Lenovo S12 gets a VIA Nano option
By Paul Miller 
posted Jun 27th 2009 10:42PM
posted Jun 27th 2009 10:42PM
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No Atom? No GMA?
You've got a deal!
agreed! but wheres the atom + ion version? :(
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
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.
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
Compared to the 9400M which got over 2,000....
Yeah, calling Intel and VIA's offerings GPUs is quite a stretch.
nano...sounds small...hmm...
That's what she said.
Pretty much a fail thats what she said.
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?
The Atom version with the ION GPU like got release last week.
Except, like, it didn't. :(
ION won't be available on the S12 'till September, unfortunately.
What's the performance of the nano + chrome vs atom + intel graphics?
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
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/
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.
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).
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
AMD dual core Neo means 2 hours battery life!
Woooooo! VIA Nano! Not Atom!
Nothing to be excited about, as it sucks.
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.
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.
What about the AMD Neo CPU + Ion solution? :D Surely AMD doesn't play games like Intel does with their Atom CPUs?
Or how about AMD Neo with a low-power AMD Radeon
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.
And also the 3:30 max battery life on normal usage.
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.
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...
Dude, your university isn't going to distribute Alienware laptops. Be content with what you have.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
I know your friend. He's the janitor. He's washing my balls now.
@molecule-eye
You like to have male janitors wash your balls?
Creepy.
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!
Atom and Intel integrated GMA can suck my balls.
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!