When you're looking for a decent laptop then Lenovo is one of the brands to consider. The Chinese company that once took over IBM's Thinkpad product line is trying to get a foothold in the Lenovo IdeaPad Y430g battery European market. They are bringing relatively big guns to accomplish this, such as this Lenovo Ideapad U410 Ultrabook that's available for £799.

The IdeaPad is still pretty thin, measuring just 21mm at its widest point, but it’s also heavier than many ultrabooks, at 1.85kg, which does stretch the classification slightly. Its build feels solid, albeit not as solid as the unibody MacBooks it emulates. Where the Apple notebooks use a single piece of metal for the entire palm rest and keyboard surround, the U410 uses multiple elements, which makes it appear a little less refined. The lid and base of our sample were blue, but there are red and sober Lenovo IdeaPad V450 AC adapter graphite grey options if your tastes differ.

The $759 base model has a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i3-3217U processor, 6GB of RAM, and a 500GB 5,400-rpm hard drive with a 32GB SSD cache. The top-end model, which costs $899 after an eCoupon, comes with a 1.9-GHz Intel Core i7-3517U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB 5,400-rpm hard drive with a 32GB SSD cache.

One of the advantages of having a Lenovo is that the firm doesn't mess about when it comes to the important parts of building a laptop. The keyboard here is quite excellent, which is something that isn't as common as we would like on laptops. The keystroke is noticeably better than on most other laptops. The touchpad works well also. It's large, has multi-touch and no physical buttons. The IdeaPad has one Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 battery special button on the left side next to the on/off switch. When you are experiencing difficulties with the computer, you press that button and it will take you to a special recovery mode.

The IdeaPad U410 comes with a trial version of Absolute Data Protect, the standard McAfee security center (in this case we’re working with McAfee Emerald 11.0), Adobe Reader X, and OneKey Recovery, which will help you backup your data and restore the system if anything ever goes awry. The fact that the IdeaPad U410 doesn’t come bogged down with a lot of pre-installed software is a big plus, and Lenovo earns extra points for including some programs that are actually worthwhile.

Using Lenovo VeriFace 4.0 face recognition software, you can also log into the U410 with just your mug. After creating a Windows password, we were instructed to look at the webcam. Lenovo IdeaPad U410 WebcamClick to EnlargeFrom there, a funky Lenovo IdeaPad V450 battery blue circular icon spun around our right eye in the VeriFace screen as the camera scanned our face. The software was a bit exacting, forcing us to find just the right lighting and angle for the webcam to scan our face. We prefer Toshiba's more intuitive Face Recognition software.

The U410 provides just enough ports minimize complaints. It has two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI-out, an ethernet port, and a multicard reader (SSD/MMC). Something you won’t find, but may not miss, is an optical drive. (With everything going digital, optical drives tend just to get in the way and add weight.)

Lenovo packages the IdeaPad U410 with a useful set of apps and utilities. Lenovo One Key Recovery is a quick, relatively painless way to back up and recover system files. The Power Management utility, reminiscent of a car's odometer, is fun to look at, but, more important, easy to use as we switched Lenovo IdeaPad Y430 adapter power profiles. Third-party software includes Adobe Reader X, Google Chrome, Oovoo, Microsoft Office Starter and Windows Live. There's also a 60-day free trial of McAfee AntiVirus Plus software and a 90-day free trial of Absolute Data Protect.

Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is a great notebook that comes in at a nice price. And it is very similar to the U310, if you want better graphics than you go for the U410. You are running Windows 7, and the U410 can run Windows 8. It is always important to know that you can get the next operating system. In terms of preloaded applications you get Windows Live Essentials 2011, Veriface 4.0, YouCam 3.0, Microsoft Office 2012, Adobe Reader, and more!

We like the U410 a lot. It's well-designed, sturdy and has plenty of power. We have some slight concerns about the battery, and you certainly won't see Lenovo's quoted maximum of nine hours, not unless you cast some sort of power saving spell over it anyway. It's also one of the best-connected machines Lenovo IdeaPad V430A adapter we've used of late, with bundles of USB sockets, and the old favourite - Ethernet - to keep our broadband speeds up to their maximums. All in all, we like this machine a lot. But do yourself a favour, get it in red, because it's fabulous!

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