Lenovo IdeaPad U300s now Available for Online Order

The Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 1080 model is the latest ultrabook to become available, it competes with the likes of the Toshiba Portege Z835, Acer Aspire S3, Asus ZenBook and of course Apple’s MacBook Air.  The specification on the IdeaPad U300s are as follows:

Screen: 13.3” HD glossy display, 1366 x 768 resolution, 200 nits brightnessProcessor: Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60GH or Intel Core i7-2677M 1.80GHzGraphics: Intel HD3000OS: Windows 7 Home PremiumGraphics: Intel HD3000Memory: 4GB RAMStorage: 256GB SSDCamera: Integrated 1.3MP web cameraBattery: 4-cell Li-Ion, up to 8 hourPorts: HDMI, 1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0Wireless: Intel 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0Weight: 2.9lbsDimensions: 12.8” x 8.5” x 0.59” (width x depth thickness)Detailed specification: Lenovo U300s specification

The pricing starts at right now on Lenovo.com at a rather steep $1,499.   That’s certainly rich relative to the $699 you can get the Toshiba Portege Z835 at Best Buy this week.   Granted, the IdeaPad U300s does have higher end specification such as a faster Core i5 processor and larger 256GB SSD, but is it worth twice the cost?  Probably not.  The major shortcoming of the Lenovo U300s is that it does not have a backlit keyboard, meanwhile the Toshiba Z835 and MacBook Air do.  For a premium consumer notebook that stakes its claim on style, not having a backlit keyboard is almost unforgivable.  It’s like buying a Mercedes with manual locks, you just don’t expect to get “standard” features, you deserve all the bells and whistles paying this amount.  The U300s does at least offer a couple of different color options to add style.  You can choose either Clementine Orange or Graphite Grey, so either orange for those with a loud personality or grey for subtle style.

The competition among ultrabooks should heat up in 2012 and I’m guessing Lenovo will quickly figure out the U300s won’t sell at this $1,500 price so that will drop.  How can you make a case for spending twice as much on an ultrabook that’s only slightly better internally and has no backlit keyboard?  Also, Lenovo will also be releasing the ThinkPad X2 in 2012 on the business side so they’ll have some competition within their own ranks soon enough.  I predict sub $1,000 average pricing on ultrabooks at some point next year.

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