Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with NVIDIA Ion graphics reviewed

Lenovo updated the IdeaPad S10 to the IdeaPad S10-2 earlier this year to add, well, not that much really, but its new IdeaPad S12 update is a bit more impressive. This new model now has NVIDIA Ion graphics and Laptop magazine has been putting it through its paces.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with Ion (catchy…) has a 12.1” screen with Intel Atom N270 processor and costs $649 — around £400. Laptop magazine likes the big keyboard, but the netbook generated a surprising amount of heat when streaming video, which is no doubt due to the beefier graphics chip.

That NVIDIA Ion graphics chipset makes a dramatic difference to 3D performance too and the IdeaPad S12 scored 1,377 in the 3DMark06 benchmark — other Atom netbooks score around 160. To hammer the point home, Laptop magazine ran World of Warcraft on the IdeaPad S12 at 1280 x 800 and achieved 30 frames-per-second. Impressive stuff.

The only catch is the price and the similarly specified HP Mini 311 costs around $75 less (it’s £349 in the UK, while the current, non-Ion IdeaPad S-12 is £325) and last longer on battery power. We’re still waiting to get our hands on both for review, so we’ll hopefully be able to do our own comparison before too long.

[ Laptop magazine via Liliputing]