Lenovo Ideapad S10 10.2Inch Netbook 1.6 GHz Intel
November 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under $300 - $400, Lenovo, Products
Netbook ....read more Average Customer Rating
Brand: Lenovo Model: 59-016575 Price: $349.99 |   | |
Related Products | ||
5 out of 5
Comments
30 Responses to “Lenovo Ideapad S10 10.2Inch Netbook 1.6 GHz Intel”Speak Your Mind
Tell us what you're thinking...and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Much better than I expected.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a well made laptop – it is not real fast, but it is real inexpensive. – It has a ton of hard disk – the keyboard is small enought that I some times mistype but it runs big applications from my recliner and I mess with it 2 to 4 hours a day.
Easily overloooked, great little netbook in a crowded market
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
First thing’s first: when it comes to netbook shopping, you have a LOT of options. Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP, MSI, Samsung — to name a few — have all thrown their hats into the game (seems Apple is the only holdout). So it can be a little bewildering to someone who’s looking for a $300-$400 machine and doesn’t know where to start.
The Lenovo S10 is a solid choice for a bunch of reasons. I’ll start with the least important: aesthetics. It’s (for the most part) a solidly-built little unit, and it looks great in black or white (or one of the other funky color combos around). It feels sturdy and substantial, the screen is bright and attractive, and the trackpad, while small, is well-placed and responsive.
[One minor note about build quality: the cool silver circles on either side of the S10 can pop off if it suffers a drop/bump, making it look much less pretty than it is. So be careful.]
As for performance, if you go with the default, $300-400 model, you’re probably going to be getting a 1.60 Ghz Intel Atom processor, which is fine for word processing, web surfing, some light (emphasis on LIGHT) photo editing and retouching, music management, and so on. However, I’ve done some video encoding on this thing (inserting subtitles and the like), and boy does it chug. I mean, it’ll get processor-intensive tasks done, but it’ll take its sweet time.
One really nice thing about the S10 is that adding a stick of RAM (HIGHLY recommended — and cheap ($25)) and swapping the HD is a breeze. The bottom of the netbook opens easily, and you have immediate access to all its yummy innards.
A couple of issues bother me though: The first big fault with this device is (1) its wonky wireless card which occasionally loses a signal for no reason. I’ve tested every element of my home network (running a D-Link DIR-655 router and serving a NAS and two laptops, including this one), and the fault lies squarely with the S10′s default wireless card. The second is (2) it gets hot. The fan turns on, and it gets a little loud for so small a laptop. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not irritating-loud or noticeably loud, but if you’re in a small, silent room, you’ll hear it (and feel it if it’s on your lap).
All that being said, if you’re in the market for a cheap netbook that gets the job done, the Lenovo S10 is as good an entry as any other. Add a stick of RAM, and you can easily get it running dual boot. I’ve played with the MSI Wind (and got one for my sister for Christmas) and the Eee (a friend has it), and the S10 feels just a smidge better than both. But ultimately, your best bet is to play with each and decide then.
Great item
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Having first purchased a Dell 9 inch and having to return it because the wi-fi did not work, I thought a little larger screen would be better. I am very satisfied with the Lenovo 10 inch netbook. I use this as a computer away from home. Light weight and great for travel.
Excellent netbook
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I looked at several brands of netbook before deciding on the Lenovo. I am very happy with my decision. While the keyboard is slightly smaller than other 10″ netbooks, it is certainly usable with a little adjustment (I am a touch-typer). The only bothersome oddity is the right shift key, as others have mentioned. That being said, the feel of the keyboard is much better than others in my opinion. In addition a new model is out now (the S10-2) with a better keyboard layout.
The place where the Lenovo shines above others, in my opinion, is in its fit and finish. Others seem to lack the attention to detail that this model has. For example, the keyboard on the HPs (I saw this several times) is mounded up on the left side and the shiny plastic over the screen is rippled. Annoying. And a lot of times the Asus keyboards registered false (or no) keystrokes. The MSI Winds like to tip over backwards. But the Lenovo is pretty solidly built, and it looks tastefully subdued like a good business machine should. Pretty nice if that’s your thing.
I found that it’s processor and hard drive are plenty fast for me even with “only” 1 GB of RAM installed. But I’m not a gamer and don’t care to watch videos on it, so I don’t really push the limits. The screen is pretty nice and is the full 1024×600.
The model I received included the Splash Top quick boot OS. This allows you to boot an appliance-like OS which has a browser (a rebranded and stripped down Firefox 2) a media player and a few other tools. It’s nice but it disables features like plugins for the browser, or the ability to download files, so there are limits to what you can do with it. Great if you want to check news & weather or quickly get directions on the way out the door.
If you’re interested, here’s how the hard drive was partitioned: 115 GB primary partition formatted FAT32 contained the Windows XP OS. I’m pretty sure FAT32 was chosen instead of the newer NTFS because it allows Splash Top to access media files you have obtained and stored using Windows. A second 30 GB partition formated NTFS shows up as drive D: in Windows, and there is a 3rd partition (hidden in Windows) used to store disk images for the One Key Restore system.
I wanted to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but the manual advises not to mess with the 115 or 15 GB partitions because it may cause the One Key Restore to stop working. So I decided to use part of the 30 GB partition to install Ubuntu. This actually seems to work out pretty well because Ubuntu has no problem easily accessing the FAT32 main partition natively. So you can store all your music, movies, photos and working files on this large partition and use them either in Windows or Ubuntu. Makes for a pretty good setup.
The install of Ubuntu was painless. Just follow the instructions on the Ubuntu site and it does pretty much the rest for you. Networking, sleep and hibernate, screen brightness and volume and all the other function keys worked without having to do any tweaking. Only the internal mic needs some help to get working, but instructions are available if you look for them on the web. The nice think about UNR is that it makes really good use of the limited screen area on these smaller computer. It also boots faster than Windows and seems generally snappier.
I would certainly recommend this model to anyone in the market for a netbook.
good buy for the money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I also bought the Asus 10 inch model with Linux before I got the S10 like another reviewer said. I sold my Asus in about 2 month ebcause frankly I really don’t know how to use Linux. I can surf internet fine by installing software on it isn’t so easy, and I just give up. The load time for the linux Asus was not as fast I thought it would be considering it’s linux and all. With the S10, I am pleasantly surprised it wasn’t loaded with crap like Dell, and I only uninstalled the anti-virus thing because I have another one. Other than that, nothing junky and not many programs on there at all.
I just bought mine (Lenovo sells the one with 6 cell battery now) and arrive today, yes it took a LONG time, about 1 month for them to ship. Once they ship it got here within 2 days. So far i am happy with it. The design, the feel, the quality of the keyboard and screen. Battery sticks out al ittle but I don’t mind it. XP loads up really fast, faster than Linux. ALl prgrams loads fast and well. The only initial problem I had was wifi set up. It keep saying about unable to authenticate certificate soemthing. Called tech support, and got an idiot who knows less about networking then me, give up, fixed the thing myself. It was only a matter of unchecking a box in the settings. After that everything was great. I have no problem with keyboard layout, track pad feels good even though it’s small. Clickers are nicely gone, not too tight or loose. Haven’t tried upgrade RAM yet, maybe some day. I am happy with the way it is now. SUper fast and looks great!
Also I bypassed the purchase of Acer (new 10 inch) for this one because the mouse/tracker on Acer is not great. I hate having the clicker on the left and right side of the mousepad. I like and am used to them being on the bottom. Also the mousepad on the acer model is even smaller.
a lot of machine for $400
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am liking this Netbook, finding it to be fast and powerful enough for my needs at work and on the road. It is lightweight, attractive, and fun. I have had it a month now. Really good for travel and moving around, quick to pick up wireless options and get on-line. Two and a half hour battery, recharges in one hour. Nice long cord. No CD rom built in, so must use an external unit, or another computer to play disks, but with three USB portals, this is easy to negotiate. The only down-side for me has been learning to use the small rightside shift key…if your right pinky misses that little key, you find yourself moving along another line of type, and have to pause to make adjustments.
At just $400 (including sleeve, tax, and delivery), with such a light weight and small size, I love it.
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 — Fine, capable unit
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of units before selecting this one. I liked the construction quality, the styling, screen size, large disk, ease of memory expansion and screen brightness. All have proven to be great. It’s a solid unit, decent battery life and, of course, a great size. Can easily work in coach airline seats with this unit and even have room for a separate mouse. Which you’ll want because the negatives are the mouse (noisy, stiff) and the keyboard layout. Both easily overcome by taking time to adjust to it or using remapping software. It would also be nice to have BlueTooth, but maybe in the next version. Overall, I think it’s a really fine netbook and would have no problem recommending it.
One of the best Netbooks out there
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
To begin I would have to say that this Netbook is a lot smaller in person than it appears in any of the pictures or videos online. If you have never seen a Netbook in person, I would suggest going to a store and look around at the different Netbooks to you can relate to the size of the screen and the general size of the keyboard.
After a lot of research looking for a good quality Netbook that would fill my needs and give provide me with quality and performance at a decent cost.
1. This is one of the best well built Netbooks. It has the quality of any regular notebook and doesn’t feel like plastic at all. For the price I would say that it has the best cost ratio between build quality.
2. The keyboard. Like i said i looked at the pictures of the keyboard online and it seemed pretty big. In person the size is good enough but smaller. After a few days of use, typing is no problem anymore. I usually only mess up with 4 keys ( the letter A, the number 1, the enter key, and the shift key)
3. Performance. I bought mine direct from Lenovo with 1gb ram. I will upgrade to 2gb of ram but know that i have been using the netbook for over a week, im not in any real rush to buy the ram (although really cheap) The computer boots at an equivalent speed as my notebook, and performs fairly well on the basic task that i perform. I do recommend getting rid of a lot of the applications that came pre-installed though. Stuff like the Norton Anti-virus will slow down your computer and limit performance.
4. The fan has been said to be an issue for a lot of people. It does turn on and off frequently but it doesn’t seem to be that big of an issue. changing some of the battery management settings can help fix the issue a little, and new bios updates should fix the problem in the future.
One gripe i do have is that the mouse buttons are clickable, as they make a sound when you press down on them. This kind of becomes annoying.
I am very happy with my purchase, and i really love my Netbook so far. Out of all the netbooks I have seen and used none really compare with the S10.
The Asus eee pc 1000HE is really the only other Netbook that i would personally really consider at the moment as it does give great performance also at a great price.
When purchasing i would also keep in mind that now that these Netbooks have kicked off and are successful, the technology is just going to dramatically change. New Netbooks are going to be coming out with better processors, bigger screens, better graphics…etc all at around the same price. Especially with windows 7, new changes could easily arise.
This is by far the perfect netbook to date!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Anybody interested in picking up a netbook should really do the research on these things. I originally wanted the Acer Aspire One but realized the ram wasn’t easily upgradeable unless you start disassembling the thing through the keyboard. No thanks! This Lenovo S10 is what all the other netbooks should be striving to become. One easy access door in the back and your ram is bumped from 1 to 2gb for just about $23. Not that this things is lacking with the 1gb of ram by any means. I also decided to look into adding the bluetooth chip that the Asian market puts in their S10′s and for the low cost of $18 I can connect my cell phone via bluetooth to access the internet anywhere and anytime. The only draw back is the battery life. I have the 3 cell battery and it kicks butt for just under 3 hours in “Performance” mode for energy management, bluetooth on and the screen setting dimmed about 50%. There are some places that do sell aftermarket batteries online that are 6 and even 9 cell. Yes they do make the little netbook heavy and not so sleek, but just imagine surfing the net and what not, all for an estimated 8 or so hours on batteries alone.
I picked this up for $349 which was such an impressive price that my coworker got curious, play around on mine and decided to purchase his, all in under 45 minutes. I have several other people who have seen this little thing in action and all have thought what an incredible machine. Heck as many people that I have seriously thinking buying a Lenovo S10, Lenovo should cut me a comission check…LOL! I can’t recommend the Lenovo S10 enough.
Excellent machine!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought my lenovo S10 three weeks ago…this is an excellent machine!!!!…I think that this minilap is the best of all…I recommend it..
One misplaced key.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Lenovo Ideapad S10 10.2-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home) White
It is a good computer,reliable and easy to use and carry around. The only complaint I have is that the right hand shift key should have been placed where enter key is.
Excellent Netbook
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love the S10. I immediately installed a 2GB ram chip to replace the 1GB chip that came in it. I also repartitioned and set this system up as a dual boot with Ubuntu. Snappy and very functional in both operating systems. Very quick suspend and resume. Wonderfully portable and very usable. This is one of the very few netbooks with an Express Card slot, which was a necessity for me so I could use some of the peripherals I have for my old laptop.
The white color on the outside has a slight pearl finish and is very classy looking. Not at all cheap or flimsy. Very well built and aesthetically pleasing.
The keyboard is pretty quick to get used to, other than the placement of the right-shift key, and the fact that the home and end keys require you to press the function key.
The webcam is also a bit slower than I had expected. The frame rate is rather low. I don’t really use it though, so it hasn’t really impacted my opinion of the machine much.
No other complaints, very happy with my purchase.
CD slot missing
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This is my first laptop. Looking at all of the reviews it is, so far, living up to the reviews. But, in my eagerness to purchase this laptop I neglected to check for a CD slot. It is not there and so I want to know (other than downloading) how one loads new software. I have searched the forums and I find that no one has addressed that. Certainly all of the geeks out there know and it obviously is not a problem for them. What am I missing?
great little laptop
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
thoroughly enjoying my laptop, It’s lightweight,compact and very efficient great value Joyce W Sparks, Nv
Lenovo S10
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought the Lenovo S10 because of it’s size, portability, the fact that it uses XP instead of Vista (which I refuse to use) and the reputation of the company. I planned to use it principally when traveling, although I find I am using it more and more at home because I am so unhappy with my larger Dell laptop. Positive reviews of the S10 on Amazon also influenced my decision to by this laptop instead of others in the same category.
The S10 has met my expectations. The only problem I seem to have with it is the keyboard configuration. The right hand shift key is next to the up arrow, and I find myself hitting the arrow by mistake which moves the cursor up a line. It would also be helpful to have more than 2 USB ports so I could connect a printer, mouse and flash drive all at the same time.
Color
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Even that I ask for a black the system put a white one in my order and that’s what i get, but I didn’t want it in white.
Great mobility at unique style
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
this Computer is great!!! far betther tha asus, or the acer aspire one, just one more inch to have everything you need, its looks like just one inch is not important but a several headache say it is. I’ve nitialle bought it for me, but my brother received it for me and he took it away from me, but later on my mother did the same to him, so I can say, if you are a mother, this is the rigth choice, if you’re not, you mus buy two, one for you and one for your mother.
It is working well in Iraq!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the S10 month ago before my deployment to Iraq. Having read tons of on-line reviews I thought this would be a good fit. It worked well in Germany on the way here. It also is doing great on the 240v British 50Hz power that we get here in Iraq. I really love this little guy. I use it to call home on Skype and the web camera is fine even in low light. The processer is powerful enough to rapidly upload a view 7-10 Mp. The Wi-Fi capability is great considering it is such a small unit. The finish of the computer is good for the desert and does not leave finger prints. It is really durable and I keep it in my backpack all the time and it is not showing any signs of wear except I have ripped off a few of the rubber feet on the bottom (bought new ones for $1.99 on-line) I did add 1 GB of Ram for $19.99 and it popped right in the bottom. Also, you can swap the hard drive out in 2 minutes as it is easy to access if the size of the stock one won’t do it for you. I also bought a LG external USB powered DVD writer and I can watch a movie and check my email a few time on a full battery. My wife bought me the 9 cell battery as a gift and it is good for about 6 hours of normal use and about 4 of movie watching. It is slow to charge but it sure is nice to have all that time. Lenovo did a great job on this machine and I have had 2 other soldiers order the S10 after playing with mine. I would be lost without it here in Iraq.
The best netbook,.. the worest battery. Great netbook if you like to plug all the time.
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This one great netbook,.. I also owned a Samsung NC10. This work and run just like it, or even better. But battery life kills the deal,.. this run about 3 hours,..compare to 7 hours from the Samsung.
Great netbook if you like to plug all the time.
Slick and Clean
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The worst thing that I did when ordering this product was getting free shipping because that meant I would not get it SOONER. I made the stupid first mistake of ordering the black one which I later noticed was NOT IN STOCK. So I canceled that order and decided on the white.
The concerns that I have is that the white ones will get dirty…so you might want to take this into consideration. The other thing is how when I use the computer on full specs, the fan turns on quite often and then shuts off. I hope this doesn’t turn into a problem where it starts to overheat. The front speakers are not that great and the mic for video chatting is not as good as I hoped, but it definitely works. People can still hear me. Lastly, the battery. I am not sure if keeping it plugged in is bad but I read in the manual about something where the battery won’t overcharge beyond 95%. I have checked the battery level a few times while keeping it plugged and it stays on 97% so I am happy about that.
Now the GOOD NEWS
So I was expecting a really crappy battery life. I kept hearing two hours or what not. I guess this is if you put it on full specs it’ll last for two hours, but using it on 75% specs, I’ve felt like this battery lasts a pretty long time. Well over 2 hours.
I love how in the future, if I want to, I can expand the hard drive and ram. Unfortunately, like others have found out, this will change your onekey restore capabilities so keep this in mind.
The screen is beautiful and the keyboard is not straining at all. I use to have a 14.1 inch toshiba and making the transition has not been difficult.
I will definitely need to add microsoft office or something if i can. Although I have found it not a hindrance to just use google docs when I upload docs from my other laptop.
I think thats all…
I love having my s10…it was a long 6-7 day wait (counting weekend days) Now I can get some work done!
RAM upgrade – take care
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Received my [...] a few days ago and it is just what I expected. Won’t go into all the laudatory comments – and limitations like the right shift key matter – that others have correctly made. I agree with virtually all of them.
But, one serious caution. Removing the back cover plate to upgrade RAM is quite easy. However, getting the tightly fitting cover back in place was something else. The plastic cover plate can be cracked if care is not taken. It took me about 15 minutes of putting it in/out so that finally it properly fitted. Much patience greatly advised if yours fits as tightly as mine did.
On separate subject I ordered a “SAMSUNG SE-S084B/RSBN 8X DVD +- RW External Slimline for netbooks or notebooks” from http://www.mwave.com. Price was $60.99 plus [...] for 2d day air. Looked to be about best deal I could find.
This thing rocks!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Wonderful machine. The screen is fantastic. Readable, bright and clear. The keyboard is nice to type on. Windows XP is quick and responsive. Placed Office 97 on it via the CD drive of my desktop and wifi without a hitch. I also tried open office and it worked great. I am really impressed. The machine is small and light with good battery life.
Update….
The keyboard died on the machine 5 months after purchase. I contacted Lenovo. They paid for shipping both ways. The machine was repaired and back to me in less the 5 days. Customer service was every bit as good as when I used them with an older IBM Thinkpad. Really impressed again both the the machine and Lenovo.
very happy s10 owner
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After reading a lot of reviews and playing with different models at the local Best Buy, I decided to go for the Lenovo s10 sight-unseen. Despite the scores for the MSI Wind being slightly higher, I opted for the s10 for it’s reported sturdy feel and tight design (the express card slot weighed in, too). There was a good deal on the 2gig upgrade at the time I ordered, so I picked one up at the same time.
I’ve had it now for a few days, and I can say that it is a FANTASTIC little machine. The memory upgrade was incredibly easy to install, literally two screws and you’re done. For a budget ultraportable, it has a nice bit of pep. Even when running Firefox, Word, Trillian and Windows Media Player it kept up nicely. The screen is bright and crisp, I have NO problems reading text or seeing fine detail in pictures. The keyboard is superb, the touchpad, though small, is very responsive.
Overall, I’m estatic with the s10. Lenovo has done a wonderful job balancing features, build quality, smart design and price. If you’re in the market for a netbook, give this one serious consideration.
Built-In web camera is not the best quality. Very blurry.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I video chat with China a lot. One person there had this S10 and we used skype to chat between us. I could see the video was not as good as I expected it to be as compared to a cheap desktop usb web cam they had before ( that was given to them! ).
Good for Students, Not Gamers
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Lenovo s10 is a solid, well designed mini-notebook(netbook). The keyboard is 88% of a full-sized one and takes getting used to. After awhile you will be typing faster due to its smaller size. The fan is loud and turns on frequently. The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator is not a substitute for a real graphics card. Its adequate for many games, but its mainly not designed for that task. The screen is bright and the keyboard and touchpad are solid and reliable. Its 3-cell battery lasts for about 3 hrs. Its a smart purchase for students.
cool netbook
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This neat little netbook is exactly what I need to travel with.I am going to south america next month and it is perfect in size and weight.The keyboard is ideal for my keyboarding skills(not).I am looking forward to using it abroad.
Excellent machine
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had to decide between the Lenovo S10, acer one (8.9″, too small), Samsung NC10 (nice, same size than lenovo’s, same processor, but more expensive, why?).
I’m glad with this machine.
A GREAT netbook for the price
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was looking for something small to use while I was traveling. After looking at most of the netbooks in this price range, the lenovo seemed to be the best value and it has not disappointed me. It’s perfect for accessing e-mails, surfing the web and running small programs that you like to have with you. I did upgrade it to 2gb memory and that made a very noticable difference in speed. Yes it’s true, the 3 cell battery does not last very long. The good news is that for a reasonable price you can get a 6 or 9 cell battery for it. With the 9 cell it will last through the longest flights without a problem. Bottom line, for about $500 you can get a S10 with 2GB mem,160GB storage and a 9 cell battery. You can’t beat that. Also, the memory only takes about 5 minutes to install and the system recognizes it as soon as you boot up.
Happy Camper
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Lenovo – expected good quality, yes it is, battery life should be extended little longer
The Lenovo S10 is the second best netbook available…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The netbook computer concept is great: they’re small, light, easy to travel with, and connect nearly anywhere to the internet with WiFi. Most have an integrated webcam, as well. Speed and storage capacity exceed any computer I currently or have previously owned. Weights are less than three pounds, and screen size is from 9 to 10 inches. There are plenty of reviews on all of them so it is important to read as much as you can before ordering to make the best choice.
That said, I chose the S10 and am pleased with my choice. In other reviews you will see the battery being criticized. It is a 3-cell battery and with proper power management should be good for about three hours. For me that has been sufficient. The S10 has a matte finish screen and an integrated camera. The operating system is Windows XP which is fine with me because that’s what’s on my desktop and I didn’t want to move onto Vista and have to deal with two OS.
The S10 is easy to upgrade. Two screws hold a small panel cover on the underside. Inside, it only takes a moment to remove the factory 512 Mb RAM stick and install a 2Gb stick (costs about $20).
What is the best netbook? I think it’s the Samsung NC-10. In features, it’s nearly identical to the Lenovo. It costs about $60 more than the Lenovo, but comes with a 6-cell battery. If battery duration is an important consideration, go immediately with the Samsung. A 6-cell battery for the Lenovo is costing nearly $100, and does not integrate well into the streamlined shape of the computer. The Samsung looks designed right from the start for the larger (capacity) battery.