Core 2 Duo T7100 processor 1.8GHz; 1GB RAM

After buying over IBM's PC department, Lenovo expanded its range of notebooks to reflect the needs of those who do not require the premium support of the ThinkPad series. The Lenovo 3000 C, N and V series are portables targeting small and medium business (SMB) users, while the Lenovo Y range is aimed at the consumer market. For a portable entertainment notebook, the Y410 is certainly attractive at a starting price of S$1,599 (US$1,051.03), one which only models like Acer Aspire 4710 and Dell Inspiron 1420 with far less features can compete.

The Lenovo Y410 sits in the same space as the more costly HP Pavilion dv2500 (Starting at S$2,399 (US$1,578.96)) in the portable entertainment market. It has a couple of new features, like the Shuttle Center and built-in subwoofers which do not appear in its business-oriented brethren. Though the Y410 has a few tricks up its sleeve, there is still some room for improvement.

Pros

The Lenovo Y410 features one of the most innovative login methods we have seen. Typing passwords is so 1990s, while fingerprint sensors are becoming as common as widescreen displays. The Y410, however, makes good use of the built-in Webcam by combining it with the VeriFace face recognition software. This allows the laptop to authenticate the user simply by taking a picture of the face.

The first question to mind is, how secure is this system? Let's face it, the face recognition is more of a party trick and a simple way to login than a security feature. However, we were impressed that using a picture didn't fool it one bit. According to Lenovo, the software takes into account the prominent parts of the face to create a unique profile, which a 2D image doesn't have.

Billed as an entertainment model, the Y410 comes with the Shuttle Center feature which is just another fancy interface to access your multimedia content. What really impressed us was its sound system. Boasting a Dolby Home Theater premium audio system, there is an integrated subwoofer which makes the Y410 one of the better-sounding laptops we have heard.

For those who have had the unfortunate experience of a crashed system, the Lenovo OneKey Recovery feature is a scaled-down version of the ThinkVantage software. In the event of failure, hitting the recovery button will reload the system to its factory default state. Since this may not save all your personal data and files, we suggest following good backup practices and using the OneKey Recovery as a last-ditch effort.

Cons

We understand that the Lenovo Y410 is no gaming machine and that the integrated Intel X3100 graphics card is more than enough to handle most video needs. Nonetheless, we feel that entertainment notebooks should at least include a low-end discrete video chip for the occasional after-hour gaming session, which the HP Pavilion dv2500 offers with its Nvidia GeForce 8400M solution.

Bottomline

With its built-in subwoofer and innovative face recognition software, the Lenovo Y410 certainly has much to offer to consumers looking for a portable entertainment system. However, it would have been better if there was an option for a discrete graphics solution for the gamers among us.