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Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10 Netbook has been a favored entry in the minilaptop sweepstakes for many reasons.

Our main knock against the first S10 was its malnutritioned three-cell battery, which hardly passed the 2-hour mark in our battery drain test–which is not really superb for a system designed for straightforward travel.

The Lenovo S10 is now available with a six-cell battery, and although it adds a bit of weight and bulk to the system, the battery life is now much more in accordance with our Netbook suggestions. Battery aside, this is a reasonably standard Intel Atom Netbook, with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB drive, Windows XP, and a new quick-launch environment from Splashtop.

Systems like HP’s Mini 2140 might have made some extra strides in design with a larger keyboard and full ExpressCard / 54 slot, but the Lenovo’s bargain $400 price makes it an fascinating option in an overcrowded field. With Intel’s now-standard 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, particularly designed for low-power Netbooks, the Lenovo S10 performed on par with other Atom-powered Netbooks, though it had an edge in our multitasking test.

Systems with newer Netbook-style CPUs, such the HP Pavilion dv2 and Samsung NC20  were quicker in single-application tests, for example iTunes. The first Lenovo S10 offered a upsetting two hours and thirteen minutes of battery life on our video playback battery drain test, using its three-cell battery.

This new six-cell version was far better, scoring four hours and one minute on the same test. That could be an enormous improvement, and addresses our main problem with the S10.

Still, some Netbooks,eg the Acer Aspire One AOD150, can run for even longer. Lenovo includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor mail-in guaranty with the system. A number of extension options are available and upgrading to a 2nd year of mail-in service costs an additional $50, whilst 3 total years of service is $130.