Lenovo Ideapad S12 hands-on video roundup

A number of US sites recently went hands-on with the 12-inch Lenovo Ideapad S12 netbook. Before you ask, they were all sent the S12 powered by the Intel Atom platform, rather than the S12 ION that is due to launch later this year.

The specs of this machine included a 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor, 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD. As you can probably guess, with these specs, performance was pretty much like any other netbook out there. It does come with a 6-cell battery though that’s good for up to six hours, although it does protrude from the back.

GottabeMobile has some pictures of how the Ideapad S12 compares against to its 10-inch little brother, the Ideapad S10-2. Whilst the S12 is (obviously) bigger, it benefits from a bigger keyboard and touchpad and a high-resolution (1280 x 800) display. JkOnTheRun also received the Ideapad S12 and S10-2 and have a video tour up on the site. Liliputing also received both netbooks and posted a video unboxing. You can check out both videos after the break. Read more

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 reviewed – let down by keyboard & battery life

As the name suggests the Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 is a refresh of the Ideapad S10. It improves on the S10 in a number of areas including a bigger keyboard and touchpad. It is also thinner, lighter and has a new textured lid design. Despite these improvements, it takes a backwards step by removing the Expresscard slot seen in the S10. It also has a glossy display compared to the matte display on the S10.

Laptop Mag has given the Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 netbook a thorough run through and whilst they thought it was a competent performer, it didn’t have the same appeal as some of its peers. They liked the performance, its lightweight form-factor, bright screen and the instant-on OS. However, it was let down by a poor keyboard and mediocre battery life. Overall, Laptop Mag scored it 3 stars out of 5 and preferred the Toshiba N205 and Asus Eee PC 1005HA, which offer better keyboards and longer battery lives. Check out the key review points after the break. Read more

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 gets unboxed

Lenovo’s 10-inch Ideapad S10-2 is a refresh of the current Ideapad S10. It improves the S10 in a number of subtle areas including a bigger keyboard and touchpad, a new textured lid design as well as making the S10-2 both thinner and lighter. It also has optional 3G. The new model does lack an Expresscard slot which is disappointing.

The first unboxing pictures have been spotted over at the Netbook Philippines Forums. I really like the fancy new lid design that differentiates itself from the swathe of netbooks out there. The 6-cell battery does stick out unattractively, however Lenovo looks like they’ve made upgradeability a cinch.

There are two separate panel covers one of the RAM and one for the HDD/WI-FI and 3G modules. An empty PCI-E slot can be used to install a Mini PCI-E 3G modem, if you wish. The screen is glossy unfortunately, but apart from that it looks pretty good. Check out the unboxing pictures over at Netbook Philippines Forums.

Via Liliputing.

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 US orders now open

Whilst much of the recent Lenovo limelight has been focused on the ION-based Ideapad S12, for those wanting to stick with a 10-inch form factor, then the Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 might be right up your street. It’s a refresh of the existing Ideapad S10 that is thinner and lighter than the original and comes with a larger touchpad and keyboard, a fancy new lid design and optional integrated 3G.

Specs for the 10.1-inch (1024×600) netbook include a 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom CPU, a 160GB HDD preloaded with Windows XP, Wi-Fi and a six-cell battery.

Lenovo has now opened up orders for the netbook on its US portal with prices starting from $439. Shipping is not expected for another 16 days but a pre-order may be worth it as using the code USPTS10SAVE gets you 10 percent off, dropping the price to $395 (with free shipping). The unit is available in black, grey, white and pink. There are no signs of UK pre-orders opening up right now, but the unit is expected to go on sale for £299 when they do.

Via Portable Monkey.

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 will have HD screen option

High resolution screens are starting to appear in more and more netbooks. Whilst you won’t find this a standard feature in a 10-inch netbook, manufacturers such as Dell and HP offer this as an option in their Mini 10 and Mini 2140 netbooks respectively. Lenovo will also be doing the same with their Ideapad S10-2 that was announced last week.

Whilst the standard display has a screen resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, Lenovo plans an optional upgrade to a high-def resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. This resolution is slightly different to the 1366 x 768 resolution offered by Dell and HP. Some users have suggested that the higher-res displays found in the Dell Mini 10 and HP Mini 2140 may be a bit too small to read text easily. Lenovo’s choice of resolution may make it a bit easier in this regard, given its lower resolution.

Other options planned for the German market include an optional 32GB SSD drive and possibly, the faster 1.66GHz N280 CPU. It is unknown whether these options are planned for other markets.

Via NetbookNews.de.

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 netbook gets UK price, hands-on video

Lenovo officially launched the Ideapad S10-2 netbook a few days back. The S10-2 is a 3G enabled version of the current Ideapad S10. However, Lenovo has also improved the S10 in a number of subtle areas including a bigger keyboard and touchpad, a new textured lid design as well as making the S10-2 both thinner and lighter.

Whilst the Ideapad S10-2 is expected to launch in the US over the coming days, we now know that it should be hitting UK shores at some point in July with prices starting from £299. This is a similar price for current S10e models with prices on the official site starting from £289 (for the Windows version). I imagine that the £299 starting price for the S10-2 will not include 3G. We’ll bring you more firm news on pricing as we have it.

If you want to see the Lenovo S10-2 netbook in action then check out the following video from Xavier at GottaBeMobile. The unit that Xavier played with came with a 3-cell battery, but apparently units sold in the US will come with a 6-cell battery as standard with a quoted time of six hours. Whilst only HDD options will be available in the US, 8GB – 16GB SSD options are being planned for overseas markets. Read more

Lenovo officially announces Ideapad S10-2 netbook

Lenovo has today officially launched the 10-inch Ideapad S10-2 netbook. It was a matter of time before the model was officially confirmed as the manual for the Ideapad S10-2 appeared on Lenovo’s site last week. The Ideapad S10-2 netbook is a refresh of the existing Ideapad S10 that is thinner and lighter than the original and comes with a larger touchpad and keyboard, a fancy new lid design and optional integrated 3G.

The 10.1-inch display is now glossy and has a 1024×600 resolution. The keyboard has been expanded to 89 percent that of a full size laptop and now has a larger Shift Key. All models of the S10-2 will ship with Lenovo’s QuickStart instant-on operating system and its VeriFace facial recognition software. The new Ideapad S10-2 weighs just 1kg (2.2lbs). Read more

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 manual & images unveiled

We already reported that Lenovo were planning to bring 3G functionality to its 10-inch S10 Ideapad netbook early last month. This now seems official as the Ideapad S10-2 manual has appeared on the official Lenovo site along with some pictures of the new netbook.

Apart from 3G support, the IdeaPad S10-2 comes with an extra USB ports, larger trackpad, a slightly different design with curved edges, a range of storage options (8-32GB SSD or 160-360HDD) but it does lose the ExpressCard/34 slot that helped differentiate its predecessor.

In terms of specs, the S10-2 has a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU and 1GB RAM. Check out the technical specs after the break along with a number of photos. The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 manual can be downloaded from here. Read more