Best-performing netbooks

These top 10 netbooks offer users a range of choices in screen quality, battery life, speed -- and price

Once you get over the novelty of an iPad, practical concerns come to mind -- like, can I use it for my work? Although you may get away with doing email on an iPad or an Android-based tablet, you can't do the kind of work most road warriors do: Edit documents, work on spreadsheets, and prepare presentations. At least not anywhere near as well as you can using Office on a PC. Or in this case, on a netbook, which has the Windows application compatibility of a laptop with a lower cost and less weight to tote around. If you're considering a netbook, check put these top 10 contenders.

* Acer Aspire One 532h-2326
* ASUS Eee PC 1001P-MU17
* ASUS Eee PC 1201N
* Gateway LT2118u
* Gateway LT2120u
* HP Mini 5102
* Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3
* Lenovo ThinkPad X100e
* Samsung N210
* Toshiba mini NB305-N310

Acer Aspire One 532h-2326
Aspire One 532h-2326 Review, by Sarah Jacobsson May 11, 2010

Rating: 3 stars

Pros:
Machine has a sturdy overall feel
Inexpensive

Cons:
Keyboard very slippery and hard to type on
Touchpad/mouse buttons poorly designed

Bottom Line: The Aspire One 532h is reasonably priced, but the keyboard and touchpad could use a makeover.

REVIEW:
Acer is looking to stay ahead in the netbook market with its Aspire One 532h. Though it's not a tremendous upgrade over the previous Aspire One models, the 532h is a solid, decently priced netbook. Acer may have skimped a little on the keyboard and touchpad--but hey, at least it looks cool.

Our review unit, priced at $299, features a 1.67GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and an Intel NM10 chipset. It's available in silver, blue/black, and red. It also features 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, an integrated Webcam and microphone, and a multigesture touchpad. It runs Windows 7 Starter.

The Aspire One 532h has a shiny cover (navy blue fades into black) that is very fingerprint- and scratch-prone. The six-cell battery is tucked under the chassis, but still creates a bump underneath. The netbook features three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out port, an ethernet port, a multiformat card slot, and headphone and microphone jacks.

Weighing 2.8 pounds and measuring 10.2 inches wide by 7.3 inches high by 0.8 inches deep (1.4 inches deep at the battery), the Aspire One 532h is pretty standard for a netbook of its class. The whole machine feels sturdy, except for the cheap plastic rocker mouse button.

The keyboard on the Aspire One 532h is somewhat disappointing. The Aspire One 532h features chiclet-shaped keys, but implements them differently--instead of the wide spacing usually found on chiclet keyboards, the Aspire One 532h's keyboard looks more like a mashup of a chiclet keyboard and a standard keyboard. The lack of space between the keys makes for bigger keys--which is nice, but not terribly helpful in this case. The keys are flat and slippery, and touch-typing is pretty much impossible.

Instead of the usual indentation that denotes the touchpad, the Aspire One 532h's multitouch touchpad is just a textured block on an otherwise smooth palm rest. While this looks slick, it's a bit annoying--the touchpad is almost too textured, and moving the mouse is a chore. Instead of two distinct mouse buttons, the Aspire One 532h has a shiny blue rocker. The rocker is easy to click, but all the shiny slickness makes it hard to remember what's what.

The Aspire One 532h has a 10.1-inch glossy screen with 1024-by-600-pixel resolution (standard for a netbook of its size). As on similar netbook screens, the Aspire One 532h's bright, glossy display is both a blessing and a curse. It's bright, and colors pop--but if you move even slightly to one side, the screen goes dark, and you get a bunch of reflections thrown back at you.

Like other netbooks with the N450 processor, the Aspire One 532h isn't great at video playback. However, it does stream standard-definition video clips from Hulu with little problem--a standard-definition episode of Dancing with the Stars was seamless at full screen. High-definition streaming video plays, but with stutter (I managed to get a 480p episode of Lost going). As for audio, the onboard speakers are quite loud and located on the underside of the chassis.

Acer provides a suite of its own software, which includes Acer Launch Manager, Recover Management, and Video Conference, in addition to a Microsoft bundle. Besides a 60-day trial of Microsoft Home & Student 2007, the latter bundle gives you a full version of Microsoft Works and Windows Live Essentials.

The only thing holding this netbook back is the weird chiclet-slash-regular keyboard and the unindented touchpad, both of which are cool-looking but take a lot of getting used to. Still, the Acer Aspire One 532h is a sturdy little netbook with a good price.

ASUS Eee PC 1001P-MU17
Eee PC 1001P-MU17 Review, by Jon L. Jacobi April 27, 2010

Rating: 3 stars

Pros :
Quick access to the Web
Exceptionally adjusted touchpad

Cons:
No easy access to the hard drive
Weak video

Bottom Line: Near-instant access to the Web highlights an otherwise standard netbook.

REVIEW:
In a sea of nearly interchangeable 10.1-inch netbooks, the Asus EeePC 1001-MU17 stands out for one thing: Express Gate, a nearly instant-on auxiliary operating system that allows quick access to the Web, online gaming, Skype, IM, and your photos. If you remember the first Linux-based netbooks, you've got the idea. To boot to Express Gate, you start the 1001-MU17 using a secondary power button (which has no light) on the upper left hand side of the keyboard deck. Booting to Windows 7 Starter is accomplished via the normal lighted power button on the upper right hand side.

After Express Gate, the 1001-MU17 leans mostly towards the mundane. You get the current popular netbook components: an Intel Atom N450 processor with an integrated 3150 GPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, and a 160GB hard drive. The ports are also the typical lineup for a 10.1-inch unit: three USB, one VGA, one AC, one 10/100 ethernet jack, a single SDHC slot, plus audio in/out and a Kensington lock port.

The EeePC 1001-MU17 is styled in an all-black color scheme broken up by only a silver rocker button for the trackpad and a checkerboard pattern on the upper shell and lower deck. It looks as if it would be more at home in a boardroom than in a coffee shop. That's not a complaint, just a word of warning to those who might want to wow style-conscious friends with their new purchase.

The netbook weighs 2.79 pounds, about average for this category of netbook with a six-cell battery. If weight is more of a concern than run time, you can drop that to 2.24 pounds with a three-cell battery. One caveat: if you're looking to upgrade performance with an SSD, you might want to skip the 1001-MU17. Unlike most netbooks, it has no access panel for the hard drive. On the other hand, it has an access panel to the memory if you want to upgrade the SODIMM.

Overall, the 1001-MU17 felt as snappy as an N450-based netbook can running Windows 7--you can live with it, but that's all. The WorldBench 6 performance of 34, while a point higher than most, bears that out. Video performance was a tad worse than average. The Webcam's image was decently smooth, and the unit had no problem playing QuickTime or Flash HD video locally. However, MP4 and WMV were a stuttering mess, as was online Flash video. Online Flash gaming was jerky to the point of distraction. Battery life was a solid 6 hours and 50 minutes--not the best we've seen, but more than enough to get you from coast to coast.

The keyboard on the LT2120u has a crisp feel, and the oversized left/right cursor keys might eliminate some of the hunting some users might otherwise experience. The touchpad was also exceptionally well-adjusted for tapping. If you hate accidental tap-clicks, give this unit a try to see if it doesn't eliminate those issues.

Asus bundles Microsoft Works with the 1001-MU17, which should cover most user's needs well enough, though a 60-day trial version of Office 2007 is also included, for users looking for a little more oomph, and you'll find Skype installed, as well. Asus has been admirably restrained in placing useless software on the desktop. You won't see the eBay shortcuts or obsolete Google Desktop that vendors like Gateway pile on.

The Asus EeePC 1001-MU17 is a solid effort from the company that started the netbook craze. It has a very nice keyboard and exceptionally well-adjusted touchpad--factors often overlooked in the netbook purchasing equation. While not ostentatious, it's still sedately handsome, and if you regularly need quick access to the Web, the Express Gate can be handy indeed.

ASUS Eee PC 1201N
Eee PC 1201N Review, by Loyd Case March 17, 2010

Rating: 4 stars

Pros:
Better video performane due to the Ion chipset
Big, high res screen for a netbook

Cons:
2GB max memory limits usefulness
Much more expensive than most netbooks

Bottom Line: The Eee PC 1201n offers better video performance and a bigger screen than most netbooks, but at a cringe-worthy price.

REVIEW:
Would you spend almost $500 for a netbook--even a top-of-the-line one, like the Asus Eee PC 1201n? At first blush, the 1201n physically resembles more conventional thin-and-light laptops based on low-voltage (CULV) mainstream CPUs. It's certainly priced in that ballpark, at $480 to $499--and it has both a crisp 12-inch, 1366-by-768-resolution display and one of the more usable keyboards I've seen on a netbook; but it also has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330 processor, albeit one hosted by the capable nVidia Ion chipset (the first-generation version).

It's the Ion that's really the secret sauce for the 1201n, and it is the Ion's video performance that Asus is betting will bring buyers to the table with their 500 bucks. Video performance and image quality on the 12-inch LCD screen was definitely a cut above that of Atom CPUs using the stock Intel chipset. 3D gaming performance was also better, but with the caveat that "better" here means "sucks less." This is not a gaming system.

The bigger display means slightly larger overall dimensions than many netbooks have, which is a positive. The keyboard is also larger, so it offers a more usable layout than many netbooks with a 10-inch screen. If you've ever used a netbook with the more conventional 1024-by-600-pixel screen, you'll quickly see that the larger display with its higher pixel count makes for a more robust user experience. You spend less time scrolling and more time reading Web pages and documents. The larger keyboard is also a welcome addition. It offers a more functional layout than earlier Eee PCs I've used, and most of the keys are full size or nearly so.

Port configuration is pretty typical for a netbook: three USB ports (two on the right, one on the left), an HDMI digital video port, and a VGA analog graphics connector on the left. An ethernet jack is built into the right side, as are analog audio in/out and a multiformat flash memory reader.

This Eee PC ships with SRS audio, plus the full Realtek HD audio suite, allowing you to set specific equalization settings and to spread out the sound field a bit. However, I found that enabling these features also muddied the sound quality, so I usually left the settings on standard stereo. Audio quality in general won't make you cringe, but you'll have a better sound experience with headphones.

The LCD display offers better than adequate image quality, but it's also very sensitive to viewing angles. This makes casual video viewing when you're kicking back on your couch a little frustrating, as you have to either stay in the same position or constantly adjust the screen to just the right viewing angle every time you shift your body.

The nVidia Ion chipset delivers robust video quality, including smooth performance and down-scaling with 1080p WMV files. We also attached an external DVD player, and DVD scaling looked quite nice.

In another departure from most netbooks, Asus ships the unit with Windows 7 Home Premium instead of the more typical Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows XP. Home Premium does consume a little more memory than Starter, but offers more customization choices--something welcome in a product that positions itself at the high end of its category.

Bundled software includes Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office trialware. Also included is Asus Webstorage, an online file backup and sync service with 1GB of free storage, but if you want more storage, there's an added cost. However, it's impossible to figure out the cost unless you actually sign up. It's also more cumbersome to use than a dedicated service like Dropbox.

Performance is excellent for a netbook, with a high WorldBench 6 score for systems in its class. I installed Firefox 2.6 and Microsoft Office, and then proceeded to open 28 tabs, pop up Tweetdeck, and edit a Word document. The system did bog down a bit, but I was still able to type and edit text usably. As for battery life, at 4 hours, 17 minutes in our testing, it seems a tad short for current-generation netbooks.

The real problem with the 1201n is its cost: nearly $500. That's encroaching on the price of systems with CULV (ultralow voltage) mainstream processors, such as Lenovo's ThinkPad Edge and Dell's Vostro V13. While you get a bigger display and a more usable keyboard, this Eee PC is likely to be outperformed by CULV models. Battery life doesn't quite live up to that of other netbooks, either.

In the end, there's a lot to like with the Asus Eee PC 1201n. The better keyboard and larger display in a package that's still thin and sleek are attractive, but I'd really like to see the price drop by about $100.

Gateway LT2118u
LT2118u Review, by Jon L. Jacobi April 27, 2010

Rating: 3.5 stars

Pros:
Amazing battery life
Slick design

Cons:
Typical netbook performance

Bottom Line: An easily upgradable netbook with exceptional style and battery life.

REVIEW:
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shake your head in amazement at the run time of the $350 (at the time of this review) Gateway LT2118u. With Intel's Atom N450 CPU and 3150 GPU at its heart, as well as 1GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive and a 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-resolution display, Gateway's pride and joy carried on for an astounding 11 hours and 17 minutes in our battery tests.

However, the outstanding battery life brought up a very interesting question. How could a netbook that supposedly differs from its LT2120u sibling only in color run more than an hour and a half longer? As it turns out, the LT2118u uses a model UMO9H36, 5600 milliamp-hour/63 watt-hour battery, and the LT2120u uses the model UMO9H56, 5800 milliamp-hour/63 watt-hour model. Just looking at the specs, you'd expect the UMO9H56 to run longer, but we found no other difference in the BIOS or components, so apparently the UMO9H36 is the better option.

The LT2118u's upper cover is a rich red while the rest of the unit is done up in dark grays for a surprisingly classy look. The standard array of netbook ports is on hand: two USB ports on the left side of the unit with the AC jack and VGA port, and one USB on the right with the audio in/out and 10/100 ethernet port. A Kensington lock port is also on the right edge of the unit as well as an SD card slot for loading, saving images, and such.

At 2.76 pounds, this netbook has about average heft for a 10.1-inch system with a 6-cell battery. The hard drive and memory module are both easily accessible via screw-secured access panels on the bottom of the unit. A vacant mini-PCI Express slot is underneath the hard-drive panel for a possible broadband or other upgrade. You get only one accessible memory slot, but kudos to Gateway anyway, as overall the unit is a hardware tweakter's delight.

The hands-on experience playing video was exactly that same as with the LT2120u. The 640-by-480 Webcam's images and recording were exceptionally smooth, and a pop-up Webcam utility appears when you roll over it with the mouse at the top of the screen. The unit played 720 HD WMV, QuickTime, and MP4 videos smoothly, while online FLV and flash gaming were noticeably jerky--extremely so with higher-resolution content. Audio was fine through headphones, and decent enough for any kind of portable computer through the speakers.

The LT2118u, though it handled video a bit better than the average N450/3150-based netbook, scored the same 33 points on WorldBench that most units do--including the LT2120u. Overall, this gives the unit the same less-than-snappy, but doable feel we've become used to with Windows 7 Starter netbooks.

Most people should adapt to the LT2118u's keyboard just fine. Most of the keys are where you'd expect them, and the feel, while a tad light, easily lends itself to touch-typing. One caveat: A rather large gap between the keys leaves a ton of space for dust and other particles to collect. You'll want to vacuum this puppy regularly.

The touchpad is stylish, but instead of being recessed, it consists of an area of raised bumps that make it easy to find by feel while remaining unobtrusive. Thankfully, due to more contrast in the color scheme, it's easier to distinguish visually than with the LT2120u. Gateway has put a single rocker button on the front edge of the unit for clicking, a comfortable location for it.

You'll want to spend a few initial minutes ditching the software flotsam from the LT2118u. Unless of course, you want the icons for eBay, Google Desktop (rendered useless by Vista/Windows 7's search), Norton Online Backup trial, Netflix, Gateway games, Office Student trial, and so on, that blanket the desktop. Dig around a bit, and you will find a real copy of the ever useful Microsoft Works.

The LT2118u is all about style and endurance. It's a cut above the average netbook in appearance and is easy to upgrade--and you certainly can't complain about the 11-plus hours of run time.

Gateway LT2120u
LT2120u Review, by Jon L. Jacobi March 26, 2010

Rating: 3 stars

Pros:
Excellent battery life
Styling is a step away from the norm

Cons:
Touchpad looks too much like the rest of the deck

Bottom Line: Gateway wrings great battery life out of this Atom N450-based, 10.1-inch netbook.

REVIEW:
Your cross-country flight will land long before the $350 (as of March 23, 2010) Gateway LT2120u netbook needs to sip from the AC again. Built around Intel's Atom N450 CPU and integrated 3150 GPU, as well as sporting 1GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, and a 1024-by-600-pixel 10.1-inch display, the LT2120u lasted an impressive 9 hours, 40 minutes in our battery tests--no mean feat for a netbook that's also a good performer.

Gateway styled the LT2120u largely in white with silver detail and trim, including the keyboard deck (the area in front of the keyboard containing the touchpad). Three USB ports are included, two of them positioned on the left side of the unit with the AC jack and VGA port, and the last on the right with the audio in/out and 10/100 ethernet port. The netbook also has a Kensington lock port on the right edge, as well as an SD slot for loading and saving files.

At 2.76 pounds, the LT2120u is hardly a featherweight, though it's about average for this category of netbook with a battery capable of this kind of run time. You can access the hard drive and memory module via screw-secured access panels on the bottom of the unit. Since the netbook has only one accessible memory slot, upgrading to 2GB to improve multitasking will require replacing the existing 1GB module. You'll also find a vacant miniPCI Express slot underneath the hard drive panel; if you have the need to add a Bluetooth or other card later on, you should be able to do so easily.

The LT2120u is relatively skilled at handling video. The Webcam's resolution is 640 by 480, and the videos we recorded with it ran smoothly. A drop-down Webcam utility is invoked when you mouse to the top of the screen (you can reconfigure this behavior). The LT2120 also played 720p HD WMV, QuickTime, and MP4 videos effortlessly through VLC. Flash video and online Flash-based gaming stuttered noticeably, though.

Audio played through the LT2120u's speakers is strictly of the lacking-in-bass sort you find in nearly all portables. Over headphones, the sound quality was fine, and loud enough to be audible over airplane noise.

The keyboard on the LT2120u is large enough for most people to type on without having to scrunch their fingers. The majority of the keys are where you'd expect them, but the feel is a tad delicate. The design also has a ton of schmutz-trapping space surrounding them and even underneath them, so be careful with the crackers.

The touchpad, while stylish, is a bit difficult to locate visually, as it's distinguished from the rest of the keyboard deck only by a grid of slightly darker raised dots. The dots give the touchpad a slightly strange texture, but also make it easy to find by feel. Great idea, but darker dots would've gotten Gateway closer to the mark. The mouse "buttons" are actually a single rocker button on the front edge of the unit, a location that's quite comfortable and easy to find (again, by touch).

The only irritating aspect of the LT2120u experience is the amount of software junk on the machine's Windows 7 Starter desktop. Of course, one person's junk is another's treasure, but the effect here is much like billboards on a major urban byway: eBay icons, Google Desktop (which has been rendered unnecessary by Vista/Windows 7's search), a Norton Online Backup trial, an Office Student trial, and so on. Gateway does include a real version of Microsoft Works, which balances the scale somewhat.

While its score of 33 on WorldBench 6 is in line with that of most of its competitors, the LT2120u offers battery life that's substantially longer than most. Along with its smooth video playback, this netbook should easily take care of any light-duty computing you care to throw at it. Gateway doesn't pile on the extras here, but the LT2120u does give you basic netbook performance and exceptional battery life at a reasonable price.

HP Mini 5102
Mini 5102 Review, by Jason Cross March 19, 2010

Rating: 3.5 stars

Pros:
Lots of options, including touchscreen display
Good keyboard and touchpad

Cons:
Expensive for a netbook
Limited resolution

Bottom Line: The design of the HP Mini 5102 is great for business users, but the high price doesn't buy you extra performance.

REVIEW:
The Mini 5102 is the latest in HP's line of business-optimized netbooks, featuring a ruggedized metal chassis and design elements tailored for the office road warrior. It does a great job of offering features that business users care about, but they come at a considerable price; the configuration we tested, with a touchscreen, 2GB of RAM, an Atom N450 CPU, and an extended six-cell battery, clocks in at around $729--easily the cost of a larger, more full-featured laptop.

The fit and finish are excellent, if a bit angular. The brushed metal finish on the lid is handsome and doesn't attract fingerprints or smudges. If you don't like basic black, you can pay $28 more for a red or blue finish. Open the lid and you'll find a keyboard that is quite easy to type on, with extra-wide <Shift>, <Backspace>, and <Enter> keys. It has a good clicky feel with plenty of travel, but no backlight or keyboard light for working in the dark. The touchpad looks a little small (a common problem with netbooks), but in practice it isn't much of a problem. It tracks well, and the buttons are separate, distinct, and easy to use accurately without looking at them.

The screen quality is slightly better than average, with decent contrast and viewing angles, but the resolution is a bit limited. The 10.1-inch screen features a resolution of 1024 by 600, which simply isn't a lot of desktop real estate--it results in lots of scrolling to read Web pages or long documents and e-mail messages. You can pay a bit extra for a higher-res, 1366-by-768 screen, and it's probably worth it, but this option isn't available if you go for a multitouch screen, which our review unit has. You can choose from a variety of operating systems: SUSE Linux, Windows XP, Windows 7 Starter, and even Windows 7 Professional. (If you opt for the multitouch screen, you have to get Windows 7.)

The variety and layout of connections is reasonable, with two USB ports on the front left edge and a VGA port on the back left edge, along with an ethernet port and a third USB port on the back of the right edge, followed by headphone and microphone jacks in the middle, and a card reader up front. The front edge of the system features only a Wi-Fi switch. Above the keyboard you'll find only a power button and two quick-launch buttons, one for e-mail and the other for your Web browser.

Besides the ports and jacks mentioned, you have other connectivity pathways: 802.11n wireless networking is standard, as is Bluetooth. Mobile broadband with GPS by Gobi is a $125 option, but you can't combine that with some of the other options, such as the touchscreen or the Broadcom Crystal HD graphics decoder module.

In addition, you can choose from a variety of hard-drive options, from the 160GB drive our test unit came with up to 320GB, or an 80GB or 120GB solid-state drive. If you really deck out the system with all the most expensive options you can combine, you can get the price up to over $1100! That's outrageous for a netbook. The base model with 1GB of RAM and a 4-cell battery costs $415, slightly more than many other similarly-specced netbooks.

Since most netbooks are based on the same Intel "Pine Trail" platform, the performance of the Mini 5102 doesn't vary much from its contemporaries using the same Atom N450 processor. The WorldBench 6 score of 34 is in line with most other netbooks based on this CPU, though in practical use the 2GB of RAM makes things a little snappier when you have multiple applications running at once (many netbooks only have 1GB of RAM). Our test unit has the extended six-cell battery, which adds only a little bump to the bottom of the machine but seriously improves battery life. It took 9 hours, 41 minutes to kill the battery in our tests. As with other Atom-based netbooks, the graphics and video decoding capabilities are quite poor--this thing is useless for playing games, and it struggles with Flash-based Web video, especially in high definition. If such capabilities matter to you, you'll definitely want to pick up the Broadcom Crystal HD upgrade, which our unit didn't have.

The design and feature set of the HP Mini 5102 is quite good, especially for the business audience it targets. The keyboard and touchpad are an improvement over the consumer-focused HP Minis, and scores of options are available. Unfortunately, this all comes at a price. All but the barest configurations cost as much as many full-sized laptops--laptops that may not go for over 9 hours on a charge but that certainly perform a lot better. This is a great netbook for simple note-taking and document editing on the go, or for those long business flights, but most consumers hunting for an inexpensive companion PC would be better off considering less expensive models.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3
IdeaPad S10-3 Review, by Jon L. Jacobi March 29, 2010

Rating: 3 stars

Pros:
Useful utility software
Excellent keyboard

Cons:
Sluggish performer
Pricey; no productivity software

Bottom Line: Superior input ergonomics will sell this comparatively overpriced netbook.

REVIEW:
Everything Lenovo sells, including the third-gen, 10.1-inch IdeaPad S10-3 netbook ($369, as of 3/29/10) appears to be intended for the board or meeting room--in this case, perhaps the meeting room imagined in Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil (the top or cover of the unit has a slightly psychedelic red checkerboard pattern)--but a meeting room nonetheless.

The 2.76-pound, business-oriented S10-3 netbook is a bit pricier per spec than the competition. Most other 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-resolution netbooks sell for $10 to $50 less with the same 1GB Intel N450/3150 CPU/GPU combination, as well as a more-capacious 250GB hard drive compared with the S10-3's 150GB model. While 150GB is more than enough for most users, it means that you are getting a bit less of the basics and paying a bit extra for the business features and software.

Or is it the ergonomics you're paying for? Whoever is in charge of Lenovo's input devices deserves a raise and/or high praise. The innovative multitouch combination touchpad/rocker button on the S10-3 is a relief for anyone (including this writer) who hates inadvertently tapping while dragging, or hunting for buttons. Simply apply a little pressure to the bottom left or right corners of the device, and you have your click.

Another time-honored Lenovo strength is the keyboard, and the IdeaPad S10-3 doesn't disappoint in this area either. The typing feel is as good as you'll find on a netbook, and there are no scrunched or misplaced keys à la Fujitsu and Asus. Using this netbook feels less like using a netbook than any other 10.1-incher I've ever tried.

Lenovo also bundles some interesting software with the IdeaPad S10-3. Most of it, such as the VeriFace facial recognition security, is aimed squarely at business users. Lock down the system with a password, and VeriFace will log you on by scanning your mug using the Webcam. It works rather well, and seeing your eyes twinkle onscreen while VeriFace creates your profile... I don't care who you are, that's fun right there. But, alas, logging on this way gets tiring after a while and is considerably slower than simply typing in a password.

Other titles include DirectShare, which syncs files and folders across your network, and OneKey Recovery, which images your hard drive for disaster recovery--comparatively boring, but useful, utilities, though the latter program duplicates Windows functionality. Unfortunately, you don't get even Microsoft Works to perform basic office tasks with. Most likely, Lenovo feels the intended business audience will have its own productivity suite, or will activate the included 60-day Office 2007 trial.

The rest of the S10-3 specs are netbook-standard. You get three USB ports: one on the left with the VGA port and SDHC slot, and two on the right with the ethernet and audio input and output. The AC port's on the left, along with a wireless switch. The hard drive, memory, and free miniPCI Express slot are easily accessible via a single removable panel on the bottom of the machine. Not only that, but the screws are captive--so if you're trying to roll out a fleet of these puppies and want to upgrade them, you don't have to worry about tiny screws flying all over the place. Nice touch.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 ran for 8 hours, 27 minutes in our battery tests, but its performance was drab to say the least. Its score of 31 on WorldBench 6 is subpar even for a netbook, and the overall feel to the Windows 7 Starter operating system is rather sluggish. Part of the problem is that Lenovo has a habit of piling on background processes via software that does little more than duplicate existing Windows capabilities. The ReadyComm 5 networking utility is one example. A few minutes with msconfig.exe and uninstalling unnecessary apps perked the machine up quite a bit.

Sadly, this tweaking didn't help the video performance much: 720 HD video, one of my standard hands-on tests, played smoothly only when transcoded to the very efficient Quicktime MP4 codec. WMV was a complete fail, and other MP4 implementations continually stuttered or stalled. On the other hand, audio through the speakers sounded better than on most netbooks.

Though it's pricier, slightly less well-configured, and slower out of the box than much of its competition, the S10-3 is more than the sum of its parts. Type and point with one before you grab something else just to save 50 bucks.

Lenovo ThinkPad X100e
ThinkPad X100e Review, by Edward N. Albro April 7, 2010

Rating: 3.5 stars

Pros:
High-resolution display
Good performance

Cons:
Relatively expensive
Short battery life for a netbook

Bottom Line: AMD's Neo processor makes this a speedy netbook, but forget about working all day on one charge.

REVIEW:
Is the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e a netbook or an ultraportable? The answer seems to be: a little of both. It's faster than most netbooks, with a larger, higher-resolution screen; a spacious keyboard; and a bigger hard drive than you'll usually find in lilliputian laptops. You pay for those extras, though. It's a little heavier than run-of-the-mill netbooks and has limited battery life. The price is nearly in ultraportable territory, too: The machines start at $499, and the configuration we reviewed costs $599. That's a lot for a netbook.

Here's the first thing that'll strike you about this ThinkPad, though--it's red! (If you find that color shocking, you can also order the standard ThinkPad black.) If you associate red with speedy sports cars, the X100e won't disappoint. With its Athlon Neo MV-40 processor and 2GB of RAM, this ThinkPad scored a 52 on WorldBench 6, a screaming speed for netbooks. I didn't notice any drag in opening and switching between applications, fiddling with Windows controls, or browsing the Web.

Don't expect powerful video performance, though. The X100e turned high-def, full-screen video into something more like a slideshow. And even at 480p, video stuttered and jerked. Lenovo is mostly marketing the X100e to corporate types and must think that they should be working instead of watching YouTube.

And this laptop is indeed useful for getting work done. The 11.6-inch display has a native resolution of 1366 by 768, significantly more than the typical 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-resolution netbook screen. And the display is relatively easy to read even from an angle. But I found the on-screen colors a little washed out.

The keyboard is full-size, with large Shift and Tab keys. The keys give the kind of solid feedback touch typists need. Lenovo gives you two options for pointing devices--and that's probably one too many. ThinkPad traditionalists can use the company's signature eraserhead pointing stick, which has its own mouse and scroll buttons. That system works well for those who are comfortable with it. But Lenovo also jammed in a touchpad for all the people who aren't accustomed to the eraserhead. And there just isn't enough room for the touchpad--the surface is small, and the buttons are tiny. They're about a quarter-inch deep and right at the edge of the laptop. If you miss the buttons (not hard to do), your thumb slips off the laptop entirely. The trackpad does feature multitouch, but the response is inconsistent--sometimes a two-fingered scroll works just fine, sometimes the trackpad doesn't notice it at all.

The X100e comes nicely equipped, and you can add more features. Our test model had a 320GB hard drive (you can also save some money with a 250GB disk). The laptop comes standard with gigabit ethernet and 802.11n wireless networking. A built-in 3G wireless broadband card is available at an extra cost. Beyond that, the features are pretty standard--two USB ports on the left, one on the right, plus a multicard reader on the right and a VGA port in the back.

For a small machine, the X100e's sound is impressive. Lenovo has nestled the speakers on the underside of the wrist rest, which slopes up off the surface of the table the laptop's resting on. That design seems to let more of the sound escape, giving the laptop decent volume. And for small speakers, the sound was relatively clean and precise, though understandably light on bass.

At 3.3 pounds (3.9 pounds with the power brick), the X100e is a little heavier than other netbooks, but I hardly noticed the extra weight. With the standard battery, the X100e lasted for only 5 hours and 28 minutes. That's anemic for netbooks, but not unexpected given the X100e's more powerful processor.

Our test unit came with Windows 7 Professional, a nice upgrade from the Windows 7 Starter Edition on many netbooks. Don't look for much else in the Programs folder, though. Adobe Reader is the only piece of third-party software. Lenovo has also loaded its proprietary utilities, including a password manager and power management app. I find Lenovo's utilities more useful than the bloatware that comes on many machines, but that doesn't make them exciting.

At 600 bucks, the X100e we tested isn't the kind of disposable computer that many netbooks amount to. For the price, you'll get sprightly performance, a larger display, and a comfortable keyboard. But if you're looking for great video performance or all-day battery life, look elsewhere.

Samsung N210
N210 Review, by Sarah Jacobsson March 29, 2010

Rating: 3 stars

Pros:
Nicely spaced keys are easy to type on
Matte screen is easy to see in any light

Cons:
Standard-definition video stuttered occasionally
Colors are a little washed out

Bottom Line: The Samsung N210's matte screen is easy to see in various lighting conditions, but the colors are a little washed out.

REVIEW:
The Samsung N210, a Best Buy exclusive, is one of the better-looking netbooks we've seen, with a shiny white top, sleek chrome accents, and a comfortable keyboard. Though it isn't great at playing video, it does have fairly decent speakers. It also features an instant-on capability that allows you to get online without having to wait for Windows to start up.

Our review model, priced at $379 (as of March 29, 2010), features a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive, and it runs Windows 7 Starter Edition. It also has a 10.1-inch matte display, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a built-in Webcam and microphone.

The Samsung N210 is housed in a pearl white chassis; the top has a subtle textured pattern underneath a glossy finish. The interior features a matte white finish, with a chrome accent band around the edges. Three USB 2.0 ports (two on the right and one on the left) are available; one of the ports is a sleep-and-charge plug, which allows you to charge USB devices even while the computer is in sleep mode. The N210 also has a VGA out-port, an ethernet connection, and microphone and headphone jacks. The power switch is located on the front, as is the three-in-one multiformat memory card slot.

Weighing 2.82 pounds including the battery, the Samsung N210 measures 10.5 by 7.4 by 1.15 inches. The six-cell battery--which is tucked under the chassis and sticks out only slightly--lasted about 6 hours, 43 minutes in our battery life tests, about an hour or two less than other netbooks with six-cell batteries. The instant-on option is not as attractive as it sounds, since it still takes a moment to start (you might as well just turn on the computer).

At 93 percent of the size of the keys on a normal keyboard, the white "island-style" (or Chiclet-style) keys are fairly easy to type on. The spacebar is a bit narrow, but the Shift keys are huge--practically the size of regular Shift keys--and the Tab key and Ctrl keys are also pretty big. A lot of netbook keyboards skimp on these non-letter keys, but I'm happy to say that typing on the N210's keyboard is almost like typing on a full-size Chiclet-style keyboard. Even the function keys are a fairly good size, considering.

The touchpad is also big for a netbook, and features a rocker instead of two distinct keys. It supports multitouch gestures (such as pinching to zoom in), and is reasonably sensitive and responsive to said gestures. The only issue I found with the touchpad was that its matte finish was almost exactly the same as the surrounding finish--making it a little hard for me to stay on the touchpad while I was flipping through Web pages. Fortunately, the touchpad is a good size, so my fingers didn't slide off of it frequently. The rocker button is somewhat slim, though, and I often found myself trying to press the table instead of the button.

The N210 features a 10.1-inch, widescreen, LED-backlit matte display with a native resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels. The matte surface is a nice feature on a netbook, as it cuts down the chances of annoying reflections (and since netbooks are made to be ported about, you're unlikely to be working in ideal lighting conditions at all times). The matte finish does sacrifice a little color, though--a lot of the hues on our test machine were washed out to the point of looking pastel. Nevertheless, the clarity is still pretty decent. A function on the keyboard allows you to turn off the LED backlight; doing so would presumably conserve battery life, but then you could barely see the screen, of course.

Stereo speakers are located on the bottom of the chassis, and are actually quite loud for netbook speakers. I was able to hear an episode of Cougartown from Hulu pretty well in a midsize Starbucks with blasting speakers. The sound was a little tinny, as is the case for most small speakers, but the overall quality was good.

Video playback, on the other hand, was less than fantastic. We already know that the Atom N450 can't handle high-definition playback very well, but I found that even standard-definition playback on the N210 sometimes stuttered (only once or twice, though, in a full episode of Lost). Full-screen playback and high-def video were dismal.

The Samsung N210 runs Windows 7 Starter Edition (32-bit), the lesser version of Windows 7 that doesn't allow you to do any of the cool stuff--such as changing your desktop background or running Windows Media Player. Aside from CyberLink YouCam (for making videos) and Microsoft Works, the software bundle includes several useful Samsung applications: Easy Resolution Manager (for changing the display resolution from 1024 by 600 to 1024 by 768), Easy Network Manager, Samsung Support Center, and Samsung Casual Games. You'll find some trialware, too, including Microsoft Office 2007 (60 days) and the Phoenix FailSafe remote theft-recovery and drive-wipe service (60 days).

The Samsung N210 is one of the sleeker netbooks we've seen--the all-white design is professional-looking and attractive--and the keyboard is almost as good as a regular-size keyboard. Though this machine falls short in video performance, the included Samsung software is decent.