Lenovo S12 gets a VIA Nano option

Wanna trade in some battery life and get a bit of extra speed in the deal? Lenovo is now offering its spanking new S12 netbook with a VIA Nano ULV 2250 processor and VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics instead of the usual Intel Atom / GMA 950 combo, which should offer a little more pep (at least in some applications) and lops $50 off the original's spendy $500 asking price. The Nano setup will draw more battery than the Atom, so you might want to invest that extra cash in another battery if you can track one down, but at least the $450 price includes a 6 cell as standard.

[Deputy Doffoos @ Jun 27th 2009 10:48PM]

No Atom? No GMA?

You've got a deal!

[Anchit Panchal @ Jun 27th 2009 11:16PM]

agreed! but wheres the atom + ion version? :(

[Thoth @ Jun 28th 2009 4:32AM]

Come on 500$? for 600 I can and I will get Atom 330 + ION, also at 12 inch, default 2 Gb of Ram with an option for 4 Gb, 320 Gb HDD, DVD drive, HDMI output and more

http://www.dospara.co.jp/5goods_pc/pc_detail.php?h=d&f=d&m=pc&mc=1070

[Epsilon-Not @ Jun 27th 2009 10:49PM]

Well- it depends, if you get rid of the Atom and the GMA but don't replace it with anything...

Though the Nano seems like a decent option, but how are the VIA graphics? I haven't heard many good things about them.

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 28th 2009 12:28AM]

Apparently the Chrome9 HC got 128 points in 3dMark06, compared to 243 points for the GMA. Ouch for both, but VIA graphics suck. Big time.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/VIA-Chrome9-HC.3712.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-950.2177.0.html

[Mike @ Jun 28th 2009 12:59AM]

Compared to the 9400M which got over 2,000....

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 28th 2009 1:08AM]

Yeah, calling Intel and VIA's offerings GPUs is quite a stretch.

[Wewtaco @ Jun 27th 2009 10:54PM]

nano...sounds small...hmm...

[crsh @ Jun 27th 2009 11:44PM]

That's what she said.

[Lazarpandar @ Jun 28th 2009 3:48AM]

Pretty much a fail thats what she said.

[Flowah @ Jun 27th 2009 10:59PM]

Isn't the S12 the one that is supposed to have the ION option at some point? Weren't we hearing about ION + VIA Nano? No option?

[Al @ Jun 27th 2009 11:07PM]

The Atom version with the ION GPU like got release last week.

[Rocky @ Jun 27th 2009 11:32PM]

Except, like, it didn't. :(

ION won't be available on the S12 'till September, unfortunately.

[Ghatid @ Jun 27th 2009 11:38PM]

What's the performance of the nano + chrome vs atom + intel graphics?

[TheLostSwede @ Jun 27th 2009 11:43PM]

The CPU should offer slightly better performance and the chipset should offer vastly better video decoding performance, but it might not be quite as great in some other scenarios. You can check out a review of the Samsung NC20 which might not use the same chipset as the Lenovo here http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/249540/samsung-nc20.html

[TheLostSwede @ Jun 27th 2009 11:39PM]

Why would the Nano model draw more power than the Atom N270 model?
That makes no sense at all, even if the VIA Nano CPU draws a tiny bit more power, the 945GSE chipset draws a lot more power than VIA's chipsets.

The Atom+ION model has been delayed until October, Lenovo is most likely waiting for Windows 7, as it offers some native GPGPU features like video transcoding as you copy files to your portable media player etc. http://www.netbooknews.com/451/lenovo-ideapad-s12-delayed-until-october/

[Jayayess1190 @ Jun 28th 2009 12:16AM]

Why? Because the Nano is 65nm and uses 8W of power vs 45nm for the Atom and 2.5W. The chipset does use less power than the GMA 950 though.

[Ian @ Jun 28th 2009 3:50PM]

Firstly, the VIA Nano draws less power at idle than the Intel solution for netbooks. The Nano only draws more power than the Intel Atom when both processors are running at, or near, full speed. Since most computers spend their majority of the time at idle (e.g., when you're surfing the internet, listening to iTunes/music, etc), the difference in power consumption isn't huge. The Atom would still draw less power under average use, but it's not really a big enough difference for you to require a second battery. The significance of the difference in CPU power consumption is reduced further when you consider the power drawn from all the other components.

Secondly, for the slightly greater power consumption, you get a processor that's 20-40% faster. That still isn't "fast", since the Atom is slow. However, I always wished that the successor to the HP Mini 2133 netbook would have adopted the VIA Nano rather than an Atom, since the 2133 also had a VIA processor (albeit a slow one).

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 27th 2009 11:57PM]

They should toss the Nano and get AMD's dual-core Neo.. Thats about as low as a processor I will go. The single-core Atom netbooks are worthless IMO

[Kenneth @ Jun 29th 2009 10:24PM]

AMD dual core Neo means 2 hours battery life!

[ThreeDee912 @ Jun 28th 2009 12:16AM]

Woooooo! VIA Nano! Not Atom!

[Leo @ Jun 28th 2009 1:26AM]

Nothing to be excited about, as it sucks.

[*brotha @ Jun 28th 2009 1:58AM]

man i wish this whole "atom" craze would end.

i hate all this new stuff thats madd slow, like wtf. Were going backwards in speed here people!

put some normal centino duos on that shit.

[Al @ Jun 28th 2009 4:03AM]

I am so with you. I thought the Atom cpu would give me better performance(or at least equal) than my iBook G4, and an old Athlon 2ghz system, man was off. My HP Mini would slow down after watching two youtube videos to a point where I had to force quite firefox, and start all over again. Could not take it any more and upgrade to open box Sony TT190, and could not be happier. So I paid 2.5x more than what my Mini cost, but the speed, ability to play blu-ray, and the keyboard make up for cost, and slightly larger size.

[Castaa @ Jun 28th 2009 2:04AM]

What about the AMD Neo CPU + Ion solution? :D Surely AMD doesn't play games like Intel does with their Atom CPUs?

[Luffy @ Jun 28th 2009 4:04AM]

Or how about AMD Neo with a low-power AMD Radeon

[Al @ Jun 28th 2009 4:05AM]

I thought the GPU that the Neo was paired with was a little faster compared to the 9400m, while using a little less power? At least that what I thought I read for the DV2 model that has the 512mb or video ram.

[Kenneth @ Jun 29th 2009 10:27PM]

And also the 3:30 max battery life on normal usage.

[Sashy @ Jun 28th 2009 3:38AM]

I got an S10 issued from my university and it is utterly the biggest piece of shit I've ever been forced to use. Lenovo should really stop trying to make netbooks.

[Ghatid @ Jun 28th 2009 4:55AM]

I don't understand why you're complaining about a computer that you are allowed to use for free. You need to be more thankful of the things you have...

[Zane @ Jun 28th 2009 8:20AM]

Dude, your university isn't going to distribute Alienware laptops. Be content with what you have.

[Flowah @ Jun 28th 2009 10:36AM]

No... If someone says they're going to give you a car and it's some piece of shit that is falling apart and barely usable then you have every right to complain about something free.

[Enoch @ Jun 28th 2009 4:46PM]

I have a S10 it is not falling apart nor having any quality issue that why i dont understand what he is complaining about.
it is not about whether its free or not.
the atom processor is not very fast. it is that fact. nothing to do with the s10

[substance90 @ Jun 28th 2009 5:02AM]

Hey guys I wonder which is the netbook with the best keyboard and battery life? I need some little 10-12 inch machine for writing while I`m on the go.

[Nick @ Jun 28th 2009 5:13AM]

Dont buy anything with VIA in it. My friend works there and always tells me stories about the junk they make. He says he would never use their components in his own pc. Take my word for it.

[loci @ Jun 28th 2009 7:57AM]

Dont listen to nick, my friend also works there and always tells me stories about how great they are. He says he will only use their components in his own pc. Take my word for it.

[molecule-eye @ Jun 28th 2009 5:39PM]

I know your friend. He's the janitor. He's washing my balls now.

[Erb @ Jun 29th 2009 5:26AM]

@molecule-eye

You like to have male janitors wash your balls?
Creepy.

[WinMo4Evah @ Jun 28th 2009 1:29PM]

The Nano sucks for most things but it has 256-bit AES hardware encryption and is a beast for anything crypto intensive. As long as you are using Nano-optimized libraries such as OpenSSL, you will get hard crypto throughput exceeding even the extreme i7s. For WPA cracking I accept no substitutes!

[molecule-eye @ Jun 28th 2009 5:38PM]

Atom and Intel integrated GMA can suck my balls.

[V Langs @ Jun 28th 2009 11:10PM]

I like netbooks, but really??

What i don't get is how technology is always moving foreword, but there's always something that catches on that is so OUTDATED!

the atom sucks. let's be honest. It can't multi-task. i know because i got suckered in by the shiny smallness of it all.

what i would really like to see is low voltage core 2 processors for these things? you can't tell me they don't know how to! low voltage has been the rage for ages!

even an Athalon X2 is pretty low voltage and it can power the shitty compaq my dad bought for 3.5 hours, throw a larger cell battery and use that!

I love tiny notebooks, it's an excellent idea. but I'd LOVE SOME POWER!