The Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 manages to cram solid performance into a smaller body than that of the IdeaPad G530, for only $100 more.
While the $800 unit we reviewed was slightly beefier (with a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor), $600 will buy you a laptop that has a 2GHz T4200 Intel Dual Core processor, 3GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, and a 14-inch 1366-by-768-pixel display.
The starting configuration omits Bluetooth, but you still get FireWire and eSATA for digital video camera and hard-drive connectivity, VGA-out and HDMI-out for external displays, a DVD-RW optical drive, a flash card reader, and 802.11n Wi-Fi.
In our battery-life tests the Y450 survived for 4.5 hours, an hour longer than the G530. It's also lighter than the G530, weighing about 4.7 pounds versus about 5.9 pounds.
Pros: Versatile connectivity options; good portability
Cons:: Keyboard feels cheap; touchpad not very responsive
