Lenovo’s IdeaPad netbook on the launchpad

With Lenovo’s 10.2 inch netbook barely due before this month is out, APC can report that the final specs for the Aussie model have been nailed down. When we first broke the news about the IdeaPad S10 at the beginning of August, we reported Lenovo’s advice that the base specs were “still a bit fluid”.

As expected, indeed as is becoming the norm with mini-notes, there are several international versions. The US has a base model with 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard disk selling at US$399, while the premium edition doubles up to 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive for US$449.

Australian netbook shoppers will be offered the top-shelf model at $699, which was the original forecast price forecast back when the Aussie dollar was a little stronger against the greenback. Nice to see Lenovo absorbing the difference into what was already a relatively slim margin (around $80 after GST).

However, and also as we predicted, the S10 will be available only with Windows XP. In Lenovo’s home turf of China, along with Singapore and the UK, Linpus (the same distro seen on the Acer Aspire One) is an option. Those countries will also be able to choose between the 10.2 inch IdeaPad S10 and the 8.9 inch IdeaPad S9. (At APC we believe the more practical 10 inch form factor, with its inherently larger keyboard and screen, is more the ‘sweet spot’ for netbooks). That said, the S9 also packs a solid state drive, and we know many netbook buyers would appreciate that choice.

Like Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9, the IdeaPad S10 is an upgrader’s delight. An access panel on the netbook’s black belly provides easy access to the hard drive and RAM bay. The former is a standard and thus easily upgradable 2.5 inch (5400rpm) notebook drive.

As for memory, a single 512MB module will be mounted on the motherboard so the 1GB model will sport an additional 512MB wafer in the single DIMM slot. But as the Atom’s chipset won’t recognise any more than 2GB of RAM, your options for boosting the S10’s memory will be to swap the 512MB wafer for 1GB in order to get 1.5GB up your sleeve, or swap it for a 2GB wafer and still get just 2GB rather than the actual 2.5GB.

The S10 will ship with a three cell battery which is estimated to be good for around 2.5 hours, although a six-cell battery should also be available.

A Lenovo spokesperson told APC that “at this stage there will be no integrated 3G with the S10”, so those wanting mobile broadband will need either an ExpressCard modem (to slide into the S10’s ExpressCard/34 slot) or the more common USB modem. Given that the S10 has only two USB ports, we’d opt for the ExpressCard modem.