Who said multimedia notebooks have to be bulky and heavy? With its switchable ATI graphics, powerful Core i5 CPU, and excellent speakers, Lenovo’s 5-pound IdeaPad Y460 is good enough not just for watching HD movies, but to play demanding games as well. Priced at a somewhat steep $1,049 (but starting at $899), this notebook offers more than just sweet specs. The Y460 comes with a unique slider above the keyboard that lets you do everything from changing desktops (work and play mode) to skimming through shortcuts for your favorite apps. Although we wish it had a better keyboard and lasted longer on a charge, this thin-and-light laptop stands out.


Design
At 13.4 x 9.2 x 1.2 inches and 5 pounds, the Y460 sits in between competitors like the lighter Dell Inspiron 14 (4.8 pounds) and the heavier Toshiba Satellite E205 (5.2 pounds). Like the Y450 before it, the Y460 has a black lid with a hexagonal pattern that reminds us of the Q*bert video game, and a copper-colored accent that surrounds the lid. However, the newer model has an attractive dark gray keyboard and deck, while its predecessor had a cheaper-looking white interior.



The top of the deck is lined with five white LED buttons. There’s volume up, volume down, and mute, as well as buttons to launch the power manager and OneKey Theater, a feature which improves the picture quality for video playback.

SlideNav Control
The coolest feature of the Y460 is a touch-sensitive bar above the keyboard. If you touch it, you’ll see white lights that correspond to shortcuts for things like Documents and Sound Recorder, and you can launch these items just by sliding your finger in the direction of the icon and then lifting your finger. You can also customize these shortcuts. Sliding your fingers left to right locks the screen, placing a giant zipper across the desktop; sliding them right to left again unlocks the screen. Sliding right to left with the screen unzipped/unlocked changes the wallpaper.



Keyboard and Touchpad
Although it looks ThinkPad-like, the keyboard on the IdeaPad Y460 didn’t feel like it. When typing we had to be careful to hit the keys with maximum force because of their stiffness. However, we were still able to achieve our typical rate of 80 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, albeit with a slightly higher than usual 2-percent error rate.

The textured touchpad, on the other hand, has a perfect balance of friction and comfort. We were able to navigate around the desktop seamlessly and perform multitouch gestures like pinch-to-zoom. The two mouse buttons offered just the right amount of feedback.

Heat
Throughout our testing, the Y460 remained relatively cool. After playing web video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the keyboard at only 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the touchpad at merely 88 degrees. We consider temperatures below 95 to be quite comfortable. However, the bottom of the system reached 102 degrees, which is a little toasty.

Ports and Webcam
The IdeaPad Y460 has all the ports you’d expect from a multimedia notebook, including HDMI and VGA for outputting video, audio/in out, three USB ports, and a USB/eSATA combo port. The front lip of the system sports a memory card reader for getting photos and video off of your camera. The only important connection the Y460 lacks is an ExpressCard slot for attaching expansion cards like a USB 3.0 adapter.



The 1.3-megapixel webcam provided remarkably sharp, smooth, and colorful images even under adverse lighting conditions. We conducted a Skype call from our dim living room at night and were amazed with the quality of the images our caller received.

Quick Specs
CPU: 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
RAM/Upgradable to: 4GB/4GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed: 500GB/5,400 rpm
Display Size Resolution: 14.1/1366 x 768
Optical Drive: 8X DVD+/-RW DL