Back to School with Staples and Lenovo

Do you have kids headed back to school? We started last week and are about to finish up our first full week tomorrow. My kids aren’t old enough to need a laptop for school, but I know others are. I was given a chance to review this laptop from Staples. All opinions are my own. I was sent the new Lenovo U310 Touch Laptop. I was super excited to get the laptop and couldn’t wait to try it out. I have to admit, though, that I was super nervous about trying Windows 8 since I’d heard mixed reviews.

It’s definitely taking me some time to get used to Windows 8. On the home screen (the first picture) there is no longer a start button. I feel totally lost without that button. That button has practically been there forever and you know the exact sequence you need to go to get to your favorite program. I couldn’t even find the calculator on here! The second screen is now your Start screen. I’ve customized it a little, taking off apps that I don’t need. Speaking of apps, I haven’t installed a whole lot yet. I’ve only installed IHeartRadio (in the picture above) and a calculator app, because I was lost without one! In order to get to your start screen, you just touch the right side of your screen and pull to the left and then click on Start with your finger.

I am in LOVE with the touch screen! It is so much faster to browse through file folders and basic photo editing is a snap now! I can crop pictures using my fingers and place my logo wherever I want without the use of the mouse pad or a mouse! I don’t use the touch screen for much else. It has taken getting used to, though, that the mouse pad does not have a scroll on it like my other computer. I have to either remember to reach up and scroll the screen on the touch screen or use the arrow keys on the keyboard.

The only other thing I don’t like about the keyboard is that shift key on the right hand side. I’m used to a double sized key there for shift so I’m always hitting the “/” key whenever I want to shift. It’s frustrating, but I know I’ll get used to it the longer I use it. The only issue I’ve had with the computer that isn’t just me getting used to it, is the WiFi connection. I brought my laptop with on my vacation to the Dells with intentions of working at night or early in the morning, but unfortunately, the Lenovo U310 would not connect to either of the hotels internet that connection. I also have problems with it in my house. If the signal isn’t at full strength, it would not connect at all. I did call Lenovo customer service and they walked me through a few settings to change. I am now able to connect in other places, thank goodness! It does still sometimes drop the WiFi for a minute at a time, but it’s very rare.

I love how thin the Lenovo U310 Touch Laptop is. You can see in the picture above that it is almost half the thickness of my old laptop. You can see how my old laptop had a button to push to open the screen. The Lenovo does not have that, you just open it up. The start up on the computer is super fast. It has a 24GB solid state drive that the operating system is installed on, which means when you open the laptop there is no waiting for 10 minutes for your start screen to come up. Mine is up in under one minute! For more stats on the Lenovo U310 Touch Laptop, visit Staples where you can purchase it for $549.90 this week with instant savings and it comes with Microsoft Office University free for 4 years! A great deal for sure!

Overall, this is an excellent laptop. I’ll get used to the key and mousepad quirks as I use it. My biggest complaint is the WiFi connection, but that works better since I made my fixes. Make sure you check out Staples for your back to school needs and keep an eye here for a Back to School giveaway from Staples!