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  Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 Netbook

  Rohan Naravane, Feb 03, 2010 1253 hrs IST

  A youthful design and a few neat tricks makes this netbook different

  Cool youthful design, slim and lightweight, Windows 7 Starter OS, 250GB hard drive, face recognition tool, fair pricing

  Small keyboard and touch-pad hampers usability, no Wi-fi 802.11n support, interchanged Fn and Ctrl keys are confusing to use

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Page 1 - Build and Design 1 of 2 Page 2 - Build and Design 2 of 2 Page 3 - PCMark 05 Page 4 - SiSoft Sandra 1 of 2 Page 5 - SiSoft Sandra 2 of 2 Page 6 - Battery Life, Price, Verdict

Netbooks haven't evolved much since the last year and most of them currently selling in the market come with almost identical internal components. However, manufacturers claim to make something unique by slapping on a feature or two in their new models. Following this trend, we have Lenovo's refreshed version of their Ideapad S-10 (dubbed the S10-2) for test today. Let's see if these add-ons really add any value to this device.
 
Design and Build

The Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 bowls over the 'corporate-suit' avatars that other netbooks bear with its cool youthful design. The one that we received had an oceanic blue design. However, a few colleagues at office felt that the design was a bit gaudy. It's available in a few other radical designs as well. The build feels plasticky but the quality's pretty decent. The screen hinge offers fair resistance. It's fairly lightweight and thin too. Its thinness is only disturbed by the protruding six-cell battery at the back.

Opening the lid reveals the regular 10-inch display found on most netbooks. It is fairly bright and the content on the screen is easily readable. The webcam above it delivers a decent clarity as well. The Ideapad S10-2's keyboard seems a little small as compared to the Eee PC 1005HA or HP Mini 110. Although their tactility is decent, the key size could have been larger. The function keys, however, are undeniably tiny.

Another flaw is the interchanged Fn and Ctrl keys. The left Ctrl button comes to use many a times -for e.g. while changing tabs or highlighting text. Thus, it's confusing and a hurdle to use. Below that is an equally small touch-pad. The touch-sensitive area is made of the same plastic that covers the rest of the body, which isn't smooth to move the finger on. One can get used to working on it after some time, but it's not the best usability experience in our opinion.

Page 1 - Build and Design 1 of 2 Page 2 - Build and Design 2 of 2 Page 3 - PCMark 05 Page 4 - SiSoft Sandra 1 of 2 Page 5 - SiSoft Sandra 2 of 2 Page 6 - Battery Life, Price, Verdict

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