Monday, June 22, 2009

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Netbook

The Lenovo startup program allows you to bypass Windows.

My four-year-old laptop computer breathed its last, but with both Windows 7 and the new Mac OS (“Snow Leopard”) being released in the fall, I didn't want to make a long-term hardware or financial commitment. I’ve been poking away on a netbook, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, for the past two months. The S10 is light (2.2 pounds) and cheap (about $350 all-in with my professional discount). Aging eyes haven’t deteriorated to the point where gazing at a 10-inch screen has been a problem—I can surf for hours on the smaller iPhone screen--and the 1 GB of RAM and 110 GB of hard drive space meets the needs of this non-gamer and non-power user. The keyboard size is adequate for all but the most ham-fisted.

Drawbacks:
1) As a touchtypist of many years, I like to type numbers on the second-from-top row rather than use the numeric keypad. The numbers are placed to the left of normal, so that I’m always hitting, for example, 5 or % when I mean to type 4 or $.
2) It’s difficult for me to maneuver the pointer on the tiny touchpad and buttons; none of the methods—two hands, thumb-and-forefinger, middle-and-forefinger—is a good substitute for a mouse. A wireless mouse is highly recommended.
3) The lack of a DVD/CD drive is a bother if you need to load essential software (e.g. Office, Quickbooks)from a disk or like to play movies.

Overall assessment – okay for the lengthier missives where an iPhone falls short, but I’m still buying a laptop before the end of the year to supplement my iMac and Dell desktops. © 2009 Stephen Yuen

Like most netbooks, Windows XP comes preloaded on the S10.

1 comment:

Pooja said...

That's a good light weight laptop and not very expensive but I would prefer buying the new Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 4185 as it has excellent features. You can enjoy watching movies on this laptop. For more details refer Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 4185 Laptop