U160 Now Shipping

Lenovo Website


Core i5-520UM model starts at $1049, the Core i7-640UM model is $1149.

 

Holy crap. The pricing wholly defeats the purpose of this machine. A $1,050 i5 11.6" IdeaPad?

Last week you could get a Sony Vaio Z (13.3", i5, 128 GB SSD, Geforce GT330M, internal DVD-RW, all in 3 lb) for that much from the MS Store!

 

I put in an order for an i7, but my ship date slipped to 6/24 and I need it by 6/21, so I think I will have to cancel and get something that is available today.

 

I was expecting around $700 -$800 max. I wonder how much the AMD version is going to cost. The price will become lower when after a coupe of month after they ramp up production.

 

Also amazing no N wireless and giving you 32-bit for the i5 version.

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But also remember there will be Core i3, Pentium U5400 and Celeron U3400 versions for cheaper.

 

I really like the design of the new u160 but they still retain the design element of two color on the keyboard part on the inside. I really hope that it is all white. I might just wait and see if the AMD one are available in the United States.

 

The AMD-powered model (U165) is not coming to the U.S. But we're probably not missing much-- AMD's mobile offerings are light-years from being competitive with Core 2 CULV in performance, power consumption, and heat output, let alone i3/i5/i7.

It's beyond sad that my HP Envy 15 (with a full-blown quad-core i7 820QM and Radeon HD5830) gets similar battery life to a ThinkPad U100e (AMD Neo / Neo X2), both on 6-cell batteries.

 

The 165 should use the next-generation AMD processors that have been announced, but as far as I know are not shipping yet. They should at least be in Core2 CULV range, but probably not touch an i5 or better CULV. I had to give up on my U160 order based on shipping date slipping and got a dell 11z that I will probably replace with a u160/165 or Acer 1830t within 3 to 6 months. When the x100e is updated to next gen processors, I may go that way. If they put a display port or hdmi on it, that would have tipped me that direction already.

 

The 45nm chips should be better in terms of heat/power, but given AMD's poor mobile track record (for so many years), I'm not hopeful on that end.

Turion II Neo still has a TDP of 23W (vs. 25 for current chip). AMD's quoting a jump from 6 hours on the current chips to 8 hours of life on the 45nm chip using a 62 Whr battery, but I'm not sure where they're getting that number from, because real-world Neo/Neo X2 machines get less than half that time on a 6-cell (50-60 Whr) battery.

As for performance, AMD says the new core offers a 22% IPC improvement, but even so, at 1.3-1.5 GHz, it's going to be pretty miserable. I have a machine with a Turion 64 X2 TL-68 (2.4 GHz), and its performance is so horrible that I'd sometimes rather have an Atom. Even with a clean Win 7 install, both cores will sometimes be pegged at 100% just at the desktop or opening a Chrome browser window (making it less responsive and pushing fans to full blast). It's also an even more effective heater than an old laptop I had running on a 3.0 GHz Northwood P4 desktop CPU.

 

Definately something wrong with your TL-68. A couple of years ago, I had an HP with I think the TL-68 (it was a Turion X2 at around that speed) in it for a while when I was setting it up for my in-laws, and while it was a space heater, it was certainly not slow. Not Core2 T9700 fast, but not slow. It was even running Vista, so a lean XP and it would have been quick.

 

man... those DV series that had the Turion X2 processors were like a barbecue and industrial blower machine.....

 

It's an HP Touchsmart convertible tablet (TL-68 Gold Edition, Nvidia chipset/GPU, 4GB RAM, 7200rpm HDD), and all the HP forums were full of complaints about performance and heat. After 30-60 min on (just idle), it gets far too hot to touch, and part of the problem is that it starts throttling at that point (ironically not enough-- these machines routinely overheat and turn off). It originally had Vista, then I did a clean Win 7 install, which didn't do too much.

The issue is present even when the machine starts, and I've worked with several other HP laptops with similar T64 X2s, and many had similar problems. The CPU's not bad (at times it'll match a slower C2D), but it just gets bogged down by simple tasks so often that it kills usability. Then the insufficient cooling (which is more HP's fault) adds a final nail to the coffin.

 

OK,
The U160 wth the i7 is now shipping. After canceling my order a week ago, I just got notice that the canceled machine has been shipped to me. I would be happy except that I bought a dell Inspiron 11z this week and have already loaded it up. I previouly always had good experience with customer service when ordering Thinkpads, but let's see how they handle the return on this U160.

 

It's a shame they aren't releasing this locally in AU (Lenovo AU only offer the IdeaPad Y Series). How are Lenovo with international warranties? I wonder if I imported it if they would support it.

 

Has anyone found an ETA on the red, or black models? I called Lenovo US today and they had no idea.

 

that depends on whether the machine is supported under warranty in Australia.

Lenovo Ideapad Support & downloads - Warranty Status Lookup

 

Yeah, though since I'm yet to purchase it (or decide between this or a local M11x, I've been using the International Warranty Service document (which suggests I'm SOL).

If anyone is interested, the i7 model is on special for $1049USD right now (still only dark brown available).

 

I called Lenovo again this morning - they acknowledge that the U160 promotional material shows a red, and black model yet the only model available on their website is dark brown. They don't have any idea when the other models will be available though..



EDIT: Also if anyone can find reasonably good photos of the dark brown model I would appreciate it. I plan to skin the lid anyway - but the colour of the trim/underside is important to me.

 

I just ordered my black u160 i7 620um 4gb 500gb here in germany
made me lose much of my beloved money (to be exact 799 Euro)

ordered via express so if all goes well i can give you some first review information by sunday

 

Thank you! I've been waiting for the red/black for a while now, maybe the US won't be getting them?

 

the first german unboxing video of the dark version:
YouTube - Lenovo U160 Unboxing und Presentation

 

I gave in and ordered the Brown i5 model from Lenovo US for $899USD (before tax):

SYS.08945J CONFIGURED SYSTEM 899.00 1 899.00
Shipping & Handling: 0.00
Tax: 53.94
Total: 952.94

My estimated ship date is 30th July, via UPS ground, then my friends will send it to me in Australia. I should have it in about 3 weeks, and I'm going to throw a Momentus XT in it. Looking forward to it, hopefully I can find a nice skin for the lid..

EDIT: Has anyone opened theirs up yet? There are no high resolution photos of the under side of the laptop. I would hate to order a Momentus XT and find out it's very difficult to replace the HDD.

 

This thread is very quiet. Surely someone in here has had time to play..

Still waiting for mine to ship

 

I had the U150 before getting my T410. If I had known for sure about the U160 beforehand, I probably would have waited. I think it's the perfect sized ultraportable.
How did you get it for $899??? Even the CPP program has it for more than that.

 

Well, I've been keeping an eye on Logic Buy and they had a 15% off coupon for the i5 model. I ordered on the 19th, and since it was still pending this morning, I called up to make sure there were no issues (my PayPal transaction was still pending).

There was a problem - they ran out of stock! They offered me the i7 model at no extra cost with 2 day shipping to the US (so I paid $952.94USD with tax), for the i7 U160. Hopefully it ships soon, it's another 3-5 business days to Australia.

Also, for what it's worth - the sales rep I spoke to said they weren't just out of stock, that model is now discontinued. I believe they're clearing out the dark brown models and bringing in the red/black models finally. Hard to beat the price I paid though..

EDIT: Also, once you have a problem like this you can no longer use PayPal, they can't offer you a coupon for what you negotiate with them, they have to issue you a quote which you can pay over the phone/email/online. The problem is, if you're not in the US, they only accept AMEX for international customers. You can use a Visa/MC debit card (which generally have no billing address attached), or one of those pre-paid Visa/MC debit cards people use for travel (which also have no billing address attached). Hope that helps people.

Was the hard drive in your U150 easy to replace?

 

The hard drive is not particularly easy to replace, no. You have to take off the keyboard and several other things. I'm doing the same thing as you are, only I'm throwing in an Intel X25-M.

I ordered the i5 version for $899 too, but I didn't get a free upgrade. Drat.

 

Oh. Did you order from Lenovo US? My i7 order is still in process. When you get yours, would you mind taking a few photos as you replace the drive? The reason I ask is because I have no local support once I get it to Australia so I want to do a risk assessment before I buy a replacement drive .

 

Hrmm, it depends. I just checked my order status and my ESD has now changed from the 30th of July to the 8th of September. I need the computer by the end of August, so I may have to cancel the order as that's just way too long.

I will call them on Monday and see, and if I do end up getting it in some timely manner I will take some pictures of my disassembly.

 

Was in from Lenovo US? As per my previous post I followed up my i5 order and they informed me not only was it out of stock, it was discontinued. I hope the same thing doesn't happen with the i7 model. I believe they're finally bringing in the red/black models but who can say. I'll follow up my order on Monday US time

 

Engadget Review

 

That's a strange review. They didn't exactly explain the battery life test - it seems considerably low. Can anyone comment on their battery life experiences?

The heat is a bit of a worry but, it's an i7, to be expected I guess?

 

I've had mine for a week now. I've installed a Momentus XT, and done a clean install of Windows 7 (x64). The only issue I'm having, is with the card reader. If I install the drivers, and reboot; it works.

Once it suspends or goes to sleep, and resumes, it shows up as an unknown USB device.. anyone having the same issue?

For those who are still running the out of the box Windows build - can you display your driver information for the card reader?

Thanks

 

The U160 has been pulled from Lenovo's site, I wonder why.

 

The U160 is also completely unavailable from every source in the U.S. that I could find (not even on eBay?!).

The only models I could find were in Germany. Very strange.

Looks like I might need to move to the x201s for twice as much to get the ulv processor.

 

From Netbooknews.com:

It’s been almost a whole month since Lenovo pulled the IdeaPad U160 thin and light notebook off their product pages (you could not buy it). Stranger still is that there was no talk of this anywhere. I did not see anyone pick this news up, not a word on twitter or Lenovo’s own forums. The good news is that now the Lenovo IdeaPad U160 is back and a wee bit cheaper with the addition of an Intel Core i3 processor model priced at $949 – still nowhere near the initial announcement of $699 but any drop in price helps if you don’t mind a slower processor. The Core i7 model which was $1000+ has been removed and the Core i5 model remains.

Specs for the Core i5 and Core i3 model remain the same – 11.6″ 1366 x 768 display, integrated HD graphics, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB HDD, b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

 

This might be of interest.

 

That's very interesting. Glad to see it's back, albeit a little pricey.

 

Hey guys,

can anyone provide some information regarding battery life? The reviews from Engadget and Notebookcheck.com don't look too promising :/

I'm especiallay interested in the U160 with the Intel U5400 cpu. Do you think that battery life would be better with this processor vs the i5 520UM found in the reviews? I'm not quite sure as the TDP on both cpus is 18W

What came to my attention though, is that Lenovo seems to have messed up the Turbo Boost functionality on the 520UM version as mentioned here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-IdeaPad-U160-Subnotebook.34367.0.html

So can it be that the power saving functions may also have a malfunction coming with the improperly working Turbo Boost and the U5400 which doesn't offer Turbo Boost might perform better in the battery life department?

 

Did anyone actually send their U160 back for repair after the turbo boost resistor problem? I'll be back in the US for about 3.5 weeks in February and I was thinking of calling them up then to get it sorted. I am worried about time frames and whatnot though..