Lenovo IdeaPad U260 08763DU 12.5-Inch Ultraportable Laptop (Clementine Orange)
- Intel Core i5 Processor 1.33GHz
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
- 12.5-Inch Screen, HD Graphics
- Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit), 4 hours Battery Life
The stunning Lenovo IdeaPad U260 notebook is the industry’s first 12.5″ ultraportable notebook. A unique blend of textures and materials, the notebook features a strong yet light one-piece magnesium-aluminum cover, smooth glass touchpad and soft, textured palm rest. Insight-driven engineering and attention to detail is evident in every feature of this stylish, Clementine Orange notebook. An island-style keyboard facilitates ease of typing, while the spill-resistant, Breathable Keyboard, an Int
List Price: $ 1,018.49
Price: $ 568.55
About Jhon Jabir
Elegant and truly outstanding laptop,
I’m a retired university professor. I’ve published many books. I am a serious blogger. I have owned numerous computers, including several laptops (Apple & Windows). I currently write on a powerhouse, custom-made PC built by Quiet PC out of Vancouver, WA. I’m pretty skilled as an IT person. (I handle all our IT issues in our medical office: my wife is a physician and between us we operate a small medical office.)
All this by way of background, to set the context.
I wanted a truly lightweight, elegant, well-made, compact laptop to free me from my PC. So I could write anywhere in the house. Or, of course, while traveling. Secondly, I wanted Windows, not Apple. (Apple’s fabulous, but I simply didn’t want to learn the Apple system. I follow Thoreau’s famous advice, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.”)
Lenovo? I’d never heard of it. But I did due diligence, researching numerous laptops. And, of course, I lusted after the MacAir–except it was Apple. And, like all Apple laptops, it has a keyboard I find difficult to type on. (By the way, I’m an outstanding typist. Whereas most reviewers wax eloquent about the internal specs of computers, I home in on the keyboard and screen and such.)
Okay, you’re getting the picture. I was much impressed by the reviews of this Lenovo. Seasoned reviewers–professional reviewers–were listing it in the top 10 of recommended laptops.
The rest is history. I bought it from Amazon and I’m writing this review on it. I’ve owned the machine for a week, and I’m in love. It’s spring, time to be in love–and I’m in love with this thing!
This is one heck of an elegant machine! Extremely well built. Fabulous screen. Terrific, full-size keyboard. Nicely-molded keys. Keys not too hard, not too soft–for me, at any rate. (I’m a pianist; touching keys is important to me. Typing is like playing Bach.) The touch pad is a dream! The touch pad does all the cool stuff touch pads do these days–and does it flawlessly. Yes, it takes getting used to, but worth it.
For me, the 12.5″ screen is ideal. I read the NYTimes and NY Review of Books on this thing. It scrolls side to side and up and down with ease, yes, using a feather-light finger motion on the touch pad. And the “enlarge” and “shrink” image feature on the touch pad is more than cool, and works brilliantly.
The machine is sexier than heck! I got the sort-of-orange case. I adore it! And the whole thing is so thin, and actually fun to glance at on the table, when you’re walking through the room. And, closed, carrying this around is, well, a delight.
The installed camera seems to work well, when I tested it. It’s got an Ethernet port (MacAir does not), 2 USB 2.0 ports (which is all I need), and headphone jack. And you can plug in a monitor or keyboard, if you wish.
A word about the on-board speakers: Terrific! If you listen to audio (music, video, whatever) without plugging in an earphone, you can hear just fine, but the quality is “tinny.” This is not a criticism of Lenovo; this is merely a matter of electronics and physics: it’s impossible to install a decent external speaker in so small a space.
Now: go to Radio Shack and buy a set of earphone plugs, plug them into the speaker jack and . . . wow! Great sound! Lenovo brags about its speakers (via headphone jack), and it’s not hyperbole; it’s warranted. The U260 has better speakers than my very expensive, custom-made, huge, and relatively new desktop PC.
Back to features. The U260 comes with Windows 7 Home installed. I upgraded to Windows 7 Pro. In fact, it comes with a variety of programs which I simply dumped. (I believe this is called, in the business, “bloatware,” yes?)
By the way, I was dubious of using Windows 7. I’ve been an XP fan for years. But I gotta tell you, Windows 7 is terrific. The point being, I’m thrilled Lenovo included it in the U260.
A few words about other reviews. Some reviewers griped about the heat produced by this machine. I find it remarkably cool. No heat problems at all. (Yes, I watch videos and all that good stuff.) Some reviewers said the fan runs a whole lot. Wanna know the truth? I have yet to hear the fan. To me (and my hearing’s excellent), this machine is silent.
Battery life. Reviewers complained that it has relatively short battery time. Three to four hours. There are laptops out there in this price range that offer far longer battery time. This was not an issue for me, and I find the 3-4 hours is plenty. The charger, incidentally, is small, and recharging is complete in several hours. Like, three. Perhaps less (I didn’t time it carefully). All I noted was that it recharges swiftly.
There is no disk drive. Not a problem for me. Having one on board would add to the weight and, as I say, for me it’s unnecessary.
I’m…
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|Works great – gets lots of compliments,
My netbook screen was too small so i wanted something bigger but not heavier. The Lenovo U260 fit the bill and the very speedy i5 chip sold me. Had it two months now and am very happy with it. The battery life is limited for a small laptop (3 hours) but that is good enough for me. The size is perfect – full, easy to use keyboard, very thin and light. The feel of the computer is very solid, and I love the soft wristpad covering. I wish they offered a solid state drive. I installed Ubuntu (dual boot) and everything worked perfect except the microphone (still working on finding the right drivers for that). Ubuntu runs very very fast.
The best part is that when I go to a conference and everyone pulls out their macs and ipads – my laptop is the one everyone asks about.
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|Best design since MBA. Could be improved.,
It catched my attention first time I saw it at BH Photo. Just a simply beautiful laptop.Best design since MBA.
(FYI, I owned a MBP; I thought I would never consider anything else beside MBP or MBA. However, this design really, really impressed me. It makes me to change my mind.)
However, after reading some of the reviews, this beauty needs to improve in order to beat MBA or MBP:
- Battery Life: 3 hrs battery is a seriously failure. Ultraportable laptop needs at least 5-7 hrs nowadays.
- Trackpad is pretty good. Gave me the feeling of using MBP trackpad. However, right and left mouse buttons need to be improved. Those buttons doesn’t not fit with the whole body. Those 2 buttons decrease the laptop’s truth value.
Keep this design and improve the hardware quality. This IdeaPad will soon beat MBP or MBA.
No matter what how much I’m in love with my MBP, I will give this laptop a chance if they improve those issues.
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|I would like to know if the Lenovo Ideapad U260 clementine to buy send me to Spain and what is the shipping cost.