By Samuel Wee, newsroom intern

SO YOU'VE been hearing a lot about netbooks recently, and you're thinking of getting one for yourself.

You're not quite ready, though, to sacrifice the processing power you get from a standard laptop.
How to get the best of both worlds?

The Lenovo IdeaPad U350, priced at $1,099, may be your answer.

At first glance, the U350 is effortlessly chic with a sleek and funky aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye.

Its 2.5cm thickness means it can slip easily into a briefcase or backpack, while its weight of 1.6kg means that it's on par with netbooks when it comes to portability.

What really packs the punch is the Intel Core 2 Duo SU2700 CULV processor, which together with 4GB of RAM, effectively gives the U350 processing power that is closer to that of a standard notebook.

The U350 also comes with several features that make it rather attractive if you're intending to use it for entertainment purposes.

For example, the 13.3-inch LCD screen, which displays bright and vibrant colours, renders video gorgeously. Also, there's a HDMI port that will allow you to link it up to a bigger TV screen for your viewing pleasure.

Besides that, the laptop also comes with several standard Lenovo IdeaPad features, such as Verizon face recognition security and a 1.3-megapixel webcam.

What we find most attractive are the surprisingly powerful speakers. When coupled with the Dolby Sound Room software that allows you to have a cinematic surround sound experience, they make the U350 one of the best sounding laptops in its weight range.

That's not to say the U350 is perfect.

Battery life

While the U350 has a bigger screen and better processor than most netbooks, it sacrifices stamina for those features.

Although the notebook is advertised as being able to last for five hours with its four-cell battery, it only lasted for about four hours of web surfing and watching videos.

Compared to the netbook, which can last for about seven hours, the U350 has a relatively short battery life.

An eight-cell battery upgrade is available, but unfortunately, that means ruining the sleek streamlined look of the U350, not to mention having to fork out more money.

There's also the problem of streaming high-definition videos from the Net.

While normal SD videos load just fine, watching a HD video in full screen will produce noticeable hiccups and video lag, which can be a deal breaker if you're purchasing the laptop for its multimedia capabilities.

Also, it does not come with an optical drive. We understand that adding an optical drive would add considerably to the weight, but what's the point of having a kick-ass portable surround sound system and awesome LCD screen if you can't enjoy your favourite DVD on them?

In the end, it depends on what you're looking for.

If you need a laptop for intensive gaming purposes or a netbook for day-long usage, the U350 might not be suitable.

If you desire something in between, you should check out the U350.

This article was first published in The New Paper.