Hardware
Lenovo S12 Rocks
In addition to evaluating the Lenovo S10-2, I’m also evaluating a Lenovo S12. Like Xavier, I’m hesitant to call the S12 a netbook as it is essentially a 12″ notebook that runs the Intel Atom N270 processor. However, it is just as portable and a wonderful mobile device. The timing is good as I’m also presenting some inexpensive netbook and portable notebook choices to a customer on Wednesday.
What I really like about the S12 is the larger keyboard and higher resolution. There is nothing like typing on a full size keyboard on a light weight system. In addition, the power cord for the S12 is really long, which is a huge plus when trying to find that rare power outlet in a coffee shop or hotel room.
My first impressions are that the S12 strikes the perfect balance between affordability, mobility, and functionality. With the 1280 x 800 resolution, larger keyboard, slighly larger screen, decent netbook type performance, long battery life, and $499 price tag, I’m not sure why anyone would choose anything different. It seems to be the perfect blend of ingredients (minus a digitizer, of course), to fit inexpensive mobile computing on the go.
Our family is headed out of town for a few days to Estes Park, Colorado and we’ll be taking the S12 with to play with. I’ll also be bringing my Windows 7 equipped Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC with me to get some work done after settling in at night (I do a lot of ink notetaking you know). We’ll be sharing an online connection using my Verizon equipped MiFi.

Amitai Rosenberg
07/12/2009 at 8:16 am
Cool. How’s it’s performance?
Does it feel too big compared to other netbooks?
Rob
07/12/2009 at 8:46 am
Perf is right on par with a 1.6 atom, only 47 processes on boot. Actually prefer this size over smaller netbooks. Strikes a great balance
charles
07/12/2009 at 12:32 pm
I’m assuming it runs Vista? Can it handle Win7?
Xavier
07/12/2009 at 5:49 pm
Charles, the S12 ships with Windows XP. It can definitely handle Windows 7. I haven’t installed Win 7 on the S12 I’m checking out, but I have installed in on similarly spec’d netbooks
mark
07/13/2009 at 11:33 am
can the intel chipset handle 720p video? i know the ion can handle 1080p
newcomp
07/13/2009 at 6:47 pm
Nice report, Rob!
Got a question: is the keyboard TRULY full-size on the S12? I had a Dell Mini-12 which had the same size display and its keyboard was NOT full-size. I cannot tell from the width on the left and right hand side of the keyboard – a full-size keyboard should be a tad over 11″ across.
Please let us know – I returned my Dell Mini-12: keyboard was not full-size but definitely usable. The un-usable part was its Atom Z-series CPU.
Thanks!
Rob Bushway
07/14/2009 at 8:33 am
newcomp – I will try to get some comparison shots in the next day or so for you.
sam
07/20/2009 at 10:20 am
hell no….
Rob Bushway
07/20/2009 at 10:31 am
it feels about as full size as my 12″ Latitude XT – very, very comfortable to type on, large keys.
Rob Bushway
07/20/2009 at 10:31 am
correction – the keys feel even bigger than my 12″ latitude xt