HotHardware taking a look at Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 Core i5-3317U model
The recent rise and fall of the netbook as a computer category made one thing clear: consumers are willing to sacrifice some screen size and power in the name of portability, but not as much as a netbook requires. On the other hand, many shoppers are willing to pay a premium for a thinner, lighter notebook, and that's where the ultrabook comes in.Lenovo IdeaPad U310: A More Affordable Ultrabook
As the Windows-based competitor to Apple's popular MacBook Air, the ultrabook category has been reasonably well-received. Intel created the term "ultrabook" last year and stirred up plenty of buzz about it at CES this January, promising systems that would be powerful (compared to netbooks) and svelte (compared to notebooks). You'll turn heads if you fire one up at your local coffee shop, and you won't need to quietly suffer through sluggish performance to look so good.
One area that has been a challenge for manufacturers is the ultrabook's price point. Intel's $1,000 goal (not to mention their recent Ivy Bridge ULT-based $799 target) has been hard to hit, given all the pricey tech that goes into making these slim systems sing. Most have come in at well over the $1K mark – until recently. That brings us to the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, which has a price tag that, depending on the configuration, slides the machine into mainstream notebook territory. Today, we're taking a look at the U310's Core i5-3317U model, which weighs in nicely at Intel's current even more aggressive utltrabook price target of $799.99.
