The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is a 10 inch netbook with a touchscreen display that you can fold down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode. It has a capacitive touchscreen display which means you can navigate by pressing your fingertip against the screen. The computer won't recognize input from a stylus.
Like most netbooks, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t has a low power Intel Atom N450 processor, and the unit featured in this review runs Windows 7 Starter Edition, and ships with 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. The base unit sells for $549, but Lenovo does offer a version with a larger hard drive Windows 7 Home Premium for about $100 more.
As a netbook, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t performs pretty much as you'd expect. My only real complaint is that it has an incredibly small and difficult to use touchpad. As a tablet, the S10-3t is a bit of a mixed bag.
Windows 7 Starter Edition isn't really optimized for touch input, and while Lenovo includes some touch-friendly software, the experience of using this machine in tablet mode was a bit unpleasant. I'm sure some of these issues would be addressed by upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium, but not all of them.
Design
The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is one of the smallest 10 inch netbooks available. While it's a bit wide, thanks to some extra space around the display for buttons you can use in tablet mode, the netbook measures just 11″ x 6.9″ x 0.8″. With a 4 cell battery, it weighs about 2.7 pounds.
But overall the netbook just feels smaller and lighter than most, largely due to the fact that the base of the computer is almost entirely taken up by the keyboard.
There's only a tiny space below the keyboard for the touchpad, which features integrated left and right buttons. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the touchpad, but the keyboard is nearly full sized and quite easy to type on, although it does have a bit of flex to it.
While most netbooks locate the power button just above the keyboard, the power button for the S10-3t is on the right side of the display, making it easy to turn the computer on whether it's in tablet or netbook mode.
Just below it there's a lock button which prevents power button from turning on the computer so it doesn't accidentally power up if you're carrying the S10-3t in your bag in tablet mode. Higher up on the right side of the bezel are the webcam and mic.
On the bottom left side of the display you'll find the status LEDs, and to the left side there are a few more buttons for muting the volume and launching the Lenovo NaturalTouch software.
The speakers are built into the base of the display so that you can hear audio no matter how the computer is configured. Unfortunately what you'll hear is rather tinny sounding audio with even less bass than I've come to expect from a netbook. The speakers also don't seem to get very loud.
The only button above the keyboard is the button that launches the Lenovo QuickRestore software.
Around the sides of the computer you'll find 2 USB ports, a VGA port, wireless toggle, Ethernet and audio jacks. There's an SD card slot at the front of the computer.
There's one large access panel on the base of the unit which you can open up to get at the RAM and hard drive.
The demo unit I'm reviewing has a 4 cell battery which sits flush with the base of the computer. Lenovo also offers an optional 8 cell battery which adds a noticeable bulge to the back of the laptop.
The lid and screen bezel both feature a glossy black finish with a subtle pattern made of different sized squares. The same pattern shows up on the palm rest area, which is white.
Posts
