The Lenovo Ideapad 06517HU markets itself as a Tablet Netbook, which is and of itself a confusing title. In order to give you a fair assessment of what you want and need from a system we will look at this system purely as a Netbook, and consider any tablet like features to be a bonus.

Let's begin with the specs. The Lenovo Ideapad 06517HU features an Intel Atom N455 processor, which is a par for the course offering for a netbook. It will give you the power to do the things that you want to, provided that your expectations are reasonable for a netbook. Don't expect to play WOW, download and listen to streaming music all at the same time, and you will more than happy with what this processor can give you for normal work and play use.

The system also comes with 250GB of hard drive space, which is a decent amount of space, provided that you do not plan on installing too many memory intensive programs, and you don't expect to fill up a system with your movies. This system will have more than enough space as long as you make sure to clear out old files every couple of months. The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium, which will not present a large learning curve for most users. On the whole you can already see how this system could be a great one for meeting your needs at work. Now, lets talk about some of the fun parts.

The Lenovo Ideapad 06517HU has a touch screen, which is good for people who have a work style that is less keyboard dependant and more about the mouse. Users are reporting that this screen is fairly responsive and sturdy enough to use without fear of breaking it or scratching it, though having a screen protector on there is still probably a really good idea. Also, it is worth bearing in mind that this is a natural touch screen so you will not be able to use a pen or a stylus in order to do it. The screen also has 180 degrees of rotation so you can share your screen with others or use it in a manner similar to a tablet. Just be aware that some users of the device have reported that the rotation mechanism can be a bit sensitive. So be sure not to push it too hard when you rotate it.

This system also has some interesting features. Have you ever logged into your system with facial recognition technology? Well, you could be doing that if you had this machine. OK, so it is basically a novelty, but it can be fun way to add additional security to your system. Just be sure to combine it with your carefully crafted password. The other nifty thing worth mentioning is the Active Protection System which helps to cushion your hard drive if accidentally drop it.

On the whole this is, despite its name, a solid choice for the majority of netbook users. If however you are in search of something different, check out our netbook comparisons page to find a machine that is better suited to your needs.

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Netbook takes up a funny kind of a space in our collective technology needs. We want it to give us things that seem to be contradictions. We want more, in the way of power and speed (and let’s be honest here graphics capability) and we want it to be less heavy and less expensive. So, does the Lenovo Ideapad S10-3 meet our contradictory needs or does it leave and end use wanting for more? Let’s find out.

This system is, in many ways, very typical of a netbook. It comes equipped with an Intel® Atom™ N455 Processor, and 250GB of hard drive to back it for storage purposes. When it comes to netbooks these features are basically standard. They will get the job done for you, but they are really nothing to write home about or get excited over. Though, this could make it an ideal choice for a high school or university student who you do not want to give a more advanced machine to for fear or breakage or theft.

What about graphics? Well the screen has a resolution of 1024x600 on its 10.1-inch screen. Again, we are looking at something very average. It is not what you would call HD, though you will be able to enjoy your streaming standard definition media on this netbook. The system tells us that it has an integrated web camera, but gives us no information about it to make a better judgment, so we must assume that, like everything else on this machine it is middle of the road in quality.

The best feature on the Lenovo Ideapad S10-3 is the size of the keyboard. At 99% of a full sized laptop keyboard will not hurt and it is easy to use. Some users have been reporting issues with the sensitivity of the built in track pad on this device. Many users say that it is lacking in sensitivity, and that you would be better off simply using a USB mouse to fill in the gap, though this option could limit your ability to use other peripheral devices at the same time.

The biggest complaint that users have with the Lenovo Ideapad S10-3 is the operating system. Since this system uses Windows 7 starter edition it is both slow to load and a bit of a system resource hog. Though a variety of users report the OS as slow to boot, it could be a good choice for anyone not willing to learn a new OS in order to use a netbook. Just be aware that you will have to wait a little bit to get where you want to go in order to avoid that learning curve.

This Ideapad is a good choice if you need a middle of the road machine without too many accessories or external storage. If you need something more, then check out our netbook comparisons page to find the one that is right for you.

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Pros:

Terrific design, Great keyboard

Cons:

Low battery life

Bottom Line:

The Lenovo X100e is an 11.6 inch business class netbook coming from the Thinkpad line and is currently priced at $514.95. The keyboard is terrific featuring the chiclet style keys with edges slightly rounded upwards on the edges prevent finger slipping and they contribute to one of the best netbook keyboards on the market. The performance in this netbook is much higher than average netbooks in part because of it's dual core 1.6 GHz AMD Turion processor; however, with the upcoming 11.6 inch netbooks featuring Nvidia ION 2 (even better graphics) it could be better to wait. The battery life is also a little underwhelming which clocked in at about 4.5 hours compared to other netbooks that can do around 8 hours - that being said, most 11.6 inch netbooks have lower battery life than their 10 inch counterparts. Overall the good things outweigh the bad and if you want to sacrifice a little battery life for a larger netbook this is a great option to investigate further.

Quick Product Specs:

AMD Neo 1.6 GHz Dual Core Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Pro (see full specs)

Full Review:

Design:

The netbook is only 1 inch thick, and unlike most other netbooks the battery extends out the back about an inch instead of contributing to a bulge on the bottom. This is a welcome change and one I wish more netbook manufacturers adopted. The case of the netbook is the typical business black that Lenovo is known for in it's Thinkpad line so while I believe it lacks a bit of personality it still looks incredibly sleek. There are two sets of touchpad buttons (one set if you're using the regular touchpad and another if you're using the "eraser" style center mouse pointer). The island style keyboard looks spectacular and I'll get to how great it is in a later part of the review.

Usability:

The Lenovo X100e (like the Lenovo S10-3) has one of the best netbook keyboards I've ever laid my hands on. Lenovo designed a new island style chiclet keyboard that has raised edges on the sides of the keys to make it easier to prevent fingers from slipping off and hitting incorrect keys while typing. This keyboard feels incredibly expansive and it's a noticeable change using this 11.6 inch netbook over the 10 inch netbooks. Unlike it's smaller brother the Lenovo S10-3 - the X100e has a fantastic touchpad that is plenty large and easy to use (I'm a stickler for small touchpads and don't tolerate them). The improved components in this netbook (1.6 GHz dual core processor and 2 GB RAM) make this a very snappy netbook and it loads programs much faster than my old ASUS Eee PC 1008HA. This netbook features an 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 resolution screen and I was very impressed with the clarity. Perhaps this is because I'm so used to 1024 x 600 10 inch netbooks, but in either case the higher resolution screen is a very nice feature and what makes it even better is that it is a matte screen as well! I could see easily and without any glare when I took it outside and turned the brightness up.

Battery Life:

The Lenovo X100e has a 6 cell battery that provides the netbook an average battery life of about 4.5 hours. As I've said before, I would prefer to have seen a slightly higher battery life than that number, but most competing 11.6 inch netbooks fall in that range. When it comes to deciding whether you purchase this netbook or not you should just ask yourself if you prefer something a little larger with a lower battery life or can settle for something smaller (10 inch) in exchange for a longer battery life.

Overall Performance:

Overall I think the Lenovo X100e does a few things wonderfully for $514.95 Lenovo X100e available at Amazon.com: the keyboard, design, screen and solid build quality. The only thing you really need to decide is if 4.5 hours of battery life will be enough for you. I personally would have liked to see at least a couple extra hours, but if in the end you need more juice to get you through the day I'd look at some of the 10 inch options via our netbook comparison grid.

See more about the $515 Lenovo X100e available at Amazon.com

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Pros:

Terrific design, Great keyboard (98% full size), Excellent bundled software

Cons:

Small Touchpad

Bottom Line:

The Lenovo S10-3 is a great improvement over the S10-2 in regards to both the design and the functionality of the keyboard. The built in Quick Start function and terrific Veriface software strike high notes for it's built in software. Sadly, the key area the S10-3 falls short in is the touchpad. Because the touchpad and buttons are part of one single combined unit the usable surface area of the touchpad is even smaller than you expect (see the video above to get a better idea of what I'm saying). If you use the netbook with a mouse this isn't an issue, but I believe most users probably don't use mice with their netbooks. I believe the small touchpad holds the S10-3 back from greatness in the mid range netbook market priced at $350. I would look at other options before setting your sites on this netbook unless you plan to rarely use the touchpad.

Quick Product Specs:

Intel Atom N450 1.66 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Starter (see full specs)

Full Review:

Design:

The netbook is only 1 inch thick, but near the back of the unit the 6 cell battery adds a little more height to the unit (nothing more than a typical battery bulge though). The top of the unit displays an eye pleasing checkerboard design that is fingerprint proof. Inside the netbook we see a brushed style that adds to the overall pleasing aesthetics of the unit. The island style keyboard looks lovely and I'll get to how great it is in a later part of the review, but here we get our first look at my major complaint about the netbook - it's touchpad.

Usability:

The Lenovo S10-3 has one of the best netbook keyboards I've laid my hands on. Lenovo designed a new island style chiclet keyboard that has raised edges on the sides of the keys to make it easier to prevent fingers from touching incorrect keys while typing. This keyboard is massive on a 10 inch netbook coming in at 98% full size. It just looks and feels incredible, it's too bad that this big keyboard comes at a price - small touchpad. The usable space on the touchpad is 2.75 inches wide by 1 inch high. Clearly the width isn't an issue, but in this case the height is. I didn't measure based on the physical size of the touchpad instead I measured based on where the touchpad stops responding to my finger (which is right where the dots are on the touchpad). So that's why we're stuck with this small touchpad. I truly wish the touchpad were just .3 inches taller even (1.5 inches is what the Sony Vaio W has), but sadly it isn't. If you use this netbook with a mouse everything is amazing because then you don't have to worry about the touchpad but you still get a huge wonderful keyboard.

The netbook does feature the new Splashtop 2.0 which allows you to customize the experience you receive when using the Quick Start feature. Quick Start allows you to boot to a separate OS in under 10 seconds to access email, skype, pandora, CNN and other various applications that you can change out. Back again is Lenovo's Veriface software which allows you to login to your computer with your face.

Battery Life:

The Lenovo S10-3 has a 6 cell battery that provides the netbook an average battery life of 7 hours which I am inclined to agree with based on light browsing / blogging. At this price I'd like to see a battery life that comes into the double digits like so many models offered by ASUS (i.e. 1005PE), but it's still a good number.

Overall Performance:

Overall I think the Lenovo S10-3 does a few things wonderfully for $350: the keyboard, design (except the touchpad), built in software and solid build quality. If you plan to use the netbook with a mouse frequently then you will love this netbook. If you don't plan to use a mouse then I suggest looking at other alternatives first.

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This has been a Netbook Reviews Post

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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