We liked the chunky, squared-off design, and the IdeaPad S10 is a little thinner than Asus' thick 10-inch Eee PC 1000. There's a decent-sized keyboard ( for a Netbook) , which doesn't feel the need to knock out a row of function keys or mess around too much with the standard layout ( we're looking at you, Dell) . The touch pad is marginally smaller than the one on Dell's Mini 9, but we liked the slightly textured surface on the S10, which kept our fingers from dragging, as can happen on overly glossy touch pad surfaces.
We were also very pleased to see an ExpressCard/34 slot, which is rare on smaller systems, but very useful for adding after-market extras, such as a mobile broadband modem. Speakers, usually an afterthought on Netbooks, were located under a grill that runs along the front lip of the system. One should never depend on tiny speakers like this, but the volume was at least loud for basic YouTube purposes.
The 10.2-inch wide-screen display has a 1, 024x600-pixel native resolution, which is standard for 9- and 10-inch Netbooks, and not too far removed from the 1, 280x800-pixel resolution common in most laptops up to 15 inches.
