According to DigiTimes, Lenovo will release an Atom N280-powered IdeaPad S20 in hopes to avoid competition from the 10-inch netbook market. The system is rumored to run around $586 when it's released at an undisclosed date. Seeing as Lenovo's other offerings in the 12-inch size range have traditionally cost triple that price, it's an interesting move if nothing else. [DigiTimes via The Inquirer]

Photo is Lenovo S10.

If you look back at my original review of the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, a 12-inch Atom netbook with 1GB of RAM, I liked the hardware just fine but complained that Vista was too slow to even be considered as the OS. The system often lagged when just opening the Start menu, let alone launching real programs. It, like Vista on most netbooks, was little more than a novelty—something to be chuckled at for a few moments before formatting and installing XP. So I loaded the mini 12 with Windows 7. What did I have to lose?

The experience is night and day.

With Aero deactivated (and actually, totally inaccessible after an auto-configuration installation despite screwing with the registry), the Start menu now pops right up (like it should), Firefox takes about 3.5 seconds to open (which is reasonable) and light multitasking is smooth enough. The computer is by no means fast, but it's reasonably functional. And I can use the system without pounding my head against the screen or loading an old OS. Keep in mind, this testing is just with 1GB of memory, not even 2GB.

The system still struggles a bit with both full screen Flash video and XviD clips. Heavily dropped frames remain a fact of life, and don't expect to fast forward through high quality content at will. But that's a hardware limitation that I can accept, or at least not blame on Microsoft. Intel, I'm looking in your direction now.

I loaded Windows 7 onto the Mini 12 as a Hail Mary maneuver, hoping to play with the system a little more without resorting to XP. And I have to admit, the results were pretty close to miraculous.

But rather than focus on philosophy, I'll say that the Inspiron Mini 12 feels better than any netbook I've used to date...even if it cheated a bit in the process.

Design
The build of the Mini 12 is excellent. Even with the extended battery, it feels light and easy to toss around. But it's more than the weight that makes it so comfortable to carry. Its bottom has a sandpapery texture, which grips a hand with confidence.
You'll also notice that the side profile is tapered along the bottom edges. I don't know that it makes any difference in how the computer actually rests on a table, but it looks nice enough.
The Mini 12's keyboard is still not full-sized, but it's adequate to feel comfortable and satisfyingly clicky. Meanwhile, the trackpad does leave something to be desired. The texture is simply off to me, simultaneously smooth and bumpy, it almost feels like a skin rash. The right and left mouse buttons below tend to recess when pressed more than any laptop I've ever used. It's and off-putting sensation at first, but I grew to appreciate the mechanical feel.
As for the screen, it's a luxury to use. The experience is completely different than an 8.9-inch display that you find in most standard netbooks nowadays (including own Dell's Mini 9). There's decent color, solid contrast, and sharp 1280X800 resolution...but just moderate brightness. The max setting was just adequately bright, which considering the fact that LCDs fade with time, is something to keep in mind-especially if you like to fry your eyes like I do.

The biggest surprise of the testing had to be how cool the system ran. The bottom didn't heat my lap at all, feeling only lukewarm to the touch. I can only assume that the larger case mixed with a low wattage processor dissipates heat very well. However the engineering worked out, I'll take it.
But if there was one thing I would change, it would be the charging and power light. It sits on the hinge in a prominent position that you can see even when closed, but it's far too dim, and it's viewable from a very limited range of angles. Put it this way, for the first day I had the system, I thought Dell had omitted this light altogether.

Ultimately though, it's just a nice looking machine that feels great to put your hands on, a far cry from the humble original Eee and something you'll be proud to pull out at board meetings and pretentious coffee shops alike.

Function
So here's the rub: While I love the Dell design, the hardware/software combination has slowed the Mini 12 to barely usable levels. The model I tested was the $550 base system with a 1.33GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and 40GB hard drive. That system should be alright for XP (though we'd love to see a 2GB RAM upgrade option), but it's just not enough to power Vista. And you can only buy the system with Vista. The system crawls with constant multi-second stalls, and effective multitasking is pretty much impossible. Sadly, there's not much more to say on the topic. Simple mental math tells us that this system shouldn't be running Vista as it skirts the minimum requirements of Home Basic, and our real world testing shows us the same thing. Of course, Vista alone doesn't mean you should pass over the Mini 12. Just expect to reinstall the OS with the purchase and come to terms with the fact that your paying licensing rights for an OS that you won't use.

Battery Life
I tested the battery life through MPEG4 video playback with the default processing settings and the screen at max brightness (max, to me, is the ideal viewing brightness).

Base 3-cell Battery - 1 hour, 20 minutes
Extended 6-cell battery - 4 hours, 2 minutes

At a glance, this 12-inch Dell system looks to about as power efficient as the 10-inch MSI Wind, though it loses about 20 minutes on the 3-cell battery (we're guessing through a combination of more computational rigorous testing methods and a larger screen). Keep in mind that if you expect to hang out around a plug, the AC adapter is quite light, lacking any big power brick to speak of.

Back to Square One
Without opening the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 box, I would have expected exactly what I encountered-a solidly built system that shouldn't be running Vista. But even loaded with XP, and even in the $600 configuration that we'd recommend (1.6GHz Atom, 60GB hard drive, 1GB RAM and 6-cell battery), the system still begs the question of value. A slightly smaller, equally powered MSI Wind will run you $350. And you can get a slightly bigger Core2Duo Dell laptop for $600 easy.

It's true. From a performance standpoint alone, there's almost no question that the Dell Mini 12 isn't "worth it." But if you don't want to squint at a screen yet you still want a system that breaks the 3-pound barrier, then it's hard not to be a little infatuated with the Mini 12. Just rip Vista off that thing as quickly as possible. [Dell]