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Lenovo IdeaPad U550 M25C2MD – Affordable ultraportables - Construction & Design

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 09:39 Laptopfreak

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Article Index
Lenovo IdeaPad U550 M25C2MD – Affordable ultraportables
Specifications
Construction & Design
Construction & Design continued
Construction & Design continued
Benchmark
Benchmark continued
Overall performance continued
Conclusion
All Pages

Page 3 of 9

Construction & Design

The first impressions

Lenovo IdeaPad U550 appears to be a really sleek product. It is a device made for the road and you quickly realise it. First of all the materials are great and seem very durable, and the size and weight are incredibly comfortable for on-the-go use. It weighs only 2.4kg and that actually gets you a 15.6” display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and excellent resolution.

The computer is very thin for a ”larger” model, and very nice to touch. The product itself does not look particularly unique – the most original thing it features is the pattern carved into the lid. That looks particularly good though, and is probably one of the most striking things I have seen on a portable device. If you have to do it, you might as well do it right. Lenovo’s logo prides the lid in a silvery metal.

The keyboard is of great size and feels really, really nice. It is also great to see a notebook that actually has a well-functioning touchpad. Your fingers glide easily across and it feels good. The display, as mentioned already, is of great size and razor sharp. The only thing you might be concerned about is glare.

The device features specially designed speakers on either side, square of shape and covered with a holed material. Though they are somewhat challenging to describe they work as they should here and go really well with the design.

A nice little feature is the fingerprint reader they managed to squeeze in also – many models do not have it, but I find it a quirky little thing.

The hinges appear a bit ”plasticky” but work well with the screen, and I think they are durable enough. They are highly glossy as well, which may be what makes them look cheap.

All in all the product shines with positive feature, and you can see by the modern, thin design that they are trying to entice slightly more design-conscious consumers. You could easily imagine e.g. MacBook owners considering a Lenovo PC next time. I could certainly imagine being the proud owner of a Lenovo notebook someday.

The lid

The lid is thin and has, as mentioned already, a finely designed lid with a square-like pattern (etched directly into the lid) that matches the speakers. It is glossy black on the inside, so you will be seeing some fingerprints sooner or later. Luckily the other parts of the notebook do not suffer too much from this.

The hinges are glossy black and seem durable, if a bit ”plasticky”. They glide really well though, and if they are anything like the rest of the computer, you have no reason to fear for their longevity.