Lenovo slashes prices of Ideapad S12 – for both VIA and Atom based models

Lenovo has slashed the prices of Ideapad S12, which is available in two variants:

• VIA Nano S2250 that runs at 1.3GHz clock speed
• Intel Atom N270 that runs at 1.6GHz clock speed

The VIA Nano one used to cost $449 whose price has now been reduced to $429. The Atom based S12 got a more significant price drop of $50 (from $499 to $449). There are no differences in both models other than use of different processors. Both come with 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 6-cell battery and Windows XP Home edition.

HP DV2 = Netbook Destroyer?

Contrary to the original concept of netbooks, which describe them as small and easy to carry around devices, the companies are now coming out with bigger and bigger netbooks everyday. We have already observed a slew of companies already coming out with 12-inch netbooks, which cost $600+.
Meet the HP DV2, a 12-inch sub notebook, which is almost the size of a typical 12-inch netbook. It just cost few dollars more and there are less tradeoffs in terms of speed and power as compared to full fledge notebook. The HP DV2 is often described as the cross between netbooks and notebooks. It has the features of notebook but comes at a price close to the netbook range. Its resolution is not netbook-ish (1280 x 800) and is equipped with an AMD processor instead of Atom processor, which is no match against the AMD.

It even comes with a built-in BLU ray disk. I’m yet to hear any netbook manufacture to come out with a BLU ray drive.

However, the DV2 suffers from poor battery life, even with the extended battery (3 hours). This is something modern netbooks excel in.

Samsung NC20 VIA powered netbook now available

If you still consider a 12-inch notebook-size netbook portable, then you will find this one interesting. Samsung NC20, powered by VIA Nano processor is now available at newegg at $549.

It comes with Windows XP home edition, 1GB RAM and 160 GB HDD. The VIA Nano processor is clocked to run at 1.3GHz. It runs at notebook-ish resolution (1280 x 800) and comes with a 6-cell li-ion battery.

[newegg link for SAMSUNG NC20]