Lenovo IdeaPad S206 product tour (video)

This summer Lenovo plans to launch two new mini-laptops as part of its IdeaPad S series. The IdeaPad S200 will feature an Intel Atom dual core CPU, while the S206 will have a dual core AMD chip.

Both models will be available with solid state storage and full-sized, island-style keyboards. Prices are expected to start at around $349.

Lenovo IdeaPad S206

While neither laptop is expected to hit the streets before June, Lenovo posted a video tour of the IdeaPad S206 on YouTube recently.

The video is light on specific details, so I don’t know exactly which AMD processor the laptop has or what the screen resolution will be, although I’d be surprised if it was anything but 1366 x 768 pixels. What do you think this is, 2013?

What we do know is that the laptop will measure 20.7mm, or about 0.81 inches thick, making it a hair thicker than a typical ultrabook, but I’m willing to forgive that for a laptop that’s less than half the price of an ultrabook.

Unfortunately Lenovo has also confirmed that the S206 is only expected to get about 4 hours of battery life — which somehow the video tries to describe as a feature rather than a disappointing fact.

The laptop will have 3 USB ports, a flash card reader, a combined mic/headphone jack, and a metallic exterior with a glossy interior.

via Laptoping

Posted on Friday, April 13th, 2012, 3:30 pm by Brad Linder | 9 Comments

animatio

“confirmed that the S206 is only expected to get about 4 hours of battery life – disappointing fact” …. if this will remain like this … a killer in 2012 /2013.
Guest

I wouldn’t be surprised if the AMD CPU was an E-300, which is an Atom-class CPU. Btw, AMD lists highlights of their current CPU lines at

http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/apu/mainstream/pages/mainstream.aspx#6

I would guess that the Intel product would have an Atom N550 or N2600, all of which are dual core CPUs. These are about the same performance as the E-300.

As it stands right now, AMD is at somewhat of a disadvntage against Intel in the CPU horse race. AMD trails Intel in general purpose performance, and power thriftiness, but features lower cost and better graphics performance.

Intel will try to close the graphics gap by brining Sandy Bridge graphics to Atom, and will look to stretch its lead in general purpose performance and power usage.
Guest

The 206 with the AMD CPU has the miserable battery life, and is likely to cost somewhat less than the 200, which has the power sipping Intel CPU.

Lenovo will be happy to sell you a spare battery for the 206 (with the savings you get from the price difference between the 2 models) to get the same life as the 200 with its built-in battery.
David

Six hours on battery and a matte screen instead of glossy – and I’m in big-time. Otherwise – nah.
Guest

You may get the 6 hr battery life with the 200 model.

Unfortunately, IdeaPads don’t usually get the matte screen. That’s reserved for the higher end ThinkPads (like the T, X, W series, the Edge has a glossy screen). So you may have to spend quite a bit more and get a ThinkPad X1xx.

Lenovo has an annoying habit of reserving little details you can’t really live without, for their premiere models. Thinks like matte screens, lid latches, dedicated large DEL, PG UP etc. navigation keys, VGA connector thumbscrew holes.
CyberGusa

Unfortunately, battery run times aren’t expected to improve much for the rest of this year.

AMD had to cancel some of the updates they had planned for early this year because delays in 28nm manufacturing would have prevented them coming out on time and they’re planning on architectural changes to take effect by next year that a later release would have interfered with. So not too much will be changing in their offerings for the remainder of this year.

However, 2013 is when we’ll be seeing a lot of changes in both the Intel and AMD camps… along with other technological advances that should altogether help boost the average run time significantly from what’s available now.

Even in the regular laptop space, the Intel Haswell update is rumored that it could provide up to 50% better power efficiency.
CyberGusa

The cost difference between the ATOM and the AMD Fusion offerings are a bit closer than they were last year. Thanks mostly to the newer Cedar Trail having a lower manufacturing cost for Intel to nearly half. Though the older Pine Trail chips have also dropped in pricing recently.

System prices mainly spiked a bit, despite the reduced manufacturing costs, because of the hard drive shortage driving up costs but that should alleviate in the coming months and finally return to normal next year.

So I doubt the difference is enough to counter the price for a spare battery anymore but also mind Lenovo tends to charge a bit of a premium and it also depends on whether they’re offering a 3 cell or 6 cell battery.

Their Thinkpad series is pretty much worth it though with the better build quality and I’d compare this S206 to the Thinkpad X130e to see which is really the better offer.
CyberGusa

Lenovo, like Dell and HP, allow for custom configurations. So there’s likely to be a range of offerings and it’s just a question of what the base configuration represents.

For Intel, they’re actually planning on bringing in Ivy Bridge based GMA to the ATOM… along with many other enhancements when they push out the 22nm updates but that won’t be coming out in actual systems until the beginning of 2013.
Guest

No Ethernet port, low batteyr life, glossy display n interiror, no usb 3.0 (it seems)… Thx, but no thx.
Too bad, it looks really good from a design/aesthetic point of view. Plus it’s light n thin enough.
Fed up to be screwed on “details” by every manufacturers…
Sell it $100 more but make it good, darn it!

Lenovo IdeaPad S206 product tour (video)

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