Lenovo Unveils The Ideapad S12

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/25/lenovos-449-ideapad-s12-first-netbook-with-nvidias-ion-chips/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/25/...dias-ion-chips/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"We've seen NVIDIA's Ion placed within a nettop, a motherboard, and now (at long last), a laptop. Yep, the machine you're inevitably peering at above (Lenovo's S12) is both the company's first 12.1-inch netbook and the planet's first netbook with Ion baked in, and it's likely just a snippet of the kind of material we can expect to see at Computex."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1243304642.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I have recently been of two minds about netbooks, nettops and their kin.&nbsp; One the one hand, I'm thrilled to see ultra-portables sell for a friendly price point despite what it did to the resale value of my Fujitsu P1610.&nbsp; Then on the other hand, with the sheer popularity of netbooks, it has set the expected computing and graphics horsepower for a typical computer pretty low to the point of stagnation.&nbsp; While it does not boost the CPU itself, NVIDIA ION at least puts a respectable amount of graphics capabilities in a netbook.&nbsp; The Lenovo Ideapad S12 looks pretty nice and includes a lot of the regular netbook connectors.&nbsp; Notable is the 12 inch screen, which seems to push it out of netbook country as 10 inch screens seems to be the sweet spot.&nbsp; The attraction for me is that this is the first netbook to have the ION setup, which makes this a far more well rounded portable, and my netbook of choice.&nbsp; Anyone else disappointed with the graphics performance of netbooks?</p>

[Jason Dunn]

I'm surprised that Lenovo went with a 12 inch screen...they'd have REALLY shook up the market if they did a 10 inch screen. 12 inches to me isn't a netbook, and since people tend to buy these for portability, the 12 inch netbooks aren't as popular as the 10 inch and even 9 inch screens. I think the ION platform is very slick and I'm excited about a netbook that has some decent GPU power...and if Dell/HP/others can make it an option that's only $50 more, hell, I'd snap it up. :D

[Hooch Tan]

I have to agree. At 12 inches, the netbook really doesn't seem that tiny anymore, and enters the laptop segment. Even Microsoft agrees with us based on their Windows 7 Start Edition requirements!

About the $50 premium, while I agree that's perfectly reasonable for the amount of GPU you're getting, after reading how Intel is doing its pricing, it seems a large portion of that premium goes right to Intel. I am hoping that this will drive all manufacturers to start using ION or even just the 9400M chip into more laptops. When shopping for myself, or friends, I really hate to see X3100 or 4500HD and generally ignore those laptops outright.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I have a very arbitrary criteria for judging what is a netbook. It's called the X61 test. If any dimension of the so-called netbook is bigger than my Thinkpad X61 it's too big to be a netbook. :P

[Hooch Tan]

What really disappoints me is remembering that when the eee PC was first announced, they were targeting a $200 price point. Now they've creeped up well in the $600-800 range, if not more.

[Jason Dunn]

What really disappoints me is remembering that when the eee PC was first announced, they were targeting a $200 price point. Now they've creeped up well in the $600-800 range, if not more.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but I think the reality is that it's impossible have a decent computer for $200. My dad has one of the original EEE PCs, and it's pretty awful. Screen is so tiny it's hard to see, keyboard is awful, etc. And that was a $299 netbook if memory serves...I'd like to see more netbooks at the $399 price point WITH all the extras.

[Hooch Tan]

Screen is so tiny it's hard to see, keyboard is awful, etc. And that was a $299 netbook if memory serves...I'd like to see more netbooks at the $399 price point WITH all the extras.

The Fujitsu P1610 I have uses an 8.9" screen, though at 1280x768, so it's probably pretty close to the original EEE PC in terms of pixel density, and yeah, it definately is not for someone with glasses or contacts. $400 netbooks are slowly coming along, but it looks like the sweet spot right now is those around $500.

I'm still waiting to see if TechCrunch can succeed in their claim of making a cheap tablet though they've already revised the price upwards from $200 to $300.

[Jason Dunn]

The Fujitsu P1610 I have uses an 8.9" screen, though at 1280x768, so it's probably pretty close to the original EEE PC in terms of pixel density

Actually, I think my dad's EEE was 800 x 480, so much lower PPI than the P1610. Things were pretty grainy on it. ;)

I'm still waiting to see if TechCrunch can succeed in their claim of making a cheap tablet though they've already revised the price upwards from $200 to $300.

Doesn't surprise me....it will be $400 to $500 by the time he's done I bet.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

The *ORIGINAL* Eee PC had a SEVEN-inch 800x480 display. The 901 with the 8.9" followed 3-4 months later.

[Jason Dunn]

The *ORIGINAL* Eee PC had a SEVEN-inch 800x480 display.

That's the one my father has - it's VERY tiny.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Well, the low resolution makes up for it. Just that there's a lot of scrolling involved...

[Hooch Tan]

Actually, I think my dad's EEE was 800 x 480, so much lower PPI than the P1610. Things were pretty grainy on it. ;)

I just did the math, and you're right; the density on the P1610 is much higher. The whole 800x480 resolution is unpalatable for me. Not wide enough to display many web pages, and short enough that many dialog boxes won't fit. Even with a height of 600 pixels I find lots of dialogs giving mystery buttons at the bottom.

Doesn't surprise me....it will be $400 to $500 by the time he's done I bet.

At that price, it probably will start competing against the upcoming convertible netbooks. I think the main thing that could set itself apart would be heavy customization to really be a "touch" tablet. Probably take a lot of inspiration from the iPhone and like devices.