It’s probably not surprising to hear that the Asus Eee PC 1201N won most of the performance tests, whilst the HP Mini 311 won best design and value for money. The Samsung N510 came out on top in terms of battery life. Choosing a winner seems a bit subjective as people will value different features more strongly than others. Click through to find out who the overall winner was.

Update: Engadget also has a good write-up of the above four ION netbooks head-to-head.

A couple of sites have reviewed the Lenovo S12 ION. Laptop Mag found the graphics performance to be good and the S12 offered a spacious keyboard, bright colourful display and loud speakers. However, it was let down by poor battery life and felt that the HP Mini 311 offered better value for money, as it is both cheaper and lasts for two hours longer. The S12 ION lasted for three hours and forty-five minutes in terms of battery.

PC Mag also reviewed the device and found that the battery lasted for four hours and six minutes in MobileMark 2007 (not the most conservative of battery benchmarks). This is over an hour lass than the original S12. They also felt that the S12 ION was priced too highly and wouldn’t recommend it if HD playback isn’t an essential requirement. They also felt the HP Mini 311 offered better bang for your buck.

The specs are exactly the same as the Japanese version. The Ideapad S12 ION has a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU. It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), 250GB HDD & 2GB RAM as standard. Other features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (b/g), 1.3MP webcam, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI-out and a 6-cell battery good for 6 hours.

Via Netbooked.

As promised, Lenovo Japan is set to launch the Ideapad S12 ION with Windows 7 Home Premium on October 22nd (Windows 7 launch day) for 68,800 Yen. Availability in other regions is expected shortly.

The Ideapad S12 ION partners a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU with the Nvidia 9400M GPU. The model includes 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (b/g), 1.3MP webcam, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI-out and a 6-cell battery good for 6 hours.

Via Netbooked.

Gizmodo now has word that the S12 ION will not ship until Windows 7 has launched i.e. it will launch after October 22nd. This means it will be able to use the newer OS that should deliver better performance than the Vista version it was planning to ship with. No firm date was given, but it is expected to retail for $550, around $50 more expensive than the standard Atom SKU.

They were also told that a HP ION netbook is also due in the coming weeks. Looks like everyone wants to jump on the ION bandwagon.

Putting it head-to-head against the current 12-inch netbook, the Samsung NC20, they found that the Samsung felt a bit sturdier and had a better design. However, they thought the Ideapad S12 benefits from its Quick Start instant-on operating system and had better audio. Regardless of the comparison, they found the S12 to have a very comfortable keyboard and a battery that was good for six hours. All of this combined, earned the Ideapad S12 an Editor’s Choice award. Check out the key review points after the jump.

Key Lenovo Ideapad S12 review points:

• The design pattern on its lid will polarise opinion. The bevelled edges are not as pronounced as the 10-inch Ideapad S10-2. The S12 is nearly the same size as the Samsung NC20 (11.5 x 9.0 inch footprint) and weight (3.4lbs).
• The S12’s 6-cell battery protrudes from the back.
• The S12 keyboard is larger than most other netbooks at this size, including the Samsung NC20 and Acer Aspire One 751.
• The touchpad was a little smaller than the Samsung NC20 but larger than the Acer Aspire One 751.
• The 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display was crisp and has better contrast than the NC20. The latter did seem to have more accurate colour reproduction though.
• The stereo speakers were impressive, with even bass being defined.
• The Quick Start Splashtop instant-on OS was easy to use and loaded quickly (10 seconds to the splash screen). However, no additional apps could be installed. It comes with a Firefox-based browser, Skype, IM client, media player, photo viewer and games portal. This has its own button.
• The S12 comes with an Expresscard/34 slot, three USB ports, 4-in1 card slot, a couple of audio jacks and a 1.3MP webcam.
• The 1.6GHz N270 Atom powered S12 scored 1389 in PCMark05. The Samsung NC20 scored 50 points higher. Performance was pretty much similar to other N270-based netbooks.
• The S12 stayed reasonably cool with the only area getting hot was the middle on the bottom.
• Playing HD 720p video files were no problem, although unsurprisingly it couldn’t handle 1080p video.
• The 6-cell battery lasted for the same time as the Samsung NC20, 5 hours and 41 minutes.

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.

This VIA model uses the Nano ULV 2250 processor that has a clock speed of 1.3GHz. It also uses VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics. This compares to the 1.6GHz N270 Atom model including the 945GSE chipset and GMA950 graphics. All the other specifications remain the same.

Lenovo’s third SKU, is the one everyone is waiting for, the ION-powered S12. It is believed that this particular model has been moved back to the end of the year, maybe to coincide with the Windows 7 launch in late October.

Via Portable Monkey.

The ION version combines the Intel Atom N270 processor with Nvidia’s 9400M GPU. Laptop Mag had a chance to play around with the ION S12 and came back with positive impressions. They were able to play a 1080p trailer of the Dark Knight with very few dropped frames, all of this whilst transcoding another video clip in the background.

Interestingly, they claim that the ION version will cost $495, which is the same price that the Atom version is selling for now. Maybe, this means that the current SKU will fall in price by the time the S12 ION is released.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 sports a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display and is powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU plus 945GSE chipset and GSM950 graphics. It comes with 1GB RAM and various HDD options (160/250/320GB). Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, card reader, ExpressCard slot, 6-cell battery and VGA out. The ION version will also come with a HDMI out. The Lenovo Store says that the S12 should ship in four weeks.

Via Engadget.