I’ve been asked to play around with a Lenovo IdeaPad S12 and give feedback as to whether this netbook would meet a sales person’s needs. I’ve had this little baby for a few weeks and I wrote a tidy list of how I feel about it, in case any of you out there are evaluating a netbook for your own use.
To sum up: I love it.
Pros
· Size & weight make it easy to carry to meetings, take notes electronically
· No issue connecting to the wireless network setup behind the firewall
· Full size keyboard, so no hand cramping (just like typing on any standard 15.4″ notebook)
· Changed resolution to make icons bigger – no issue with screen size as a result (12.1″ display)
· The charger is tiny; take up no space when travelling
· Built in video camera means I can Skype with clients; make better (read realer) client connections
Cons
· Resetting the resolution to create bigger icons/font on the netbook means the display on the monitor can look a bit distorted and Comic Sans-like. I hate Comic Sans!
· The Video cable has 2 screws to hold the cable firmly to the video port (for the monitor) but the netbook doesn’t have the feminine parts to bolt on; this means you have to be extra careful and not jostle the video cable.
· Mouse pad is tiny.
· Only 160 GBs on the netbook, so external desktop hard drive is recommended (especially for music and videos)
· Lots of stuff to plug in vs. docking station (mouse, speakers, keyboard, monitor, e tc.) which only leaves one spare USB port available
Breakin’ it down . . . some serious specs:
- Display: 12.1 WXGA (1280 X 800) LED 200 nit, 250g
- Processor: Intel Atom N270
- Graphics: Intel integrated GMA 950, Nvidia ION
- Memory: Up to 1GB DDR2 533 MHz
- Hard Drive: Up to 160 GB SATA (160, 250, 320)
- Battery Life: 3 hours with 3-cell, 6 hours with 6-cell
- Weight: 1.4kg with 3 cell, 1.55kg with 6 cell
- Dimensions: 292 X 216 X 22-28.9mm
- Connectivity: 10/100m Ethernet, Broadcom 578M, Intel WiFi Link 5150 1X2 AGN, Intel WiFi Link 5100 1X2 AGN, Non-Intel wireless b/g, Non-Intel wireless b/g/n, Bluetooth
- Other: 3 USB, 1 Expresscard slot (Intel and VIA platforms), 4-in-1 card reader, VGA, RJA45, HDMI
- Software: XP Home SP3 (32 bit)
