If performance and battery life are what matter, the Z40’s got the right ingredients at a reasonable price. It features one of the most popular ULV dual-core CPUs (the Intel Core i5-4200U) paired with an efficient yet capable low-end discrete GPU (the nVidia GeForce 820M). Plus, you’ll find 6 GB of RAM and the ability to handle heavy system stress without buckling (or resulting in excessive temperatures or noise)—all in conjunction with a battery life that exceeds 6 hours while surfing at medium brightness. The price? Just $589, which seems quite generous on the part of the manufacturer.

However, compromises are unavoidable in many other categories. First and foremost, construction quality and materials were clearly at the bottom of the list of priorities, as the machine looks and feels plastic and cheap with the exception of the aluminum-lined palm rest and keyboard surround. Stability of the base unit isn’t bad, but the plastic display lid exhibits very little torsion resistance, and the shiny black bezel immediately picks up smudges and even scuffs and scratches during light use. Meanwhile, the display itself is thoroughly disappointing, with low brightness, unimpressive contrast, poor color reproduction and temperature, narrow viewing angles, and a glossy finish to top it all off. Accompanying audio isn’t any better, with speakers that can barely eke mid-range sound into a medium-sized room sufficiently and which completely lack any sort of low-end frequency response or clear trebles. Finally, in terms of input devices, the keyboard is a low-end AccuType iteration, and it can’t compare to that of the Edge E431 or other higher-end Lenovo machines (though the touchpad is actually quite good).

For extremely light use where performance is required (especially better-than-typical GPU performance for its class), the Lenovo Z40 might fit the bill. It’s true that it’s one of the more capable devices available for its size and price, and the good battery life is a nice bonus; in fact, there really aren’t that many other candidates that can check all those boxes with a 14-inch frame. But negating those benefits is the laundry list of concessions which one must accept when choosing to own one—so before committing to a relationship, ask yourself whether you’d be willing to step up to the 15.6-inch category and possibly a little higher in price (where you’ll find plenty of other options, such as the Toshiba Satellite S or the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series).