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For students who must keep a budget in mind but aren’t willing to sacrifice too much power in their laptop, this is probably the perfect option. If you're looking for a laptop for back-to-school that's not too pricey, the Lenovo U410 is worth a close look.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 is an affordable Ultrabook that offers strong performance in a striking design.

We like the U410 a lot. It's well-designed, sturdy and has plenty of power. We have some slight concerns about the battery, and you certainly won't see Lenovo's quoted maximum of nine hours, not unless you cast some sort of power saving spell over it anyway.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 might not be the prettiest ultrabook on the market, but it's well built and offers enough power for day-to-day tasks.

It performed really well, offering good value for money.

There are a few flaws, such as the shorter-than-expected battery life, but for the most part, average consumers who want a quality laptop will find a lot to love about the IdeaPad U410.

We think Lenovo has chosen wisely in the case of the U410, which is a brilliant machine that is perfectly suited to meet the demands of the digital media boom that we're in the midst of, with an extremely tempting price tag.

Lenovo offers a very good balance of performance, quality and value. One of the better Ultrabooks for gaming and plenty fast in normal desktop use.

Lenovo’s attempt at a larger ultrabook looks to be a disappointment when you consider the package. Nevertheless, the IdeaPad U410 is, after all the complaining, still a darn good bundle for a laptop. The decision to pick it is yours.

This is a more general-purpose portable, with a little more entertainment potential and a little less showiness. If you don’t fancy forking out a fortune but still want something you can carry with you all day, it’s worth considering.

The hard drive is not the fastest, and we would have preferred a better display. Other drawbacks are the slow wireless and 100 Mbit network ports. In spite of that, Lenovo has created a very interesting and powerful Ultrabook for a sharp price.

This well-rounded 14-inch ultrabook sports a great keyboard plus dedicated graphics for a little extra gaming performance. Our main complaint is that its screen is stuck at the same 1,366x768 resolution as lesser models.

Overall, those wanting more storage and better graphics might be well served by this but otherwise, there are 13-inch ultrabooks that are more portable that work just as well.