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Lenovo Ideapad S10
Nutshell:
Likes: Large screen; compact with generous keyboard; ExpressCard slot; OneKey Rescue system; huge hard disk
Dislikes: Touch-pad buttons; short battery life
Netbooks are really popular these days since they cost as much as or even less than a smartphone these days. If you haven't already bought yours, I am sure you will be like the average individual and be dazed by the litany of them at the shops.
I have a chance to test out the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 . The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 didn't come as late as the Sony's pocket PC and isn't as flashy, but it is Lenovo's first foray into producing netbooks. I take a closer look.
Design
The pearly white one that I have been issued looks simple but elegant. It is made of light but sturdy and strong plastic that will not be damaged easily. With a 10.2" LCD screen and weighing just 1.25kg , about half the weight of an average computer, it is quite compact and is made for mobility. I can carry this anywhere without a bag or just tuck it into any small bag and not notice it. The buttons are easy to press despite being smaller in size than the normal laptop but I kind of miss the big right shift button on the normal-sized keyboard.
The multi-touch pad is understandably small for a netbook and clicking it needed some effort. It isn't like the Lenovo full-pledged laptops which just needed a light tap. I find that easier to click. In general, Lenovo did quite a good job squeezing it all in to the small frame; with 2 USB ports, an Express Card Slot and a card reader all in.
Performance
To test the netbook, I had a go at multitasking; surfing around the internet while downloading a 200MB file through the Wi-fi on the home internet on a 1Mbp network speed.
I had a couple of browsers open and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 was running smoothly. But I noticed that when the processor started to heat up, I could feel the heat on the keyboard. Not sure if it was because the test was done in a non-air-conditioned room. I understand that the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is running on the Advanced Thermal Engineering which will reduce the heat emitted on key contact areas such as the bottom of the netbook. It seems all right when I did some surfing in the air-conditioned office.
Battery life looks a little too short especially with the Wi-fi switched on. The download may have taken its toll, but it lasted barely 2 hours.
The Atom processor on the Lenovo looks like it is doing its job running smoothly at 1.6GHz. The netbook comes with IGB ram with 512MB already attached to the motherboard. So if you want an upgrade, just open the back panel and remove the other 512MB which is easily removable when you release the black plastic fasteners, one on each side of the ram.
Features that I Find Useful
I have categorised this because the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 has useful features that sets it apart from the other netbooks. The OneKey(TM) Recovery allows users recovery of data at the touch of a button. It creates backup at certain points so that you can easily restore with one press of the Recovery Key. Besides this, the system also runs a complete virus check before entering windows and also offers simple repairs for corrupted or missing data after an automatic check.
Other than the OneKey(TM) Recovery system, the multi-touch pad as earlier mentioned allows for two motions - spiral and pinch- that lets you scroll down the page and zoom in or zoom out of a page respectively. You can vertical scroll by doing the continuous circular motion on the right side of the touch pad and horizontal scroll by doing it near the bottom of the touch pad.
The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 also comes with a 1.3-megapixel Webcam above the LCD which lets you do your video conferencing and quick snapshots of yourself in front of the laptop.
Your land networks are handled via the 10/100 Ethernet port with availability of a Bluetooth for wireless connectivity
It also comes with 2USB ports and a VGA port to connect to your monitor and a very generous hard disk space of 160GB although skeptics may think that a large hard disk will be hard on a slower netbook processor. 
In a nutshell, I think it is a good netbook to buy as Lenovo Ideapad S10 cramps in some good features and a roomy hard disk into a compact 10.2" wide compact computer. Being a netbook, it also has the internet savvy in mind with its wireless connectivity, its 1.3-megapixel webcam and the Express Card Slot. Do remember though that most netbooks including the Lenovo Ideapad S10 do not come with Microsoft Office .
RRP: S$669
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The Lenovo Ideapad S10
PROCESSOR Intel® AtomTM Processor N270
(1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
OS PRELOADED Genuine Windows® XP Home
CHIPSET Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset
HARD DISK DRIVE 160GB SATA HDD (5400 rpm)
MEMORY 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
DISPLAY 10.2'' WSVGA
COLOUR Gothic Black, Pearl White and Frosted Pink
GRAPHICS Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
AUDIO & SPEAKERS 2 x internal stereo speakers, Single build-in microphone withecho cancellation and noise reduction
I/O PORTS 1 x 34mm Express Card Slot, 4-in-1 card reader slot (SD/MMC/MS/MS pro), 2 x USB 2.0 ports, RJ45, VGA, mic-in, headphone (stereo)
COMMUNICATIONS 10/100 Mbps ethernet, Lenovo b/g wireless, Bluetooth
WEBCAM Integrated 1.3 Megapixels
WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS (LxWxH) 250.2mm x 183mm x 22 - 27.5mm
1.25Kg with Hard Disk and 3-cell Li-ion Battery
TOUCHPAD 2 x buttons (Multi-touch Enabled Touchpad)
SOFTWARE OneKeyTM Rescue System, Lenovo Energy Management, Adobe Reader, Windows Live Suite, Norton 2008
WARRANTY 1-year Regional (ASEAN) + China
Comments
dasreich says on 04 Jun 2009 16:59 :
Has anyone seen the Viliv S5, that machine is really portable. Screen size at only 4.8" is smaller than most netbooks however if you want portablility I guess nothing currently comes close.