Lenovo S205

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Does anybody know of any bricks and mortar shops that sell this netbook?

Thanks!

rebeve

saveonlaptops.co.uk, and save money as well .

The Sparrow

Anyone find any reviews for this yet? I'm tempted to get it but I want to read a few reviews first. I can't find that many though.

Dman001

Had a look in Curry's but no luck. Not many reviews on it either. Amazon have the shipping date as May 28th so we might see more reviews and in shops by then.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Strange that Amazon are only selling it from the end of the month but it is on sale on different sites already

Dman001

Well Dabs has it listed as Ordered on Request, but it seems to be in stock on Saveonlaptops.co.uk.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Dman001 wrote: »

Well Dabs has it listed as Ordered on Request, but it seems to be in stock on Saveonlaptops.co.uk.

Yeah it is in stock with them. I emailed them this morning and they said I would have it by the end of next week if I ordered it tonight

spr1nt3r

BDJW wrote: »

Yeah it is in stock with them. I emailed them this morning and they said I would have it by the end of next week if I ordered it tonight

Just got my one from Amazon. It's a cute little box, manual, battery, laptop and charger. Laptop itself is very solid, doesn't look or feel cheap and is nippy enough. Tried Passmark Performance Test, 400 points. As a comparison got 600 with Pentium D 3.2GHz 3GB RAM and ATI 5570 GPU. So not bad for a little netbook just over €300. Highly recommend!

The Sparrow

Thanks for your initial impressions. Do let us know how you find it after a couple of days of use.

Is the screen very glossy and is the fan loud?

spr1nt3r

The Sparrow wrote: »

Thanks for your initial impressions. Do let us know how you find it after a couple of days of use.

Is the screen very glossy and is the fan loud?

Fan ok. Quiet enough. Will be using Zalman pad anyways

As for the screen no, it's not too glossy in dark room anyway. Can barely see light reflection. Screen is very nice for my eyes. Keyboard might take some time to get used to but that's normal. Buttons are spaced nicely enough. Running on initial charge for nearly 3 hours already, still 52% left. Not bad.

Had ASUS 1215n. Must say this is lighter, thinner and better laptop for the money. Would like to see AMD 450 offer. This one is running on 350 setup, still sweet.

budhabob

Good to hear your initial impression I'm expecting mine to arrive tomorrow....I hope-An post tracker is terrible to update.

The Sparrow

budhabob wrote: »

Good to hear your initial impression I'm expecting mine to arrive tomorrow....I hope-An post tracker is terrible to update.

Lucky you! Let us know if you find it as impressive.

spr1nt3r

The Sparrow wrote: »

Lucky you! Let us know if you find it as impressive.

Well, am all tired but the laptop is still running at 21% (thats since 7pm). Wifi always on and was uninstalling/installing software and rebooting few times. Also did the performance test. As for battery am very delighted. Noise, now very quiet in the room, everything off and the PC is silent (except ocasional HDD purr that is not annoying). Am sure if to play with settings a bit could be even better.

Jonny7

God dammit, I like my 1215n, but this is so much cheaper.. looks like better batt life too

budhabob

Well mine just arrived there, and in work so only messed with it for a few minutes. So far I am quite impressed. Its light, looks grand, and the extra inch (above the 10.1inch netbooks) really makes it more user friendly.

It boots up pretty quickly and opens programmes very quickly. The screen is good quality with very good picture quality. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase so far.

The Sparrow

Just ordered one from Amazon!

How long did delivery take for you guys? I presume there is no hope of getting it before next Tuesday with the Bank Holiday.

budhabob

I ordered mine Friday evening, it was dispatched 8pm on Friday night, and had it this morning. So there is hope...

Dman001

Would you be able to test a few HD videos on it, and HD Flash videos? My current Netbook at the moment can't even handle Standard Definition Flash videos without being choppy, so would like to see how the Lenovo handles them.

The Sparrow

Dman001 wrote: »

Would you be able to test a few HD videos on it, and HD Flash videos? My current Netbook at the moment can't even handle Standard Definition Flash videos without being choppy, so would like to see how the Lenovo handles them.

Well if you can wait until I get mine, no problem. Otherwise maybe one of the other who have the laptops could report back.

I can't see it being much of a problem. From what I have read, it plays 1080p HD videos flawlessly.

Dman001

The Sparrow wrote: »

Well if you can wait until I get mine, no problem. Otherwise maybe one of the other who have the laptops could report back.

I can't see it being much of a problem. From what I have read, it plays 1080p HD videos flawlessly.

Yep heard the same too, just wanted to double check and do some "real world" tests.

The Sparrow

Dman001 wrote: »

Yep heard the same too, just wanted to double check and do some "real world" tests.

Laptop is apparently waiting for me at home!!

Post or PM me any videos that you want me to test on it and I'll do it this evening. I know where to get HD videos but send me a link to a HD Flash video is you want it tested.

Dman001

The Sparrow wrote: »

Laptop is apparently waiting for me at home!!

Post or PM me any videos that you want me to test on it and I'll do it this evening. I know where to get HD videos but send me a link to a HD Flash video is you want it tested.

Vevo.com has a great range of HD Music videos so anything from that, or even trailers.apple.com. Cheers!

Hal Emmerich

Ideally you would need to put on a full length 1080p movie to test it properly, hour and a half and see if frys itself.

Dman001

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

Ideally you would need to put on a full length 1080p movie to test it properly, hour and a half and see if frys itself.

All I want to know is if the laptop can handle it, to see if it stutters, sound in sync etc.

The Sparrow

Ok so I downloaded the first five mins or so of Battle: Los Angeles in 1080p and it played back flawlessly in Media Player Classic: Home Edition. Absolutely no stuttering or playback issues.

I also streamed 5 or 6 videos from Vevo in 1080p. All but one of the played flawlessly as well. One video buffered for a millisecond every 20 seconds or so. Dunno why that was but I just gave that same video another go and it played perfectly this time.

So it pretty much played everything that I threw at it perfectly besides one gremlin.

Seems a great little laptop. The keyboard is fantastic. I'll add more when I've had a longer chance to play with it.

Dman001

Many Thanks Sparrow!

Hal Emmerich

what about full movie?

j@utis

I got one of these as my birthday present. I don't like it because it's sooo slow. I use Opera browser that take up to 500mb of memory and laptop is struggling to handle that. There's only skype and some antivirus running in the back ground. I don't know maybe I should try reinstalling everything but I'm disappointed. Screen is flickering while scrolling web pages up and down and that's very very very annoying. I felt like trowing it into the wall so many times already (have it for 2 months so far). I had older model of Ideapad before (can't remember exactly model now, full 12 inch screen) and I loved it. I was expecting much more out of this one. Glossy top cover shows all fingers prints, always looks dirty-greasy. Battery life is brilliant though, and keyboard is nice. Overall I wouldn't recommend.

spr1nt3r

I have mine for good few months now and no worries. Yes it is slow but it is a netbook, not a notebook. An SSD upgrade would make it much faster if desperately needed. Browser I use is Google Chrome and is very nippy, have no issues with it, be it Youtube or some newspaper with flash content on it.
I like the battery life, the dedicated GPU with full DX10 support and the weight of it. So it qualifies as a netbook and more to me. Full HD Youtube and file movies are fine too so.. I am very pleased.
For the cover glossiness try a microfibre cloth that I always use (LIDL sells them for cheep). No worries there. As for the screen it has nothing to do with the actual LCD, check the ATI settings for power saving and you'll see the change
Hope it all works out for you. Good luck!

j@utis wrote: »

I got one of these as my birthday present. I don't like it because it's sooo slow. I use Opera browser that take up to 500mb of memory and laptop is struggling to handle that. There's only skype and some antivirus running in the back ground. I don't know maybe I should try reinstalling everything but I'm disappointed. Screen is flickering while scrolling web pages up and down and that's very very very annoying. I felt like trowing it into the wall so many times already (have it for 2 months so far). I had older model of Ideapad before (can't remember exactly model now, full 12 inch screen) and I loved it. I was expecting much more out of this one. Glossy top cover shows all fingers prints, always looks dirty-greasy. Battery life is brilliant though, and keyboard is nice. Overall I wouldn't recommend.

Dman001

Finally bit the bullet, and got around to ordering this on Amazon. It seems to be the best Netbook on the market and reasonably priced. After the few months ye've used it, how are ye finding it?

spr1nt3r

Well, first things first, it is very well priced. Performance seems very good for netbook (those who thinks it's too slow try any 3D gaming etc. on ASUS siblings; same quality and reliability though still sitting on Intel or semi-old NVidia options). Battery life is great. It's light and feels solid (just tip, when placing battery in, make sure you clip lock button on left). Don't forget my tip in Catalyst drivers for power saving (to get rid of annoying auto brightness).
So basically I am very pleased. One downpoint though. Hard drive makes annoying sounds that are just killing me when I am typing in silence. Must be replaced if you are as sensitive as me.. Not sure of the procedure yet but once happy with doing it (youtube has tips) change it to SSD (can chance another HDD though chances are you'll get the same noises anyway, HDD are just made that way..).
So yeah, well build, well performing, good battery, nice screen, nice keyboard (pity no Lenovo 'red button' for mouse and lack of backlight as on more expensive models), decent storage and software package. Just be ready for possible RAM and definitely SSD upgrade.
Enjoy!

Dman001

Mine arrived today, and my initial impressions are very good. The build quality is very good, very sturdy and the chicklet keyboard is great-very Mac like. My only gripe is the glossy bezel, it makes it very cheap looking, and the speakers are slightly echo-y but is still better than any other Netbook speakers I've tried. The screen itself is great too. Performance is bril, HD Flash videos play with no bother including 1080p videos.

I installed XBMC, and works like a breeze. Even when I had a video playing in the background while scrolling through the menus, it didn't give any hassle. It looks very impressive on the 11" screen, so that HDMI port will come in very handy.

Dman001

Anyone else find the mouse/touchpad to be really jumpy? Even when you turn the sensitivity down really low, it still is very jumpy. I messed around with about every setting and nothing. Very annoying.

marco_polo

Dman001 wrote: »

Anyone else find the mouse/touchpad to be really jumpy? Even when you turn the sensitivity down really low, it still is very jumpy. I messed around with about every setting and nothing. Very annoying.

If you haven't already done so, you could try the latest touchpad drivers as a first step.

Dman001

marco_polo wrote: »

If you haven't already done so, you could try the latest touchpad drivers as a first step.

Yep tried that but no luck. I'll update the Bios although dunno if that will do anything.

Dman001

Bah, it's really annoying me know. I've updating all drivers at this stage. Is there any generic drivers for the Trackpad that will give me basic functionality, as opposed to all this Synaptics multitouch functions. I've tried just disabling it, but disables the whole trackpad.

Dman001

Just to update on this, incase anyone else experiences the same in the future. Uninstall the Synaptics drivers and let Windows install its own driver. Apparently their is a Driver issue with Windows 7 and Lenovo laptops. You'll lose any Multitouch support, but regain your sanity!

The Sparrow

Dman001 wrote: »

Just to update on this, incase anyone else experiences the same in the future. Uninstall the Synaptics drivers and let Windows install its own driver. Apparently their is a Driver issue with Windows 7 and Lenovo laptops. You'll lose any Multitouch support, but regain your sanity!

Thanks for that. What is multitouch support?

The problem I find occasionally is that sometimes the touchpad is so sensitive that sometimes when I'm just looking to move the mouse icon, I end up resizing the web page. But Ctrl and 0 resizes the website.

Dman001

The Synaptics Driver allows you Two Finger Scroll, Pinch to Zoom and other Multitouch features like that.

Yeah that sounds like my problem. It was so jumpy that I'd try to do something simple like scroll through a Webpage and it would end up doing something else like close the Webpage. This was happening much too often for me, so had to get rid of it.

Dman001

I had to re-install the OS on my S205, and it fixed the Trackpad problem (I had to re-install the OS for a totally different reason). Anywhoo I can't seem to find the drivers for the Function Keys. If someone could tell me the name of Software on their S205, I'd really appreciate it!

The Sparrow

Dman001 wrote: »

I had to re-install the OS on my S205, and it fixed the Trackpad problem (I had to re-install the OS for a totally different reason). Anywhoo I can't seem to find the drivers for the Function Keys. If someone could tell me the name of Software on their S205, I'd really appreciate it!

If you tell me where to find it, I'll get the name for you.

Dman001

If you go to Control Panel>Uninstall a Program, it will be listed in there. Now trying to find it within that is a different story. It will probably be called something like Hot Keys. Cheers!

The Sparrow

Hmmmm nothing called Hot Keys or anything that stands out as being the drivers for the function keys. But these are the programs that I don't know what they do so it could be one of these:

AMD Catalyst Install Manager
Atheros Client Installation Program
System Requirements Lab CYRI
Windows Driver Package - Lenovo (ACPIVPC) System

Let me know if you need me to look anywhere else.

Dman001

Many thanks Sparrow. I discovered the Function Key drivers are included with the Lenovo Energy Management Drivers on the Lenovo website. Also, my Trackpad has gone back to square one, so have to uninstall the Synaptics Driver once again. Apparently it's a common issue with the S205.

zweton

Hi,

Having a problem connecting (or even finding wireless networks) on my new Lenovo s205, my old laptop can see and connect no problem.
Everything seems to be in working order on it in terms of the right drivers etc.
Maybe someone with this laptop could advise?

Thanks

spr1nt3r

zweton wrote: »

Hi,

Having a problem connecting (or even finding wireless networks) on my new Lenovo s205, my old laptop can see and connect no problem.
Everything seems to be in working order on it in terms of the right drivers etc.
Maybe someone with this laptop could advise?

Thanks

Had this issue with number of laptops. When you click on wireless icon it says no wireless networks found etc. Cluck troubleshoot and windows will say smt like "enabling wireless device" after which it all will come back to normal.

Otherwise - do complete recovery via Lenovo S205 manual guide.

Good luck!