Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

The Lenovo S10-2 netbook is available for pre-order and will release on October 22, the general availability day of Windows 7.

Shopping for a new netbook now that the Windows 7 launch is 3 days away? The Lenovo S10-2 is a sturdy 10.1″ netbook available for only $350 and comes with Windows 7 Starter. Here’s a quick look at the features and drawbacks. You can also read our full review on the Lenovo S10-2 – it received a rating of only 4.5/7.

Lenovo S10-2 Features

• Looks good, sturdy build – and is very thin, except for the 6 cell battery which butts out something awful. It’s available in Black, White, Pink, Nature (green) and Floral Sea (purple).
  

• Quick Start OS – a lightweight Linux-like OS that allows you to conduct daily tasks without having to load Windows. Quick Start provides a dock (see image below) that allows you to choose between checking email, browsing photos, listening to music, using skype, chatting with friends, playing online games (including Sudoku!) and surfing the web. It takes about a minute to start the browser and connect you to the internet. Quick Start does pretty  much everything you would use a computer for, minus Office Suite. For that, you can always boot Windows.Quick Start also has a mac-like dock at the bottom of the screen that you can use for navigation purposes (see below)

Drawbacks

• Poor battery life - While the Lenovo S10-2 claims to give you 6 hours of battery life, this is only true when you’re using your netbook at the minimum – lowest screen brightness, wireless off etc. You’re more likely to get 3-4 hours out of it at normal usage.If you’re assuring yourself this is fine, may I remind you that the Asus Eee PC 1005HA has set the benchmark for battery life at above 8hours and is also available with Windows 7 Starter, albeit at $400.

• Small Keyboard – 89% and has received negative reviews about being too cramped.

• Sticky unresponsive touchpad – The touchpad has also been frowned upon for being too small and not being very responsive. You can read more in our full review.

Lenovo S10-2 Specs

• Processor –1.6GHz Intel N270
• Chipset – Intel GMA950
• OS –Windows 7 Starter
• Memory – 1GB RAM
• Storage –160GB HDD
• Display – 10.1″ (1024 x 600)
• Connectivity – 802.11 b/g
• Ports – 3 x USB, VGA, 4-in-1-card-reader, Express card slot 3/4
• Battery – 6cell
• Dimensions – 10.2″  x  7.6″  x  0.7″
• Weight – 2.65lbs

Bottom line

Unless you have a partiality for the Lenovo S10-2 design, or a great need for the Quick Start feature, this netbook is not worth your time. For the same price of $350, you can get yourself an Asus Eee PC 1005HA (seashell) which will give you 8.5 hours of battery life and a larger HDD at 250GB. For $400, you can get an Eee PC 1005HA that gives you 10.5 hours, a 250GB HDD and a faster 1.66GHz N280 processor.

(The 1005HA weighs 2.8lbs)

Related posts:

1. Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 Review: Solid but So-so
2. Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Review : Surprisingly Good
3. Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Sans NVIDIA Now Available
4. HP Mini 110 – It’s pink, and comes with Windows 7
5. Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 with Atom N280, Bluetooth Now Available

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