Lenovo Officially Jumps on the Netbook Bandwagon

This places the Lenovo Ideapad S10 in direct competition with the MSI Wind, Asus' various Eee PC offerings, and puts one of the major notebook players on the bandwagon.

In their press release, Liu Jun, senior vice president, Consumer Business Group, Lenovo said:

"IdeaPad netbooks are the latest in a string of recently announced Lenovo products, designed specifically for consumers worldwide and developed through our heritage of technological innovation and exceptional engineering. As rapidly as the technology changes, today's consumers are looking for mobile products that feature the best of basic computing functions in an extremely compact and affordable form, and Lenovo designed the IdeaPad netbooks for that purpose."

Consumer demand for netbooks is growing rapidly around the world. IDC forecasts worldwide shipments of ultra-low cost notebooks rising from just 430,000 units in 2007 to 9.2 million in 2012. Additionally, analysts are predicting that one of the fastest growing areas for netbooks is the education market.

The Ideapad S10 sports a 10.2" screen and weighs in at just over 2 pounds. Pricing starts at $399, and it runs Windows XP. More specs:

* Intel N270 (Atom) CPU (1.6 GHz)
* Intel 945GSE Chipset
* Integrated 1.3M Camera
* 2 stereo speakers
* Multi-touch Pad & near full size Keyboard (85% full size)
* Integrated Wireless 802.11 b/g, 10/100 Ethernet, Bluetooth
* ExpressCard slot for WWAN expansion
* Up to 2 GB RAM
* 4-in-1 Multi-card Reader
* 10.2" wide LCD, LED backlight, 1024×600 WSVGA
* Intel Integrated Graphics GMA 950
* 160 GB 2.5" SATA HDD (5400 rpm)
* Battery up to 3 hrs. w/ 3 cell Battery & Up to 6 hrs. w/ 6 cell

The S10 comes in white, black, or red. However, it's not going to ship until early October, so you have quite a wait coming if you want it. At this pricing though, it'll be the lowest-cost ULCPC running XP --- unless Sony or Dell chime in before then with cheaper models.

Reported by http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/