Lenovo IdeaPad S12 ION Review
Pros:
Nvidia ION provides great multimedia experience, Solid build quality, 320 GB hard drive, 3 GB RAM, Veriface login system
Cons:
Price
Bottom Line:
The Lenovo Ideapad S12 ION is the most powerful netbook I've reviewed this year and if you aren't on a strict budget you can stop reading this review right now and go buy it (This is the specific model I reviewed). The 320 GB hard drive, 3 GB's RAM and Nvidia ION inside provide the perfect netbook experience for someone looking beyond simple office work and internet browsing as demonstrated here. In fact it's almost easy to forget this is a netbook until you see the Intel Atom processor and - sadly - the price. Lenovo products are almost always made of better quality materials than their competitors so I can cut them a slight break, but I still believe it's a little overpriced. Yes, the only true legitimate complaint I can share is that the price of this netbook is expensive ($649 for the highest end model I reviewed)
. Lenovo does offer sales from time to time which I recommend you wait for unless you're such a big fan of Lenovo that you don't mind buying it at full price.
Quick Product Specs:
Intel Atom N270 1.60 GHz Processor, 3 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery, Windows 7 Home Premium
See Full Specs
Full Review:
The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 ION is a 12 inch netbook that is much better suited to viewing HD content and playing games than the original Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Review to be posted soon) thanks in part to it's Nvidia ION chipset inside. Again, this addition comes at a price. If you don't need to watch HD content or play some of latest games just buy the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 instead and save a few hundred dollars. But beyond the price which I've already beaten to death let's move onto the appearance and functionality of the netbook.
Design:
The netbook is only 1 inch thick, but with the 6 cell battery it raises the back of the netbook about half an inch. The casing feels like it's made of high quality materials and when holding the netbook by the corner there is no flex in the body. Yes this is only a 12 inch netbook and not a 15 inch laptop, but even when holding it by the screen it still felt very solid. Something I haven't always found to be the case with other netbooks I've reviewed. The top part of the netbook has a pattern of various sized circles in the design that adds a little more to the design instead of sticking to a flat black. More importantly, it's difficult to leave an unsightly fingerprint smudge on the top of the netbook case like my old Asus Eee PC 1000HE would do along with some of the other netbooks I've seen.
Usability:
The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 features a full sized keyboard which is expected given it's 12 inch frame. The keys have a nice firm response (I'd say it's one of the best keyboards I've used). The touchpad is also easy to use at 2.5 inches wide and 1.5 inches high. Typing was a breeze as I spent a significant amount of time typing emails and browsing the net for HD content to watch and various PC game demos to try out. I wrote an article and showed some before and after videos of the new Flash utilizing the Nvidia ION chipset as well as a game demo of the PC game Crysis (see the post here). Simply put, watching HD content and playing graphically intense PC games is a gratifying experience on the S12 ION and one that is normally reserved for much more expensive laptops or desktops. The Veriface login system is also back (see my review of it here).
The S12 has 3 USB ports, multi media card slot, headset input, mic input, VGA input and HDMI input. The nice inclusion here is the HDMI port. I've seen some netbooks with HDMI ports in the past and despite the fact that they don't come close to full 1080p resolution, they also rarely have the graphics capabilities to even warrant having an HDMI port in the first place. I tested out the HDMI port on one of my 26 inch Samsung monitors and the image looked pretty good even with the lower resolution (you can only output 1280 x 800).
Benchmarking:
The Lenovo Ideapad S12 scored 1430 on the PCMark05 test which is higher than any other netbooks I've tested, but still would not be enough for the highest graphic settings on the most system demanding games. Here are the HD Tune results for the hard drive:
Battery Life:
The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 ION has a 6 cell battery that provides a lower than netbook average battery life at about 4.5 hours under normal usage. This is to be expected though as 12 inch netbooks already tend to trend to towards a lower battery life than their 10 inch brothers. You also have to consider the Nvidia ION chipset which draws down on the battery life as well. I ran battery eater pro under 1280 x 800 32 bit settings with full screen mode on and was able to get 4 hours. Battery Eater Pro isn't the best way to test batteries as no one will ever be taxing their computer non stop the entire time, but it helps to provide a decent idea. If you need a machine with better battery life and don't need all of the multimedia capabilities, I suggest you look at the Asus Eee PC 1005HA.
Overall Performance:
Overall, I believe this is the best netbook out on the market right now for people that want something a little larger and more powerful than the familiar 10 inch netbook size. With the ability to handle HD content and many games with ease, this is a true laptop replacement and worthy entry in the budding 12 inch netbook market. What it truly comes down to is whether or not you want to pay the money for a premium netbook that is at least a hundred dollars or more over other similarly equipped netbooks. I believe that the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is definitely worth looking at (this is the high end model I reviewed), but I suggest you try and find it on sale. If you don't want to spend that kind of money but still like Lenovo's 12 inch netbook buy the model without the Nvidia Ion inside
.
See more expert reviews for the Lenovo Ideapad S12 at TestFreaks
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Tagged: featured, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, Nvidia ION, Windows 7
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