No Linux IdeaPad For Lenovo's US Customers

narramissic writes "When Lenovo's new IdeaPad 'S' series netbooks hit stores in October, U.S. buyers will only be given one option: Windows XP on the IdeaPad S10 (making it not so much a series as a single offering). Meanwhile, people in most markets Lenovo serves, including Singapore, China and the U.K., will be offered both of the company's new IdeaPad netbooks (the S10, which has 10.2-inch screen, and the S9, which has an 8.9-inch screen), and the choice of either Microsoft Windows XP or a Linux OS. Before you start feeling too sorry for yourself, consider the price tag: the S10 will sell for £319 (US$629) in the U.K., but in the U.S. the starting price is $399." Liliputing (a cool site for anyone interested in sub-notebook computing) has posted a few bits on the IdeaPad, including some short videos.

My netbook purchase is on hold...

[loteck]

Until Dell releases their E series netbooks [slashdot.org]. The specs are promising (please include a 6-cell battery), they look very good, and the price point reflects a "race to the bottom" that I fear Asus's EeePC series has forgotten.

Of course then the dual cores will start coming out later in the year, but I doubt I can wait until then, especially at these prices.

Re:My netbook purchase is on hold...

[timothy]

I'm in the same (or a similar) boat, awaiting the rising tide ...

The used-to-be-ThinkPad background of the Lenovo laptop line is probably the biggest reason this one is high on the list -- I'm hoping the keyboard on this will be more tolerable than for instance that on the early EEE (I will *not* tempt fate to say it could hardly be worse); the Acer Aspire One is very similarly specced / priced, but I read yesterday that Acer's planning to sell a 6-cell battery for (ack!) $130, which strikes me as a poor bargain. If only this was still IBM / ThinkPad branded, there'd be good reason to hope for lots of 3d-party accessories. Right now I'm just trying to anticipate which of the various near-identical cheap subnotebooks will have the greatest network effects, specifically thinking of battery price / watt hour.

timothy

 

Re:My netbook purchase is on hold...

[maxume]

The Lenovo 3000 (their first 'consumer' notebook) line does not really reflect the ThinkPad heritage, and as far as I can tell, the intent of the IdeaPad is to make a similarly consumer oriented notebook, but to leave out all of the clunky that they built into the 3000s (mediocre speakers, boring-as-possible design, etc.), so don't be surprised if this offering falls short of ThinkPad-based expectations.

Re:No clit?!

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound surprised. I've seen so many people praise the Thinkpad "nipple" on my old laptop as an astounding development, yet still buy a Dell instead because they double the RAM for free ...

Re:Not just US and Lenovo

[kramulous]

Here in Aus, I noticed that just recently, the sub-notebooks for sale in the general electrical shops have had linux removed and now you can only see XP. This has happened in the last couple of months. I'll go with plot.

So XP hasn't been discontinued

[Kazoo the Clown]

So now XP's $399. And you get a free computer with it. Considering how much Vista costs, that sounds like a pretty good deal...

Re:Not just US and Lenovo

[Petrushka]

I feel lucky, having read your post and the sibling posts, that I noticed when the Linux version of the 901 hit shop catalogues in NZ last week (thank you pricespy.co.nz). However, it's kind of conspicuous that any shop that has announced they have any in stock is out of stock the following day. Even the WinXP models seem to sell very quickly. I would like to think that the same thing has been happening in NL and Oz; it may even be true. But Asus' heavy emphasis on the WinXP line is certainly not just bad luck, I think: it's entirely intentional.

Re:No clit?!

[karnal]

Most of the business class notebooks I've used at my employer - All dells, a few ibms - every one has a trackpoint style device.

To be honest though - the IBMs seem to work better. The ones on the early dells (c600/610) had a manufacturing problem in the keyboard that would make the mouse fly all over the screen after the keyboard heated up from normal use and warped the sensor underneath.

The T42 I'm using now has an awesome trackpoint - and I used to swear by these and never use the touchpad. Since the implementation in the dells seems to be less... I don't know.. refined, I find myself actually used to the touchpad now.