phone. For now, this service is only available in North America and China, but it's expected to roll out to other markets worldwide sometime in the fourth quarter.

Getting AcerCloud set up involves creating an account, a mercifully brief process that only requires you to give your name and email address, and to create a password. (Interestingly, as we progressed through the setup, McAfee popped up, asking if we wanted to grant AcerCloud access.) After creating our account, verifying our email address and using check boxes to confirm what we wanted to back up, we were up and running.

As for the warranty, the S5 is covered by a one-year plan, which is pretty standard for a consumer laptop, regardless of the price.

Though Acer usually offers its laptops in various pre-configured versions, the S5 is only available for $1,400 with the specs we tested here (a Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM, the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Home Premium and 256GB of solid-state storage). As is the case for almost every other Ultrabook we review, the drives, RAM and battery were not designed to be user-replaceable. Again, that's true of most every laptop in this class, but we'd rather remind you, lest anyone wind up disappointed.

You want high-end Ultrabooks? Let's talk high-end Ultrabooks. Even for a high-end machine, the S5 is pricey; we can think of several excellent alternatives that drip quality but still cost slightly less. For starters, there's the 13-inch Samsung Series 9 beginning at $1,300, which weighs just 2.55 pounds and has a higher-quality aluminum build. The Series 9 also leads the S5 (and every other 13-inch Ultrabook) in battery life. Its keyboard is equally flat, but better-spaced. And while its performance isn't rated quite as highly, it's also capable of 12-second boot-ups. If you're willing to consider a bigger screen, you might also want to check out the HP Envy 14 Spectre or even the 15-inch version of the Series 9, which measures just 0.58 inches thick.

Though we haven't yet tested a 13-inch equivalent, ASUS' Zenbook Prime lineup also looks mighty promising. We'll refrain from breaking down every specific configuration listed on Amazon, but suffice to say we're particularly excited about the UX32VD ($1,350 at Amazon), which combines a 1080p IPS display with an NVIDIA GT 620M GPU.

For the OS-agnostic, we'll include the new MacBook Air in the high-end category: its battery life is on par with the champion Series 9, its keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and the performance is some of the fastest we've seen, even from among Ivy Bridge machines. Regarding screen quality, a pain point for Acer's S5, the Air has the same 1,440 x 900 display as past generations. That's not the absolute best you'll find -- not with the Series 9 and Zenbook Primes on the market -- but it's still a step up from the S5.

The Aspire S5 has some key ingredients that might have made it a great Ultrabook: a thin shape, an impressive port selection and blazing I/O performance. Unfortunately, though, Acer seems to have invested its energy in all the wrong places. Instead of a higher-resolution display or finer build quality, it focused on stuffing all the ports behind a door in the back -- a design choice that feels gimmicky at best, and tiresome at worst. In exchange for a skinny silhouette, it settles for a three-cell battery that barely lasts four and a half hours on a charge. Even the RAID 0 SSD configuration might well have contributed to the high price, and that's a shame since the S5 probably could have delivered strong performance even with a more standard setup. (875 MB/s read speeds? Maybe not, but that 12-second boot time? Quite possibly.)

As is, the S5 suffers from some serious usability flaws, and nothing really justifies that $1,400 price except, possibly, that screaming SSD setup. We look forward to possible redemption with the upcoming S7 series, but in the meantime we're certain you can find a better ultraportable for less money.

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Lenovo IdeaPad U310 review: a reasonably priced Ultrabook for the masses

For a while there, the march of Ultrabooks was comprised almost entirely of halo products: skinny, relatively expensive things designed to help Intel and its OEM partners make a good impression on the general laptop-buying public. But with 110-plus models in the pipeline, they can't all be expensive, right? By now, you may have noticed that Ultrabooks are starting to look a little less uniform: there have been larger ones, heavier ones, some with optical drives, some with discrete graphics.

Next up: cheaper ones. Just in time for back-to-school shopping season, we're seeing a wave of more reasonably priced Ultrabooks, many of them with traditional spinning hard drives and slightly heavier frames. One of these is the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, a machine that brings Core i5, 4GB of RAM and hybrid storage for $799. Oh, and its design is pleasantly reminiscent of the IdeaPad U300s, a higher-end Ultrabook we reviewed late last year. No doubt, then, it'll be a tempting option for people who can't afford to spend $1,000-plus on a laptop. But is it worth it? Let's find out.

With a name like the U310, you might expect this guy to be a modified version of the U300s we reviewed last year. And you'd be mostly right. Like the U300s, the U310 isn't so much wedge-shaped as book-inspired. The chassis is evenly thick throughout (about 0.7 inches) and the sides have some subtle scooping, making the closed laptop look like a bound book with pages stuffed between the two covers. Is there any ergonomic benefit to that? Surprisingly, yes: the fact that the lid protrudes slightly when shut makes the notebook especially easy to open.

Other details have carried over from the U300s, too. There's the spun metal power button, for one, which glows white when the machine is powered on. The bottom side is also fairly clean, save for a vent stretching across it. Four rubbery feet help protect that metal surface from nicks and scratches.

The big difference is in the build quality. While the U300s is fashioned out of a single piece of aluminum, the U310 makes do with a metal lid and bottom cover, with plastic coating the bezel and keyboard deck. (As if to emphasize the difference in target audience, the U310 is offered in a less serious color palette, including "Cherry Blossom Pink," "Aqua Blue" and a more staid "Graphite Gray.") In any case, for a system constructed largely from plastic, the U310 still looks and feels good. The entire keyboard deck has a matte finish with a slightly metallic sheen, which makes it resistant to both scratches and unsightly fingerprint stains. All told, the homeliest part of the laptop might be the bezel, which is made out of glossy, reflective plastic. Truly, it's the biggest tell-tale sign that this is a budget machine and not a premium system.

Another other major differentiator? The U310 is slightly thicker than the U300s and heavier too, at 3.75 pounds (versus 2.95). Still, that extra girth means room for some additional ports -- namely, an Ethernet jack and HDMI output. (The chassis actually widens slightly where the Ethernet connection is, suggesting Lenovo really didn't have much room to spare here.) In addition, you'll find three USB ports (one 2.0, two 3.0) and an audio jack. Finally, there's an SD reader, which was inexplicably missing on the higher-end U300s.

Is there a company that knows more about keyboard design than Lenovo? For years, legions of touch typists have been choosing ThinkPads purely on account of those tactile keys, and though the engineers designing IdeaPads work in a completely different division, you have to imagine some of that keyboard know-how has trickled over into the consumer side of the house.

Actually, let's clarify that. The AccuType keys you see here aren't the dense, pillowy buttons used on ThinkPads of yore. Rather, they're very similar to the island-style keyboards you'll find on newer ThinkPad laptops, which just made the transition to a new layout. That caveat aside, the shape, pitch and overall feel of the keys is comparable to what you'd get on a ThinkPad. Particularly after testing Ultrabook after Ultrabook with shallow keys, it's refreshing to get hands-on with something whose buttons actually move when you press them. They also have a slightly textured finish, which makes it that much easier to anchor your keys while you're typing.

Nonetheless, this is not a perfect keyboard. For one, as stocky as the individual keys are, the underlying panel isn't nearly as sturdy -- we could feel the deck give a little as our word-per-minute rate started to pick up. More importantly, though, the pleasant spacing between the keys seems to come at the expense of non-letter buttons, such as Enter, Tab and Caps Lock. All of these auxiliary keys are undersized, and, particularly if you're not used to the layout, you might find that your finger lands on the Delete key when you meant to hit Backspace.

The U310 has a spacious glass clickpad that responds surprisingly well to pinch-to-zoom. It even fares well with two-finger scrolls, though we noticed that thanks to the slick, low-friction surface, scrolling wasn't as deliberate and controlled as on the Samsung Series 9, which we happened to be testing around the same time. Happily, though, because the pad offers so little friction, it's easy to drag the cursor across the screen with one finger. Also, that line demarcating the right and left click zone makes it less likely that this pad will mistake one kind of click for the other. All told, our biggest request would be better palm rejection: as is, you might notice the cursor jumping around the page, even when you didn't intentionally move it.

We claimed earlier that the glossy bezel might be the most obvious sign this is a lower-end system. That's not strictly true: we weren't taking the display into account. The 13.3-inch panel here has a 1,366 x 768 resolution, which is standard across almost every laptop in this size and price class. Truth be told, the pixel count didn't bother us, and we don't think it'll be a dealbreaker for students who just need a machine for web surfing, Facebook and paper writing. If anything, we struggled the most with the viewing angles -- that glossy finish means you might have to fiddle with the screen angle before settling in to type with the notebook in your lap. We particularly noticed this while trying to work in a harshly lit office, but even then, cranking the brightness helped a good deal. The only issue then, of course, is that you'll be draining the battery life even faster than usual (much more on this later, obviously).

Like so many other current Ultrabooks, the U310 has Intel's Wireless Display technology built in. We'll refer you to this older review for a walk-through of the setup and streaming quality, but suffice to say it's an easy way to either mirror your desktop on a larger screen or stream 1080p video. Just be prepared to spend an extra $100, or so, on a compatible set-top box.

As you might expect, the speakers here push out rather tinny sound, but then again, we're not aware of many machines in this price or size category that can do much better.

Lenovo IdeaPad U310 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012, 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000)MacBook Air (2012, 1.8GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000)Sony VAIO T13 (1.7GHz Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000)MacBook Air (2011, 1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000)Note: higher scores are better

As of this writing, we've only tested one other low-end Ivy Bridge Ultrabook with a hybrid hard drive, so it's perhaps a little early to say the U310's performance is typical, per se. Still, if a comparison with an $800 Sony VAIO T13 is any indication, the U310's scores fall in line with similarly configured machines. In PCMark Vantage, for instance, the two are separated by less than 200 points. And in the disk benchmark ATTO, the U310's 500GB hybrid drive managed read rates as high as 114 MB/s and top writes speeds of 79 MB/s. (The T13 notched a similar 131 and 92.5 MB/s.)

In real-world use, the drive helps the machine boot in 20 seconds, coming in slightly ahead of Lenovo's 25-second claim. That's about on par with other Ultrabooks, only trailing by a second or two. Not a material difference, if you ask us. We were also impressed by how relatively cool the laptop runs, even on its bottom side, but in exchange you'll have to put up with a fair amount of fan noise coming out of the vent on the left-hand side.

Like most other Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks, the U310 makes do with integrated graphics -- specifically, Intel's HD 4000 solution, which comes part and parcel with new Ivy Bridge chips. We already knew it provided a sizeable boost over the HD 3000 graphics used in Sandy Bridge machines, and indeed, the U310's 3DMark06 score of 4,549 falls within the (admittedly very large) range of scores we've seen from just-released Ultrabooks. In fact, it widely beats the T13, even though they have the same graphics.

Samsung Series 9 (15-inch, 2012)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2012)5:32 (Mac OS X) / 4:12 (Windows)Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook (14-inch, 2012)Samsung Series 9 (13-inch, 2011)

This might be a good time to consider where, exactly, you'll use your new laptop. If you think you'll be dragging it to class, you might actually care which Ultrabooks top that battery life table you see up there. But if you expect to camp out in the dorm, or find an outlet in the library, then you might not even notice you're getting an hour less battery life than the kid next to you. Take all that into account if you're considering the U310: its 46Wh battery lasted roughly five hours in our standard rundown test, which entails looping a video off the disk with WiFi on and the display brightness fixed at 65 percent. That's a good 40 minutes less than the similar VAIO T13, and even that's not the longest-lasting ultraportable we've tested.

Still, it's always worth emphasizing that our battery benchmark is a grueling one, and with less taxing use, you can expect the machine to hold out a bit longer. While writing this review, we worked unplugged for about three hours, and the battery drained slowly enough that when we finally did plug the machine back in, we were hardly in danger of the machine dying mid-sentence.

Admittedly, when it comes to bloatware the bar for Windows machines has been set fairly low (unless you go out of your way to buy your PC through Microsoft, which sells cleaner systems). By that metric, the U310's pre-installed software load is fairly modest: third-party apps are limited to Absolute Reminder, ooVoo for video chats and McAfee Antivirus Plus. Granted, those McAfee pop-ups can be difficult to ignore until you give in and activate the dang software.

Lenovo also included some apps of its own, but these are far easier to tuck away and forget about. These include YouCam webcam software, Smart Update, EasyCamera and OneKey Recovery. There's also VeriFace if you want to use that 720p webcam for face-recognition-based log-ins. Pretty harmless stuff.

As for the warranty, this shouldn't surprise anyone, but it's worth clarifying: you get one year of coverage, the same deal you'll get with almost every other consumer laptop.

Though the specific configuration we tested goes for $799, the U310 actually starts at $750 on Lenovo's site. The interesting thing about the U310 is that it doesn't pretend to be anything other than a budget-friendly Ultrabook. Get too demanding regarding your specs and you'll just have to step up to the U300s, or some other high-end machine. In addition to that Core i5 CPU we tested, it's available with a 1.8GHz Core i3-3217U processor. Otherwise, the included RAM maxes out at 4GB, the resolution is fixed at 1,366 x 768 and the most capacious storage option is that 500GB hybrid hard drive we tested (there are also 320GB and 500GB HDDs available without the 32GB SSD added on).

It's a great time to buy an Ultrabook, especially if you've been waiting for prices to drop. Over the next few months, you should be able to pick up an Intel-approved ultraportable for as low as $700, so you should have plenty of reasonably priced options besides the U310. Perhaps the most promising is the Sony VAIO T13, which starts at $770, offers an extra hour of battery life, a lovely metal design and a pleasing number of configuration options.

Dell also just entered the budget Ultrabook race with not one, but two entries: the 14-inch Inspiron 14z and the 13-inch 13z. (To be fair, only the larger model is for sale here in the US.) Just so we're all on the same page, the 14z starts at that magic $700 price point, but the base model comes with a Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPU. To get an Ivy Bridge machine (Core i5 or i7 CPUs are available) you'll have to pay at least $100 extra. Even at the high end, you'll find the 14z is similar to the U310: it, too, maxes out at 1,366 x 768 resolution and a 500GB hybrid hard drive. Even the battery capacity is similar at 44Wh. The major differences you'll want to consider (aside from design) are the larger size, and the fact that the 14z makes room for an optical drive and up to 8GB of RAM.

And let's not forget about the world's top PC maker. HP already had two Ultrabooks in its stable -- one for business types and one for people with expensive tastes -- and it's since added a line of more affordably priced ultraportables for the everyman. And mind you, we're using the word "ultraportables" very deliberately here: in addition to Ultrabooks, HP is selling so-called Sleekbooks -- lightweight machines that, for whatever reason (thickness, AMD processors), don't fit Intel's definition of an Ultrabook. As you can imagine, the models with AMD innards are cheaper, starting at $600 (not a bad deal when you remember these are fresh-off-the-factory-line Trinity chips). All told, the Ultrabooks and Sleekbooks are available in 14- and 15-inch screen sizes, and have identical industrial designs, which is to say they're constructed from a mix of metal and soft-touch material. To further simplify things, certain configuration options are the same across the board: backlit keyboards, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 500GB in HDD storage with an optional 32GB SSD to help hasten performance.

Lastly, though we haven't had a chance to test it, we suggest you keep an eye on the Toshiba Satellite U845, a 14-inch Ultrabook priced starting at $700. Like other companies, Toshiba is offering a Core i3 CPU at that base price. Other specs, too, seem similar: a 500GB hard drive with a 16GB or 32GB SSD and a 1,366 x 768 display.

If you just read the comparison shopping section above, you know our reviews team is only just starting to scratch the surface of lower-priced Ultrabooks. That said, it would seem that the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 is a solid bet for the money: it's attractive (save for that glossy bezel), it offers a decent selection of ports and while the keyboard and trackpad aren't perfect, they still present an excellent alternative to what you'll find on many pricier machines. We also believe that the people this is aimed at -- college-bound students, families -- could be willing to forgive some of its bigger flaws. Yes, the relative heft and short battery life could be dealbreakers for a certain sort of shopper, but not for people who intend to keep it plugged in at home or in the dorm. And we definitely don't think those folks are going to grouse about a 20-second boot time, or whatever else counts for "average" performance these days. So if you're not picky (or just can't afford to be) this guy might just fit the bill.

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Posted in: IdeaPad,Lenovo,masses,priced,reasonably,Review,Ultrabook