Lenovo's 9-inch S10 Netbook Gets the Hands-On Treatment

Earlier this week, Lenovo finally unveiled its latest IdeaPad notebook, the S10, which will compete with ASUS's Eee PC on the netbook market. Despite the fact that Lenovo is yet to begin shipment, the company's product has already received a hands-on treatment and we can say for sure that we are looking at a very impressive netbook, especially considering its $399 price point.

Xavier from notebooks.com got the chance to have a quick look at the IdeaPad S10, while he was at a meeting with Lenovo in San Francicso. He video recorded his experience and uploaded the video on the above mentioned website.

The IdeaPad in the video features a 9-inch display and will only be marketed in Asia, branded as S9. This model is rumored to begin shipment along with the 10-inch version, sometime in October. The price tag of this smaller-sized netbook is still uncertain, but you should take into account that it provides pretty much the same design features as its 10-inch counterpart.

Unfortunately, Xavier did not have the chance to turn on and browse through the netbook's functions, so we can't provide you with any technical detail. Still, it's highly probably that it will feature the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor that equips the company's S10 model. It will also have two USB ports, Ethernet, webcam, 4-in-1 card reader and probably an ExpressCard. As with the S10, Lenovo will probably offer this 9-inch version with an option for Windows XP or Linux operating systems.

As we mentioned in a previous article, the S9 will probably be meant to compete with ASUS's Eee PC 900 and 901, while the S10 will go head-to-head with the 1000 and 1000H models. This will be an interesting competition to watch, as the netbook market is getting ever more crowded.