Lenovo S10e review
I simply had to do it ...Facing the strain of bringing my company issued 6lbs+ Lenovo T61 laptop (which I love, except for carrying around) to Lotusphere there was no way out. I simply HAD to get one of those small and trendy "Netbooks", "Mininotes" or whatever is the term du jour for Intel Atom based laptops in the 10" screen format.
I hate shopping for gadgets under pressure. I'm the kind of guy that gets half the pleasure of a new purchase from the meticulous study of models, specs, options etc. before finally falling in love with the object of choice. Then I get the other half from fiddling with endlessly with my new toy, to the point of driving everybody around me insane.
Only having a few days to make my decision in order to have enough time to get the machine prepped for Lotusphere meant I had to bypass some of my usual invistigative efforts and turn to "best practices" in the community.
So before I can continue this post, I would like to thank Chris, Klaus, Martin, Per and Pia (or rather her son, Mads) for giving their input on the candidates and especially to Keith for testing Notes and Domino on his netbook and reporting back to me, giving me assurance enough for me to make my decision.
Thank you all!
In the end, I chose this ...
The LENOVO S10e
None of the candidates were without compromise, and the Lenovo just seemed to be the more "mature" product. The feel is solid, like the bit Lenovo laptops, not flimsy and "plasticky" like the Acer and the MSI Wind. It is also slimmer than all the other netbooks and has the largest screen in the smallest footprint compared to the opposition.
Specs are these:
IdeaPad S10e
- Intel ATOM Processor N270 Single Core ( 1.60GHz 533MHz 512KB )
- Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition SP3
- 10.1 WSVGA Glossy TFT with integrated camera 1024x576
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
- 1024 MB / 1.5 Gb PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
- 160GB 5400RPM
- Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless (BCM4312)
- Broadcom Bluetooth
- Splashtop quick-boot linux
- 3 Cell Lithium-Ion
- Dimensions 9.8" x 7.2" x 1.1"
A memory upgrade is on order and will bring it to 2Gb, despite the official specs claiming it is capped to 1,5Gb. It has 512Mb soldered to the motherboard, but is able to address 1,5Gb more, so adding a 2Gb block will leave 512Mb unusable memory overhead, but bring the total to 2Gb (or so it is said, anyway).
But back to the important stuff: How does it run?
In short: It runs great! Even before the planned memory upgrade, I have no problems running Domino 8.5 server and a Notes client of choice (either admin, designer or standard client) on 1Gb of memory.
Of course, this in not a configuration that should be used for daily development, but for demo purposes, testing the databases flaunted in the Product Showcase next week, or for checking mails and applications while on the road, this thing absolutely does the job. With the memory upgrade, it's going to ROCK!
It's coming with me to Lotusphere, so I hope to up my blogging frequency ... I'm running out of excuses, anyway. ;-)
So I will keep you posted on my experiences with the S10e, as well as my experiences at Lotusphere.
First things I have noticed are:
- This is not a toy. It easily holds its own as a small laptop.
- Yes, the trackpad button DO make a very loud sound when pressed.
- The small footprint has meant slight relocation of keys on the keyboard. It takes a little getting used to, but is not dramatic at all.
- It plays well with my 3G HTC TyTNII cell phone over bluetooth, giving me mobile internet access "everywhere".
lenovo_s10_black.jpg
Netbook Lotusphere Gadgets Notes Domino Community Travel 
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January 14th, 2009