Review - LENOVO IDEAPAD S210 TOUCH

          The Lenovo ideapad s210 is an 11.6" touchscreen notebook. It is economically priced at ₹ 32,500. It has a slim design, one key recovery and an accutype keyboard. Dolby advanced audio is present, and so speakers give a clear sound. It has the label of Energy Star and has an Intel core i3, using fourth generation processors.

          The accutype keyboard keys have an inward slope, for the best typing experience. Also, if the keyboard is removed, and if something is to be typed, there appears a touchscreen keyboard on the screen, as in tablets and smartphones.

          There is an HDMI output, for easy connections to television and other similar appliances. There are 2 USB connection ports and a card reader. The one key recovery button allows to recover from viruses. The notebook also has an HD webcam, for conferences and video chat.

          These are some of the positive things present. But while working on it, I faced some major difficulties.

          Even when the screen brightness is set to level 1, the 36Wh battery gets discharged within 2 to 3 hours. Notebooks are generally used throughout the day by professionals. So I would recommend Lenovo to increase the battery life to 6 to 8 hours in future models.

          Also, there is no CD driver in the notebook. Probably while Lenovo was developing the notebook, it excluded the driver from it, just to give a slim design. Work can be done by using USBs, but sometimes the only thing you need is a good CD driver. That must be present in all PCs.

          And last, but not the least, it doesn’t have any in-built microphone. I am a user of Skype. And I have the experience of working on laptops with microphone. In those kinds of laptops, you could simply turn on Skype and talk to the person on the other side, without any equipment like headphone.  But in the notebook, there is only a headphone portal. So, while on Skype, only one person, who is wearing the headphones with a mic, could be heard by the person whom he/she is talking to on Skype. Hence, family talks are impossible. Example, my family is talking to another. My brother is wearing the headphones. I yell “Hey! What’s up you guys?” Won’t be heard by the other family, you see? You can use a better, sensitive mic, but it is always better if there is an in-built microphone present in PCs.

         So, I have stated the positive and negative things about the notebook. I won’t recommend it to people using laptops while travelling, without the charger. If you are not travelling with the notebook, and keep it plugged in for most of the time, and don’t mind headphones, I’d say for you the notebook is great. I hope Lenovo increases the battery life and adds the in-built microphone and the CD driver, in future models of the notebook. I would give three out of five stars for it. And I hope better notebooks in the future.

­­­-  Manas Trivedi