LenovoIdeapadS10-3t
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iPass? The best present and future alternatives to the Apple iPad
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad he was quick to shake his finger in the nose of the other devices out there attempting to fill the gap between cell phone and full-sized laptop, and in particular those market-dominating netbooks. In Apple's opinion, the iPad may be the gadget for surfing the web, watching movies, reading books and running apps, but it's surely not the only game in town. And if you aren't sold on the iPad, but happen to be someone who's looking to buy a secondary computing device to use while traveling or while simply lying on the couch, your choices at the moment come down to netbooks and... well, more netbooks. And that's not such a bad thing, especially if you need a feature Apple's tablet can't offer, like multitasking, a keyboard, or Flash support. So, before you get up on Saturday morning and run off to purchase that iPad, you may want to peruse the best current (as well as coming) alternatives we've rounded up after the break.
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t review
Who says you have to pick between a netbook and the coming onslaught of standalone tablet devices? Okay maybe some (eh hem Apple), but Lenovo's trying to have it both ways with the IdeaPad U1 and the S10-3t. In clamshell mode the S10-3t looks like any old 10-inch netbook, but swivel around its capacitive mulitouch display and it turns into that slate device you've been dreaming of. That's not all: the S10-3t is one of the first netbooks (or netveritbles) that has the new Intel 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor. But can the S10-3t straddle both worlds and do it well? And perhaps more importantly, is it worth the premium $649 price tag? That's the question we've been asking ourselves for the last few days, so hit the break for some answers in our full review.%Gallery-87678%
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 and S10-3t hands-on
Don't worry Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, we didn't forget about you -- even if we are totally smitten with your futuristic sibling the IdeaPad S1 Hybrid. The 10-inch S10-3 throws away the design of the S10 and S10-2 for a thinner body and a decorated lid, and we've got to say the 2.4 pound netbook felt quite light and sturdy in our hand. Under the lid we're loving the same chiclet style keyboard that we saw on the Skylight, though the touchpad with integrated mouse buttons is a bit small for our tastes. For $399 ($379 on Amazon) the S10-3 seems like it could be quite a worthy 10-inch netbook competitor, though we will have to see what its Intel Atom N470 and three-cell battery (there's an optional six-cell) provide in terms of battery life. The $499 S10-3t tablet version is going to take a bit more of a sell though. The convertible netbook (fine, netvertible) is thicker and heavier than the S10-3 largely due to its hinge and thicker touchscreen. But regardless of the somewhat awkward design (especially with a protruding six-cell battery strapped to its back), the capacitive touchscreen was quite responsive to our touches and gestures, and we're pretty impressed with Lenovo's Natural Touch interface that its got running on top of Windows 7 Home Premium. We also like that you can choose to flip the screen around and that the orientation will adjust automatically thanks to the accelerometer. But don't take our word for it, hit the break for a look at the finger-friendliness in in action. %Gallery-81638%
Lenovo set for January launch of Pine Trail-packing S10-3 netbook and S10-3t multitouch tablet
It's been awhile since Lenovo last updated its IdeaPad line, the S10-2 dropping over the summer, but we're hearing that the third iteration of the platform is set to be unveiled in the very near future. The model we spied at the FCC last month is confirmed to be the S10-3, possessing Atom N450 (Pine Trail) internals, a 10.1-inch screen, WiFi, 3G, and integrated GPS. More interesting is that there is an S10-3t model coming as well, a convertible tablet version which you can see the underside of above, thanks again to the FCC. It will feature a multitouch screen to make the most of its Windows 7 install, and hopefully won't be crippled by Starter Edition like another tablet we know.
