IBM / LENOVO Ideapad S10

[jonbad]

So one of my bosses is an IBM freak, only buys IBM stuff and loves the things. When he asked me to look for a laptop for him, I immediately thought Samsung NC10 as he uses it for email and web and travels a lot. Anyway, on my internet travels I had a look around at all the future and existing netbooks and the IBM seemed to be an NC10 beater!

Has anyone seen one or know anyone who's got one? I am sure they'll be more expensive than the NC10, I think I saw the 80GB (still plenty) version available for £313.

There will be or is already a 160GB version, or the cheaper 80GB version. Seems to have a good 10 inch screen, should be very well made being IBM, looks (in the photos) to be smaller than the NC10 since it's screen is the same size but has less room around the edge of the screen so it must have a slightly small keyboard? I think the ram is much of amuchness so probably 1gb, upgrade to 2gb for £20. Usual Atom processor etc too I believe,

So, what do people think?

[BlackWhizz]

SAMSUNG! :P

IBM is just really, stable as a rock. But i would say. Give yor samsung a day to the boss and let him play with it. I guarantee he will love it ;P

[dougp]

S10 only has a 3 cell battery and smaller hard drive - but is cheaper by $100 here in the states.

[adatay92]

I think the 3 cell battery on the S10 is the major disadvantage. Otherwise it actually sounds quite good.

[Smeed]

I work at Circuit City and they have ones that are exactly like the NC10 except they have a 3 cell battery. They go for $450. Ive played around with it a bit and IMO the NC10 seems sturdier.

[jonbad]

Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming!

I'm definitely going to let him have a look at my NC10 so that he can see what he thinks, as even if he likes the sound of the IBM better (knowing him he will) he might not even like the size, so it's worth him trying it to see what he thinks of the size initially.

I had a look on a couple of YOUTUBE videos and was happy to see the S10's hard drive and ram are very easy to upgrade (although I wouldn't want to upgrade the HDD but ram is good).
Other than that, it's nice that it's smaller than most other netbooks but maintains the 10inch size, but honestly, what's the point in being a bit smaller - they're all small!

The review on the YOUTUBE video said that they didn't like the smaller keyboard than the MSI wind (which'll mean it's smaller than the NC10's) and the SHIFT key is in the wrong place, ala EEE.

Still, doesn't sound too bad still, and if it's $100 less in the states that is a huge saving, especially as he is often in the states (in fact he's there right now!)

[azentropy]

I was leaning towards getting a S10 and almost ordered one. But since people who ordered from the website said their expected ship date was 6+ weeks I decided to wait.

I think the S10 has excellent build quaility, but for me it came down to two issues. The right shift key, and the battery life.

http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life...ff.aspx?page=6

2:22 vs. 6:34 was well worth the $100 to me - and that doesn't count for having twice the storage and twice the ram..

[mister2]

Battery should not be a factor. Lenovo S10 is available with a six cell battery. Heck, you can even purchase a nine cell battery on eBay. Price difference is negligible when similarly equipped.

The two biggest factor IMO is aesthetics and keyboard. Lenovo wins the aesthetics while Samsung wins the keyboard.

[hef]

yeah, the hard drive capacity and the battery life (which is especially short even for a 3 cell according to most of the reviews kicking around) really disadvantage and otherwise really good 'book.

[dougp]

[quote1228543926=mister2]
Battery should not be a factor. Lenovo S10 is available with a six cell battery. Heck, you can even purchase a nine cell battery on eBay. Price difference is negligible when similarly equipped.

The two biggest factor IMO is aesthetics and keyboard. Lenovo wins the aesthetics while Samsung wins the keyboard.
[/quote1228543926]

Battery is a factor because you cannot buy a 6 cell on the S10 in the US.