Lenovo S10-3 Buying Guide & Review
One of the first 10-inch netbook out in the market, the Lenovo S10 is currently at its third generation, with the S10-3 sporting a faster Intel Atom processor, better chipset, better battery life, a more ergonomic keyboard, and an overall better built.
First introduced in 2008, the Lenovo S10 was well received as a well-built netbook, with deals being quickly gobbled up by gadget deal hunters. As a testament to the venerable line of netbook, this very review and buying guide is being written on a first generation S10.
The S10-3 fixes previous issues that can be found both in the first and second generation S10, namely the weak display hinges and fan noise issues. Current S10-3 comes with three USB ports (one more than previous generations), a 5-1 memory card reader, and a VGA out port. The speakers are also slightly improved, earning them Dolby audio certification (but they're still netbook speakers, so take that as you will).
Noteworthy Lenovo S10-3 Specifications
- Intel Pineview Atom N455 or N450 1.66Ghz Processor
- DDR3 RAM with N455, DDR2 with N450
- Windows XP Home or Windows 7 Starter Edition
- 160GB or 250GB 5400rpm hard drive
- Choice of 3 or 6 cell models
- Wireless BGN Network card
You'll notice that the latest S10-3 series sports the Intel Atom N455, just in case you were wondering what the difference is between the N455 and Atom N450, the N455 supports DDR3 memory. Current S10-3 comes with 1GB of RAM, either in DDR3 or DDR2 format. Depending on your budget, you may want to opt for the DDR2, N450 version as upgrading to another stick of 1GB of ram can be costly for DDR3 memories.
Performance is as expected for any Intel Atom machines, with general web browsing, Youtubing (is that a verb now?), Facebooking and etc. working without issue. With the better Intel GMA 3150 onboard graphics card, certain videos are better accelerated now (compared with the previous generation's completely outdated Intel GMA 95). You should expect most streaming flash content to play properly, though certain choppiness for 1080p HD content may occur, depending on the video content site in question.
Lenovo S10-3 DDR3 Memory Upgrade Problem?
The S10-3 will run downloaded HD content without issue, as any modern h264 codec may tax the CPU/GPU a bit, but should run without any noticeable lag. As mentioned, you'll get a better performance if you slap in another stick of 1GB RAM. If you purchase a Lenovo S10-3 with the N455, you'll be rocking DDR3 memory and will have to upgrade accordingly.
If you're having compatible issue with the S10-3 RAM, check out this Lenovo knowledge base page for more information on compatible ram that will work. Lenovo has also suggested that flashing the BIOS to the latest firmware may resolve your issue, but I recommend just out right purchasing compatible RAM in the first place (currently a Samsung or Ramaxel appears to fit/clip-in without problem). This is somewhat of a oversight by Lenovo, as memory compatibility and fit shouldn't be such a big issue for today's modern chipsets. If Lenovo maps the issue out properly, you should expect an updated BIOS version that will have wider memory support.
If this may be an issue or deal breaker for you, we recommend you grab the N450 version with DDR2 memory, for the budget netbook users, this will be the best choice too as DDR2 RAMs are by far much cheaper and more widely available in different options.
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