Hardware Compatibility Question - Lenovo IdeaPad S12 29595BU

[Ben Bettin]

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I'm looking into purchasing a netbook in the next few days, and I'd
appreciate your advice with regards to hardware compatibility with the
latest Ubuntu 9.10.  The netbook I'm looking at is...

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (29595BU)

http://www.govconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=10658455
Tech Specs for the S Series -
http://shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/WW/AG/merchandising/US/PDFs/sseries_techspecs_111709.pdf

Processor = 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270
Memory = 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Disk = 160GB 5400 rpm SATA
Chipset = Mobile Intel 945GSE Express
Video = Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Max Resolution = 1280 x 800
Ethernet = 10/100 Broadcom BCM5784M
Wireless = 11b/g Broadcom BCM4312

I've done some research using the following sites...

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsVideoCards
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/video

As best I can tell, it seems like this system should work well with Ubuntu
9.10.  Can anyone confirm that based on the hardware listed, or perhaps with
direct experience with this family of netbooks?

I recall Broadcom wireless cards being a pain to deal with in the past (I
used to have a Dell Inspiron), but from what I read there are now Broadcom
drivers.  It's my understanding that they aren't "free" and are partially
proprietary, but I'm okay with that as long as they work without trouble.

Will wireless work for this laptop, assuming I initially plug it into a
wired connection to download the propriety drivers through the Hardware
Driver program on the Administration menu?  I have WPA2 at home, and my
office uses WPA Enterprise.

Will the video display work to the full extent of its capabilities
(1280x800), or will it only run at a lower resolution?  I had problems with
my old Inspiron where it would only work at very low resolutions.

I'd really appreciate any and all advice!  I'm hoping to get a netbook
running Ubuntu 9.10 without any trouble, and then installing Windows 7 via
VirtualBox so I can connect to things at my office.

Thanks so much for your advice, and have a great holiday!

Ben
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