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.