Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Review

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 marks Lenovo’s latest foray in the ultraportable market, which we know is already brimming with many competitors. It aims to compete with the Asus EEE PC’s, Dell Inspiron Mini 9, Acer Aspire One, the MSI Wind, the HP Mininote 2133 and score of other notebooks vying for some market share in the ultraportable segment. It has a similar configuration to most netbooks currently available - Intel Atom 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD and a 10.2″ display, and offers nothing new. It is however a good mix of features at a decent price, cheaper than many other netbooks. It has nice simple looks and a clean design which may appeal to many and offers nice build quality as well. It is a very good alternative to the Asus EEE PC 1000 and the MSI Wind. Retailing at just $449, it is a good, cost-effective solution for casual office work and multimedia playback as well as light gaming. In this detailed review, we check out the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and its features, its advantages and drawbacks.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom N270 at 1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 cache, 533 MHz.
• RAM: 1 GB DDR 2
• Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA, 5,400 RPM
• Display: 10.2″ at 1024 x 600 pixels
• Chipset: Intel 945GSE Express
• Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA 950, 64 MB VRAM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
• Ports: 2 USB 2.0, Ethernet, Headphone, Mic, VGA out, Express Card, 4 in 1 card reader
• Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Weight: 1.18 kgs

Design and Display:

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 sports a nice stylish design whcih is more simplistic than flashy. The design is clean and symmetric with rounded edges and plain surfaces. The IdeaPad S10 feels solid and has good build quality. The chassis is strong and is made from superb quality plastic. The hinge mechanism is perfect. At dimensions of 9.8 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches, it is relatively very compact. It weighs just 1.18 kgs which is good even by netbook standards. The white body and the blue status indicators blend in beautifully. It has a wide array of ports to expand functionality - On the right, you find a XpressCard slot, Headphone, Mic, 1 USB port, and a Ethernet slot. The left side sports a VGA out, 4 in 1 card reader and another USB port. The ports are enough for most users, though more USB ports would have been appreciated.

It sports a 10.2″ LCD display supporting a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels - the standard for netbooks. It has adequate brightness and offers decent contrast. The colors are vibrant and real. It has average viewing angles both horizontal and vertical. It is well suited for all sorts of multimedia playback.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The IdeaPad S10 sports a reasonably sized keyboard which is about 85% the size of a normal keyboard. It is however smaller in size than the EEE PC and the MSI Wind which might be a negative for touch typists and heavy keyboard users. The key spacing is decent with adequate key travel. The tactile feedback is a bit weak. Some keys are positioned awkwardly but that shouldn’t be much of a problem. Over all, a good keyboard with a few discrepancies.

The touchpad is a mixed bag, it is a bit small and falls short of spanning the whole screen. The touchpad surface is nice and offers a good grip. It has nice response and sensitivity. It also supports some minimal Multi Touch functionality. It has two touchpad buttons right below the touchpad. They are positioned superbly and offer good tactile feedback. The speakers in the IdeaPad S10 have strictly average sound quality and decent volume. For better sound quality, we would recommend using a good set of headphones.

Performance:

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is powered by a Intel Atom N270 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. It offers 512 KB of L2 cache and has a bus speed of 533 MHz. It has become the standard in all netbooks around the world. The performance it offers is good enough for casual usage and normal office work. The main advantage it offers is superb power efficiency, having a TDP of just 2.5W. It also has 1 GB DDR 2 RAM which is quite capable of running the bundled Windows XP OS and some applications easily with some multitasking thrown in. Underneath it lies the Intel 945GSE Express chipset with the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics with 64 MB VRAM. This can easily handle normal multimedia playback and ultra light gaming. It also has a relatively fast Western Digital 160 GB HDD at 5,400 RPM which is fast and offers good read / write speeds. It runs on Windows XP as stated before, which is quite fast and responsive especially if you remove all the bloatware it comes bundled with. It boots from a cold start in just about 40 seconds.

It comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 as wireless data transfer options. The Wi-Fi reception is excellent and offers a good range and signal even when placed far away from the router. The Wi-Fi download /upload speeds are superb and definitely one of the best in the netbook category.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is powered by a 3 cell battery which lasts about 2.5 hours on a single charge with moderate usage. With Wi-Fi on full blast or during multimedia playback, the battery drains out much faster. To improve battery life, you may switch off Wi-Fi when not in use, and lower display brightness and sound volume. If you want greater endurance, you may purchase the optional 6 cell battery which whould be available soon. It should offer a theoritical battery life of about 5 hours.

Pros:

• Stylish design
• Good Build quality
• Nice Wi-Fi reception
• Good performance

Cons:

• Less Battery life
• Gets hot with some usage

Final Words:

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is a nice alternative to the other ultraportables currently available. Although it doesn;t offer anything new, it does offer a mix of a stylish design, sturdy build quality, good performance and wireless capabilities in a small portable package. You can also use mobile broadband with the Expresscard slot. It has some cons like a relatively smaller keyboard and high operating temperatures but overall it is a very nice option. We would defnitely recommend it to our readers.

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.