Lenovo U460 Review

I've been in the market for a laptop since my last laptop (Sony Vaio SR) died on me. I research different laptops for a while - what I wanted most importantly was a thin, light, stylish laptop that also had discrete graphics and decent battery life. I checked out the new laptops that have NVIDIA Optimus laptops, especially the Asus UL33jc and UL35 but in the end I went with the Lenovo U460 partly because I have played with ASUS laptops in the past and noticed horrible keyboard flex on them, and I had seen recent reviews commenting on the so-so build quality of the new models. I sort of took a gamble on the U460 because there were literally no reviews on it at the time that I ordered it, and only one review by the time I had received it. I still see that there isn't much talk about it on these forums or anywhere else on the internet. So lets get started. Here are the specs for my laptop:

Lenovo U460 Pictures
Lenovo U460 Unboxing Video

Lenovo Ideapad U460 - 087722U - Black
Processor: Intel Core i5-450M (2.40GHz 1066MHz 3MB)
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce 305M 512MB + Intel HD Graphics (switchable, but NOT optimus - I believe some news reports got this model confused with the y460, which does have optimus)
Memory - 4GB PC3-8500 1066Mhz
Screen - 14.0" Glossy 16:9 screen (1366x768)
Touchpad - Standard synaptics
Harddrive - 500gb 5400
Battery - 8cell Lithium-ion
Connectivity - Intel Wifilink 1000 (bgn), bluetooth, has space for a sim card under the battery
Ports - 4x USB (one is a usb/esata combo port), HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, SD multireader, headphone and mic jacks, power input, and kensington lock
Additional - Fingerprint reader, 1year accidental damage
Price Paid (includes 1year accidental damage and tax) - $961

Note: This laptop does NOT have an optical drive


Build quality: The first thing I noticed about the U460 is the overall build quality. While it isn't quite up to thinkpad build quality, its really pretty good for the price point. The cover of the laptop is very stylish - it is a black brushed metal with diamond designs on it that reflect the light at different angles. It picks up fingerprints, but only very slightly. The body of the laptop itself is quite sturdy. The top (around the keyboard) is made up of what seems to be brushed metal as well with a very thin line pattern that feels very nice to the touch. I have tried pressing down on the palmrest and don't feel any flex. The underside is the traditional black plastic covering that is also very sturdy and durable. The vents on the underside also contain a the unique maze-style pattern seen in some of the ideapad laptops. The screen is surrounded by the black plastic shiny bevel (not flush) It is prone to glare and fingerprints/dust), but is sturdily build and has only the slightest flex on it when pressed down hard. The cover of the laptop protects the screen very well. Unlike the thinkpads, though, if the cover is pressed down really hard, it results in some distortion of the screen. It should hold up very well in everyday use though. The screen hinge is sturdy, and holds the screen in place. It only extends the screen out about 140 degrees, which is again fine for everyday use. The screen has the right amount of tightness so you can open the lid up with just one hand, which is also convenient. The laptop itself is really thin and light - its height is approximately .9 inches, though it goes up to about 1.1 inches around the battery in the back. It weighs 4 lbs with the 8-cell battery attached.

Keyboard - The keyboard is a chicklet style that Lenovo is not known for. It is not the new redesigned keyboard featured in the thinkpad edge, but rather a more general chicklet style keyboard. The keys have a very slightly contoured surface and they are slightly curved at the bottom of each key. The keys aren't very hard to press but it seems like some of the keys are have very slightly more give and "click" than other keys, though in every day typing (such as this review) I really don't notice. It might bother some of the diehard thinkpad fans who expect a similar quality keyboard. There isn't really any keyboard flex. The backspace button is a little smaller than I would have liked, and as a result I end up pressing the home key (delete, home, end, pgup, pgdn all have dedicated keys on the far right of the keyboard going in a vertical line). I will say that typing (for me) is comfortable for long stretches at a time, and since first getting the laptop, I have gotten used to the quirks of the keyboard.

Touchpad - The touchpad has a slightly rough surface - there seems to be microdots on the surface, (it isn't the same as the rough surface seen in some thinkpad models - those are a lot rougher) which took some getting used to since I was used to a smooth surface on my old sony. After using my laptop for a week, however, I have to say that I like it. There is a flush dedicated vertical scrollbar area on the righthandside, but no horizontal scroll. The touchpad itself is nicely sized - nowhere near as big as on a macbook pro, but definately comfortable enough for everyday use. There are two touchpad buttons at the bottom of the keyboard. Unlike my sony and other laptop models, which have click buttons, the U460 buttons are more "squishy". They have more travel and a softer endpoint. I actually found this to be much more comfortable than the hard-click buttons on my sony. One gripe I had about the touchpad/keyboard was that the buttons are recessed so that they are at the same level as the touchpad, and the top edge of the buttons are very close to the bottom edge of the touchpad. As a result, since I am used to keeping a finger on the left button while using the touchpad, I sometimes accidentally touch the bottom of the touchpad and it throws off the tracking of the mouse. I have learned to keep my finger lower down on the button, but some people may not like this.

Screen - the screen is the typical 720p resolution widescreen glossy screens found on most new laptops these days. I don't think screens have ever been Lenovo's strong point, and this is unfortunately not an exception. When viewing the screen from head on it looks great. I am not an expert on screens so I couldn't tell you about contrast/colors, but it looks vibrant and there aren't any dead pixels. When you move out of the sweet spot, however, you notice that the vertical viewing angles are very narrow. The colors become washed out pretty fast if not viewing head-on. The horizontal angles are pretty good, however. The screen itself is very glossy - more so than my Vaio SR. It is annoying when I have light to my back, and even more so since the bevel around the screen reflects light as well.

Performance - While I don't have specific benchmarks up yet (give me recommendations on which ones I should do), I will say that I can run starcraft II very well on low/medium settings at the max resolution when I use the discrete graphics. I only ever switch on the discrete graphics when I play games or watch HD movies, because the Intel HD integrated graphics are more than enough for everything else. HD youtube works fine with it, though it starts to suffer when watching movie length HD videos on my harddrive. When I turn on the discrete graphics, all those stutters and problems go away. I will say that the laptop probably can't handle games much more intensive than starcraft II, so no playing crysis unfortunately. The laptop is very capable of handling multitasking and productivity tasks, though.

Battery life - I generally keep the laptop on "balanced" power and integrated graphics. This gives me about 4-4.5 hours of battery life with the integrated graphis doing such things as web-surfing, Microsoft Word, and some youtube. I also leave bluetooth on, which I'll get to later. I can't say anything about battery life using the dedicated battery yet since I've only used it while plugged in so far.

Webcam - Webcam is the typical underperforming webcam seen in most laptops. Its 1.3MP, but suffers probably from small sensor size, and so it is not the best quality. It works fine in daylight, but suffers in lowlight conditions. I have not used it extensively yet. The lenovo webcam software is pretty standard for webcams - the usual photo/video modes and funny/useless additional features such as putting bubbles on the screen while using the webcam, etc.

Software Features - The laptop features a bunch of lenovo bloatware (or useful software, for some people). It has an active protection system program to protect the harddrive from falls (I'm not sure if this is specifically software, or if it is also integrated with some sort of hardware. Either way, I haven't dropped my laptop, so I don't know how well this works). It also has Lenovo Readycomm, which is meant to optimize the wireless connection. I have a Linksys N router which the laptop kept disconnecting from. When I removed Readycomm, it worked perfectly. Go figure. It comes with Upek fingerprint software, which for some reason is only trial software and is pretty limited (I don't know why lenovo did this - my Vaio SR also had a fingerprint reader which used Upek software, and it was a full version). Lenovo has its own energy management system that controls the ambient light sensor built into the computer. The software is superflous given that most of its functions are already built into the Windows 7 power management system. It also controls the ambient light sensor, which is pretty terrible - It doesn't sense the surroundings very well and keeps overriding light changes I made. I turned this option off and eventually just uninstalled the whole power management program. Lenovo uses a hidden partition so that it can restore the computer if there are problems with it. There is a recessed button on the laptop that you can press to activate it. The laptop also comes with Lenovo Onekey recovery which I assume is a password management system, though I uninstalled it.

Additional -

-One of the few big gripes I have with this laptop is that it is a victim of CPU whine. There is slight high-pitched whine when the computer is idle, which I have found mostly goes away when I have my bluetooth left on. I plan on eventually getting the motherboard replaced as part of my accidental damage warranty.

-On another note, the speakers are located under the laptop on the front lip. The premise of this is for the sound to bounce back up off whatever surface you use the laptop on. In practice, it works fairly well on a solid surface like a table, but less so when using it in your lap. The speakers themselves have a Dolby badge, but are the typical tiny-sounding speakers found in this sort of laptop. Nothing too impressive, but fine for portable use. Hook them up to real speakers or headphones if you need loud sound.

-The fan tends the blow hard when using the discrete graphics. Its low setting predominates when using intel graphics, and is much more quiet. The heat put out by the laptop goes in the same way: moreso with discrete graphics, and quite cool using intel graphics. I'm on intel graphics right now and the palmrests are barely warm.

-There is a silver strip (looks like material is plastic to me) above the keyboard that has three small flush touch-sensitive buttons for muting the speakers, cycling the power settings (requires lenovo energy management program to work), and switching between discrete and integrated graphics. They work as expected.

-I connected the laptop to my 1080p tv via HDMI and it worked without a hitch.


Conclusion: The Lenovo U460 is a great laptop for someone who wants one that is light, portable, stylish and comfortable to use. It goes well for those who also want to be productive with things such as using Office, watching movies (with headphones/speakers), or even some light gaming. Whats more, its really quite stylish. While it doesn't quite have the absolute clean lines of something like a macbook, it doesn't try to pretend to be one either (ahem, envy) and exudes its own subtle style with its brushed metal cover and black/silver color scheme. You won't be able to do heavy gaming (try the y460 - it has a better graphics card, and nvidia optimus tech), and the screen probably isn't good enough for those interested in serious graphics design, but otherwise, having a discrete gpu makes it a very versatile machine.


Note: I just ordered a Crucial CT128M225 128GB SSD drive for this computer. I will post benchmarks soon for the standard harddrive, and when the SSD comes, I'll show the new benchmarks

 

Hey, thanks for the review.

I've been scoping out the Lenovo laptops for a while now but haven't quite been able to pull the trigger.

So haw satisfied are you with this model so far? Would you recommend the U460?

 

Sounds like a nice machine, congrats. Thanks for taking the time to do the review.

 

I wonder how hot it will get when it is doing something CPU intensive. Can you check the temperature after you finish running through a couple benchmarks.

 

Excellent review. Thanks. Gives me pause to consider it for my partner, who is still fooling around trying to make her mind up about what she wants. My response? Pick anything as long as it is a ThinkPad (except for the high-end ones of course!). Though not a ThinkPad, maybe this will fit her bill. The "thin and light" is probably going to be her key considerations all other things remaining constant.

Only issues that I can see: (1) the "whine" and (2) heat (could you post some info about that if possible? Thanks.)

Cheers!

 

Interesting, I can only find these sold with the i3-330u (new ultra low voltage), though I'd really prefer an i5. Then again, I am in Canada.

 

The culv one are U460s, check on Lenovo main site for the normal voltage version. All other retail store in United States also only has the culv one.

 

Here are some attachment pictures of benchmarks for my u460. I don't know how much it'll help. As far as temperature goes, I don't have an accurate way of measuring it aside from the CPU temp, which hit a high of 60 degrees Celsius. Subjectively - When in my lap and on integrated graphics the laptop stays really cool. It is slightly warm when the computer is active, but thats it. The palmrests are warm only due to my hands being there all the time. When I switch to discrete graphics and start playing a game, it gets significantly hotter. While it is still comfortable to hold in your lap, it gets hot enough for you to notice the heat. The fan is located on the left side of the laptop, and so the heat put out from it also heats up your leg. The fan is noticibly louder when discrete graphics are on - it seems as if the minimum fan speed increases when discrete is on - because it speeds up almost immediately after I turn it on.

With regards to the benchmarks, the windows one is with discrete graphics. I plan to drop an ssd card into the laptop today, so whenever I do that, I'll post a second HDtune benchmark

 

Also - yes I do recommend this laptop, but only for people who aren't trying to game and don't need a dvd drive for everyday use. I love its portability and it has much more power then other ulv laptops, esp with discrete graphics turned on.

As far as the cpu whine issue goes - I called lenovo and got a on-site repair order started. Hopefully they will be contacting me sometime this week to set up the time when they can come and fix my laptop. They plan on replacing the motherboard and cpu fan. I would def. recommend the extended warranties from lenovo because they offer at-home service for any problem except for lcd replacement.

 

thankyou for the review, very interesting read.

 

Just a point of clarification: the Y460 uses ATI graphics cards, which are not Optimus-based either

 

Thanks for clarifying AlbuquerqueFX ... I was mistaken.

Here is a harddrive benchmark with my new ssd..it makes everything load and run soo fast! My win7 bootup time is about 15 seconds now.

I also attached the new windows experience index benchmark. The previous one is listed in my last post. I was expecting the big jump in my harddrive data transfer score, but I think its really interesting that my graphics and gaming graphics scores both bumped up a bit as well. Sweeet!

 

Hi, may I know if the U460 can be booted from a USB Optical drive or does it have to be a eSATA optical drive? Also, has anybody booted off an external HDD?

 

Cwtien,

in order to do a clean install of windows 7 on the U460, I booted from an external optical drive - there were no problems, you just have to change the boot order in the bios to boot from usb first. You shouldn't have any problems booting from a usb flash drive or an external harddrive connected via usb. As far as eSATA is concerned, I really don't know if it would boot from that since I don't have anything that connects via eSATA, but my hunch would be yes, since it comes with sata drivers preinstalled? Don't take my word for the esata part though.

 

I shall try that!!! Woot! I have an external HDD that is the perfect candidate to test this out.

I was worried I had no recourse to recover if my internal HDD died.

 

Thanks for the review!

Does anyone out there have the U460s? I'm wondering how much the battery improves with the ULV processor and how it's window's experience index is changed.

 

After living with this laptop for awhile do you have any further thoughts? I was able to order this laptop for $749 for the i5 and nvidia graphics and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Has the battery life been what you expected? Any issues with the left offset of the touchpad? Is it worth the money? Any features you would have like to see?

Thanks

 

I just ordered it as well, same deal. I've been researching for weeks, looking for a lightweight 14" or smaller laptop with core i5 and NVIDIA graphics. I also wanted an eSata interface, which eliminated most everything I liked (e.g. Acer 4820tg, Gateway id49, Asus U30Jc, etc.). I'm not a gamer, I just wanted an NVIDIA card that supports CUDA for video encoding, so the U460 looks great (I do with it had a little bit better video card, but oh well). I hope it works out, since info about this laptop is so hard to come by!

 

I feel like I have been researching for months! When I saw this deal I felt it was to good to pass up. I was waiting for the asus u35 or u33 but it seems like Asus is never going to release those. From what I have read the Nvidia 305m in the u460 is equivalent to the ION2 which is basically the 9400 which was in the last version in the Macbook Pro. All in all seems like a nice machine I just wish it would get here. I got a shipping confirmation on 9/2 but my order status sends me to UPS with a tracking number they can't find in their database. I really hate UPS and Lenovo is not much help either.

 

Now that you have probably received your IdeaPad, what do you think? How is the build quality? What about the display? How long does the battery life with the Core i5 and Geforce 305M?

 

Anybody any idea when this laptop will be avaliable in the UK? Or any shops which currently sell it here.

 

I have recieved it and have been getting used to it for the last week or so. I hope to write a full review this week but here are a quick take aways:

1. Battery life is good (not great) I am routinely getting about 5 hours using integrated graphics with wifi and moderate to heavy web browsing at 30-40% brightness.
2. It does NOT have Optimus as stated already. A little disappointing cause you have to restart apps if you want to use dedicated graphics but this has not caused to much issue with me so far.
3. I like the keyboard. I have noticed some keys feel a little different then the rest but its almost unnoticeable if you type at a reasonably fast pace.
4. For some reason I can not get the Wifi to connect automatically to my router even though the option is set to do so.
5. Most of the Lenovo software is crap and should be deleted.
6. The horizontal viewing angle is really pretty good. You loose some brightness but it remains very viewable. The vertical viewing angle is really crap but I find that less of an issue.
7. I like the touchpad and buttons. They have a nice feel and response to them
8. I believe using the HDMI out automatically invokes the Nvidia graphics so beware if your not plugged in as your battery will drain much quicker.
9. The core i5 really seems responsive. I haven't transcoded any movies yet but I hope to put some estimates in my review

Let me know if you have any other questions and Ill be glad to answer them.

 

Is anyone else having trackpad problems? Mine is sometimes completely unresponsive for several seconds. Then it will wake up and work fine. It usually seems to happen when I first use it after a few minutes of not touching it. I've disabled all the features (pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scrolling, etc.) except for the right-side scrolling.

 

has anyone been able to play batman arkham asylum or a similar graphically intense game? If so, with what results?

 

How are the speakers? I'm thinking about getting one but wanted to know how the speakers are from underneath

 

I've had mine for a few weeks now. My impression? Small, lightweight, and seemingly fragile. I see about 4-5 hrs or so battery life with office use, streaming radio etc.. The keys on the keyboard feel kind of cheap to me because they click a lot. I can't really say much on the oem software version of this laptop because as soon as I recieved mine, I swapped in a intel x-25m 80gb ssd that I had "ganked" from my desktop. I had a usb thumb drive ready to install a fresh copy of windows 7 once the drive was in the u460. The installation of the ssd was straight forward. I did have trouble getting the correct drivers for the laptop though. I ended up using the drivers that had gotten backed up from the original hdd through a whs pc, using an external case. This laptop stays relatively cool for me and is quiet. Under normal use it could seem silent. During gaming it get's a little warm and the fans hum softly. Fast boot up times with the ssd, I think I clocked it at around 35 seconds for a restart. Performance is more than adequate for office use, and the switchable option for a dedicated gpu with it's own memory definately helps in gaming performance. Virtually instantaneous response is pure awesome ness. The speakers are laptop speakers and perform fine for how they should. The display is sharp, and can get bright if so desired, although viewing angle is hindered. The fingerprint sensor works, and is convenient, but isn't perfect. Bluetooth is great. Trackpad is fine, although I normally use a mouse. This laptop has exceeded my expectations and would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a laptop computer that excels in portability and performance. ~i5.305m version.

 

How sturdy does this laptop feel? Does everything feel solid (no easy flex, loose parts, flimsy, etc)?

Also, how hard was it to replace the hdd with a sdd?

 

It is quite sturdy, there isn't any palmrest flex and very little keyboard flex. The screen bends after a good amount of pressing on the back but should be good for everyday use. Overall I think the build quality is higher than similarly priced laptops from asus/acer/hp, but less so than a thinkpad. Its fine for daily use as long as you aren't abusing it. I do wish that the screen had a magnetic enclosure or latch to lock it closed, because when closed there is a little give before there is any resistance to opening.

As far as replacing withssd, its really simple -- just drop it in and you are good to go. I used an external dvd drive to load up a windows 7, and I used the drivers found on the original harddrive (separate partition i believe -- I put these on a flash drive) to load everything.

 

Can anyone point me to a guide of how to do a clean windows 7 installation on the lenovo u460?
or can anyone be kind enough to tell me how to do it step wise?

I have a copy of windows 7 ultimate and i wanna put it on the u460 before i start using it.
I hate bloatwares and stuff that usually comes with the laptop.

any help is appreciated.

 

weighs 4.29lbs. far less portable than set out to be

 

Performance: Is there much benefit to upgrading the RAM from 4GB to 8GB? Looks like a couple of 4GB modules are $130 from Critical.

 

What type of applications do you use or are looking to use?

 

Here is my windows experience index for my u460:



Specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5 M460 @ 2.53Mhz
Ram: 4.00 GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 305M
Storage: OCZ Vertex 2 SSD

Its a great laptop with good battery life, thin form factor and a great price to boot - and equivalently optioned out Macbook pro 15" will set you back $2200, whereas I paid only $650 for this Lenovo (got a thanksgiving special otherwise it would have been $950).

 

After reading this review, I decided to buy it because it has $200 off $899 i5 core. Waiting for it to ship (their shipment is slow =[ )

I want to know more about the webcam. I webcam with my family in other country a lot. So if it wasn't that clearly or lagging , I might consider buying a logitech webcam that is on sale on amazon for few days right now.

So what do u guys think of the webcam?

 

Hi, first time poster here. I used this site and this review in particular to make my recent laptop purchase decision to buy the u460. The OP hits on many major points, but now that I've had the opportunity to use the laptop for a few days now I'd like to add a few things.

First the pros, as mentioned before, the laptop is snappy, runs cool overall, looks really sleek/modern, and has overall good build quality that you would expect from Lenovo. It fits all the things I was looking for; lightweight, good battery life, having good manufacturer support. Overall I am please with it.

Now the cons, I absolutely disagree with the keyboard design decisions they've made. More specifically, the U460 has undersized the tab key, backspace key, enter key, right shift key and forward slash key. You might not think this is a big deal, and I didn't even notice it right away, but as I have been typing on it for the past week, I just can't get the hang of it. I keep hitting the home key and up arrow keys by mistake, as they are next to the small backspace and right shift keys, which are used A LOT in everyday typing. Not to mention each key has a slight bottom edge curve, forcing the spaces between the keys larger than necessary and as a result the keys smaller than they could've been. Also the keypad is placed more toward the middle of the body, allowing less space for your palms and touchpad. I have used chiclet keyboards before but I never experienced this level of discomfort. I know Macbooks popularized the chiclet style keys but looking at their design they seems much closer to the standard keyboard than the U460's.

Phew, now that my rant's finished, some other things worth noting are, the aluminum lid, although rugged looking, allows for more flex than I expected. it's actually the bottom of the laptop, made of plastic, that feels much more rigid. Also I tried running Starcraft on Medium setting, and although I can get about 20-30 fps, there's significant lag from your gamplay input to make it essentially unplayable. The game runs very smoothly on low setting however, and the GPU goes up to as high as 65C, so I'd suggest using a fan while you are gaming.

Alright, I hope my first post didnt' come across as too complain-y, and that it would be helpful so some who are trying to make the same decision I did. Knowing everything I know now, I'd probably go for the Y460 instead.

 

Can anyone comment on the screen-door effect on U460 screen? 80% of the sub$1000 laptops out there today have very scrappy screen. You see verticle marks between every column of pixels. Even Sony EB series has crappy screens. But Sony also have other models with amazing screens. If you know what I am talking about and if you have seen the U460 screen, can you kindly comment on that? I don't care about the auto-dim annoyance. That coud be set differently. But crappy screen will stay crappy forever

 

If the screen is anything like my y460, it will be pretty decent. Viewing angles are awful however. Maybe 10 to 15 degrees is all you get.(Vertical) Horizontal fairs much better. Other than that, with a few setting changes it isn't all that bad. It ain't no Sony Z though.

 

Is it possible to set in the BIOS which graphic card to use as opposed to switch it using software?
Can anybody post a picture of all possible graphic options in the BIOS?
I'm want to be able to change it in the BIOS since Linux still doesn't support switchable graphics.
Thanks

 

Battery life how much longer?

 

Hi,

I'm not sure if i posted on the right section/thread.

I just need help installing the NVIDIA driver back to my ideapad u460 since i'm getting an error whenver i try to install it(see attach screenshot).

My Ideapad u460 had windows 7 home premium 64 bit when i bought it together with the GUI for the NVIDIA driver and after a few months, i reformatted it and upgraded the OS to windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. All the drivers for it were successfully installed besides the NVIDIA driver. Now i'm stuck with the onboard graphics card..i'm not sure what i'm doing wrong or what to do next.

Thank you in advance.