~~~1 year Update~~~
I have downgraded the score from 5/5 to 4/5. This laptop is, for the most part, great. However it has several very serious flaws including: Terrible trackpad, bad monitor, and bad sound.
-Performance3/5 [Average]
Very powerful specs. This laptop may not be a gaming laptop, but will play most things you throw at it very well. Including AutoCAD, SAP2000, light games, and Movies.
-Build5/5 [Excellent]
All in all, its built very well. The exterior, as you can see, is beautiful.
-Keyboard4/5 [Good]
The keyboard looks and feels very nice. The keyboard is slightly narrower than usual, which makes it feel a little awkward. But I haven't had any problems typing.
-Trackpad1/5 [Terrible]
This trackpad is a piece of junk, after using it for a year, I've learned to use the "F6" -turn off trackpad buttonmore than 90% of the time.
I have also disabled "tap to click" and "multi-finger gestures." Left/Right clicking is a nightmare.
-Monitor2/5 [Bad]
The monitor is 1366x768. Which is pretty disappointing but it the norm for 14in laptops and even 15in laptops. The colors are a bit washed out, and I really notice it when I have my laptop next to my desktop monitor. There is definitely a sweet spot for using the monitor, and its pretty small. The hinges don't let it bend back all the way. I'd say, you get about 135 degrees of motion on the hinges. This laptop also has terrible viewing angles.
-Sound2/5 [Bad]
The speakers on this laptop just don't push enough. They are useless in most enviroments that have ambient noise. The quality of the sound itself is pretty average.
-Weight5/5 [Excellent]
It's pretty light weight. I can easily move/carry the laptop around with one hand. I have fallen in love with the ultra light weight. This is truly a mobile laptop.
-Temperature4/5 [Good]
The exterior stays pretty cool. However, inside temperature gets really high. Under 100% load, the cpu easily hits 85C.
The outside occasionally gets pretty hot, but in general, it keeps to a very comfortable temperature.
-Battery Life4/5 [Good]
I get about 2+ hours when running this laptop with 9/10 brightness + with everything on + none of that power saving stuff, with pidgin+firefox+thunderbird+Movie.
-Wifi3/5 [Average]
I have not had any problems with the wifi, but I spend most of my time on a landline. And I haven't had any connection issues on campus, or at my friend's homes.
-Boot Time[NA]
Stock Boot Time 55s to 70s.
Stock Resume Time 1s to 3s.
Boot Time with SSD 15s to 22s
Other:
-Minor Design Flaw!
The majority of the ports are on the right side including the power, hdmi, 2x USB. This makes it a bit hard to use your mouse when you have alot of stuff connected to your laptop power, mouse, external harddrive. Unless you are left handed and have your mouse on the left side of the computer.
Also this laptop does not come with a system recovery disk.
*********************************************
Now if you want to add your own SSD to this laptop Or increase the amount of RAM.
Any hardware modification to this laptop will void it's warranty.
If you go to the Lenovo Forums and to this page: /t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-and-Z-series/New-U400-General/td-p/580903
There is a thread on hardware modding this laptop and on page 2, there is a link to a Lenovo website with videos on how to take this laptop apart. Note that Taking this laptop apart is VERY difficult and much harder than it seems in the video.
***Note The hard drive bay in the Lenovo U400 can not fit a traditional SSD and can only fit HDD. This is because a USB port intrudes upon the space for the Hard Drive and the traditional hard drive has a small space above the SATA and Power connectors where there isn't anything to obstruct The SSD unfortunately has a lip.
In order to fit a SSD You pretty much only have three choices 1. disassemble your SSD and tape it into to laptop. 2. disassemble your SSD and cut off a corner of it's case with a power tool. 3. Purchase a mSATA SSD and install that alongside your HDD. [I went with option 2] 4. Purchase a height 7mm SSD ex. samsung 830 (will still need to tape ssd).
***Doing a clean install of Windows 7 did not work for me Installing drivers became a nightmare. Recovery Disk can be used Unfortunately your laptop doesn't come with one.
***Upgrading RAM
You only have easy access to one of two Memory Slots. The second slot requires some serious hardware disassembly included the removal of the entire motherboard.
Luckily, the 2GB Memory Chip is on the side that is easy to access. However, having two separate memory chips from different companies on the same system may cause instability and occasional crashes. Which happened when I upgraded the stock 2GB Samsung to a 4GB Corsair.
I would suggest purchasing a single 4GB Samsung stick of the same model as the one in the computer. It'll make your life easier.
***
How to take apart the laptop:
Watch the Lenovo Support Videos.
1. Take off two rubber feet The ones in the back next to the monitor hinge. I used a flat head screwdriver with its head covered with a microfiber cloth (to prevent scratches) to pry the feet off.
2. Unscrew two screws under the rubber feet.
3. Pull the bottom cover towards the back of the laptop (back = where the monitor hinge is). You only need to pull it about 2mm. Gently lift the back of the bottom plate while pulling towards you. The back should pop out of the clips with some patience. Be careful not bend the part of the back of the bottom cover that bends up along side the monitor hinge.
After releasing the back and side clips. While pulling the cover to slide it off, also lift the front of the back cover gently.
-This part is the most difficult and I enlisted the help of a friend. I had my friend gently tap the front of the bottom cover with a hammer on top of the back of a screw driver that was covered with some gauze pads.. While he was tapping, I gently pulled the front of the bottom cover away from the laptop.
4. Once the cover is removed the rest is self explanatory.
5. Putting the cover back on. Put the cover back on with the front first. The rest of the clips should click into place as you push down. Afterwards, slide the bottom cover towards the front of the laptop. While pulling, screw the two screws back in. This part was easy and I was able to do it without enlisting help.
-If you have trouble lining up the two screw holes you may have bent the back of the bottom cover, you will have to bend them back into place with your hands or pry them back into place with a flat head screw driver.
***
Random Stuff:
It took me about 4 hours to finish my hardware modifications the first time. I also made alot of mistakes and ended up with a few chips. My second and third time opening up the computer took me about 10 minutes each.
Attempting to get the computer to work and install all the drivers with a clean OS install took me 8 hours and ultimately failed.
Attempting to figure out how to clone the drive and after much google and tech forum searches as well as many failed clone attempts took me about 10 hours. Cloning ultimately was successful.
I experienced some hard drive hangs with the Corsair GT. I was able to fix this by updating the firmware on my SSD.
Tools I used: Philips Screw Driver, Flat Screw Driver, Cloth (micro-weave cloth and a towel), Gauze pads, Hammer, Bench Grinder (Powertool).
Extra Purchases: Acronis True Image Home 2012 $50, Corsair 120GB GT SSD $155, 1x DVD-R $-
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Follow up So it's been almost a year since I got this laptop, and I would have to say...I have to change my original rating of a 5 to a 1 star. Over the period of time, my battery itself started to have problem, my laptop stopped staying cool, and I had issues with it twice. 1 of 2 times I had problem with it, I had to figure it out myself, because the customer service was just horrible. I mean the computer itself is still pretty good but the change to a one star is mainly because of the customer service. So basically, my laptop had a blue screen. Keep in mind, I keep my laptop in very good condition physically. I got my laptop sent in to the repair center and after 1 week, my repair status remained the same. I gave them a call, and I was told that I had water damage in my motherboard and I would have to pay $360+ some fee in order to fix my laptop. I told the rep that I never had water spilled on my laptop ever. She then mentioned that I had some water mark on my keyboard...I proceed to explain to her, I washed my keyboard with a very damped cloth before I sent my laptop for repair, and she tried to explain to me that might had been the problem. All in all, after speaking with a few other reps, I didn't get my problem solved. They insisted on me paying $360+ some fees I couldn't understand. Felt like I shoulda sticked with a brand I was more familiar with and listened to those who said the customer service was horrible. The laptop cost $600-700 bucks now for a new one, so I didn't even bother paying for the repair, hopefully I can retrieve my harddrive datas.
-------------
Original Review
I had this laptop for about a few weeks now. I've been waiting for it to be available since it was announced. I'm sure a lot of buyers will want this laptop because it's basically a Window Macbook. And that is exactly what you get. I am also a mac owner, the quality is on par with Macbooks. This is a very pretty laptop and spec are pretty decent. On the pictures, the shade of silver looks very similar to the macbooks, but it actually a dark slate gray.
Pros -
-Laptop stays cool. It vents from the side, I've had it on for 14 hours once and it was stayed very cool.
-Chiclet keyboard feels really nice.
-Glass trackpad is on par with macbooks.
-Battery last around 6-7 hours.
-Light weight.
Cons -
-Don't really have any beside that I would had preferred an SSD option and Lenovo should make accessories for this laptop already! And I really wanted the Black/Clementine Orange color, but it's only available for the U300s.
So basically if your looking for a nice looking laptop with decent spec, great battery life, light weight and stay cool, this is the laptop for you. Especially if your looking for a Macbook alternative.
Best Deals for Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)
This thing is pretty amazing!
I needed a new laptop after having my previous one for 4 years. I love windows (not that I have anything against Mac OS, just don't prefer it), but I wanted something with the build quality of a mac book pro but a lower price tag. I was really considering getting a mbp, until I saw this laptop. If you are in the same boat as me, then this is the perfect laptop for you. All aluminum body, extremely sturdy look and feel, very sleek design, I would say it matches up perfectly with the mbp but at $300 less.
The thing runs extremely fast. The 2nd generation mobile i series is catching up to the power of the desktop versions. I really don't notice a difference between this laptop and my i5 desktop tower as far as responsiveness. Trust me, performance is not an issue for this laptop. It can handle anything that you can throw at it (obviously that's an exaggeration, but anything reasonable that you can throw at a laptop it can do). It also runs very cool. mbps get hot, especially when setting them on your lap or on a cushioned surface. The cooling out the side and through the keyboard of this laptop makes it stay cool and keeps the bottom of the laptop from becoming a personal heater (which may not be a good thing if are use to using your laptop as one).
The one area I would say the mbp beats this thing hands down is the screen. The screen on the u400 is 1200 x 768 and doesn't look as sharp and clear as the mbp's screen. I like running my screens at really high resolutions even though it's probably not great for my eyes. But it is only a 14 in screen and a higher resolution probably wouldn't make sense. Another small flaw that seems to be common is the screen not closing perfectly flush around the entire edge of the laptop. On the front right corner of mine there is about a 1 mm gap. I can see how this might bother someone. I am one of those people that has to have everything in mint condition and if I know somethings wrong, it bugs me. But for some reason, this doesn't bother me at all. Another aspect that brings up a lot of debate is the glass mouse pad. The u400s pad feels exactly like the mbp's. The only downfall is Windows. It doesn't have the nice soft, smooth scrolling and zooming, or the friction-less gliding scrolling that Mac OS does. It is a little choppier on Windows, but I can live with that (I also believe that Windows 8 does this better).
Another problem for some people might be the amount of I/O it has. It has 1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, and HDMI, and an optical drive. Laptops are moving away from having PCI buses available and VGA outputs. Not having some of these things can be painful (I am a college student and not having a VGA out can be annoying since all my classes have VGA projectors. But this just requires me to get an HDMI to VGA converter, which is basically what mac users have to do). For me, the USBs are enough.
In summary, if you want something that is sleek and powerful, regardless of your price range, then this is it. I really believe that spending more to get a mbp or one of the top sony vaios is not buying you a better laptop. I don't think anyone will regret owning this thing.
Honest reviews on Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)
The laptop looks nice. It is still not ready for prime time.
Nice.
1. Looks. It is a looker. Layout is mostly nice, keyboard has a good touch. Screen is large, clear, bright. Not a bright as I would have hoped. The colors are a little washed out.
2. A lot of features USB, LAN, Slot DVD works with double sided DVD. Have not tried blue ray and will assume it does not work.
3. Cool. It does stay cool and the breadthable keyboard is a nice feature.
4. Weight. For what it has it is nice.
Not so nice.
To fit the bill of being at the top, when a feature is included, it is very well built and works with ease and wonder. This not so with this laptop. Which the concept is good, the features are plenty, they all fall short and make you wish you purchased a different laptop. So here goes my grips. I had a Sony Vaio before and an Acer Aspire. Also played with some Apple, original IBM, Dell so have some comparision to those.
1. The DVD slot is slick but so noisy with loading the CD that it sounds like a cheap DVD player. Some CD's are very noise in their rotation and there is nothing you can do about it but listen to the high whine of the noise. Most CD's play well but that noisy ones number about 10%.
2. You cannot purchase a replacement or extra AC power adaptor. So you are stuck with one. Calling Lenovo will get you redirected to IBM parts which does not have any part by this number. I tried this several times and emailed them, always getting the same push around and ending up in IBM parts. This is the most disappointing of the support and warrants the 1 star. If I lose my AC power adaptor, I am stuck unless I go with a different make/model or 3rd party.
3. The touch pad mouse keys are part of the touch pad so everytime you go to right click and left click you are moving the cursor around. You have to be very accurate and only use a tiny portion of your fingers on the clickers or you will be clicking on something else. The touch pad is smooth and nice but ultra sensitive. This makes for unwanted touches when you want and no moves when you want because the palm or something is close.
4. The build quality seems solid but it is marred, at least on mine. The frame was bent and scratched on the inside. It is small enough that I am just keeping it.
5. There arent enough indicators. You cannot tell when the disk or CD is being used. There are only 2 indicator lights on the front Battery charging/use and on/off. It would be nice to show the disk in use. When booting up and running program, you cannot tell if the laptop is hung or the program is working on the drive, or just slow because of drive access.
5. The right Shift key is so short and it is next to the up arrow so a miss will move you to some other place on the screen when you are typing. This is really annoying if you are used to using the shift key with both hands.
6. The CPU is really fast but the disk is really slow 5400rpm. So it slows the whole computer down. I could not find any options to get the Solid state drive installed. The service manuals show a space and install/removal of an additional solid state drive but this is not the normal solid state drive. It looks like solid state flash memory card with no casing. Because of the disk, you can only tell how fast the CPU is when doing CPU intensive programs.
7. The battery life is only 1 hour when used normally from 1st install. You have to go in and turn off a lot or turn down a lot to get it up to 4 hours.
If you really cripple it, you could possibly get up to 7 hours. This is quite a stretch in their advertising. The battery is internal so you would have to take it to a service center or open it up yourself to get this serviced in the future.
8. The WIfi is probably the worst of the whole laptop. They put the antenna on the bottom of the screen and it is unidirectional. I was stilling next to a person with 5 bars and I could barely hold 1 bar until I turned the laptop a specific direction, even then I only got a sparadoic 3 bars. Comparing this to same locations with the Sony Vaio, I could easily get much better reception on my Vaio in the same locations. The only remedy to this is to get an external Wifi connection. What a dissapointment.
Overall this is not worth a $1,000 (or $800 if you get it from the right place), laptop. I would suggest you wait until Lenovo is ready for prime time before paying this much money for a laptop that has some very bad basic functions wifi, Shift key, buttons on mouse pad, AC Power adaptor (This is the most ridiculouse item in my opinion). Lenovo is still growing up and given a year from now, I am sure the next gen will have all these bugs fixed.
Update.
Found another change which does not work well. The Function keys are not accessible directly and require holding down a function Shift key as well as the function key. Hence F2 in excell requires more keys to get to it then a direct hit. While it is not such a big deal, it is a shift from prior keyboards. Unfortunately I use the Function keys a lot more then the system keys which are the directly level. system keys are volume, brightness, screen selection.
I started using a small external Wifi purchased for $15. This has dramatically improved the Wifi connectability and strength.
I did consider selling this and purchasing something else but it was not it is nice enough to keep and hard to find a replacement with the majority of features I like.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)
Lenovo really hit the nail on the head here. Finally, they made a well-rounded and full powered laptop in an extremely stylish package. It is solid aluminum so I'm hoping it's very durable as well, but I've only had it for two days so far. It's very fast, has great, really great speakers for a laptop (not much bass though), never gets hot except right around the fan area on the left hand side, even running flash 1080p videos on youtube. It has a dvd burner, an i5 processor, and the biggest selling point for me was that it has no vents on the bottom, so you can lay it on your bed and never worry about it overheating (which happened to my last laptop and crashed my hard drive.) The trackpad is phenomenal, although I did bump up the sensitivity a bit because the gesture features (which any apple user will tell you are lifechanging and really an ultimate feature of mac laptops' huge glass trackpads) are a bit wonky on windows 7. This trackpad is absolutely beautiful. It's huge, made of glass and has enough sensitivity that makes using gestures on a windows laptop almost as good as on a mac. I'm not sure if its a driver or windows software, but its just not as perfect and effortless as macs, but as good as anyone has ever come on a windows machine. Everything about this laptop oozes style and functionality, but I'm still waiting to see how durable and quality the build is. My last laptop, a Sony Vaio VGN-S480 lasted me 7 years, and would still work if I would pay 100 dollars and install a new fan, but it's time to move on and enjoy all the great features developed for laptops since then, and this laptop embodies the best of what laptops have to offer right now. If you wait for the i7 SSD version, I'm sure you will be even more satisfied, but this build has everything I need or want at a great price, and I'll upgrade to an SSD in two years when they are dirt cheap.
