netbook review: lenovo ideapad S10
Wed, 2009-03-11 20:16 — carlp
My buddy H Marc lent me his Lenovo Ideapad S10 for a few days so that I could see whether or not I wanted a netbook. Here are some of my impressions.
Screen
I've resisted netbooks so far mostly because of the screen height issue. I normally work on a pair of 24-inch LCDs, both in 1920x1200 mode. I have always wanted a lot of pixels on the screen, since my very first "big-screen" monitor. I bought a 17-inch Mag monitor in about 1990 for $1085 of my own money just so I could have 1024x768. The netbook quasi-standard of 1024x600 pixels just didn't seem like enough. Maybe I could live with 1024 wide, but 600 high is far too short. Scrolling vertically is natural, and most software is best suited for "portrait" mode.
However, the S10 screen is sharp and bright. With Firefox adjusted for a suitably small font, reading Gmail is tolerable. Old-school Geezer-geek ssh login via a puTTY terminal window is just fine. While I still want more vertical pixels, I decided I could live with this. They keyboard was much more bothersome to me.
Keyboard
The S10 keyboard is unsatisfactory. It's very "Chiclet" style, and the key feel isn't great. I was very surprised to find that the "End" key bothers me quite a bit - I didn't realize that I used it very much. It not only requires a Fn, but is buried as third-from-left in the top row, under PgDn. While I'm at it, the location of PgDn and PgUp don't thrill me, either. The reversal of the left Ctrl key and Fn key is also irritating. And Lenovo omits the right-hand Ctrl key.
I did manage to type up a couple of pretty long emails, submit my time sheet, and do some other stuff. I can use it, I just find it annoying about once every 10 or 15 seconds. I don't need more stress in my life from a source like that. When I was traveling frequently, I told a colleague "I spend more time with my laptop than with my wife." Nowadays, about half that time is spent with a desktop setup - but I still put in an awful lot of laptop time. I keep my books (Quicken, billpay, Excel) etc. on my laptop. I look up "Who was that actor?" and Where do I know that lyric from?" and "How much does a stick of gum weigh?" and similar vital facts while watching TV. I do still travel sometimes. I need a laptop not to annoy me.
Several netbook keyboards get the layout wrong in different ways. The most egregious mistake is the one made by Lenovo: the placement of the Fn and left Ctrl keys is reversed. This tragic mistake is shared by these others:
Very nice. Hefty enough to feel real, but light enough to be very easy to carry around. Big enough to use on my lap - though it gets pretty hot that way; need a lap desk or pad.
Battery life
Pretty OK. The standard 3-cell battery lasted through maybe 3 hours of pretty continuous use, and overnight hibernation, and then a half-hour of breakfast table email reading. It was still running, but warning of low power by that time. I imagine I'd want the upgraded 6-cell battery, but I could live with this standard one.
Processing power
You're kidding, right? Does somebody care about processing power in a netbook? OK: the Atom N270 running XP in 1.5GB of RAM seems fine. I did not note any apparent sluggishness in running Firefox or puTTY. iTunes seems to run OK
Wireless network
Good stuff. Copying 10GB of music - about 1500 MP3s - over the wireless network took about a bit over an hour. 802.11N, reporting 48 Mbps at about 4 feet from the Access Point.
Wired network
It seems to work. Shrug. 100mbps. I guess wanting gig-e in a device of this class is a bit of a reach, even in this day and age.
OS choices
Marc has his configured as tri-boot, with Windows XP (Home), Ubuntu 8.10, and OS X. I haven't yet tried anything but XP. Marc told me there were some minor issues with OS X, like the wired network doesn't work, external keyboards don't work, etc. I'll update this when I have some more time to play with the other OSs.
External devices
I plugged it in to my USB KVM and XP happily recognized my 24" LCD, macally USB keyboard and Microsoft Explorer Blue cordless mouse. Something's not quite right with the (Intel) video driver - it doesn't provide the correct widescreen ratios for the monitor, so I have to run it at 1600x1200 instead of 1920x1200.
Too bad I missed seeing the other USB port on the other side of the computer initially. But there are two USB 2.0 ports. I plugged in my desktop DVD-/+RW drive and it was recognized as expected; playing an audio CD worked fine. There were no issues doing this with a mouse plugged in to the other USB port. Standard, competent implementation with no drama found.
Webcam
I took this picture with the built-in webcam. It's unretouched. It's about what you might expect.
Conclusion
I might buy one. One netbook, that is. This Lenovo Ideapad S10 is close, and gets a lot of things right, but the keyboard is a deal-breaker for me.
Screen
I've resisted netbooks so far mostly because of the screen height issue. I normally work on a pair of 24-inch LCDs, both in 1920x1200 mode. I have always wanted a lot of pixels on the screen, since my very first "big-screen" monitor. I bought a 17-inch Mag monitor in about 1990 for $1085 of my own money just so I could have 1024x768. The netbook quasi-standard of 1024x600 pixels just didn't seem like enough. Maybe I could live with 1024 wide, but 600 high is far too short. Scrolling vertically is natural, and most software is best suited for "portrait" mode.
However, the S10 screen is sharp and bright. With Firefox adjusted for a suitably small font, reading Gmail is tolerable. Old-school Geezer-geek ssh login via a puTTY terminal window is just fine. While I still want more vertical pixels, I decided I could live with this. They keyboard was much more bothersome to me.
Keyboard
The S10 keyboard is unsatisfactory. It's very "Chiclet" style, and the key feel isn't great. I was very surprised to find that the "End" key bothers me quite a bit - I didn't realize that I used it very much. It not only requires a Fn, but is buried as third-from-left in the top row, under PgDn. While I'm at it, the location of PgDn and PgUp don't thrill me, either. The reversal of the left Ctrl key and Fn key is also irritating. And Lenovo omits the right-hand Ctrl key.
I did manage to type up a couple of pretty long emails, submit my time sheet, and do some other stuff. I can use it, I just find it annoying about once every 10 or 15 seconds. I don't need more stress in my life from a source like that. When I was traveling frequently, I told a colleague "I spend more time with my laptop than with my wife." Nowadays, about half that time is spent with a desktop setup - but I still put in an awful lot of laptop time. I keep my books (Quicken, billpay, Excel) etc. on my laptop. I look up "Who was that actor?" and Where do I know that lyric from?" and "How much does a stick of gum weigh?" and similar vital facts while watching TV. I do still travel sometimes. I need a laptop not to annoy me.
Several netbook keyboards get the layout wrong in different ways. The most egregious mistake is the one made by Lenovo: the placement of the Fn and left Ctrl keys is reversed. This tragic mistake is shared by these others:
- Lenovo Ideapad S10 (bigger photo)
- Acer Aspire One which also mispaces the touchpad buttons, Fail.
- MSI Wind (an otherwise VERY nice keyboard)
- HP Mini-Note - the well-regarded and large keyboard is OK, but the placement of the mouse buttons is truly unfortunate. Fail.
- Samsung NC10 - nice-looking keyboard, but omits the right Ctrl key and the PgUp/Down Home/End placement looks awkward.
- Asus EeePC (original)
- Asus EeePC 1000HE(and newer?) have the right Shift key moved and enlarged, and a few other tweaks. This appears to be the best keyboard layout available in the netbook class, though I haven't typed on one myself.
Very nice. Hefty enough to feel real, but light enough to be very easy to carry around. Big enough to use on my lap - though it gets pretty hot that way; need a lap desk or pad.
Battery life
Pretty OK. The standard 3-cell battery lasted through maybe 3 hours of pretty continuous use, and overnight hibernation, and then a half-hour of breakfast table email reading. It was still running, but warning of low power by that time. I imagine I'd want the upgraded 6-cell battery, but I could live with this standard one.
Processing power
You're kidding, right? Does somebody care about processing power in a netbook? OK: the Atom N270 running XP in 1.5GB of RAM seems fine. I did not note any apparent sluggishness in running Firefox or puTTY. iTunes seems to run OK
Wireless network
Good stuff. Copying 10GB of music - about 1500 MP3s - over the wireless network took about a bit over an hour. 802.11N, reporting 48 Mbps at about 4 feet from the Access Point.
Wired network
It seems to work. Shrug. 100mbps. I guess wanting gig-e in a device of this class is a bit of a reach, even in this day and age.
OS choices
Marc has his configured as tri-boot, with Windows XP (Home), Ubuntu 8.10, and OS X. I haven't yet tried anything but XP. Marc told me there were some minor issues with OS X, like the wired network doesn't work, external keyboards don't work, etc. I'll update this when I have some more time to play with the other OSs.
External devices
I plugged it in to my USB KVM and XP happily recognized my 24" LCD, macally USB keyboard and Microsoft Explorer Blue cordless mouse. Something's not quite right with the (Intel) video driver - it doesn't provide the correct widescreen ratios for the monitor, so I have to run it at 1600x1200 instead of 1920x1200.
Too bad I missed seeing the other USB port on the other side of the computer initially. But there are two USB 2.0 ports. I plugged in my desktop DVD-/+RW drive and it was recognized as expected; playing an audio CD worked fine. There were no issues doing this with a mouse plugged in to the other USB port. Standard, competent implementation with no drama found.
Webcam
I took this picture with the built-in webcam. It's unretouched. It's about what you might expect.
Conclusion
I might buy one. One netbook, that is. This Lenovo Ideapad S10 is close, and gets a lot of things right, but the keyboard is a deal-breaker for me.
- carlp's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
OTOH was: Lenovo S10
I just ordered a S10 as the price fell below the magic $300 w/free shipping. Also they were offering a bundle with the six cell battery for less than the price of the machine and battery combined. So I bit the bullet.
I'm so darn tired of shlepping my ThinkPad A31p on motorcycle trips that I'm willing to live with the crappy form factor. At least the Express Card slot on the Lenovo provides some upgrade/expansion capability. And it has built-in bluetooth which means a dongle-free experience :-).
For stationary use (at home) I'd plug in a monitor and real keyboard and avoid the whole mini-me-hands issue.
--------------------
Gary Wasserman Portland, OR
small laptop review: Dell
small laptop review: Dell Latitude C400
I've had this small laptop for several years. I bought it because it would fit in the saddlebag of my Valkyrie. The Valkyrie is long gone, but the laptop lives on.
The Screen
It has a decent screen at 1024 x 768. Because it's an older display, it isn't nearly as bright or have as wide a viewing angle as newer ones, but it suits.
The Keyboard
This is not a great keyboard, but decent. Mostly, it has the Ctrl and arrow keys in the right place, at least for me. The Home, End, Insert and Delete keys are top right and that takes a bit of getting used to, but to just type, like this review, or email, it is fine. The Fn key functions are simple and I use the volume controls often.
Size and Weight
This laptop is small because there are no optical drives. The CD drive attaches on a short umbilical. I almost never use it except to load the occasional software. The laptop with accessories in the bag is an agreeable companion when I'm out and about.
Battery Life
The old manual I have says 3 hours. The new battery says 2:45 when it's fully charged. Enough to check email and transfer some photos.
Processing Power
It's a PIII at 1.3Ghz. No long Photoshop sessions, but otherwise fine. The biggest thing I notice is the single USB1.1 port. Usually, I have a mouse plugged in, but when transferring images from a camera or card reader, it is definitely slow. USB 2 would be nice, a second port even nicer.
It is plenty fast to stream Netflix, however and the disk upgrade from a 4500 rpm 30G drive to a 5400 rpm 80G disk made it much snappier to use overall. I have plugged this machine in to a projector and watched Divx encoded tv shows wth no problem. I doubt it would play a DVD.
Network
Wired is 10/100 and I bought a Cardbus wireless G card about a year ago. Both work fine and I have no trouble connecting at hot spots.
OS Choices
I have this setup to dual boot between XP and Ubuntu 8.10. There really isn't much difference between them performace wise. Both recognize all the hardware and work fine.
Conclusion
I'm keeping it. Like Carl, I don't care for the small vertical screen size and keyboards with the Ctrl keys in the wrong place make me crazy.
There are quite a few of these on ebay. Dell made a lot of these and they vary widely in processor speed and memory. 1.3G and 1G ram is as big as they come and the disk is generic so is easily upgraded. Built-in wireless would be nice, but it's not that big a hassle to plug in the card.
Phil in Seattle
Review of Dell
Phil's laptop got rave reviews in 2001. 3.8 pounds, they said.
Kathy in Lynnwood
Correction, it has 2 USB
Correction, it has 2 USB ports, one on each side, though not symetrically placed.
--hmarc
Corrected.
- Carl