Lenovo IdeaPad U150 – Thin and Light Laptop Delivering Competent Performance

The Lenovo IdeaPad U150 is a thin and light laptop with an 11.6 inch display. It is powered by an Intel CULV processor. The notebook is available with up to 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and a 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor.

The IdeaPad U150 has an attractive design with a textured lid. The two-tone keyboard also looks nice. The notebook weighs just 3.3 pounds with the 6-cell battery. Another nice feature is the combo eSATA/USB port which isn’t usually found on thin and light laptops.

Specs 
Processor: 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo SU7300 dual core processor 
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics 
Memory: up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM 
Storage: a 320GB hard drive 
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit 
Display: 11.6 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels 
Battery: 6 cell

Price as configured: $749. The base model of U150 starts at $649, but it has a relatively slower processor and less RAM.

The U150 has the regular array of ports. There are 2 USB ports, VGA, HDMI, 1 USB/eSATA combo port and SD card slot. The 6-cell battery is rated at 57Whr. The U150 is upgrade friendly. The base of the notebook features two easy access panels for upgrading or replacing RAM, hard drive and WLAN.

Display, Keyboard and Touchpad 
The U150 has a glossy display. While the display is good, reflections can be a problem if you use the laptop in direct sunlight. The keyboard features an attractive two-town design. While Lenovo laptops are famous for their good keyboards, unfortunately that is not the case with U150. Many reviewers have pointed out that the keys are a little less responsive. They also tend to be a little noisy when pressed. The touchpad recognizes multi-touch gestures. It features two distinct left and right buttons and a soft touch is enough to activate them. But the touchpad surface shows a little more friction.

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Performance 
The IdeaPad U150 has a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor with GMA 4500MHD graphics. It certainly isn’t the best CULV-powered machine out there. Still, performance is quite satisfactory. The notebook is significantly faster than most 10 inch netbooks with Atom processors. That said, the U150 is a thin and light laptop designed to get good battery life. If you are looking for a high-end gaming machine this is not the laptop to buy.

Battery Life 
The IdeaPad U150 ships with a 6-cell battery. Lenovo claims that the battery will power the laptop for around 7 hours on a single charge. But in reality you will get only around 5 hours of uptime.