Lenovo U310 13" Laptop/ ultrabook, Ivy Bridge i5-3317U, 4GB Ram $404.50 Staples B&M Clearance YMMV

Quote from rjs987 : I checked the BOIS and it has a Samsung SSD. I wonder if they put the O/S on the SSD drive i can not tell and didnt really look into it as I will be returning this laptop. The reason i am returning this unit is it cannot stream a youtube video without buffering every few seconds unless i am in the same room as my router. I have pretty fast internet (comcast cable) btw. My wife's 4 year old cheap HP laptop has no problem streaming youtube sitting right next to this one. This is a shame as this laptop has everything i was looking for.

This is all you need...
http://www.meritline.com/airlink1...45923.aspx

This was just released at CES 2012, and already on clearance. Technology moves fast - great for consumers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Sk8F6dQQU

Staples in Hanover, PA had several yesterday. There isn't one on display, SKU 931146.

[QUOTE=Buckeyefan 1;56833964]This is all you need...
http://www.meritline.com/airlink1...45923.aspx

What is the difference between the one you posted and this one...
http://www.meritline.com/airlink1...4Aodd1MAxg
or this one...
http://www.monoprice.com/products...4AodFksAeg

Scored a floor model Jan 3rd for $365+ tax. Wifi range a few rooms away does seem quite poor but I haven't noticed any problems when the router is nearby.

I wiped out both disks and put Linux Mint 13 Maya LTS Mate on the 32GB SSD and left the 500GB for storage (Windows virtual machines, etc). Very pleased thus far. Screen viewing angle could be better but overall a good deal for a core i5 ultrabook.

Found a store that had an open box but no power cord yesterday. Store managered powered it up with a universal power adapter and it booted fine. I said how much since it does not have a power cord. She said 10% off since open box and since the universal power adapter is $60, she knocked that off the price. So I paid $305 plus tax, got back to work and ordered a geniune Lenovo 65 watts adapter with Amazon Prime. I upgrade the shipping to one day and paid $25+$4 shipping and was surprised that it actually got here today.

I powered it up, verified that the battery is charging(since it was dead when I got it yesterday) and proceeds to update windows 7. Connected to my Netgear PTV2000 Widi adapter that I got from Dell for $30 and it connected just fine. Sweet, a WiDi ultrabook for $334 plus $20 in tax!

I tested my measly 3Mbps internet speed at work. At 20ft away and thru one wall, speed is still 3Mbps thru speedtest. At 25ft away, thru two walls, it is still fine. At 30ft thru 3 walls, it drops to about 1Mbps.

So I connect to Brighthouse network that was bleeding thru my work. I have Brighthouse account so I was able to use it. With my phone, Galaxy Note 2, I was pulling 11Mbps standing up and going thru two glass partition. With the U310, I was only pulling 5Mbps. I sat down and place my phone behind a plywood wall and my speed dropped to 7Mbps and the U310 drop down to 2Mbps.

So yes, the WiFi signal is not as strong but you might not notice it depending on how far you are from the router. It is certainly not as bad as I had feared but it is a $15 fix. There is no way I am returning it because of that issue since I paid about half the retail price.

I did some research and thought I was going to wipe everything clean and upgrade to windows 8 and install it on the 32 GB mSATA drive but surprisingly, Windows 7 boot up to login screen in under 20 secs and including login, I had a working Internet Explorer in 40 secs and 6 secs was waiting for wifi to connect. So I am just going to leave it as is.

Found one today. It was a return so out of box. Said they would "wipe" it so it was restored to factory defaults, but would only take off 5% for it being out of box.

Need time to think about it. Not sure if I should go back and grab it tomorrow.

Picked up the floor model in Sedalia, MO... purchased Staples 2yr Hardware Protection w/ "Accidental Damage" with it...

You know these floor models tend to self-destruct after 1 1/2yrs... :-)

Does this unit heat up alot if used for an extended period of time? My work laptop burns my lap if I use it for more than 30mins (it's also a Core2Duo from 07).

Has anyone found a fix for the Wifi? I'm having alot of issues. When it connects, it is extremely slow speeds.

I don't know if it's worth getting a wifi adapter, or just returning it.

usually the wireless adapter has settings you can fiddle with and one of them is the p-p-p-p-power! settings which say more battery life or better wireless. I always change it because if i work faster, then my battery lasts longer.

I used a usb adapter for the wifi

The bigger problem is the fan make a high pitch sound, I think people call it coil whine, it's on constantly b/c the fan is always on. it's unbearable. I like everything else about the laptop, but will have to return it.
I'm in central florida if anyone interest in picking this up at staples.

Found one today for $405 and used the $75 off coupon

I picked up the last one at Kent, WA Staples.

$405 - 75 coupon + $105 for the 2-year. Not sure if I'll keep the 2-year as it puts this thing at $480-ish with tax. That's getting into i7 territory.

I will say this is the prettiest non-Apple laptop I've ever used. The keyboard is great!

Wifi on mine is actually super good. Getting better connection than my Galaxy S3 does, so I dunno if I just got lucky.

Going to slam in a 240GB Samsung 830 from my main PC and (possibly) grab the 8GB Mushkin RAM kit.

Pretty happy, I've got to say.

I got a display for $249.40 after coupon an 20% discount because it was the display and had scratches on the bezel. YMMV, but if you are getting the display, they should do at least 10% off if it looks good, and 15% or 20% off if it has scratches.

I will post a Youtube video soon on how to fix the wireless issues for less than $20.