Lenovo IdeaPad U-550, the best option for thin and light

By Lardboy

This review is for: Lenovo IdeaPad U-550 Black Laptop

Here is the summary of my experience with the Lenovo U-550

Pros

• Combination of 15.6-inch screen and light weight
• Relatively long battery life
• Relatively solid construction
• More than enough for moderate use MS Office and use heavy internet entertainment

Cons

• Lenovo Customer Support is a bureaucratic nightmare
• Numeric keypad takes the rightmost part of the keyboard by the rest of the keyboard on the left side
• Glossy-screen and the body is reflected in a dirty appearance by fingerprints
• Screen Keyboard will strike against when it slowly, as it includes

My previous Dell laptop - Inspiron E1505 laptop was close to death, it was time to replace them after ~ 4 years of intensive use. I was happy with the Dell, but it was a heavy animal, which plowed through battery power. In the search for the replacement, I wanted an impossible combination of desktop replacement such as the E1505, but minus the weight, bulk-limited, and battery power of the E1505. When shopping, I was unimpressed with the MacBook Pro listed price. Other Wintel thin and light machine seemed to be built cheap or low quality components limited screen size. The Lenovo IdeaPad U-550 was me as a higher quality build with a large screen. I knew that it came with a glossy screen, but I could not any other similar machine without this trouble. The numeric keypad on the right section of the keyboard placed displaces the other buttons on the left side, which seems unnecessary to me (like many of us really important information in a numeric keypad?).

All considered, I am satisfied with the purchased Lenovo laptop. The U-550 is easy to carry, is good for the intended purpose (ie moderate use MS Office, heavy use of Internet, movies, music) and has a reasonable battery life (~ 4 + hours under continuous use, with less Film DVD thrown in).

The big drawback is Lenovo customer service. I wanted to cover an additional battery for the U-550 really a 6 hour flight with moderate use with DVDs. The attempt, even this simple request through a Lenovo Customer Support was received housed a veritable nightmare. It took two days of transfer and frustration. Dell Support was much better (but I was not impressed with their thin and light PCs).