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Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Lenovo Think Pad T420 Review: The Best Business Laptop ?
Review Summary:
Bottom line, the ThinkPad T420 is an excellent choice for business, home, and student use.
Pros
- Good build quality
- Excellent keyboard and trackpad/touchpad
- High-resolution 900p anti-glare screen
- 10 hours of battery life!
Cons
- Weak speakers
- Design might not appeal to all
The 14-inch ThinkPad T420 business notebook has an excellent screen, keyboard, and battery life. We explain why this "business rugged" notebook is a great choice for hard-working customers.
The T420 looks ... pretty much like what ThinkPads have always looked like. It's a classic design that places function over form. Take the exterior plastics, for example. They have a matte texture which is scratch-resistant and does not show fingerprints/dust (as opposed to glossy plastic). The plastics are of good quality and don't rattle when tapped by a fingernail. The fit and finish is consistent all over - there are no rough edges and gaps between the various pieces are the same.
Upgrading the T420 is a simple task; a single cover under the chassis holds the memory and the hard drive slides out the left side of the chassis.
Ports and Features
The T420 has a solid array of input and output ports. It's also worth noting the T420 has a docking station port on its underside - Lenovo sells several different models, all offering plug-and-play compatibility and connections to many more ports. This functionality is a feature of a true business notebook; lower-end "business" notebooks do not have them, nor do consumer models. All picture descriptions are left to right.
 Front: Screen latch |  Back: IEEE-1394 mini-Firewire, USB 2.0, battery pack, AC power, cooling exhaust vent |
 Left: Cooling exhaust vent, VGA, Ethernet, DisplayPort (top), USB 2.0 (bottom) |  Right: DVD burner, ExpressCard/34 (top), media card reader (bottom), USB 2.0 (top), USB 2.0 + eSATA combo port (bottom) |
Screen and Speakers
The T420 features a 14-inch screen with an anti-glare coating. It is available in two resolutions: 720p (1366x768) and 900p (1600x900); ours has the latter and it's a good thing it does, otherwise I would complain. A 1600x900 screen has almost 30% more space compared to 1366x768 - that means less scrolling since more lines of text can be shown at once (or more detail in a high-resolution picture). It also makes it possible to use two windows side-by-side.
The screen has 15 levels of brightness and ample contrast; the infamous Command Prompt window looks black with barely a hint of gray. Viewing angles are typical for a TN-type panel like this one; fine horizontally but with significant color distortion vertically. Nearly all notebooks come with TN-type panels. The anti-glare screen coating is more evidence this notebook is designed for productivity - it's not a mirror like a glossy display and thus does not have annoying reflections. It is easy to clean as a bonus.
The T420 sports two stereo speakers on either side of the keyboard. They suffice for watching occasional audio clips but lack the volume and bass to enjoy music. I appreciate the dedicated volume control (up/down/mute) buttons above the keyboard - they're convenient.
Like the design, the T420 has a keyboard ... pretty much like ThinkPads have always had - a great one. Although Lenovo is controversially introducing "Chiclet" or "island" style keyboards on some more consumer-esque ThinkPad lines, the T-series stays true to form with a standard keyboard (maybe it should be called an "old school" keyboard since apparently "keyboard" isn't sufficient anymore).
Tactile feedback - what it feels like to press the keys - starts with the key travel, or the distance between pressed and not pressed positions. The T420's keys have precisely the right amount of travel to allow time for your finger muscles to realize a key is fully depressed; this is essential for fast and accurate typing. Additionally the spring mechanism (it's not actually a spring, but a scissor switch/rubber dome, but that's for another article) pops the keys back up immediately yet is stiff enough to let you rest your fingers on the keys.
I could talk about the keyboard all day but will restrain myself to two more points. First, the layout of the keyboard is fantastic; it has the [Fx] keys at the top separated into groups of four as they should be and the home/end/pgup/pgdn/delete keys separated into cluster. Lastly, the keyboard is quiet and subdued for use in meetings and classrooms alike - no clacking or clicking, just a nice low octave sound.
Overall there are not enough good things I can say about the input devices, they are the gold standard. If you want to buy a notebook with a good keyboard/touchpad and can't see it in person, a ThinkPad might be your best bet.
ASUS U36S Review: Better Than A MacBook Pro ?
Review Summary:
The ASUS U36S is highly recommendable to those searching for a well-rounded portable notebook with good quality and lots of battery life.
Pros
- Ultra-thin metal alloy chassis
- Good keyboard and touchpad
- 8.5 hours of battery life
- Two-year warranty standard
Cons
- Glossy display creates reflections
- Touchpad buttons could be quieter
- Poor speakers
The ASUS U36S is a 13.3-inch ultraportable featuring a magnesium-aluminum chassis that weighs just 3.1 lbs. At just 0.75" thin and with over 8 hours of battery life, could this laptop be one of this year’s best buys? Here's a tip: Keep reading if you are thinking about buying a MacBook Pro for Christmas.
The ASUS U36S ($899.99) has a rather unsuspecting gray and black exterior. The surfaces of the notebook are made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy which is strong and extraordinarily light. The whole notebook including its large 8-cell battery weighs just 3.11 lbs. Additionally the notebook is exceptionally thin measuring just three quarters of an inch with the lid closed.
Ports and Features
The ASUS U36S has a standard array of ports for a 13.3-inch notebook including a single USB 3.0 port. It does not have an internal optical drive, an ExpressCard slot, DisplayPort, or eSATA. All picture descriptions are listed from left to right.
 Front: Air vents, speakers |  Back: Battery pack |
 Left: Kensington Lock slot, AC power, VGA, 2x USB 2.0, cooling exhaust vent |  Right: Headphone and microphone jacks, 1x USB 3.0, HDMI out, Ethernet |
Screen and Speakers
The 13.3-inch display has a glossy/reflective surface and a 720p resolution (1366x768). The screen has no outstanding qualities. Brightness and contrast are about the same as any other sub-$1,000 notebook; viewing angles are fine horizontally but colors distort from above and below, as expected from a TN-type display. Color reproduction is substandard (as is the case for most notebook screens); everything looks a bit cold/cool with the default settings. Fortunately ASUS includes built-in color profiles; press the [Fn] key and [C] to switch between them. ASUS is the only mainstream notebook maker to include such a feature and it is certainly appreciated.
The screen resolution of 1366x768 is standard for this screen size. I prefer 1600x900 since it has more space to work with (more lines of text can be viewed on the screen without scrolling), however no 13.3" notebook offers it anywhere close to the U36S' price range. Finally, the screen's glossy surface increases clarity but acts like a mirror, creating reflections; for this reason I prefer anti-glare screens.
There are two stereo speakers located under the palm rest; they sound tinny and have no bass. The sound is muffled further when hands are placed over them for typing.
ASUS has modified its standard keyboard design for the U36S; the island/Chiclet-style keyboard is completely integrated into the single piece of metal alloy that makes up the top of the chassis. This keyboard is a significant improvement over the ones used on previous ASUS notebooks; it feels solid and has no flex. The keys have a flat surface and a granular texture that will likely wear shiny over time. The key travel (distance between pressed and un-pressed positions) is just right, more than other ASUS notebooks. Furthermore the keyboard is relatively quiet. Overall the only thing it's missing is backlighting; it continues to be a rarity in the notebook market.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Lenovo Think Pad T400s
It seems a common trend at Lenovo right now is making super thin and lightweight ThinkPads. First the X300 hit the market, offering a super thin and lightweight chassis with the ruggedness we have come to expect from a ThinkPad. Now Lenovo has done it again with the T400, bringing a newer, lighter, redesigned T400s to the table. In this official review we show you what's changed on this new 14" ThinkPad, which even includes the legendary keyboard.
Our ThinkPad T400s specifications:
- OS: Windows Vista Business (SP1)
- Screen: 1440 x 900 WXGA+ LED Backlit (Matte finish)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
- Memory: 2GB DDR3 RAM (2GB x 1)
- Storage: 128GB Samsung SSD
- Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
- Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
- Graphics: Intel X4500M Integrated
- Built-in web camera
- Battery: 6-cell 11.1 44Wh
- Dimensions: (LxWxH) 13.27 x 9.49 x 0.83"
- Weight: 3lbs 14.3oz
- Starting Price: $1,599
Build and Design
The new ThinkPad T400s looks completely revamped and polished compared to the regular T400. The chassis has slimmed down significantly, and the weight of the notebook has also dropped by almost a pound. The exterior is still wrapped in Lenovo's much-loved rubberized black paint, but the design just looks cleaner and less busy than previous ThinkPad models.
Looking inside, the main changes start to become obvious. Besides the new keyboard and touchpad that we will go over shortly, Lenovo changed the shape of the palmrest around the touchpad, with the touchpad resting flush with the palmrest instead of being slightly recessed. The screen bezel is smooth all around the perimeter of the display, unlike the T400 which shows rough plastic grids near the built-in antennas and cutouts near the light and webcam. Even when compared to the ThinkPad X301, the new T400s looks more refined. The speaker grills are larger and look better suited to the design. Even the fingerprint reader manages to blend in better, with an all-black design instead of gold and silver like past models.
Build quality is still fantastic, with barely a hint of chassis flex even as it has decreased in thickness. The screen has some minor side-to-side flex when open, but no more than previous models. Protection for the screen, even with the super thin cover is surprisingly good, showing only small amounts of screen distortion when you are squeezing the back of the display. The new chassis feels quite rugged.
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With the thinner design Lenovo completely reworked the chassis for the T400s, and it looks completely different than the T400 once you start opening it up. The hard drive is now accessed through a panel under the left side of the palmrest, which is now 1.8" instead of the 2.5" found in the T400. System memory and Wireless Cards are found under a single access panel on the bottom of the notebook. Compared to removing the palmrest on previous models, you now just loosen one screw and pop off a single panel to upgrade memory. With most of the slots changing location to the underside of the notebook, removing the keyboard is now only required to replace a broken one, or to get access to a half-sized mini-PCIe slot used for Wireless USB on some models. I really hope future ThinkPads follow a similar design to the T400s, since it is so much easier to upgrade components now.
Screen and Speakers
The LED-backlit WXGA+ (1440 x 900) display on the T400s rates above average, with good color reproduction and very good peak backlight brightness levels. The display part number is LTN141BT08001, which may indicate that it has a Samsung panel. Colors appear bright and vibrant for a matte-finish display, and it has very nice contrast when the backlight isn't at the brightest setting. At 95-100% brightness the screen starts to look slightly washed out, which is pretty normal for higher brightness displays. My comfortable viewing brightness range for this notebook is between 50-60%, giving great black-levels and no hint of backlight bleed. Viewing angles are average for a TN-panel LCD, with colors quickly inverting or washing out as you Tilt the screen forward or back. With the matte finish and higher backlight power the screen is readable outdoors and quite visible in your car on a bright day.
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Speaker performance was lackluster, but that is common on most business notebooks. They work well for streaming audio or having a VOIP chat, but for movies and entertainment the headphone jack is a much better alternative.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Yes, Lenovo significantly changed the look, feel, and layout of the keyboard on the T400s. After you pick yourself up off the floor from fainting, you will quickly see most of the changes are for the better. The feel of the keys remains mostly untouched from past models ... outside of the fact that the spacebar seems to click loudly if you press it on the edges. The biggest change comes with a redesigned function key section, offering larger "escape" and "delete" keys. Through in-depth research Lenovo found that those two keys were used more than other function keys. As a result they doubled the height, and moved the position of the insert key and F1 key.
I think the coolest difference is the new media buttons and power button. The power switch and mute keys light up when activated, so instead of the power icon showing up on the bottom edge of your screen, the button itself is the indicator. The caps lock button now features a translucent window with an LED that lights up to indicate the caps lock is turned on. One thing that is missing is an AC and battery indicator light facing you with the screen open, as they are now external only.
The T400s offers one feature I have yet to see on any other notebook to date: a speaker AND microphone mute button. While I am not sure how often I personally need to turn off my microphone, if you videoconference or use Skype frequently then a quickly accessed mute button would come in handy. Another minor change is the key tolerances have decreased, meaning there is less room for crumbs or dust to fall in-between keys.
The new touchpad is different, but I am having a hard time figuring out if that is a good or bad thing. The old design used a slightly rough matte plastic finish, which gave some traction and made it easy to move your finger around even if sweaty. The new design has a raised dimple finish with a softer texture that feels strange. I found myself increasing the sensitivity in the Synaptics control panel to make movement feel more fluid, but then found it too sensitive. It seems that you need to apply consistent pressure when moving over the new touchpad, where before it was easy to flick your finger across. I think if the bumpy surface was glossy or more slick I might enjoy it more.
Another change is the shape and size of the trackpad buttons. The buttons have a radius contour that goes through the buttons to the edges where they meet the palmrest. From a design standpoint they flow better with the notebook than previous attempts, and it is even easier to access them from the touchpad now.
Ports and Features
Port selection on the T400s has been greatly improved over the T400 model. New to the back of the T400s is an eSATA port for Storage expansion and DisplayPort out, giving you digital video from the notebook itself. Just like the T400 it has three USB ports, one through a combo USB/eSATA port. Lenovo has kept the VGA port for legacy connections, since it is still used frequently for projectors. With the decrease in thickness the T400s lost its dual card slots, only keeping an ExpressCard/34 slot. The T400s offers a docking station connector on the bottom, but it is a new design that is incompatible with older models. The last big change came with the T60, and I can just hope that this docking station format stays the same for a few notebook generations to come.
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Internal features include integrated 3G WWAN and a handy GPS receiver. While 3G is pretty common these days GPS seems to always be passed over. Lenovo includes software for initializing the GPS receiver, and translating the NMEA data through a virtual COM port for applications. Since I am fond of Garmin GPS receivers, I installed a trial version of Garmin Mobile PC. Installation was simple and the software will automatically find the virtual COM port for communication with the GPS unit. The T400s was quick to acquire our location with a six satellite lock inside our office. So if you don't own an automotive GPS receiver yet, this $60 piece of software might come in handy paired with the T400s.
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Performance and Benchmarks
With an Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600 and 128GB Samsung SSD the T400s was no slouch ... despite the Intel X4500 integrated graphics. The T400s was extremely fast to boot, and was quietly waiting at the desktop idle much sooner than other notebooks we have reviewed. The T400s handles day-to-day uses, such as typing a paper, watching Hulu while the boss isn't watching, or enjoying an HD movie all with ease. Gaming presented a problem with the X4500 integrated graphics, so instead of playing Left 4 Dead you might have to compromise with Peggle. 720p and 1080p HD video decoded with no problems at all thanks to the fast processor, although outputting it to a home stereo might be tough without digital audio out through the DisplayPort. One original concern we had with system performance was the speed of the 1.8" drive, but as we found out the 128GB Samsung SSD included with our T400s blew the socks off most 2.5" drives. The only downside to this is the SSD is fairly expensive and the small size has few aftermarket options, whereas the 2.5" market is loaded with affordable alternatives.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
| HP Pavilion dv4t (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz) | 26.972 seconds |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz) | 27.410 seconds |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600 @ 2.53GHz) | 30.328 seconds |
| Dell Latitude E6400 (Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 @ 2.53GHz) | 30.497 seconds |
| Toshiba Satellite E105 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) | 33.961 seconds |
| Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) | 34.628 seconds |
PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
| Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (2.53GHz Intel SP9600, Intel X4500) | 7,590 PCMarks |
| Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3) | 6,589 PCMarks |
| Dell Latitude E6400 (2.53GHz Intel P9500, Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M 256MB) | 5,780 PCMarks |
| HP Pavilion dv4t (2.8GHz Intel T9600, NVIDIA 9200M GS 256MB) | 5,463 PCMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB) | 5,173 PCMarks |
| Toshiba Satellite E105 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) | 4,836 PCMarks |
3DMark06 measures video and gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance):
| Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3) | 2,575 3DMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB) | 2,211 3DMarks |
| Dell Latitude E6400 (2.53GHz Intel P9500, Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M 256MB) | 1,818 3DMarks |
| HP Pavilion dv4t (2.8GHz Intel T9600, NVIDIA 9200M GS 256MB) | 1,741 3DMarks |
| Toshiba Satellite E105 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) | 1,030 3DMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (2.53GHz Intel SP9600, Intel X4500) | 996 3DMarks |
*All 3DMark06 benchmark tests are set at 1280 x 800 screen resolution.
HDTune Storage drive performance results:
Heat and Noise
The T400s managed heat and noise very well during our tests, keeping external temperatures low with minimal noise from the cooling fan. After continuously stressing the notebook over a period of 30 minutes the fan never went above a whisper level. You had to put your ear to the vent to hear it above normal ambient noise. Under light activity the case barely warmed up above room temperature. Under heavier loads such as watching an HD movie or playing a quick game the temperatures increased slightly, but overall stayed very lap-friendly. External temperatures listed below are shown in degrees Fahreheit.
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Battery Life
Time on battery with the T400s was good, but not as impressive as the 10 hours experienced on the T400. Currently the only battery size offered is a 6-cell battery with a reported size of 45Wh. Compare this to the 9-cell on the T400 with a capacity of 84Wh, almost twice the size. Even with the smaller battery the T400s managed 5 hours and 48 minutes with the screen brightness set to 70%, Vista set to the Balanced profile, and wireless active. During the test power consumption varied between 6.5W and 8W depending on load. Compared to the T400 the power consumption drop most likely comes from the 1.8" SSD and integrated graphics chipset. Lenovo doesn't have plans to offer a larger main battery for extended battery life, similar to the 4-cell, 6-cell, and 9-cell options on the T400. What they will offer though is an ultra-bay battery to run in place of the optical drive, which should extend battery life by up to an additional three hours.
Conclusion
Overall I think Lenovo put a lot of time into thinking through the changes they made with the T400s so they wouldn't offend too many ThinkPad customers. The keyboard change is significant, but for all intents and purposes they stuck with the tried-and-true design. The keys feel the same, the core layout is the same, the only thing that changed were the function and media keys. Even though the keys look weird at first it takes about 3 seconds to adapt to the new layout. I think the super slim and lightweight design is excellent, moving to a layout that is easier to service by the end-user. The inclusion of eSATA and DisplayPort is something that should have come sooner, considering that the T400 doesn't offer a digital video output without a docking station.
The only complaint I have is with the price, starting well above the standard T400, and the costly drive upgrade options since it is limited to 1.8" models instead of the cheaper and more widely available 2.5" size. If you are in the market for a new ThinkPad and don't mind spending a bit extra for something thin and lightweight, the T400s is a great choice.
Pros:
- Excellent build quality
- Good keyboard changes
- Nice polished design
- eSATA and DisplayPort ... finally
- Very fast even with integrated graphics
Cons:
- Limited battery options
- 1.8" storage drive
- Different docking connector
Lenovo Idea Pad S10-2
The IdeaPad S10-2 is the latest generation 10" netbook from Lenovo, offering the 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom processor and a 6-cell extended battery. Lenovo redesigned this netbook to make it look slimmer and more attractive than its predecessor, giving the edges a rounded look and a more modern appearance. In our review we see how well the IdeaPad S10-2 performs in our tests, to help you make an informed buying decision.
Our Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 Configuration:
- 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
- 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
- Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)
- 10.1" WSVGA Glossy LED-backlit display with integrated camera 1024x600
- 160GB 5400rpm Western Digital Scorpio Blue hard drive
- Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
- Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless
- 4-in-1 Media card
- 6-Cell Li-ion 10.8v 4.06Ah 44Wh battery
- 40W AC Adapter
- Size: 10.2" x 7.6" x 0.7-1.8" (including battery)
- Weight: 2lbs 11oz, 3lbs 5.4oz travel weight
- Starting price: $439 (Currently on sale for $349 at the time of this review)
Build and Design
The second generation Lenovo S10 looks great, with a cleaner and smoother appearance all around. In the redesign, the sides changed from flat surfaces that looked stuck onto the chassis, to a rounder and smoother form that looks integrated into the netbook. As a result, the new S10 is thinner in most dimensions, with varying heights depending on the inner structure of the notebook. The all-black model which we were lucky enough to get looks great, with every bezel matte black, except the screen lid which has a glossy black finish with a faint metallic weave pattern. Contrasting the black surfaces the Lenovo logo, power button, and touchpad buttons are all silver. This theme continues to the bottom of the S10-2, which if some of the stickers were removed would share the same clean look. My only complaint is Lenovo stuck with the large Windows COA sticker, instead of the new netbook-sized stickers that can be hidden underneath the battery or someplace out of sight.
Lenovo went with an extended battery that significantly improves runtime over the smaller flush-mount one. The downside to this is it sticks out the back, and raises the netbook up off a surface about 0.75". Some could argue that it moves the keyboard into a more comfortable typing position, or it works great as an extra handle. I would personally like one that just sticks straight out the back, making aftermarket carrying cases much easier to choose.
Build quality is very good, with firm plastic used throughout the chassis and very little obvious flex or squeaking when you are carrying the netbook around. The screen hinges feel solid, needing two hands to easily open up the display. The matte plastic finish on the inside and bottom of the notebook stayed scratch free throughout the review. Likewise, the glossy finish held up surprisingly well; it did, however, give us a few scares, making us think we created huge scratches... which turned out to be smudges. Even if you did scratch this model, the black finish hides most blemishes (including smudges and dust).
From an upgrade standpoint Lenovo really wins our hearts with its user-friendly design that puts every swappable component behind one of two removable panels. Under the main panel, we have access to the hard drive, wireless card, and spare mini-PCIe slot with the connector included (some don't solder this in place so they can save money). The other slot is for the system memory, which is expandable to 2GB total. The only thing that could have made this better is if they went with the HP Mini approach, which doesn't even need a screwdriver to open the RAM cover.
Screen and Speakers
The glossy panel on the Lenovo S10-2 is average compared to other netbooks, with bright and vibrant colors, but somewhat limited viewing angles. The glossy screen really does an awesome job at making colors pop, and also helps reproduce deep blacks as well - handy for watching Sci-Fi flicks. The downside to this and any other glossy screen, though, is added reflection, making screen visibility poor when outdoors or under a bright light.
Viewing angles seemed average, with colors starting to shift if the screen was titled about 20 degrees forward or back. Horizontal viewing angles just showed a slight hint of color shift, but nothing that would really bother you if you were sharing the screen with someone sitting next to you. Backlight brightness was perfect for viewing in bright office conditions, but might not have been strong enough to use outside. I spent a couple of hours out in my garage with bright shop lights on around it, and my motorcycle schematics were still fully visible from a few feet away. One possibly limiting factor of the screen design which might affect a few people is the limited hinge range, which prevents the screen from tilting completely flat. It stops the screen about 45 degrees back from vertical.
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The speakers on the S10-2 are lap-firing, facing down underneath the palmrest. If you are listening to the speakers on a flat desk surface you can hear the full (albeit limited) range of the speakers, but if the notebook is sitting on a soft surface like your bed or lap, they get quite muffled. Music from the speakers sounds clear and crisp with excellent higher frequency reproduction, but falls flat with midrange and low-frequency support. For VOIP, streaming music, or YouTube they will probably work fine, but headphones would be the best option if you plan on watching a movie or are doing something that requires you to pay attention to all the little nuances of the audio source.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the S10-2 is a bit small compared to some netbooks, sticking with a condensed layout (instead of cramming in as much keyboard space as possible like what we see on the HP netbooks). This in itself isn't a bad thing, since you get used to it after a while, but coming from full-size notebook and larger netbook keyboards can be challenging. Keyboard support is excellent, exhbiting no flex or trampoline affect when typing. Individual keys feel sturdy with no wobble when sliding your fingertips across the surface, and key action is smooth with a very mild "click" given off when you trigger a key.
The touchpad is a Synaptics model with limited multi-touch support. The only multi-finger control you get in the control panel is "pinch", to zoom in on the cursor area. Just the same, sensitivity and speed were excellent, with no lag present in our testing. The size of the touchpad could be slightly larger or wider, to give a more defined scroll region. The surface texture is a smooth, almost gloss finish, which has decent traction but still lets a sweaty finger glide across the surface without sticking.
The touchpad buttons are easy to trigger, with only a light touch needed to activate them. Feedback is minimal with a very short throw. They both give off a mild click when pressed.
Ports and Features
Port selection is average compared to other netbooks, with three USB ports, audio jacks, LAN, VGA, and a Kensington Lock slot. Lenovo also includes a wireless on/off switch, SDHC multi-card slot, and an open internal mini-PCIe slot (probably for WWAN). One feature missing from the previous generation model is the ExpressCard/34 slot, but its uses are fairly limited for what netbook users might need.
Front: Activity lights, SDHC slot
Rear: Battery
Left: LAN, VGA, 1 USB, Mic/Headphone
Right: Wireless On/Off, 2 USB, Kensington Lock slot, AC power
Performance and Benchmarks
System performance seemed on par with many of the newer netbook models hitting the market. Boot and shutdown times were excellent, quickly coming up to a fully ready state without much waiting. For normal tasks such as web browsing, typing documents, playing music, or even watching video the IdeaPad S10-2 performed flawlessly.
Normally, users buying a netbook (outside of the ASUS N10 with dedicated graphics) understand that gaming just isn't going to be realistic. For this reason we find 3D benchmarks, which normally register very slow performance, to not be as relevant for these systems. Thus, we are shifting toward HD movie tests for netbooks, which are more in the realm of what a netbook can handle on the high end in terms of performance. In our HD video test the S10-2 played up to 480p and 720p video without much trouble. 720p video was starting to task the processor leaving little overhead, but it was very watchable. However, 1080p video was badly out of sync and painful to view.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz) 76.240 seconds HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz) 103.521 seconds ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz) 114.749 seconds ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz) 116.030 seconds ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz) 116.421 seconds Lenovo S10-2 (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.6GHz) 122.247 seconds HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz) 123.281 seconds Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz) 124.829 seconds Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 125.812 seconds Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 126.406 seconds Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz) 173.968 seconds
Notebook PCMark05 Score Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950) 2,446 PCMarks HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB) 2,191 PCMarks ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB) 1,851 PCMarks Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950) 1,839 PCMarks ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 1,637 PCMarks ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 1,564 PCMarks Acer Aspire One 150-1635 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,555 PCMarks ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 1,535 PCMarks Lenovo S10-2 (1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950) 1,511 PCMarks Acer Aspire One D250-1165 (1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, Intel GMA 950) 1,456 PCMarks Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3) 1,441 PCMarks HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950) 1,437 PCMarks
In our ongoing quest to provide helpful information to our readers we are adding the following video playback table to our reviews of netbooks. Since netbooks are starting to be used for mobile entertainment (watching movie trailers or streaming video) it's important to know how a netbook performs when trying to play a simple video file. We selected a family-friendly movie trailer and downloaded three different versions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. We used the CCCP Codec Pack for decoding and Media Player Classic Homecinema (version 1.1.796.0) for playing all of the video files.
Video Playback Performance: Heat and Noise Battery Life Conclusion Pros Cons
Video Resolution CPU Usage Playback Comments 480p 20%-30% (hyperthreading) Plays flawlessly 720p 44%-49% (hyperthreading) Plays with an occasional dropped frame 1080p 50%-60% (hyperthreading) Plays with severe stutter, dropped frames and audio out of sync
HDTune for the built-in hard drive:
While performing normal activities (browsing the web, playing MP3s, typing documents, etc.) the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 ran fairly cool and quiet. The fan remained off during this time, which included the majority of our battery test. Under more stressful activity, like running benchmarks, watching HD video, or playing Peggle, the fan came on occasionally, but was quiet enough to not be a nuisance. On the top surface of the notebook, the only part that stuck out as warm to the touch was the touchpad, while on the bottom the heat was centralized around the RAM. If you are sensitive to heat or noise the S10-2 seems to be a pretty acceptable choice.
Battery life was excellent, but at the downside of having a gigantic battery sticking out and down from the back of the netbook. With the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and Windows XP set to the laptop/portable power setting the notebook managed 7 hours and 15 minutes with light web browsing. During the test power consumption fluctuated between 6 and 7.5 watts.
The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 performed quite well in our tests, showing consistently better results that the previous model. The design looks much cleaner than before, and with the black color scheme, at least, the netbook is visually excellent. Battery life was improved, no doubt due to the large extended battery that sticks out behind and below, giving us over 7 hours in out battery test. The S10-2 handled 480p and 720p video without too many problems, but 1080p video was too much to ask for from the Intel Atom N270 and GMA950 chipset. Overall, the IdeaPad's price is very attractive, with a $439 MSRP - lower than previous models, and sale prices put it as low as $349. Our only big complaint is the rather cramped keyboard, but if you don't mind typing on the smaller keys the keyboard feels very well built and easy to type on.
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