At first glance, the IdeaPad Z360's design appears pretty low-end

Design

Measuring 12.9 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches and tipping the scales at a manageable 4.4 VGP-BPS13 pounds, the Z360 isn't the lightest laptop with a 13-inch screen, but it's fairly compact and slips into laptop bags easily.

At first glance, the IdeaPad Z360's design VGP-BPS13A/B appears pretty low-end. The laptop's chassis is molded from cheap-feeling black plastic with smoothly rounded edges. The lid flexes disconcertingly when pressed and its high-gloss surface picks up fingerprints easily. Covered with nine separate fan grilles and VGP-BPS13A/S split out into obvious upgrade compartments, the matte-black plastic undercarriage has much the same VGP-BPS9 budget feel.

Lenovo's IdeaPad Z360 provides nearly everything mobile users need in a compact package. VGP-BPS8 Weighing in at a fairly light 4.4 pounds, this 13.3-inch widescreen machine boasts a fantastically comfortable keyboard and touchpad, plus a VGP-BPS9A/B DVD burner (which is becoming a rarity). Still, the $749 IdeaPad Z360 does have a few weaknesses that may cause you to think twice before buying.

Lenovo supplies feather-touch buttons that put the Z360 in a number of modes--Autodetect, Movie, and Normal--depending VGP-BPS9/B on what type of computing you're doing. You can also toggle sound modes (on/off/mute) and Energy Management schemes VGP-BPS9/S here as well.

Heat

The IdeaPad Z360 stayed very cool VGP-BPS8A during our testing. After playing a Hulu video for 15 minutes at full-screen, the touchpad measured 88 degrees, the space between the G and H keys was 85, and the middle of the underside was just 90 degrees Fahrenheit. All are well below what we consider uncomfortable, VGP-BPS2 which is 95 degrees and higher.

Note: While our IdeaPad Z360 test unit came with a 2.27-GHz Intel Core i3-350M VGP-BPS2A processor, Lenovo offers it with a slightly faster 2.4-GHz i3-750 CPU for the same price.

The inside of the Z360 has a more premium VGP-BPS2B vibe, but it's still not great. The deck (though actually plastic) is clad in shiny metallic silver with plenty of curves, ridges, and softly edged indentations. A huge rolling speaker grate sits below the display and curls upward slightly. It's reminiscent of an art VGP-BPS2C deco radiator or a classic car grille, which you'll love or hate. Despite its faux-metallic construction, the Z360's silver deck doesn't feel that sturdy; it bends a bit VGP-BPS13A/Q when pressure is applied.

Keyboard and Touchpad

While the IdeaPad Z360's overall design may not be VGP-BPS13/B your cup of tea, we doubt many will take issue with its phenomenal keyboard. Featuring an island-style layout taken from Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge line, the keys are big and well-spaced, with a rough, non-slip surface. Even better, they are slightly concave VGP-BPS13B/B and make a pleasing clacking sound when tapped. All this makes typing on the Z360 a wonderful experience.

The Z360's stereo speakers pump out surprisingly good--but not very loud--audio. Located VGP-BPS13B/Q directly above the keyboard and equipped with Dolby sound technology, they provided a pleasingly open sound field and a little more bass than VGP-BPS13/Q your typical laptop.

Ports and Webcam

On the left side of the Z360 is Ethernet, VGA, one USB port, a USB/eSATA port, and a Kensington lock slot. Also on the left side VGP-BPS21A/B is an HDMI port for A/V output to HDTVs. On the right hand side are headphone and mic jacks, an additional USB port, and a tray-loading DVD VGP-BPS21/S burner. The front lip of the laptop features a 5-in-1 memory card reader and a physical switch to activate the system's VGP-BPS21 wireless radios.

The notebook's touchpad is pretty roomy (3.3 x 1.6 inches) and sports a finger-soothing textured surface. However, the pad's VGP-BPS21A mouse buttons, while discrete, are slightly mushy.

Display and Audio

The Z360's LED-backlit 13.3-inch widescreen display has a relatively standard 1366 x 768 VGP-BPS21B pixel resolution. Even so, the glossy screen did justice to our test materials. We observed pleasing contrast with deep blacks and good battery well-saturated colors in both DVD movies and Hulu videos. While two or three people could cluster around the notebook to watch content, brightness starts to drop quickly when the screen is viewed acer battery off-axis.

The Z360 comes with a 1.3-megapixel webcam that captured sharper video than other notebooks we've fushitsu akku recently tested, and it can track faces to make sure your mug stays in the frame. The webcam can also be controlled via the bundled hp akku CyberLink Webcam software, which lets you use avatars and insert amusing backgrounds and animated effects. Lenovo's VeriFace software allowed us to log into the notebook without typing a dell akku password

We wish that the software gave us more options for sorting or organizing books, such as user-defined saus akku collections, as the basic By Title/By Author/By Last Read options can be tedious to browse, especially with a large library. Since the Reader sony battery comes with 100 public domain books pre-loaded, this is an issue right out of the box. At least the software allows users to skip to the letter they want when sorted by title or ibm akku author.

Unfortunately, the Kobo Wireless still suffers from the sluggishness we noted with the previous version. apple akku We noticed the lag most when moving from different areas (such as from within a book to the Home screen) and we found ourselves pushing acer akku buttons more than once because we weren't sure the first press registered.

The ports remain the same; an SD card slot on top (up 32GB capacity), and a miniUSB port on the bottom for charging or fushistu battery connecting to a computer. The only small change is to the buttons that line the left edge of the device: Display has been replaced by Shop, which pops up a hp battery menu that takes users to the Kobo storefront screen or, if already in the store, offers further navigation options.

The only way to turn pages is with the D-Pad on the lower dell battery right side. Though the pad offered good spring and feedback, the setup kept us from holding the device in a way that felt natural. We much prefer eReaders with page turn buttons under both the left and right thumbs, as on the Kindle 3G or Nook. toshiba battery Since the Kobo Reader is so light, holding it by the bottom edges wasn't strenuous, but it also wasn't comfortable.

In less than a year, Kobo has made some major changes to its eReader. Shortly after Amazon saus battery and Barnes & Noble dropped the prices on their flagship devices, Kobo announced both a price drop and a new model with Wi-Fi connectivity. sony battery At $139, the Kobo Wireless is just as affordable as the Kindle and Nook, but it comes up short.

Design

The updates to the Kobo Wireless are mostly internal, leaving the outer design much the same as the original. This is ibm battery a good thing, as we liked the original Kobo's slim profile--7.2 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches--and very light weight: just 7.8 ounces. The reader also retains the soft-touch, apple battery quilted back that makes it so comfortable to hold. One nice addition is a range of color choices beyond the original's white front and silver backing. Now acer battery customers can choose from all black (Onyx) or white with a lilac back.

Kobo has made a few tweaks to the software that runs the Reader, mostly having to do with the new functionality. Most functions fushitsu laptop akkus are only one or two button pushes away, which we appreciated. Within any screen, users can hit Menu for more options (including the Display hp laptop akkus functions, as they no longer have a dedicated button). The Menu also shows the battery life and Wi-Fi status at the dell laptop akkus bottom.