Lenovo Ultrabook U3000s

Lenovo Ultrabook U3000s

Much has been made of Intel's plans to promote a new laptop designation, the Ultrabook. The initial pitch was something along the lines of an 11- to 13-inch laptop, less than 18 millimeters thick, with SSD storage, running on current-gen Core i-series processors, and selling for less than a comparable MacBook Air--the clear example the Ultrabook design spec is meant to compete with. We've seen a few Ultrabook announcements recently, but Lenovo is the first to put a working unit in our hands, and we got to spend a little time this week with the new Lenovo IdeaPad U300s. This flagship of the new IdeaPad U series has a 13.3-inch display, up to a Core i7 processor (ULV), and up to a 256GB SSD. It is just 0.6 inch thick. As you can see in the hands-on video above, this is a sharp-looking system, with a bit more of a buttoned-down look in muted gray than some of the more colorful plastic IdeaPad laptops we've seen. The top and bottom lips stick out a tiny bit, creating a booklike silhouette when the laptop is closed. The U300s interestingly has no bottom vents, instead pushing heat out through the hinge vents, as well as through what Lenovo calls a "breathable keyboard."