Quick Version: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 represents one of the first netbooks to feature VIA’s Nano platform as a configuration option. You’ll gain some extra horsepower over Intel’s Atom setup while saving about $70 off the total system price, making the Nano a good option for those of you who want to watch 720p video. All that power comes at a price, though: decreased battery life, as the included six-cell battery only manages a little over four hours.
Features and Specs:
- VIA Nano ULV 2250 1.3 GHz CPU (800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
- Windows XP Home
- 12.1-inch LCD (1280×800 resolution)
- 1GB of RAM
- 160GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
- Six-cell battery
- 802.11b/g wireless
- Three USB ports, card reader, VGA out
- Weighs 3.24 pounds
- MSRP of $429
Design: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 feels a bit more substantial than your average netbook. Granted, it’s got a 12-inch screen so it’ll naturally be a little larger, but the computer itself is relatively heavy at almost three-and-a-half pounds and thick at 1.25 inches. It feels well-built, though, like it could take some light abuse without being much worse for wear.
The lid of the computer is a glossy surface covered in a pattern of little circles. It picks up fingerprints somewhat, but not as noticeably as to detract from the overall look and feel. In the photo above, the S12 is blasted with light from a halogen lamp — dust and fingerprints aren’t nearly as noticeable in regular light. The chassis consists of a standard black plastic and the screen’s hinges on either side feature decorative metal rings. All in all the S12 is understated, if perhaps a bit boring. Pretty standard for Lenovo, though.
Performance: To be honest, I’ve been impressed with the VIA Nano platform so far. Despite this machine only coming with 1GB of RAM and the CPU only being clocked at 1.3GHz, it feels more like a standard laptop than a netbook. While the Atom N270 CPU features a faster 1.6GHz clock speed, the Nano CPU in this machine has a faster frontside bus (800MHz versus 533MHz) and double the L2 cache (1MB versus 512KB).
I’d personally upgrade the RAM to at least 2GB, though, as once I started opening multiple tabs in Google Chrome, things slowed down a bit. After I popped in an extra 1GB stick of RAM, everything starting humming along quite nicely.
As for watching video, HD Flash video is a no-go since it relies heavily on the CPU, unfortunately, as is most full-screen Flash video (low-quality Hulu worked okay, high-quality stuttered) but the S12 was able to play most everything else I threw at it.
Here’s a list of what worked full-screen in Windows Media Player:
- 720p WMV
- 720p DivX
- 720p XviD
- 720p QuickTime
- 720p MP4 (footage from HD Flip Mino Ultra)
- 480p MP4 (footage from Samsung Camcorder)
- 480p XviD
Note that the actual QuickTime application requires a minimum of a 2GHz CPU. QuickTime files played inside the QuickTime player stuttered but when using the K-Lite Codec Pack for Windows Media Player to play QuickTime files, they played just fine.
Finally, the S12 tends to run hot. When using the machine on my lap for an extended period of time, my left leg would get mighty toasty. Not uncomfortable to the point where I’d want to move the computer to a tabletop, but hot enough that I definitely noticed it and would try to shift around somewhat. Just something to keep in mind.
Display: One of the stronger points of this machine, the S12’s LCD gets plenty bright with nice color saturation. It’s glossy without being very reflective at all, and the viewing angles are relatively wide. You’ll enjoy watching movies and looking at pictures. The 1280×800 resolution is a godsend, too, especially if you’ve been using a 1024×600-resolution screen in the past. Text is crisp and clear and the 12-inch panel makes everything very readable without having to sit too close to the screen.
Battery Life: Ah, the great netbook tradeoff — battery life versus performance. With this machine, you get performance. While Atom-based netbooks are now clearing 8 hours using six-cell batteries, the S12 will manage about half that. Lenovo includes its own power management application that allows you to choose between Performance, Balance, Low Power, and Super Energy Saver. I was able to manage almost five hours with Super Energy Saver but found that regular computing was much more enjoyable using the Balance setting.
Still, figure about four hours to be on the safe side. That’s enough for a long flight or train ride or perhaps an entire workday of off-and-on computing.
Keyboard and Trackpad: The keyboard is okay, not great but not bad either. I would have preferred that it stretched end-to-end to make use of all available space but the keys aren’t too bad for typing. I found the space bar to be a bit squishy, sometimes requiring an extra press to get the keystroke to register. As netbook keyboards go, I’d put the S12’s in the upper-middle tier. Better than most but not truly outstanding by any means.
The trackpad works well, no complaints there. There’s a nice, identifiable vertical scroll area with slightly-raised bumps on the right-hand side and the two mouse buttons are easy to click. The entire area of the trackpad isn’t huge, by any means, but it’s overall a serviceable way to move the cursor around the screen.
Speakers: The speakers actually get plenty loud, which is nice. And at full volume, there’s no distortion. The low-end is a bit weak but, in general, the speakers are above average as far as netbooks go.
Upgrades: Pretty straightforward. There are two bottom-side panels, one for the RAM and wireless chips and one for the hard drive.
Overall: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with the VIA Nano platform hovers in an interesting category. It’s a little more than an Atom-based netbook as far as power is concerned — perhaps closer to the CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) range than anything else.
The price is absolutely wonderful for what you’re getting — at $429, it’s a solid deal for a well-built, relatively powerful netbook-style computer. However, the short battery life along with the overall weight, thickness, and so-so style of the machine leave a bit to be desired. From a purely computing standpoint, though, you’re getting a nimble little portable computer that can play back most video files and handle most tasks with ease. I’d upgrade the RAM but that wouldn’t be totally necessary for most average, everyday use.
All in all the S12 is a good early offering from Lenovo and VIA, especially for anyone looking for a little more punch than you’d normally get from an Atom-based netbook.
Lenovo IdeaPad S12 [Lenovo.com]
Thank you for the review. Did you try it outdoors? If you did, how was the screen? For me that is “make or break”, especially in a netbook/ultra-portable.
Also if Via Nano is better performance-wise, I wonder why so many people bash it. Is it only because of the extra battery juice it requires?
I didn’t, unfortunately. That’s a good idea, though, if people are interested in that. I’ll try future netbooks outside to see how the screens fare. The screen does get pretty bright, so I’d think it would work okay outside but I can’t tell you for sure and I’ve already sent the machine back to Lenovo. I certainly didn’t have any problems indoors in well-lit rooms.
Thanks Doug,
of course it’s the degree of “glossiness” that I’m worried about :)
Doug, PLEASE test the Atom version the same way you did this one.
that is the ONLY honest thing to do before you go declaring you get less battery life with VIA’s Nano.
why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Nano chip except that’s it’s not nearly as good a low-power chip as the Atoms.
That’s true of a number of chips, such as the AMD Athlon 64 in the new Gateway 11″ netbook. And before the Atom came along, some early netbooks were built with a Celeron M that was underclocked. Faster than an Atom and dirt cheap, but it was hard to wring decent battery life out of it.
If you don’t care much about battery life, these systems are good values.
Doug, thanks for the review. I have a Via powered S12 Nano, and an Atom powered s10, and agree with you that the Via seems significantly snappier.
I think your comment about the battery life is a little unfair (and Will’s comment is just flat wrong.)
Sure some netbooks have an 8 hour life, but ones with 12″ displays sure don’t. Laptop Magazines test of the Atom S12 came in at 5.41 hours, EXACTLY the same as their test of the 12″ Via Powered Samsung NC20. (and close to what you got). The Via actually draws less power at idle.
Another small point, you cannot access the HDisk from a panel on the bottom. You have to remove a screw from the bottom, and then remove the keyboard to get at it.
liliputing offhandedly tries to compare battery life of the nano version to the atom version, WITHOUT TESTING IT, so i posted this:
Hey,
I seriously doubt that you will even read this comment, much less pay any attention to it, but…
you can NOT go by some other site’s fuzzy numbers to compare to yours, unless you both use the same benchmark! so test the freaking intel atom S12 yourself, so you can directly compare battery times to your via NANO. And crunchgear should step up to the plate and they should test an atom version against their via version. THEN, THE BOTH OF YOU COULD SHARE YOUR RESULTS, AND WE COULD COMPARE METHODS.
how you tested the battery in your NANO S12 is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
so please do proper testing and compare the via nano S12 to the intel atom S12 with the same methods!!!
What about adding bluetooth?
Doug, not taking price into consideration, how would you compare the Lenovo S12 w/VIA Nano CPU to the Acer Aspire One 751? I’m considering both netbooks but am torn between which one to go with, especially since I can’t check out the S12 in person.
I’m especially curious about the keyboards, since I bought and returned a Dell Mini 10v because I didn’t particularly care for the undersized keyboard with keys. I really like the Acer’s styling and battery life, but would imagine that its performance is a cut below that of the Lenovo.
Hi everybody.
I would like to recommend you slovak customer review Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with VIA Nano processor.
http://www.extrahardware.cz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=8166
Add 2 more gigs of ram instead of just one becuase ost is still under $25. Install Windows7 (works great). There are many 3rd party 9cell batteries out there that will give a lot more running time. For a computer this size, the keyboard is great! The performance is significantly better than the Atom. The 12″ is much more usable (great for school) than the 10.2″ versions. I bought 5 for the wife and all the kids.
Crabb,
When I try to add 2 gigs of ram (for a total of 3) it crashes/feezes up. Via is not supposed to recognize over 2 gigs. What version of Windows 7 are you using so it does not crash?
Support 3G RAM.
Old Bios 20CN21WW 06/17/09 => New Bios 20CN23WW 07/17/09.
I have 3GB SO-DIMM DDR2 667MHz in Lenovo IdeaPad S12. ( I bought 2GB modul Kingstone PC2-5300 CL5 200 – Pin SODIMM )
GeorgeR, you have to update the BIOS to the latest version, which will allow your S12 w/VIA Nano to recognize a total of 3 GB RAM. More info on Lenovo’s support site: http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_1506.html
THANKYOU!,
It booted but froze with the old bios. The 3gb capacity is a big deal when upgrading to Windows 7. As the Via is a 64 bit chip, it may also make the 64bit Win7 an option.
Lenovo IdeaPad S12 features best connectivity, style and entertainment. It includes 12.1-inch screen, a 100 percent full-size keyboard and new graphics options with the NVIDIA ION platform. The IdeaPad S12 netbook offers plenty of up and running time with up to six hours of battery life. For complete details, visit http://www.techarena.in/review/9854-lenovo-ideapad-s12-netbook.htm.