It’s been a long time coming, but Lenovo’s entry into the netbook fray, the IdeaPad S10e, has finally landed in PC Pro’s labs.

As the name suggests it’s a 10in netbook and – yes, you guessed it – it’s got an Intel Atom N270 inside and 1GB of RAM. So far, so very, very familiar.  

First impressions are just a tad underwhelming though. Indeed, the trait most reminiscent of the ThinkPad ranges is the build quality: the IdeaPad does feel reassuringly sturdy. And, at 1.13kg, it’s certainly no porker.  

But, if you’re one of those hoping for a shrunken ThinkPad X200 with a £300 price tag, you’re liable to come away more than a little crestfallen. There’s no embedded 3G – something which comes as a major disappointment given that Lenovo have crammed it into all their other laptops. And, apart from the curious choice of a true 16:9 panel with a 1,024 x 576 resolution, there’s precious little to get even slightly excited about. It’s probably best that we don’t mention the dainty 3-cell battery clipped to its rear….

Expect a full review very soon but, going by what we’ve seen so far, we’re not sure the Samsung NC10 will be giving up its crown anytime soon.