Customer Reviews

Lenovo Ideapad U-450p 14-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Very rarely do I buy a product that just exceeds my expectations in so many ways that I can't wait to come online and share my joy with others. The Lenovo U450P is one such product.

I honestly don't know where to begin with the things that I love about this device.

If you've seen my review of the T135-S1310RD, you'll have noticed that it pained me to give it a 1-star review for what was terrible customer service on the part of Toshiba. They continued to sell a product that had a known deal-breaker problem.

So ... here's what I was looking for (in order of importance to me):
1) ultraportability ... I tend to spend a lot of time waiting (at recitals, school meets, music lessons) and I needed something that I could throw into a bag and run out the door.

2) computing muscle ... I just got done writing a book, and I'm working on some additional ideas, and so I needed this ultra portable to keep up with me.

3) large screen ... I tried hard to get used to the netbook screen and resolutions, and I just couldn't get comfortable with a 10.2 inch screen @ 1024x600 even for web browsing. My sweet spot was 13.3 inches @ 1366x768.

4) touchpad/mouse ... I rely almost exclusively on the built-in mouse/touchpad, and wanted an implementation that I could use comfortably.

5) battery power ... I wanted at least 4 hours of juice.

After significant research, I settled on either the Toshiba T135, the Asus UL30/UL20 family, or the HP DM3.

I even went so far as to purchase the Toshiba. Until, I ran into issues with point #4 on my list of priorities, and so the Toshiba went back.

The Asus disappeared off my list soon after. I had imagined that I could "get used to" the rocker based design for its mouse buttons, but after my brief experience with the Toshiba, I began to question that assumption. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but to me a computer is a productivity tool, that should adapt to me, rather than the other way around. In addition, the Asus machines seem to have issues with their wireless networking as well - and while I hear this may have been resolved, I didn't want to take a chance with such quality issues.

I have had very poor experiences with HPs with two notebooks biting the dust in very quick succession - so the DM3 was out for now.

Luckily, I soon ran across two alternatives from the Lenovo family - the Thinkpad Edge and the Lenovo U450P. A discounted price on the U450P made my decision for me.

Fortunately, my experience so far has been nothing but stellar.

Pros:
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1) The form factor of this machine is just perfect. I was worried that a 14" screen might be too much for an ultraportable, but its just amazing!

2) The SU7300 CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) processor is meaty enough for most of my needs - and is a beefed up SU4100). Add in the 4GB RAM @ 1066MHz and a 320 GB drive and all's good!

3) The screen size and resolution are just stellar. Even at 20% brightness, the screen is very clear and readable.

4) The keyboard is just awesome - I can hardly tell the difference between my regular 17" laptop and this one. Seriously.

5) The touchpad is wonderful! The mouse buttons are placed right where you need them, and the multitouch touchpad gives you some nice options.

6) Lenovo has had serious consumer issues with the U330's battery and I am hoping that the U450P hasn't inherited those issues. Its too early to tell, but I've been browsing the web and typing this review for about 1 hour now, and have used up only 17% of the battery. Furthermore, unlike the U330, spare batteries can be ordered for the U450P (check out the 57Y6309).

7) The texture on the lid is unique ... it's a type of cross hatch pattern that is way better than the glossy smooth lids of the usual crowd. You won't be troubled with finger prints on the lid, and you won't have issues with the machine slipping out of your sweaty grip. I actually prefer this texture to the less refined texture on the Toshiba NB305 netbook.

8) The optical drive can be a battery drain, but hey ... its there if you need it. You no longer need to buy and lug around an extra portable DVD drive.

9) The wireless card is an Intel 5100, and supports Wireless-N networking. So far, it has worked with excellent range.

10) It comes with Win 7 64 bit Home Premium, so you can use all that precious 4GB of RAM.

Cons:
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1) While the screen works well indoors, it isn't quite so readable outside, when the glossy screen acts as a mirror. While outdoors, I have to turn up the brightness to about 80% or so.

2) The placement of the FN key is where I expect to find the CONTROL key. Since I mostly use keyboard accelerators (e.g., Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V), I often hit the FN key instead, causing me a great deal of pain.

3) The hard drive spins at 5400 RPM which is a bit of a downer. Even worse, the hard drive cannot be replaced easily by the user. You can do it, but it requires some technical skills.

4) The underside gets a bit hot, enough to notice, but not enough to cause extended discomfort.

That's it!

If you are in the market for a CULV-based computer, you really should check out either the Thinkpad Edge or this Lenovo U450P. I'm extremely satisfied with mine and I can unreservedly recommend this product.

Happy Computing!
~Damodar

This is a great laptop. It is a true thin and light ultra-portable laptop (at less than 4.6 lbs). Unlike most 13 inch models, this 14 inch comes with the optical dvd drive built-in and still provides with 6 hrs of usable battery life. It has a very compact feel when carried due to the very narrow tapered front. Performance has been fine for most of the common tasks so far and just having the 4gb ddr3 memory helps quite a bit. Another interesting thing is that this laptop remains cool even after 6 hours of continuous usage. The bright LCD screen and colors are really good too.

Overall, definitely one of the best choices in thin and light ultra-portable laptops for people who need to have the dvd drives built-in.

I bought this from Frys Electronics a month ago and so far I am more than pleased with its performance and features. Imho for the money there is simply no better deal. Tried MSI but the soundcard was simply horrible! This laptop is speedy yet stays cool all the time, screen resolution is fine (not perfect though), battery lasts solid 4 hours. Surround sound is fantastic in the class. Also love the textured finish -- looks and feels great in your hands. Very thin form factor too due to tapered front. Another computer I was considering for the price was Dell Vostro v13 but Lenovo won due to more features. The only thing I don't like is the glossy frame around the screen; it gets scratched very easily just from the daily use. The comp would be perfect if the frame had a matte finish to match the case. Thanks Lenovo for a great product!

I am a Mac user and wanted to try a PC when window 7 launched. I searched and narrowed down to thin and long battery life 14" laptops, such as asus UL80vt-a1, acer timeline AS4810tz-4508, and this ideapad U450p. I had chance to look 15.4" bestbuy version of asus thin laptop. But hated the touchpad's one click bar, which was too tough to register. I didn't have a chance to try similar versions of acer or lenovo. Just based on the available pictures, I concluded that the acer looks too cheap. Therefore, I went with thinkpad reputation hoping I can avoid notorious lenovo customer service and ordered U450p thru Amazon. I really liked the case which definitely is a fingerprint proof material, and its texture and design. I didn't feel any flex by finger pressing on the palm rest board though the keyboard itself looks poorly arranged (might be just look). Even though I liked and admired Mac's individually enclosed keys, the poorly arranged (just look) keys in U450p were very smooth and pleased me quite a lot when I typed. Even I am not a touchpad user, U450p's touchpad and left and right click were amazingly easy to use. Its screen brightness was also superb and resolution was very crispy compared to my 13" macbook. I was very happy with my purchase. But one big problem came out. When I tried wireless internet connection at home, the connection killed all the other wireless and main wired connection completely. As soon as I put the U450p sleep, all the connection came back. I tried manual and self repair tools but with no success (tried restart too). The U450p is sitting in the box to return until anybody can give me an technical advice to solve the problem before 30 day grace period ends. I guess the integrated Wi-Fi is not installed properly or something else is installed instead. I am not a computer geek at all. I will really appreciate it if anybody can give me an easy explanation for this kind of problem, or this specific unit is destined to go back to factory. If this is the case, I may order the same unit directly from lenovo, which model # is 33892GU. The one I bought is 33892EU.
Do you know any other difference between these two models except graphic card? no bluetooth? I gave this computer 5 stars based on my 30 min experience without counting its reliability.

This is the worst laptop I have ever owned. Everything started out just fine. Great keyboard, beautiful screen. Three days after I purchased the laptop the hard drive began to make a terribly loud crunching noise. This was LOUD. Unfortunately I had a death in the family and did not use the laptop for about three weeks afterward. I resumed use- the laptop sits on my desk at home and decided to live with the hard drive noise. But then the screen began to get lines running vertically on the screen. Continued to get worse as the day went by and then the upper 1/4 of the LCD screen disappeared. Sent back to Lenovo- they said it was "accidental damage" and want me to pay $182 to get it fixed! I did not drop, damage it in anyway! The computer is a lemon. It was exactly three days after purchase that the hard drive began to make the noise, five weeks that the LCD screen went bye bye. I am very very unhappy with this computer and Lenovo (who still has it) and pursuing my credit card insurance to cover the repair. If they will not cover it, I will just forget it and and consider the $699 I paid for it a bad, bad loss. I will never ever ever buy a Lenovo again!

OK- 3 weeks later...I have a NEW Lenovo. My doing- I just gently but firmly fought with Lenovo. First day of use of my new replaced laptop. I LOVE it. But a word about their service! As stated above, after returning the lemon of a laptop, tech support called it "accidental damage" and wanted to charge me $182 for repair. They kept calling not even leaving a call back number. So I started at the bottom of the ladder again, and called tech support, explained the situation, when I got a "no", I asked to speak to a supervisor. On up the ladder. Til I finally found someone who listened to my story- and eventually replaced it! I received it today. It is quiet (so far) and working magnificently.

My eldest son is a VP at McAfee. He visited at Christmas and said that there was something very wrong with the hard drive
on my original laptop- and that I might eventually see things begin to fail. And he was right. When I threw that piece of info to the supervisor who actually replaced the laptop, it seemed to help my case.

I will edit this review if I have another problem with this replacement. But so far it's great and I must give Lenovo some credit. But it took a lot of time to get SOMEONE there to understand. I think if I had my son take care of this initially with tech support, I might not have had to work so hard to get it replaced. But I must give Lenovo credit so I am elevating my review to 3* and will be back and give it 5* if it continues to perform as nicely as it has today. :)

This is light and fast and does everything I need it to do. If there is one complaint, the battery doesn't last close to 6 hours. But I love everything else so much I still give it a 5 star rating.

Much like another reviewer, my daughter started having problems with the computer immediately. The hard drive made loud noises whenever she would access a program (executable file) - so loud, that people sitting near her would ask what was going on with her computer It would shut itself off. Freeze. You name it, it did it.

So we sent it in for repair. Followed all the directions, which told us NOT to send in the power adapter. After a week, she gets a phone message to send in the power adapter. Then another week goes by. She calls support, and basically is told its HER fault for not sending in the adapter and delaying the repair. And by the way, what was wrong with it anyway? (apparently they never read all the documentation you provide to them.)

Like the other reviewer, both she & I started at the bottom in tech support, and would have to ask to speak to supervisors when we would get nowhere with the staff from India; most usually, they couldn't understand English and we couldn't understand them. We would finally talk with so-called supervisors, and they would make promises they never kept. Such as: we will call you back at noon tomorrow with an update. Newsflash: it's been 8 months, and we're STILL waiting for that return phone call!

Eventually we got my brother, who works for IBM, to call support after Lenovo had her computer at the repair center for a month. Yes, IBM & Lenovo are no longer connected, but IBM employees still get an employee discount. Again, promises made to check on the status and call back in a hour. Still waiting for THAT return phone call.

After five weeks, they sent the computer back, having done nothing to it. Still has the same problems, but she had to live with it as she was in her final semester of college.

Maybe we just got a lemon, but customer service can overcome that problem - which does happen sometimes. In our case, we found that Lenovo's support is all off-shore; they did nothing when clearly she has a major issue, likely with her hard drive; and they kept her computer for over a month, using up her so-called warranty and leaving her at college without a computer. Although I had purchased two other computer previously from Lenovo - Never, never, never again!

I've had this laptop for about a month and I really like it. I would give it 4.5/5, but that rounds up on the integer scale. The speakers are great, nicer than average at least. The whole laptop's styling is well done, and the bezels are thin enough. I've never owned an ibm/lenovo before; the keyboard feels awesome and has some 'pop' to it I guess. Anyway I like it, the feel of the mousepad & metal buttons too. With the screen at full brightness I still get considerably over 4 hours battery life which is nice for a laptop this size... I thought I wanted a 13'' screen but this 14er is wonderful, a little reflective. It's definitely nice having such viewing space in a laptop of this size. Very quiet too. Its weight is on, if not over the line of what I would consider for a laptop to be labeled "ultraportable" yet still this is a light device (for what it offers). I haven't used the DVD burner yet or really tried any graphics-intensive gaming or rendering, but those experiences most likely lie along the average. I look forward to having this laptop for many years.