If you're the kind of person who yearns for a laptop that's bigger than 11in, but just can't deal with the extra bulk associated with a 13.3in screen, you're largely out of luck. Fear not, though - Lenovo might have just the ultraportable for you.
According to details leaked to ThinkPads, the IdeaPad U260 has a 12.5in screen, measures a mere 0.71in (1.8cm) and tips the scales at only 3.04lbs (1.38kg), making for an impressively small notebook that you'd have no problem carrying around with you all day.
Despite its diminutive dimensions and sleek profile, the IdeaPad should be fairly capable courtesy of its ultra-low voltage Intel Core i3 or i5 processor and 4GB of DDR3. In spite of its proportions, don't expect any MacBook Air-style SSDs or RAM soldered to the logic-board - the laptops will come with a 320GB hard-drive as standard and will have at least one SO-DIMM slot.
Unfortunately, battery life is also expected to be less impressive than Apple's latest, with the four-cell power-back managing a claimed four hours of run-time.
Otherwise the specs are fairly predictable, with an 'HD resolution' screen - we're guessing some flavour of 720p - VGA and HDMI outputs, a pair of USB 2.0 ports and 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board. The casing is a magnesium-aluminium alloy that should help to keep the weight down and will apparently be available in your choice of 'Mocha Brown' or 'Clementine Orange'.
Unfortunately there are no details on pricing or availability yet, but being a premium notebook, you can expect the U260 to be appropriately costly.
