If you’re looking to upgrade from XP or Vista on your netbook, or perhaps you already have, then here’s some great news for you. Some netbook makers have already updated the driver download pages to include Windows 7 drivers which should work better than Vista drivers you may be using instead. Most Asus netbooks now have drivers for Windows 7 from their support page.

Other companies have updated their support pages but, not all companies support many netbook models. There is support from Toshiba for the NB205, while Acer are providing Windows 7 drivers for the Aspire One 751 and AOP531h with AOD250 to follow. Dell are listing drivers for the Mini 10v and Mini 10 but not the Inspiron Mini 9 or 12. HP on the other hand have support for discontinued netbooks, such as the HP Mini 2140. They’ve also got support for the 110, 5101 and other models. Lenovo have also updated their support page to include manuals but, no drivers yet. This could change soon though.

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While the IdeaPad S12 from Lenovo is available already with an Intel Atom processor in the US and Europe, with the US also able to purchase the netbook with a VIA Nano processor, we’ve yet to see the NVIDIA ION powered model. It was touted to be the first netbook using NVIDIA ION, but Samsung could possibly release the N510, which also uses NVIDIA ION, before Lenovo do, as we’ve already seen photos of the netbook next to the NC10.

The delay in release is because instead of shipping with Windows Vista, the company are holding off until Windows 7 is released and will ship with that sometime in October. Samsung will also be doing the same with the N510, so it really will be a race then, to see who can get their NVIDIA ION netbook out first. When it is released, it will retail for $550, making it only $50 than the Intel Atom model.

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Over in the US, the Ideapad S12 has been available for a little while now. It’s even had a new variant added, giving consumers the choice of the standard Intel Atom processor or a Via Nano CPU. The 12 inch netbook has made it’s way to European consumers, well almost. The S10 has become available on Amazon.de for pre-orders. It’s the standard model up for pre-order, with the Intel Atom N280 CPU.

Pricing is at 454.95 Euros with free delivery. The actual release date hasn’t been stated, but consumers who pre-order will receive an email with the release date when Amazon receive the information.

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While the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 was originally launched with Intel’s Atom processor and NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, it is also available with a Via Nano option now through Lenovo’s own web site. The new combination of Via’s Nano ULV 2250 processor and VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics makes the overall price go down by $50 to $450 USD, and offers extra speed compared to Intel’s Atom chip in exchange for a little bit of reduction in battery life. If you’d rather have performance than endurance, you might want to look at this deal.

Lenovo via Engadget

Lenovo’s reworked 10-inch IdeaPad S10-2 netbook fell into our hands recently and we were able to do a quick test drive with it, as well as compare it to a couple of other models. If you already have the original IdeaPad S10, it’s hard to say if you should upgrade to this “new” and slightly improved model. It does offer improvements in most of the original problem areas, though. Well, let’s take a look at it.
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Lenovo has just announced a proper 12-inch netbook that ups the ante with just a little bit of innovation. This is the Lenovo IdeaPad S12, priced rather attractively starting at $449. It comes with typical netbook specs, including a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, LED-backlit 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution display, full-size keyboard, options for a 160GB, 250GB or 320GB hard drive, built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3 USB ports, Ethernet Jack and VGA/HDMI out. It is the very first netbook to utilize NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, also found on the Acer Aspire Revo nettop, which should enable it to handle 1080p video just fine. It will be available for purchase starting next month with Windows XP preloaded, but I’m sure it won’t be hard for you to install Windows 7 or any other OS on it if you so choose. Check out a gallery of the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 after the break.
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Don’t just go on and update your netbook’s BIOS once an update is released by your netbook’s manufacturer. Case in point: Lenovo, which has recently released a BIOS update for IdeaPad S9 and S10 users, have found that some machines are rendered useless and unbootable by this certain BIOS update version. Users on the Lenovo forums have shared their experiences, wherein they’ve found that the only way to fix their broken machines was to send it in to Lenovo for fixing. Some users were able to fix their problem on their own, but a lot seem unable to, so if you haven’t updated the BIOS yet, it would be wise to wait for a new BIOS version before trying to update. Sure, there’s a chance that your netbook will be unaffected by this small bug, but you can never be too careful. ‘Course, you’re still free to update if you’re brave enough. Just be sure you will be able to handle it if your netbook becomes a brick from this update.

Lenovo Forums via Liliputing

There has already been the official announcement of the new model and one hands on preview of it too but, there is always room for more juicy details on Lenovo’s new netbook model – the IdeaPad S10-2 and over at GottaBeMobile they have posted up a video tour of the S10-2 which is posted below:

The video tour includes a comparison with the original S10 netbook and it is noted by Xavier from GottaBeMobile that the S10-2 “shares a lot of components with the original IdeaPad S10, but there are some nice upgrades” although, he wasn’t as positive about the screen on the S10-2, stating that he would prefer the matte screen of the original S10 to have been used on the updated model.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 will be available to buy over the coming days and will be available in the US with a 6 cell battery and a 5400RPM hard drive although, 8GB and 16GB SSD models will be available to netbook buyers outside of the US.

One complaint of netbooks, is not of the small screen size, but rather of the tiny keyboard. A 10 inch netbook usually has a keyboard that is quite reasonable to type on, but 7 inch or 8.9 inch netbooks have a smaller keyboard naturally, but this can cause some problems with typing. jkOnTheRun has pointed out, that the butterfly keyboard should be revived for today’s netbooks.

The butterfly keyboard, was previously found on the ThinkPad 701 by IBM. The 701, or as it was also known, the TrackWrite, released in 1995 featured a 10 inch display and would surely fit todays requirements for netbook status. Likewise one complaint of the ThinkPad 701 was the smaller than average keyboard. IBM solved this problem, by releasing the Butterfly keyboard which opened up to a full size keyboard. Lenovo now own the ThinkPad range and possible the patent for the keyboard. Is it something that might be revived? It worked well on the 10 inch sub notebook of the past and could surely work on todays netbooks.

It seems Sony’s not the only one who thinks taking out the trackpad completely and using an ultra-wide widescreen display are the next big trends in ultraportable computer technology. Pictured above, a small bronze notebook that looks just like the Sony Vaio P, only it’s from Lenovo, and it hasn’t been announced officially yet. Whether this photo is showing us only a prototype or a full working product cannot be determined, but we sure hope it packs at least some decent specs under the hood besides its decidedly wide display and roomy keyboard with an integrated green trackpoint (upper right corner). We’ll be on the lookout for more info on this thing and will update you when necessary.

Via Engadget