Lenovo IdeaPad U310 / U410 ultrabooks: next-gen Intel processors in colored cases coming in May (hands-on)

And you thought it wasn’t possible for Lenovo to announce another ultrabook. While the more business minded got the ThinkPad T430u last week, Lenovo’s also announcing plans at CES 2012 for its updated U Series ultrabook — the 13.3-inch U310 and 14-inch U410. An update to the IdeaPad U300s, the U310 and U410 have similar all-aluminum book-cover styling, chiclet keyboards (still with no backlight), and thin bodies (.7 and .83, respectively). Beyond the new colored lids and the addition of an SD card reader, it doesn’t sound like much of an update aesthetically, but internally they will have Intel’s next generation of processors. Expected to hit in May, Lenovo’s not detailing the exact processors specs, but we do know that on a whole Ivy Bridge will provide faster graphics performance. If that’s not enough, the U410 will be available with Nvidia GeForce 610M graphics. Lenovo tells us it is too early to know what the starting configuration will consist of, but it says the new U series will start at $699.

We got a quick look at the new laptops today, and by and large, they look and feel a lot like the U300s out right now. The SD card slot addition sure does make us happy, but we really would have like to see a better quality touchpad and display here. You can check out the full specs of the models here.