Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 Review

Build and Design
Lenovo has historically done a good job of making their budget notebooks look more expensive than their price tag; the IdeaPad Z370 ($629) continues that trend. The palm rest and surround is brushed aluminum which feels and looks great. The chassis is strong and resists twisting as well as a business class notebook; this is always important in a portable notebook since it prevents the internal circuit boards from bending and eventually failing due to stress cracks in solder points (a leading cause of notebook failure).

The lid unfortunately could use improvement. For starters the glossy plastic cover smudges up and scratches too easily. Furthermore it does not share the chassis' good build quality as it bends easily; furthermore, ripples show up on the screen when pressure is applied to the back. As long as the lid is not subject to any undue stress (items placed on top of it and so on), this should not be an issue.

Overall the Z370 has good quality, certainly much better than expected at this price point.

Ports and Features
There is a slightly better than average selection of ports on this notebook; the addition of eSATA is nice for connecting an external hard drive. Unfortunately, the IdeaPad Z370 lacks USB 3.0, DisplayPort, and an ExpressCard slot. All picture descriptions are left to right.

Front: Status lights, wireless on/off switch, media card reader	Rear: Battery pack
Left: Kensington Lock slot, cooling exhaust vent, VGA, Ethernet, HDMI out, USB 2.0/eSATA combo port, USB 2.0	Right: Headphone and microphone jacks, optical drive, USB 2.0, AC power