Lenovo IdeaPad S205 review

1 of 4

Gallery

Verdict:

The next evolution of the netbook - it might lack the visual flair of its rivals, but the IdeaPad S205 gets everything else right

Review Date: 24 Sep 2011

Price when reviewed: £337

Supplier: http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk

Reviewed By: Tom Morgan

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

User Rating

ExpertReviews Award

On first inspection, you could be forgiven for mistaking Lenovo’s tiny IdeaPad S205 for a netbook. It has the same small footprint and 11in screen that we’re used to seeing, but look a little deeper and it’s clear this is an evolution of the traditional netbook form factor.

Unlike traditional netbooks, which are restricted to certain hardware in order to ship with Windows 7 Starter edition, Lenovo has opted for Windows 7 Home Premium, which allows for a greater range of hardware choices. For starters, the usual Intel Atom processor has been jettisoned in favour of an AMD Fusion E-350, which is about as powerful in desktop applications but slightly better at handling video and full-screen 3D. With 4GB of memory, up from the netbook-standard 1GB, and a 500GB hard disk, this is more of an ultra-portable than a laptop, even if our benchmark results don’t paint quite the same picture.

Although fine for single tasks, the processor was quickly bogged down by our intense tests, producing a low overall score of 12. This might appear low, but we rarely noticed slowdowns during everyday use. We could browse the web, edit a text document and play 720p video at the same time without seeing any system lag. If you don’t need to perform intensive tasks such as image or video editing, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting things done on the S205.

Naturally there’s no dedicated graphics card, but AMD’s purchase of graphics giant ATI means there’s still some performance to be squeezed from the integrated chipset. We had no trouble playing 720p video on the laptop, and could even play 1080p files on an external display using the HDMI output. Unfortunately the Radeon HD 6310m isn’t well-suited to gaming. It failed our Dirt 3 test, unable to produce a smooth frame rate at 1,366x720. Even when we dropped the resolution, disabled anti-aliasing and turned down the detail settings to medium, it still only managed an unplayable 12 fps.

Prev Next

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

User Reviews

See more Ideapad S205 reviews on Reevoo.com

< Previous Reviews : Laptops Next >

Sponsored Links

User comments

Already superseded

I am looking at the this model and the HP dm1. Both have now been updated in US with the new AMD E450. So don't buy now, I'm waiting. There are even rumours that HP will offer the Intel i3 processor?

By patrickmullins on 3 Oct 2011

Crappy plastics and lack of spare parts

IdeaPad has a crappy plastic base and a lack of spare parts. I wish I had bought a Thinkpad. Battery latches broke after a few days, and even though the latches are in a separate part, customer service offered me just buying the entire lower housing for the price of third laptop.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/36790862/lenovoIdeapad_s2
05.jpg

By nwy81 on 1 Jul 2012

Leave a comment

You need to Login or Register to comment.