14 DAY TRIAL // We said countless times before that Intel’s UltraBook concept has many flaws, right alongside with the commendable features. Lenovo decided at this year’s IFA event in Berlin, Germany, to show Intel how it’s done.
One of the most annoying UltraBook “features” is the lack of an optical disc drive (ODD) unit.
As many users still have hundreds – if not thousands – of data CDs, music CDs, DVDs and miniDVDs, miniCDs and other such discs, we find it illogical for Intel to say that new UltraBooks should have no ODD.
Many say that optical discs are not in fashion anymore and downloadable media is popular these days, and if the user should want to have his own database, he should backup on external HDDs with USB interface.
Editor’s Note:
Are we supposed to throw away the hundreds, if not thousands, of CDs and DVDs we've bought or recorded during the past two decades?
How easy would it be to backup my 600 CDs and 1000 DVDs? Who would pay for such long amount of time?
Why exactly should I backup so much data on external HDDs when HDDs are so expensive right now because of the global duopoly between Western Digital and Seagate?
How safe is that data on some external HDDs that fail after less than 1000 hours of use? I had two 1TB HDDs and one 500GB HDD fail on me during the past two years.
I’ve just came back from a short trip with my friends and we have 16 GB worth of pictures, not even mentioning the films. Why can’t I have a DVD-Writer on my UltraBook?
Lenevo’s U510 solves this issue by bringing in a normal tray loading DVD-Writer unit that can also be swapped with an optional Blu-ray drive.
Even with this ODD on board, the U510 still fits in the 21-millimeter (0.83”) UltraBook specification and has a nice metallic finish with real metal.
The 15.6” screen features a modest 1366 by 768 pixel resolution, but we’re not going to chastise Lenovo on this one, as the price is very much to our liking.
It can handle up to 8 GB of RAM memory and comes with Nvidia’s GeForce 625M 1 GB inside.
The presence of Nvidia’s GPU puzzles us, as this chip has such a modest performance that we believe Intel’s own HD 4000 could do the same, if not better.
The storage configuration allows for an optional mSATA SSD that will help make the system snappier. On the connectivity side we have everything we usually need, along with a single USB 3.0 port.
We would have liked to see more USB 3.0 ports and no USB 2.0 connectors, but we won’t argue on this, as the slated price is just $679 (€540) and the availability is planned for this month.
An UltraBook is supposed to be thinner, not 9 millimeters thin, as that’s already a tablet PC. It’s supposed to be lighter, not 1 Kg light, as that’s already a tablet and it certainly should have an ODD, as that’s exactly what every productivity PC should have.
The Lenovo U510 fits in every Intel UltraBook specification while not being the “lightest” and “thinnest,” but it is well built and comes with everything the user, needs while not charging him “an arm and a leg” just because it’s “less than 2 Kilos.”
