Lenovo’s $649 S12 Ion-Powered Netbook vs. HP’s $574 Mini 311

When it comes to netbooks, $400 to $500 is generally the upper limit in terms of price. Once you get above that threshold, you start bumping into the bigger cousins that offer more processing power at the sacrifice of a little battery life. So that makes me wonder about Lenovo’s S12 with Nvidia Ion graphics at $649 — how does it compare with other high-end netbooks that cost less? LAPTOP Magazine helps answer that question with a full review of this netbook configuration and a good comparison to a comparable competitor.

For starters, you are getting more for your money in terms of storage and memory over a traditional netbook. A 320 GB hard drive is included, as is 3 GB of RAM. And as the name “S12″ implies, the screen size is larger — Lenovo uses a 12″ display that runs at 1280 x 800 resolution. But the HP Mini 311 matches up well with its higher resolution 11.6″ display and lower price point at $574 — and LAPTOP Mag points out that the HP yields a longer run time by nearly two hours. If you’re looking for an Ion-powered netbook with a larger screen, you’ll want to see the benchmark comparison between these two competitors. At these price points, though, I’d throw some of the smaller Intel   CULV-powered devices into the mix as well.

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