Ideapad U150 vs S12

Hi everyone! My name is Chaz and I am a new member to the forums. I am planning on getting a small ideapad for college and I am unsure between the U150 and the S12. I am wondering which one will give me the better performance/power. I don't plan on doing any serious gaming with it, just maybe some low settings Sims 3.

U150 Specs:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SU7300 Processor ( 1.30GHz 800MHz 3MB )
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Intel Integrated Graphics X4500
4gb ram
320GB 5400
6 Cell

S12 Specs:
Intel ATOM Processor N270 Single Core ( 1.60GHz 533MHz 512KB )
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32
NVIDIA ION 256MB
3gb ram
320GB 5400
6 Cell

Thanks!

 

The Atom is LOT slower than the SU7300. For college, I would recommend the SU7300. There will be times where you'll have a word document, a music player, a website, and a pdf document open. You will see the ATOM lag a bit under this situation.

 

but does the nvidia ion make up for it compared to the x4500?

 

For all the examples I provided, no. The Nvidia ION is mostly for video, such as movies, etc. The U150 actually comes with the x4500MHD. The ION also frees up ram for the operating system, but 3GBs is more than enough.
Imagine someone who works on a word document and loves to use youtube or hulu, or HD videos. This is the audience for that netbook. Those who are happy with the power of the netbook, but want the video power of a laptop.

 

do you think either of these could handle sims 3 on low/medium settings?

 

Hmm... I'd honestly say the U150 might be able to handle it a little better than the S12, even though you're talking integrated versus discrete graphics. While I haven't played Sims 3 personally, I have seen videos of it running on the X4500's predecessor, the X3100... low quality settings, but it runs. The X4500 should be able to handle it on low, with some settings cranked up to medium.

That said, if you're planning on any even halfway serious computing, a netbook with the Atom platform is going to be disappointing. That's the reason I built up my current X61s instead of buying a new netbook... a 'proper' Core 2 Duo notebook's going to run circles around an Atom-powered netbook any day of the week.

 

The S12, no. The S12 is also a single core. The SU7300 laptop is a true duo core, yes in low, probably in medium. The minimum requirements as for the intel 3 series video card and the computer comes with the 4th series, or the 4500MHD.

 

Just to clarify. Ion is STILL INTEGRATED (it will use system RAM). Granted the NVidia 9400M is a fair bit more powerful than the Intel x4500MHD, but both are integrated.

On some games the S12 with 9400M may give you slightly better performance. However, for everything else the U150 will perform much better due to the higher performance dual core CPU.

I'd go with the U150 (or a ThinkPad x200 if you can afford it) over an S12 w/ ION for a general purpose machine.

 

Interesting... I wasn't aware that the Ion is an integrated chipset... good to know.

I did some checking on the Lenovo outlet site, and if you'd consider that route you can get a decent price on an X200/s. I'm finding prices starting in the $7-800 range; not a huge stretch when the U150 is about $650. However, understand that since it's an ultraportable Thinkpad, it will only have a Trackpoint instead of a touchpad pointing device.

That said, as far as feature set, durability, and general usability, the X-series will handily beat both the S12 and U150. Since the OP mentioned this would be a notebook to use while in college, I'm assuming this would be his/her primary(or only) computer. In that case, the X200/s would be more than worth the price difference.

 

alright, thanks for all the input guys!

 

I kind of liked the u150, just what I saw from some video review. I've not seen it in person.