These days, it’s easy to find a serviceable mainstream notebook for less than $650. But in this price range, you often have to settle for a bulky, cheap-looking machine, with a short battery life. Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y450 is a welcome exception, offering a strong combination of design, portability, and features at a price ($619) typically reserved for bargain-basement systems.
Design
The IdeaPad Y450’s design is similar to that of its larger siblings, the Y550 and Y650. Outside, the chassis is fashioned from smooth, matte black plastic, with a slim ring of copper-colored trim. On its lid, the elegant imprint with an interlocking 3D hexagonal pattern reminds us of the game Q*bert. The keyboard, wrist rest, and touchpad are all glossy white, while a tasteful set of white indicator lights and volume buttons, and four touch controls (for Lenovo utilities) line a glossy media bar that houses the speakers.
The 4.6-pound, 1.4-inch–thick body could never be confused with that of a MacBook Air, but it is much thinner and lighter than other notebooks in its price range. For example, the $499 15.6-inch Gateway MD2601u, which we gave an Editors' Choice for its strong performance and low price, weighs a heavy 6.6 pounds and hardly fit on our lap. Similarly, the 14-inch Gateway TC7804u has a larger footprint at a tad heavier at 5.4 pounds
The Y450’s recessed hinge gives the system a conveniently low profile. With the lid at a full 90 degrees, the top of the screen is just 9 inches high. Students participating in class discussions will appreciate the ability to work on these computers without having them obstruct their view of the teacher.
Plenty of Ports
With a generous array of ports, Lenovo has left no consumer need unfilled on the Y450. In addition to such industry standards as three USB ports, audio jacks, VGA, Ethernet, and a 6-in-one memory card reader, this notebook also has an HDMI port for outputting video to large-screen TVs, an eSATA port for connecting to high-speed backup drives, a FireWire 400 port for attaching video cameras, and an ExpressCard/34 slot for installing expansion devices such as mobile broadband modems.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The IdeaPad Y450’s keyboard provides strong feedback without any noticeable flex. Using the Ten Thumbs online typing test, we comfortably zoomed through Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy with a minimal one-percent error rate. The touchpad, unfortunately, is not as accurate. We liked the traction offered by the pad’s coarse surface, but found it difficult to navigate around the desktop as quickly or accurately as we would have liked, even with the pointer speed set at maximum.
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