Lenovo U300s 10802BU 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Grey) I have waited to acquire my hands on the ultrabook since Intel basically threw the challenge at PC manufacturers to make something high end that can actually approach the standards that contain made Apple so favorite. Let’ s face it, these ultrabooks are in reply to the wildly popular Air series by Apple. Companies like Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP, Sony, have stepped up towards the plate & took a swing from it.
After having owned the Acer, Asus, Mac, & now Lenovo’ s ultrabook, I can safely say that in the Windows family of pcs, the Lenovo u300s is undoubtedly the winner over whilst. Here is why:
1. WiFi – Asus UX31e has a serious problem with it is internal wifi adapter. Out of the box, two of the UX31e had serious issues with wifi. I updated the bios, flashed it, you can read in regards to the entire review on the actual Asus ux31e customer evaluate by me. None of the issues I’ve got had with wifi have occurred while using u300s. In fact, the Lenovo is blazingly rapidly.
2. The Touchpad – Lenovo got it right by using the much better Synaptics sleep pad than Asus who went having an inferior product & it shows. The touchpad on the actual Asus has required these phones release software updates & it still doesn’ t have the fluidity that this Lenovo has. The pad feels far more rich & the smoothness is on par with perhaps the best experience I have experienced using a touchpad on the laptop. Even the multi touch features similar to the MacAir are done the most beneficial on the Lenovo u300s.
3. Keyboard – The Lenovo merely feels solid. The keys are brisk & responsive & you actually love typing onto it. It makes typing fun if that’ s even possible. The Asus has low keys & I don’ t mind the Asus keyboard in any way but the one for the Lenovo just feels like its a better quality. The biggest factor for the keys, & its a big one personally, is that function secrets are natively computer capabilities. Meaning, if you want to boost the volume using secrets, you don’ t have to support the FN key down & then the corresponding steps key. So, when I want to boost volume, I just hit what will be F3. This makes a wide range of sense because you are much more likely to do things like raise lower volume, adjust screen brightness, mute it with one particular key strike, etc than use precise function keys. I love this. On the Asus should you wanted to raise the volume, you have to hold down the function key for the left side & hit the raise volume key for the right side. Trying to do this kind of with one hand make you stretch that hand nearly all the way from tip of flash to tip of pinky if you wish to reach this functionality. I play music about my laptop & key functionality is an issue to me.
4. Speakers – The Asus does apparently have better speakers. Side by side, the quality of the actual UX31e speakers seems far more full with deeper bass sounds tones. The Lenovo is so good though & I am very happy with the standard of the speaker on the actual u300s.
5. Performance – both for own specs seem very good. It’ s an ultrabook and so don’ t think you’ re going to become doing much video editing onto it. However, for internet, word processing, email, & multi-tasking both are very good.
6. Heat – I couldn’ t use the Asus about my lap after about quarter-hour because the back part of the laptop gets popular. I have currently got the lenovo on my lap for the last 30 minutes & its warm but not hot in any way. I wouldn’ t worry about getting the Lenovo resting on the lap while I type, even in shorts.
7. Webcam – both looked like fine. I tested it away & it may just become me, but google chat seemed more clear while using u300s than the Asus. This could be linked to the Asus’ s poor wifi indicate?
8. Screen – both are nice to look at. Viewing angles are a comparable. No complaints on both for the screen though when looking closely from them, I dare say which the contrast seems better for the Lenovo. The Asus does employ a higher resolution so in case you need that for photographs, Asus may be superior here.
9. Ergomomics – by this What i’m saying is typing, using the mouse sleep pad, etc. The edge of the actual u300s is sharp & if your wrists rests onto it for too long, I can see how this might get uncomfortable. I have been typing onto it for an hour now, doing emails, etc & I have no issues with it but think people might. The Asus doesn’ t have this issues as a result of tapered nature of that.
10. Portability & Ports – I hope the Lenovo had a Sd card slot. Alas, it doesn’ t. The Asus however will. So if you’ re doing a whole lot with SD cards, you’ ll need an adapter for doing this on the u300s. Both are highly easily transportable. The power supply for the Lenovo is thinner compared to the Asus & doesn’ t feel cheap, whereas the Asus is like it could break should you dropped it.
11. Other Considerations – Generally there isn’ t much bloatware together with either. However, you have to spend Additional time fine tuning the Asus to suit your style than the Lenovo. The Lenovo in other words just appears to feel more natural correct out the box & that’ s what you should expect with this price range.
12. Winner – Lenovo U300s clearly. After going through so lots of the first generation ultrabooks coming from Asus, Acer, & now Lenovo, the U300s is undoubtedly the superior machine. Let’ s put it this way: The Lenovo is a sophisticated minimalistic design that merely feels & screams sophistication & reliability. It’ s stylish without being so flashy just like the Asus. While the Asus gets a great deal of " ooooo aahhhh" looks, the U300s is far more subtle, like that very beautiful lady in the room that is genuinely stunning because jane is confident without being fancy. The Asus on the other hand is like the girl with a great deal of flash, trying to get by far the most attention, but for me ended up being too flaky (merely making an analogy, I don’ t mean any disrespect to be able to any females!).
Feel free to review. I hope this offers helped you all inside deciding. If you’ re going to receive an ultrabook, go for the Lenovo U300s. I ended up heading back my Asus UX31E & Acer Inspire because they just will not be in the same category because the U300s. After you experience the actual Lenovo u300s, you don’ t even want to type on other things. Honestly. As a gift, I can tell you the Lenovo will be amazing for anyone exactly who gets it. They will love that.
Congrats to Lenovo. If you continue to create quality high end products similar to this, you will lead in the PC World.
Happy Shopping everyone!
***UPDATE 11/04/11***
Here is a link to another review (with benchmarks) in the Lenovo U300s vs Asus UX31E question:
[check in comments; amazon apparently didn’ t want the link post here but it really is in the comments]
Hope this helps everyone pick the ultrabook that’ s right for these. The U300s just actually is right for me. Good luck!
***UPDATE 11/09/11***
Asus has acknowledged the condition & posted this on Amazon in reply to the customer reviews from the ASUS UX31E (seek out UX31E on Amazon.com & read the customer reviews to see this there):
"Please check your Device Manager & verify if the touchpad is Sentelic or Elantech. If it is Elantech, it will show that it is Elantech. If it is Sentelic, it won’t show the name but rather will just say General or something along those lines. The latest drivers fix the issues a lot of you are having & you can download the latest drivers from [..link in amazon review of ASUS UX31E...]. When you select the TouchPad download category you will see the latest update for Sentelic & for Elantech.
To fix the wireless issue some of you are experiencing, please download the latest WLAN driver from [...link in Amazon review of ASUS UX31E...].
Best Regards,
ASUS Notebook Support"
So there you have it. They have acknowledged that the UX31E has issues unfortunately. It’s a beautiful ultrabook. Maybe their 2nd generation of the UX31E will get it right.
Also, why have two different providers for their touchpad??? I don’t see the logic in this because it confuses customers when they need to update the drivers & they have to go digging through their device man (more…)