Well, that was quick. A few days after I speculated that the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t could be the first netbook to ship with a 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 processor, Lenovo has started taking orders for the N470-equipped model of the tablet-style netbook.
This version will set you back $649, but you get more than just a faster processor. You also get 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium. Add that to the speeders CPU and you might be able to justify the $100 premium over the base model of the S10-3t which ships with Windows 7 Starter, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. Both models have a 10 inch multi-touch display that you can use either in tablet or laptop mode.
I haven’t seen any benchmarks of the Atom N470 processor yet. The general consensus is that the 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor uses less power than the Atom N270 and N280 chips that have been available for the last year and a half, but it’s not much faster. I wouldn’t expect a huge performance boost from the 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t notice at least some difference.
Lenovo says the laptop ships within 9 business days, so I’m guessing it’ll be at least a week before we see any real-world tests.
