Purring well on light duty [New Straits Time (Malaysia)]

(New Straits Time (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Edwin Kee finds the IdeaPad S405 a stylish and versatile tool for road warriors THE Lenovo IdeaPad S405 suits those who want something that has far more punch than an entry-level notebook. Yes Sir, it straddles the ultraportable notebook category without breaking the bank.

DESIGN For starters, the IdeaPad S405 is 21.9mm thin, which is acceptable, although it nearly doubles the thickness of higher end Ultrabooks such as the Samsung Series 7 and 9, as well as Asus Zenbook series. On the outside, the IdeaPad S405 seems to sport fairly practical lines and ought to find a place in just about any backpack or notebook bag. It tips the scales at 1.8kg, which is still below the 2kg mark that bulkier notebooks come in. The metallic finish on the IdeaPad S405 adds a dash of class, where you can choose from crimson red, silver grey and cotton-candy pink.

Don't bother looking for an "Intel Inside" sticker here, as there will be none considering that the IdeaPad S405 comes with an AMD A- series processor, which is accompanied by a Radeon HD chip, for its graphics processing needs. Thanks to the inclusion of AMD's Fusion Technology, you will not find the IdeaPad S405 burning up your thighs too soon after using it for a while, since heat distribution is made a whole lot more manageable as both the central processor and graphics processor have been moulded together onto a single chip.

I like the way the touchpad works, it registered all of my touches effortlessly and it is large enough to be used comfortably. Still, those who cannot function without a mouse may want to disable the touchpad, but folk who have gotten used to the touchpad will find themselves adapting to the IdeaPad S405 in a jiffy.

CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS The notebook keeps up with the times with a single USB 3.0 port for speedy data transfers when you hook up an external flash drive or hard disk to it, as you may want to plug in your other non-data intensive peripherals such as a mouse and portable scanner into either one of the two USB 2.0 ports.

Depending on your budget, you can select from either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive and if budget permits, there is a SSD-endowed variant that delivers speedier boot up, faster loading as well as responsiveness.

MULTIMEDIA The IdeaPad S405 features an HDMI port, which allows you to hook it up to a big screen TV and watch your Full HD videos in the comfort of living room. And when you are travelling, there is the 14- inch HD widescreen display to keep you company. It is highly recommended to get a pair of decent headphones to listen to what the IdeaPad S405 is able to pump out. A pair of stereo speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio v2 certification will not cost much if you are huge on sound quality.

PROS AND CONS Affordably priced, adequate for simple games, a quiet and decent audio, does not heat up easily, good battery life.

The build quality of the notebook however is questionable especially at the base as the material used for the chassis is easily scratched. The VGA port is also missing and the touchpad is at times problematic.

CONCLUSION All in all, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 is an ideal notebook for those looking for a balance between price and performance. It will not be able to handle all of the latest games for sure, but it does not shun away from hard work when called upon. Just don't tax it with heavy duty stuff and the IdeaPad S405 will purr along nicely.

Verdict: 3.5/5 (c) 2013 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

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