Blurring the line
It will be interesting to see how Lenovo positions the S12. On one hand it will run on an Atom N270 - which would usually designate it a netbook. On the other hand it has a 12 inch screen and is expected to cost around $600. This puts it more into the ‘thin-and-light' category, which uses the more powerful AMD Neo or Intel CULV CPUs.
The S12 weighs 1.36kg and is 25mm thick, while the 13.3 inch U350 is the same thickness and weighs 1.58kg, so it's easy to see why Lenovo is concerned about confusing consumers. While it should have decent graphics, thanks to ION, the S12 will be bigger and more expensive than a netbook and have a lower performance CPU than a thin-and-light.
Even with the novelty of being the first to have ION graphics, Lenovo has a challenge on its hands differentiating such a notebook, especially with it launching a similar size notebook at the same time.
As we commented in our story about Acer's new 11.6 inch netbook, as netbook screen sizes grow, the line between netbooks and notebooks grows ever more blurred. OEMs like Lenovo and Acer could be creating as many problems as opportunities for themselves by offering failing to maintain a clear division between netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks and mainstream notebooks.
The ThinkPad U350
