Coffee break- the IdeaPad U110 in action

Coffee_man_2I finally have a few minutes to kick back in the coffee shop and share a few thoughts about the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 notebook.  Today I brought just the U110 with me in the Lenovo-provided slipcase and as I carried it around with me it struck me repeatedly that it was hard to believe there was a full laptop in the case.  It is just so thin and light, even with the 7-cell battery attached.  I arrived in the SBUX and handed the closed slipcase to my buddy who was working away on his HP Mini-Note and didn’t say a word.  I watched in amusement as he unzipped the case, peaked inside and then a confused look came over his face.  He asked what the red thing was in the case as it hadn’t hit him that it could be a notebook computer.  He pulled it out of the case, saw the Lenovo logo on the lid and said- well, I can’t repeat what he said as this is a family blog.

I spent the next 15 minutes getting no work done whatsoever as he examined the U110 from every angle, played with the keyboard, oohed and ahhed at every little thing.  I finally got it back from him and tried to work for the next half hour as he kept going on and on about every cool feature on the notebook.  His reaction has been very similar to just about everyone I’ve shown the IdeaPad to and with good reason.  It is hard to believe it is not only a full-function notebook PC but such a powerful performer to boot.  It is actually liberating to open this puppy up and start working and keep thinking how it’s faster than all the other mobile PCs I have used.  By a wide margin.

I find the U110 to be very comfortable to use for extended periods of time.  The keyboard is quite nice for touch typing and the wrist rest is just the right size for my hands.  I keep finding little touches that continually make my work easier the longer I use it, like the dedicated page up/down keys at the front of the keyboard.  The scroll area on the trackpad works better than most I’ve used and I find myself foregoing an external mouse and using that which is rare for me.  Lenovo has always designed the ThinkPad with an eye toward usability and they’ve definitely brought that experience to the IdeaPad.  I find I can use it for quite a while and then realize that I haven’t even thought about the tool I was using, just about getting my work done.  That is just priceless.  I’ll be sharing more thoughts including a complete review soon.  If you haven’t seen my video of the IdeaPad then go watch that.

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post