Lenovo Ideapad U150 reviewed – great build quality; 5hr battery

Peter over at Netbooked has put the Lenovo Ideapad U150 ultra-thin through its paces and it seems to be well regarded. The build quality is a step above most netbooks, the keyboard is very comfortable to use, it plays HD Youtube videos and even has a reasonable 5-hour battery life.

Other positives included good audio quality and one of the best touchpads he’s used. There were a few annoyances however, including the placement of Ctrl and Fn keys (a staple of most Lenovo laptops), the 6-cell battery protrudes and it was a little noisy. Check out the key review points after the break.

Key review points of the Lenovo Ideapad U150:

• The U150 build quality feels solid all over. The lid & palm rest areas have a nice textured pattern that adds to the premium feeling. This also brings another benefit, no fingerprint marks!
• The 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display is bright and folds back to 135 degrees. The bezel is glossy and picks up fingerprints.
• The keyboard gives good feedback and one of the favourite used for a while. This is despite the Ctrl & Fn keys being swapped. There is a tiny bit of keyboard flex.
• The multi-gesture touchpad feels the nicest that Peter has used. The mouse buttons are soft to the touch. The multi-touch gestures were slightly unresponsive though. Also, touchpad movement was jerky.
• The Intel Celeron SU2300 processor (1.2GHz) handles HD YouTube video very well.
• The sound quality from the speakers is very good but slightly lacking in bass. Volume should be loud enough for a small room.
• Judging from the battery tests, you should expect between 4 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours of usage out of the U150.
• Access panels on the bottom give easy access to the RAM, HDD and two Mini PCI-E slots (one is used for Wi-Fi).