Lenovo IdeaPad S205 11.6 inch Notebook
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 11.6 inch Notebook
Lenovo have produced a machine in the Lenovo IdeaPad S205 that, at almost 12 inches corner to corner, is somewhere between the standard laptop and the traditional netbook. It is light and very portable, but the extra inches give it the advantage of a 98% full size keyboard and a slightly bigger screen. The model I am testing here has a 320 Gb hard drive and 2GB RAM, but there are other models available with more of both for a bit more cah. Would I buy one? With some reservations, yes. Is it worth it? Read my impartial review to find out…
|
Read more about the Lenovo IdeaPad S205 here
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 11.6 inch Notebook Reviewed
Average Customer rating: 4.2 
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Design
The contemporary and slim design of the Lenovo IdeaPad S205 notebook is not only compact and chic, it keeps you connected for longer with its extended battery life and comes with a OneKey® Rescue System that makes backing up and restoring data easy.
The powerful AMD Dual Core E350 Processor is based on the new Accelerated Processing Unit and discrete-level Graph ics Processing Unit both of which are incorpporated into a single power-efficient chip. This gives vivid HD entertainment, blazing-fast Internet browsing and accelerated media applications – ideal for photo processing, gaming or any other data-heavy task. I have used AMD chips for years without any problems, and this example is no exception. What did surprise and disappoint, however, was the range of the wireless card – I could only just pick up a signal one room away from the router. The graphics are great, however, and the whole machine feels solidly built and from quality materiels.
Built in High Technology with Veriface
The Lenovo IdeaPad S205 feautures VeriFace technology, a simple face recognition technology that makes logging in to your PC fun and secure. If you have more than one user for your notebook, multiple users are supported. With this remarkable software included as standard with the Lenovo IdeaPad S205 you can:
- Check who has tried to log into your computer
- Encrypt and decrypt sensitive files, using your face as the password
- Stop unauthorised users from using a photo of the owner to log in
For added security, the software even checks head movement to make sure that a real person and not just a photo is being used to log in. Users can enable/ disable the live detection or set the sensitivity level according to their preference.
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Keyboard and Trackpad
The sleek design and quality of the keyboard is excellent. It is almost full-size at 98% – in fact, the letter keys are full-size, only the arrow keys and enter button ar slightly smaller than normal – and shows hardly any sign of flex. If you are likely to do a lot of typing (and that is surely one of the most compelling reasons for buying a netbook as opposed to a tablet) you should find this keyboard one of the best. Even more expensive models like the Sony VAIO or the excellent Acer Aspire range have inferior keyboards to the Lenovo. The trackpad on the other hand is a bit small, and on the model I tested, very sensitive. This can be altered to suuit individual preference, ofcourse, but even so it could be larger. The button action is adequate, but it’s OK for what it is. As usual, I prefer a proper mouse – a small wireless one costs less than £15 and makes the world of difference.
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Display
The screen uses a glossy display rather than a matt one, but I find in fact it’s not bad as long as you are using it in reasonably dim lighting. Although it’s brighter than a matt display it is very reflective and so quite unsuitable for using out of doors. The colours are very punchy, so it is good for watching video although the contrast, while very high, is sometimes too much for clarity of vision.Once again these settings can be tweaked to suit but I found the screen generally acceptable with the default settings.
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Battery ife
Despite the sophisticated power saving features that Lenovo boasts about in its sales blurb, the battery life from the Lenovo IdeaPad S205 is somewhat disappointing compared to a cheap and cheerful 10.1″ netbook. I expected to have to adjust the power settings to squeeze some more out of the battery pack, but even after doing this I clocked just shy of four hours from one charge. This is not great; it is only slightly better than my full size Acer, and that has a display like Blackpool Illuminations. It is a shame that the battery technology hasn’t matched the rest of the development of this notebook; if you want to use it on the road or anywhere away from a plug socket you might find this very disappointing. If you are going to use it indoors with an AC adapter plugged in, then no problem.
Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Verdict
The Lenovo IdeaPad S205 is a great machine, make no mistake. The display is clear and bright, the keyboard is truly in another class and the notebook itself, sitting between the traditional netbook and the laptop in terms of size and weight is an ideal compromise. The performance is excellent overall, and with just a couple of reservations we recommend it wholeheartedly.
 |
The Pros:
- Clear, bright display
- Excellent graphics
- Fast processor
- Compact and lightweight
The Cons:
- Poor wireless card
- Disappointing battery life
- Small and oversensitive trackpad
