Lenovo's $449 IdeaPad S12 now official: first netbook with NVIDIA's Ion chipset

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/25/lenovos-449-ideapad-s12-first-netbook-with-nvidias-ion-chips/

 

a used x40/x41 beats this these hyped netbooks any day (minus the hdd, but then i have a ssd inside my x41t for alltogether the same price as this new netbook). if the screen wasn't glossy and the cpu was customer replaceable then.. but only then...

 

a used x40/x41 can't beat the nvidia ion though?

 

The X40 could easily match a Ideapad S12-sans the Ion. With the 9400M though, it's an entirely different story in the graphics department. However, for regular tasks in which processor speed matters more than graphics horsepower, the 1.4/1.5Ghz Pentium-M will decimate the N270.

Anyhow, this is definitely going to be next netbook, unless ASUS or Samsung gatecrash the party with a 10" Ion netbook. Now that would be one heck of a machine.

 

correct me if I'm wrong but:

x40 has a 1024*768 screen compared to the 1280*800 screen of the s12. The s12 is a bit lighter and thinner. The s12 will have better battery performance. s12 has a modern design.

I do however agree that the x40 thinkpads are tougher than the ideapads netbooks, though I wouldn't say that my s10 is a piece of cheap and crappy plastic...

I'll get the s12 as soon as it's available in my country, it will replace my current s10e as my coffee shop surfboard

 

The Ion platform provides an excellent video solution. I am most interested in the platform for HTPCs with Network storage.

 

Time to buy


But what......?? Ships in more than 4 weeks**.... Great

 

Interesting how there's no mention of battery life for the ion chipset.

You might want to keep that 2nd battery in hand. The 9400 is a beast of an IGP, but it is a power hungry one.

 

Af far as I'm conerned, ION runs great deal of 3D games and runs them pretty well, correct me if i'm wrong

 

Basic ones, but no, your statement would be (with no disrespect intended) incorrect.

When paired with an Intel Atom, Ion makes for a good mobile media netbook, although 1080p H.264 video will still likely be more than it can handle. 720p should be okay, and "hi-def" Hulu should work quite nicely. 3D titles like World of Warcraft shouldn't be too bad, but you'll never play titles like Crysis with reasonable quality/speed; you'd likely have go low-res/low quality to even have a chance.

 

imho no point in buying an atom based machine if you getting 12 inches or higher. this is 449 you can buy an intel specced machine for 500. so you rape the performance of the machine for what. 1 inch smaller from a 13 inch intel based machine. DUMB

atom is great for small machines 10 inch or less. but 12 and up its just a bad decision imho

 

Will that Intel spec'd $500 machine have 5+ hours of battery life, weigh 3.4lbs and run relatively cool and quiet? Netbooks have their place as a mobile and lightweight desktop complement and the Ion powered S12 fits the bill for someone looking for more juice and screen real estate than the previous generations of netbooks. (if your criticism was meant for the non-Ion S12, then I totally agree with you)

 

If hulu runs on flash (I'm in Canada so I don't have access to it), the Ion won't do squat for improving its performance.

 

Hulu does indeed run on flash, and you're right, the 9400M will not accelerate it properly, thus making HD Hulu probably unviewable (still).

 

Nvidia is working with Adobe to bring accelerated flash to Nvidia gpu's, so next year this machine will be able to play HD Youtube and Hulu fine.

 

And you both are correct --I should have gone back and reread the article I thought I remembered correctly, but did not.

Link

Unless nVidia pulls a big rabbit out of their hat in conjunction with Adobe, even a dual-core Atom N330 at this point with Ion is pushing it at 480p. When you consider that that N330 has not only dual-cores, but Hyperthreading, that's pretty sad. It's also one of the reasons I ruled out a netbook for the near future.

My mistake, and thanks for correcting me on it.

 

This (among other reasons) is why I have no love for Hulu or any other Flash based technology.

I far prefer a clean h264 or VC-1 source in a MKV, MP4, or WMV container whenever possible (plays back beautifully on the x4500, 9400M, and stand alone devices like the PS3/360).

 

I saw Nvidia play a 1080p video on the ION connected to an external 1080p TV. It was very smooth and there were no stutters like with the integrated Intel 945/950. The thing I wonder about are fast action scenes on 1080p with the ION as I have not seen the performance in those clips.

If your videos could be DXVA or CUDA GPU accelerated, the ION is very nice.

 

With standard video formats, Ion is a huge help. Problem is what occurs when content is Flash streaming video, used by more than just a few websites.

Adobe really should work on finding a way to accelerate Flash using OpenCL. It would pave the way for ATI and nVidia GPUs to take the load off.

 

S12 with Via is available. The Nano is 65nm, uses 8W, 1mb L2 cache, and 800MHz FSB.

 

65nm? When was that, 10000 years ago? Reviews for the NC12 w/ Via wasn't all that great... Nothing interesting other than Ion.

 

I'm assuming the Nano version uses a Chrome9 video setup. Poorer at a number of video tasks than Ion, unfortunately, and I've never trusted VIA to provide good driver support for their video chips....I've been let down too many times.

Got my mother a cheap Everex laptop with a VIA C7-M CPU and Chrome9. It works okay for what she needs, but it'd be overwhelmed quickly by tougher tasks.

 

Why? What it's overwhelmed with is OS dependent (within limits).
-Renee

 

Some types of Flash video are a stretch, and H.264 video is becoming more and more of an issue.

Video playback on any netbook would be the make-or-break for me. I'd expect a minimum of 480p in any format/codec important to me (more and more common in streamed content, such as Hulu), though 720p would be preferable.

Some netbooks are right on the edge right now, so they'll be acceptable for perhaps a year until better content comes out (I'd rather own a system longer). Others don't cut it at all. I have nothing against VIA, and would like to see them succeed with the Nano; Intel sorely needs competition. However, the Chrome9 GPU has been around for a bit, and like many members of the VIA (formerly S3's) graphics family, driver support has been limited, and not always as stable as one would like. IMO, this is something VIA really needs to work on.

P.S. The above is not something my mother generally needs, so for her, that basic laptop is fine. $200 for a barely-used budget laptop with a 15" 1440x900 screen (a display I've wanted to see Lenovo offer for some time now) with a combo optical drive, b/g WiFi, and DDR2 RAM was a great deal.

 

Yes, it's out, anyone order it yet?? waiting for review, hoho, can't wait to see!!

 

Looks nice. Though it's an upgrade to current netbooks it still seems lacking IMO.


I'd like to see a ThinkPad netebook with a new 32nm Intel CPU and ATI 40nm GPU.

 

What' out? S12 with Ion? Cuz it's not.

 

Man, I never understood why you'd want a netbook. Small keyboard, slow processing speed, and limited features. Sure it's small, but you could get a full sized notebook for a couple hundred more.

 

If all you do is surf, they have their place. Same if you're an on-the-go type who has to pack lots of things but keep it light and still type something here, or have lightweight presentation work there.

Not sure I see a lot of use in a netbook with a display larger than ten inches. At the 12-inch point, an ultraportable notebook makes more sense to me, but few have managed to do it at a reasonable price point, something that needs to be worked on.

 

This system has given me the inspiration, I guess you could call it, to have a desktop/netbook setup once I get out of college into a more settled era in my life. That way you can have the power of a desktop for gaming, and any odd ball tasks you might want to do (like I was crating TF2 maps a couple of days ago), but then just have the netbook around the house for random use by anyone. That is it's greatest strength, to me, it can simply be a tool to view the internet, pictures, and still be portable if you need to travel. The great advantage to the ION chipset and the modest but decent specs otherwise, is that the computer stays functional and is not a chore to use.

I do have to say that ever since I took ownership of my T500 I have become a Lenovo fanboy as far as quality is concerned and may never own a differently branded notebook.

 

What is the point of this laptop. Yes I said LAPTOP. This is NOT a netbook. Netbooks are 10" and UNDER.

What is the point in buying a 12" LAPTOP with such a CRIPPLED CPU??? The Atom CPU is as fast as a 900mhz Celeron M. You're basically buying a 12" laptop with a 900mhx Celeron M. What a joke IMO.

 

Yeah, if the screen wasn't glossy...

 

It's a very nice portable notebook but I find the cpu lacking in performance as well. This is a good start though. I hope Lenovo gets a new core 2 duo Atom in one with a more powerful GPU option + W7 OS. That would make this machine a total win.

 

Yup. Perhaps a new "sub-notebook" category should be coined.

Lenovo gets beat by the basic eee PC by about $150. The S12 just doesn't have enough features to make it attractive at its price point.

 

S12 doesn't, S12 Ion does by far.

 

It doesn't make sense to you, 'cause you need more then it can offer.

It makes total sense to me as all I need is 1080p all-media-formats player with HDMI out + light gaming rig + ultra mobility (beside internet surfing device). And for $500 it's a total win to me.

 

Anyone know when the Ion powered S12 goes on sale?

 

I surfed net for 3 days to find out. Nothing on the release date.

 

Its about perfect but still only a 1.6ghz atom so its not really an upgrade from my 10" eee and I grows 2" in size.

Soon as we start to see better cpu's its time to upgrade.

 

True, but I need Ion for 1080p playback...

 

Eagerly awating news on a release date for this machine. Looks quite good!

 

Hi everybodey,

I'm considering that I buy some of new netbooks and I really want bigger screen (12" - 13") and nice resolution (1280x800(768) or 1366x768). I found that IdeaPad S12 could fit me well, but in my country, they selling only VIA platform (Via Nano 1.30Ghz). I'm wondering what is its performance? Could any1 post here some benchmarks please?

Actually I have Asus Eee 701 (7" screen, 800x480) and HP2133 (8" screen and classic 1024x600), but I want to try something more useful... If netbook with ION would be available, I would definitely buy it...

 

I hope the release date is not on Christmas.

 

Intel Atom N280 Processor 1.66GHz; 2GB of DDR2 667 RAM, 1 slot, 2GB Max
250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
NVidia G 105M with 512MB DDR2 VRAM and Intel GMA950 (Switchable VGA)

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-N10Jh-A1-10-2-Inch-Laptop-Champagne/dp/B002ISAVD8

 

4st3risk: Well that is nice, but it has only 10" display and I bet that resolution will be 1024x600, wich is just too small for me... Actually I really like S12, but I'm still afraid of VIA platform... Some said that on "super performance mode" it overclock to 1.6Ghz, or something and it's quicker than Atom (that would be great, I wanna run Vista on my netbook), but others said that this Via nano is slower and it consumes more battery life (I don't know how fast it is, but it really needs more power, that is simple fact). Still 5 hours of battery are really good, so question is just performance of procesor...

Heads-up: I did a little search again and I finally found this. So according to this review, Via nano is more powerfull than Intel Atom and actually CAN plays:

720p WMV
720p DivX
720p XviD
720p QuickTime
720p MP4 (footage from HD Flip Mino Ultra)
480p MP4 (footage from Samsung Camcorder)
480p XviD

That's awesome... So I guess Lenovo S12 Via nano will be my next netbook...

 

^ My N10Jh can play 1080p 24fps...

 

I either wait for the S12 (with ion) whenever that comes out in Canada.... or go and buy the HP DV2 - overheating, short battery life and all. Id much prefer the IdeaPad since I dont really need dedicated graphics or anything and it looks to be more power efficient, but its going to be tight since I need a new netbook/notebook by start of fall.
Anyone know if it will come with vista premium? The HP does, and qualifies for the free windows 7 upgrade. So tempting.

 

well you guys do know that nvidia is getting sued by intel...so I dought that the ion based netbooks will use a atom... I have the nano version of the s12 its a beast... I can run my autocad software and it does not lag with medium sized projects. I also got wow working at 30fps in a few major citys

if you go to lenovo.com/cpp you can get one for 370+ tax

 

4st3risk: Well Asus N10 (160GB HDD, 1GB Ram, Win XP) is selling in my country for about 700 USD, so it is kind of difference from 450 for IdeaPad S12...


Nlspoh: HP DV2 has really nice horsepower, AMD neo is really strong, quite nice graph. card (it seems like dv2 want to beat asus n10), but it has really issues with overheating and it has only 2 hours of battery life... Cmon, 2 hours? Even original Eee 701 with Celeron 900Mhz has 2,6 hours (I own that netbook). I hope AMD will produce more of their procesors for netbook and that they will resolve heating issues..


Texanman: I want to ask you about this netbook... Is it true that Via is overclocking to 1.6Ghz while it is in super performance mode (or something like that, when it's pluged)? What is battery life? I assume it's about 4-5 hours, right? How's the wifi sensitivity and what's your feeling about this netbook? I'm really excited for Via Nano (Nano should be in HP 2133 too, but HP give there C7M, wich was terrible mistake :/ - but god, I love that design..).


I'm sorry for my english, hope u get my point...

 

It doesn't over clock it just clocks to "full speed", Its like speedsteping on intel parts, . The wifi is great I can be 4 doors down from my house and get 3.5/5 bars.

battery life is about 5 hours in windows 7 (windows 7 works 100%)

the build quality is decent, keyboard has flex if you press down REALLY hard, I would trust thing thing to be thrown my school backpack and not get scratched or dent, its just a fingerprint magnet


anyways you can get the nano s12 for $369 if you go to lenovo.com/cpp and use the passcode "familyandfriends" I only payed 395 with tax and I love it sooo much It 100% out does the atom