Lenovo S10-3t Tablet-Netbook Review
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – 5.5/7
There are some who say you must chose between a tablet and netbook (think Apple), but Lenovo says you should have your pie and eat it too! The S10-3 Tablet or netvertible is their multi-touch capacitative netbook that swivels into tablet form. For the uninitiated, since it runs on the Windows 7 OS it has everything that the iPad doesn’t – flash, multitasking, a memory card slot and a physical keyboard. The S10-3t has two battery versions, a 4-cell that lasts about three hours and an 8-cell that lasts seven. The netvertible looks fine, but has a glossy lid that attracts fingerprints. It runs the 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 and has a host of bundled software.
A few important things to note,the first of which being that the $499 eight-cell S10-3t available on amazon features the Windows 7 Starter which is NOT compatible with the touchscreen. Also the processor isn’t the N470, but the slower Atom N450. So you have to spend $40 or so upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium. Secondly, the netbook in tablet mode runs sluggishly and needs to be tweaked. The RAM needs to be upped to 2GB, bloatware removed, advanced performance options need to be tweaked and the Quickstart enabled in the BIOS.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – The Touch Screen
The 1024 x 600 display is multitouch friendly and Lenovo has an automatic display orientation tool that, if enabled, toggles between landscape and portrait mode intuitively. The touch screen is fairly responsive with regard to the scrolling and pinching gestures. Lenovo included a NaturalTouch software that is meant to make the touch experience easier with icons, shortcut buttons and tabs. There’s also BumpTop, a 3D friendly desktop manager which is based on a nice concept enabling you to drag pictures to facebook and twitter, but otherwise is pretty thin on functionality.
If you use the touchscreen straight out of the box (without tweaking), the main problems with the interface is the performance lag. When you use a keyboard/mouse input, you’re willing to bear a few seconds response time. But while using your fingers, 2 seconds to open a photo file is way to long. Once you tweak the netvertible however, it’s a whole different story. While it may not match up to the touch performance of an iPad, the Flash support, multitasking, webcam, ports and physical keyboard mean that it is a way more complete device.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – Top Features
- Lightweight – At 2.7 pounds with the 4-cell and 3.2 pounds with the 8-cell battery, the netvertible is a comfortable weight. It’s quite slim as well and the 4-cell version is easy to hold in your hand while in tablet mode.
- Comfortable Keyboard – Although not the island style one like we reviewed with the S10-3, this keyboard is nicely sized and easy to type on.
- Instant On OS - There’s the Quickstart software which lets you boot into a Linux OS, surpassing the wait for Windows to load.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – Drawbacks and things to keep in mind
- Sluggish Performance – We were expecting the S10-3t to be faster than your average netbook considering the 1.83GHz N470 processor, but were met with typical netbook performance.
- Low battery or Chunky Chassis – Either you get 3.5 hours of battery life (versus 7) or you contend with a bulky battery (the eight-cell).
- OS Upgrade required – The amazon product ships with Windows 7 Starter, which is not compatible with touch. Pretty much a ripoff there, as every last person is buying this machine for the tablet screen.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – Ratings
- Price and Value for money – 0.75 Star. At a price equivalent to the iPad, you get a richer featured, but less qualitative device.
- Speed and Performance – 0.75 Star. The speed is average, but where it really loses out is in the multi-touch tweaking. Lenovo should really have had a more user-friendly experience straight out of the box.
- Screen – 1.0 Star. The screen itself is vibrant and rich in color. The only drawback is in the viewing angles, which aren’t that great.
- Keyboard, Touchpad, Useability – 0.75 Star. The keyboard is a decent one, but the touchpad is cramped with integrated buttons. The touchscreen registers our fingers just fine.
- Portability and Battery Life – 0.75 Star. The netbook is sleek enough for the tablet functionality. Battery life is average.
- Looks and Design – 0.75 Star. Nothing spectacular, but a nice enough look. The lid though, is glossy and picks up fingerprints.
- Connectivity and Extensibility – 0.75 Star. The S10-3t features the standard set of netbook ports.
This gives the S10-3t an overall rating of 5.5 out of 7 Stars.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – Our Recommendation
While we are impressed with the S10-3t after running out little upgrades, we have a real qualm with Lenovo not thinking it through and providing these in the first place. A lot of users have used the thing out of the box and been majorly disappointed. The touchpad is a great browsing tool, but not optimal for inking or taking notes. The iPad is a constant other choice, but the Lenovo S10-3t is a better-rounded machine with many more features. We agree with what one of the users on amazon said - “If you need a small portable netpad to do work on and easily portable, BUY THIS! If you need a small portable netpad to play on, buy the iPad.”
The 8-cell version with Windows 7 (which needs to be upgraded) is available for $499 on amazon.
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – What have buyers on amazon said?
Pros:
- “The screen is beautiful–very clear and while reflective/glossy, the quality is excellent, bright and easy to look at.”
- “I also get great responsiveness from the touchscreen in programs and while browsing. The multitouch has worked better than expected thus far.”
Cons:
- “As shipped this device comes with Windows 7 Starter edition, unfortunately this version of windows does not include the built in Windows 7 multi-touch features. If you are really interested in using this device as a tablet then you must upgrade to at least Windows 7 Home Premium edition.”
- “The touchpad on the Lenovo is extremely small and also annoying.”
Lenovo S10-3t Netvertible Review – Technical Specifications
- OS: Windows 7 Starter
- CPU: 1.66GHz Intel AtomN450 Procesor
- Display & Graphics: 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 LED Multi-touch Display, Intel GMA 3150
- RAM: 1GB DDR2
- Storage: 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
- Connectivity: 6-in-one card reader, 802.11b/g/n, Ethernet LAN (RJ-45), VGA, 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
- Battery: 8-cell Li-ion Battery
- Weight: 3.2lbs
- Colors: Black, Red
- Price: $499
The 4-cell version available for $649 features 2GB RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium and weighs 2.7 lbs.
Filed under: Lenovo Netbook Review, Tablets
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